Welcome back to your weekly news roundup, presented by Rounding the Earth. We have a number of items to cover this week, but before we do, I’d like to make a special announcement…
We have sponsors!
Rounding the Earth is excited to announce our first ever sponsors. Starting today, we will be working alongside The Institute for Practical and Applied Knowledge Educational programs (IPAK-EDU) and Blood of Tyrants wine. Listeners of the Rounding the Earth podcast are eligible for discounts from both companies, the proceeds of which will go to funding current and future RTE projects.
Liam Sturgess is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.
IPAK-EDU is part of the shift away from traditional educational institutions with high quality instructors and courses at the top of their fields. Courses are available in the categories of Psychology and Wellness, Health and Wellness, Analytics, Biology, Environmental and Regenerative Science, Chemistry, Public Health, and Law. Use coupon code EARTH at checkout to save 5% on the price of any course.
Blood of Tyrants is a fine wine with the perfect name (entirely metaphorically, of course). This Merlot comes from the part of Texas where the good grapes grow, according to Mathew. According to their website, the wine “is a rich garnet color, with flavors of black cherries, plums, and figs, with a soft and smooth finish. With its crisp acidity and ripe fruit flavors, this wine is an easy match for any occasion.” Use coupon code EARTH to save $5 on each bottle.
Breaking the news this past Wednesday on the RTE Substack, Mathew explained:1
“Rounding the Earth (substack, podcast, and all the forms we might take) spent several months casually mulling over whether to take on sponsors, and how. At some point late last year, I decided that advertising and promotion could be kept at a personal level, where I have a sense that who and what we advertise at RTE aligns with our values.”
You can also support Rounding the Earth by purchasing your copy of Overcoming the COVID Darkness written by Dr. Brian Tyson and Dr. George Fareed, with contributions from Mathew Crawford. Click the button below to purchase on Amazon, and we will earn a small commission on each sale.
Coming amid calls to scrap the controversial ArriveCan vaccine/travel passport application, Canada is officially acknowledging its plans to integrate digital identity to the lives of its citizens.2
As reported by True North, the Government of Canada quietly published information on the program titled “Canada’s Digital Ambition 2022.”34 The Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms (JCCF) responded by publishing a report titled "Canada’s Road to Beijing: The digital threat to the Charter rights and freedoms of Canadians."5
#DigitalID was trending on Twitter as of 12:45PM PST on Friday, August 19, 2022.
Lockdowns blamed for “silent health crisis” of excess deaths
For some, this will be old news. Others, however, are expressing frustration that it’s only two and a half years later that their warnings are being admitted to. What’s worse is that there may be an even darker reality hidden underneath this admission.
According the the Daily Mail, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) in the United Kingdom reported that “about 1,000 more people than usual are dying each week from illnesses and conditions other than [COVID-19].”6 "This makes the rate for excess deaths 14.4 per cent higher than the five-year average, meaning 1,350 more people have died than usual in the week ending 5 August."
Indeed, COVID-19 is still being blamed for some of these excess deaths. However, the core argument is that lockdowns delayed important medical treatments and procedures for ailments like cancer, heart disease and diabetes.
Emergency care failing patients
It is important to distinguish between health care withheld due to an institutional policy, and health care not provided because it’s impossible to provide. In 2020 and 2021, countries around the world cancelled and delayed “non-emergency surgeries” to make room for potential COVID-19 patients. In 2022, however, hospitals physically can’t provide these and other urgent procedures due to lack of resources. The Daily Mail reports:
“Only last week England-wide statistics showed that emergency care standards in hospitals hit an all-time low, with over 20,000 patients facing a 12+ hour wait for medical treatment.”
A woman in Nova Scotia suffering intense stomach pain called for an ambulance that never arrived.7 This was blamed on a 10% increase in demand for ambulances this year, as well as a paramedic shortage.
A senior citizen in British Columbia with a broken hip and a head injury waited almost 12 hours before an ambulance arrived, even though she lived only 10 minutes from the hospital.8 Three in every ten ambulances in the area are unmanned due to a paramedic shortage.
Ottawa, Ontario is frequently left with no available ambulances to dispatch after a 20% increase over the prior three months.9
Why has the healthcare crisis gotten so much worse, particularly in the last year? Certainly, the effects of the lockdown measures play a huge part in the increase of overall health issues. However, the wholesale lack of staff across health systems may have another contributor to consider.
Healthcare workers fired for declining a COVID-19 vaccine
In the United Kingdom, health care workers were subject to mandatory COVID-19 injection in order to retain their job. This was in effect from November 2021 to March 2022, a period during which the resulting staff shortage became too significant to maintain.10 Nova Scotia implemented a policy for all health care workers that saw "unvaccinated" employees put on unpaid leave.11 This policy remained in effect as of last month.12 The same goes for jurisdictions across Canada.
Note as well that in Italy, a study from December 2021 found a notable increase in sick leave requests following COVID-19 injection. After the first dose, 1.6% of health care workers requested a sick leave, which jumped to 6.1% after the second dose. It was particularly bad for those with prior SARS-CoV-2 infection.13
In short, between the effects of lockdown measures, the failure of COVID-19 vaccines to reduce the health burden of COVID-19, the systemic reduction in health care staff, and the resulting increase in diseases of all kinds and all-cause mortality, we are facing a global problem that needs to be addressed head-on, without further delay.
On Monday, Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin revealed he had tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 for the second time. He was said to be suffering from “mild symptoms.”14
Austin is “quadruple-vaccinated,” having received one of his boosters in October 2021. He fell mildly ill with COVID-19 about 2.5 months later in January 2022.15
First Lady Jill Biden announced she had tested positive for the SARS-CoV-2 virus on Tuesday. This is in spite of her having reportedly received four doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 mRNA injection, most recently receiving a second "booster dose" in April.16 She is said to be experiencing "mild" and "cold-like symptoms" which had already improved by Wednesday morning.
She has been prescribed a course of Paxlovid, an experimental antiviral pill available under an Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) and not approved by the FDA, that is also marketed by Pfizer.1718
Seattle Seahawks quarterback Drew Lock also made the list, testing positive for SARS-CoV-2 for his second time.19 While not specifying how many doses he had taken, ESPN reported that he was "vaccinated" against COVID-19.20 It is not clear to me if he is experiencing any symptoms at all.
Smallpox vaccines don’t appear to be helping the monkeypox situation
As I have previously predicted with some concern, the mass vaccination campaign against monkeypox is not going well.
People are now becoming very familiar with the concept of a “breakthrough case,” which occurs when someone receives a positive PCR/antigen test result and/or falls ill with COVID-19, despite having been injected with 2, 3 or 4 doses. If this occurs within two weeks of thee most recent dose, that person is not considered to have “been vaccinated” and are lumped in to the “unvaccinated” column. Citing the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Cleveland Clinic insists that breakthrough cases of COVID-19 are to be expected as “no vaccine is 100% effective.”21
Unfortunately, we’re now hearing the first reports of “breakthrough Monkeypox.” As reported by ABC News:22
Monkeypox vaccine not 'a silver bullet,' WHO says, as breakthrough cases emerge
As demand for monkeypox vaccines increases, the World Health Organization (WHO) has begun to receive preliminary reports on the efficacy of the shots, which suggests there are breakthrough cases occurring, officials said Wednesday.
"We have known from the beginning that this vaccine would not be a silver bullet, that it would not meet all the expectations that are being put on it, and that we don't have firm efficacy data or effectiveness data in this context," officials said during a press conference.
Ever feel like you’re experiencing deja-vu, but at warp speed?
First of all, it is entirely relevant to reiterate that the vaccines being administered are smallpox vaccines.
Despite smallpox’s declared eradication in 1980, samples of the virus were kept in reserve in the United States and Russia. Following the destruction of the World Trade Center and the deployment of weapons-grade anthrax through the United States Postal Service, it seems the fear of a bioweapons attack using the retained smallpox hit fever pitch, leading governments to call for the stockpiling of a new generation of smallpox vaccines.23 Part of the problem with the first two generations of vaccines was that they were notably risky.2425
One of the new candidates began trials around 2005, developed by a Danish biotechnology company called Bavarian Nordic. After their Phase I clinical trial, they described the shot as “a promising candidate for prophylactic mass immunization, even in subjects for whom conventional smallpox vaccines are contraindicated.”26 This is the product known as Imvamune in Canada; Jynneos in the USA; and Imvanex in Europe.
The vaccine went on through Phase II and III clinical trials,27 leading to its approval by Health Canada in 2013 "for active immunization against smallpox in a public health emergency."28 Bavarian Nordic asked the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to approve the vaccine for the same purpose in 2018.
However, in 2019, the company submitted a revised request, asking for monkeypox to be included in its approved uses. This was granted in September 2019.29 Health Canada also expanded their approval in 2020 to allow for its use in preventing “monkeypox and related orthopoxvirus infections in adults 18 years of age and older at high risk of exposure.”30
The timing of all of this is interesting, and some may wonder if the proximity of these approvals might suggest foreknowledge of an upcoming outbreak. This is bolstered by the fact that the Nuclear Threat Initiative led a pandemic simulation exercise at the Munich Security Conference in March 2021,31 notably including many of the same individuals and organizations who participated in 2019’s Event 201 and have played key roles in the subsequent COVID-19 crisis.32
In any case, I would argue lack of knowledge can be just as meaningful as foreknowledge. The Imvamune/Jynneos/Imvanex smallpox vaccines are not well understood, and the clinical data supporting their safety is concerning. The product monograph states that 1.4% of people who were vaccinated experienced cardiac-related adverse events; this number jumps to 2.1% in people who had previously received a smallpox vaccine earlier in life.33 As we've learned from the COVID-19 injection campaign, cardiac events are nothing to sneeze at.
As far as efficacy goes, the revised authorizations from Health Canada and the FDA were not based on additional trials to specifically test for its use in preventing monkeypox. In fact, this was simply inferred based on limited antibody response data from animal studies, with no human participants tested in this context.34 Further, every official piece of documentation I've come across has indicated that insufficient (or no) tests have been done on pregnant or breastfeeding women, or immunocompromised individuals, and very few elderly people or children have ever been examined.
As an additional reminder, the World Health Organization themselves were concerned enough about this to issue a statement emphasizing that anyone taking this shot for monkeypox is doing so in the context of a clinical trial.35
“We do have uncertainties around the effectiveness of [these] vaccines because they haven’t been used in this context and in this scale before. And therefore, when these vaccines are being developed, that they are delivered in the context of clinical trial studies and prospectively collecting this data to increase our understanding on the effectiveness of these vaccines.” - Tim Nguyen, Unit Head, High Impact Events Preparedness
Of course, that is not something that the average person could be expected to know. It’s not exactly been the leading message, and we can likely assume that properly disclosing this fact upfront would contribute to “vaccine hesitancy,” which seems to be public health’s worst nightmare.
That is, until the breakthrough cases began happening. The WHO’s uncertainty is being reported only after 634,000 doses of Jynneos have been shipped throughout the United States. ABC News specifically says that the WHO is only now receiving “preliminary reports on the efficacy of the shots,” confirming that those taking the shots are the ones providing the clinical data, as opposed to benefiting from robust safety and efficacy trials as many inevitably still believe is the case.
Quoting the WHO’s technical lead on monkeypox, Dr. Rosamond Lewis, Fortune write that “Breakthrough infections have occurred when the vaccine was given before exposure to high-risk individuals, as well as when it was given after exposure in hopes of preventing infection.”36 In other words, reported "cases" of monkeypox are still occurring, regardless of if they're given in advance (you know, to immunize against the virus) or after exposure (when there exists a narrow window before symptoms occur, if they will at all).
That accounts for all possible options. You can’t administer a shot to someone who has developed symptoms, as that dramatically increases the likelihood of severe adverse events. And remember, the limited clinical trial data that does exist showed that these shots are almost doubly dangerous for those who have previously had a smallpox vaccine.
Most frightening of all is that “monkeypox cases” are apparently soaring worldwide, jumping 20% over that last week alone.37 For some reason, everyone remains focused on increasing the uptake of these unproven and likely completely unnecessary vaccines, with Los Angeles officially now offering "second doses" of this allegedly high-demand vaccine.38
Schianchi, A., Ughi, N., Cassano, G., Del Gaudio, F., Dicuonzo, A., Scaglione, F., Alberti, P. M., Rossetti, C., Micheloni, G., Zoppini, L., Bellavia, G., Giroldi, S., Moreno, M., Russo, A., Bosio, M., & Epis, O. M. (2021). Sick leave request following anti-COVID-19 vaccine administration is low among healthcare workers: results from a retrospective cross-sectional monocentric study. European review for medical and pharmacological sciences, 25(23), 7218–7222. https://doi.org/10.26355/eurrev_202112_27414
Kretzschmar, M., Wallinga, J., Teunis, P., Xing, S., & Mikolajczyk, R. (2006). Frequency of adverse events after vaccination with different vaccinia strains. PLoS medicine, 3(8), e272. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pmed.0030272
Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report: Smallpox Vaccination and Adverse Reactions, Guidance for Clinicians. (2003). Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/PDF/rr/rr5204.pdf
Vollmar, J., Arndtz, N., Eckl, K. M., Thomsen, T., Petzold, B., Mateo, L., Schlereth, B., Handley, A., King, L., Hülsemann, V., Tzatzaris, M., Merkl, K., Wulff, N., & Chaplin, P. (2006). Safety and immunogenicity of IMVAMUNE, a promising candidate as a third generation smallpox vaccine. Vaccine, 24(12), 2065–2070. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.vaccine.2005.11.022
Greenberg, R. N., Hay, C. M., Stapleton, J. T., Marbury, T. C., Wagner, E., Kreitmeir, E., Röesch, S., von Krempelhuber, A., Young, P., Nichols, R., Meyer, T. P., Schmidt, D., Weigl, J., Virgin, G., Arndtz-Wiedemann, N., & Chaplin, P. (2016). A Randomized, Double-Blind, Placebo-Controlled Phase II Trial Investigating the Safety and Immunogenicity of Modified Vaccinia Ankara Smallpox Vaccine (MVA-BN®) in 56-80-Year-Old Subjects. PLOS ONE, 11(6), e0157335. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0157335
Prater, E. (2022, August 18). Monkeypox breakthrough infections are real. “This vaccine will not be a silver bullet,” WHO officials say. Fortune. https://archive.ph/oOMAb
Hey Liam, with all the constant focus on the mRNA shots, but millions of Americans having taken the adenoviral vector Johnson & Johnson, which our health agencies eventually deemed more dangerous by comparison (given some of the horror stories I've heard from places with large uptakes of AstraZeneca, I actually find this plausible), I decided to do a writeup on some of the acute gaslighting recipients of these shots were subject to prior to the December 2021 recommendation reversal. Totally disregard if you're swamped, but if you're interested, the information is here: https://veryofficialnews.substack.com/p/yes-the-cdc-did-perpetuate-an-overt
Hey Liam, with all the constant focus on the mRNA shots, but millions of Americans having taken the adenoviral vector Johnson & Johnson, which our health agencies eventually deemed more dangerous by comparison (given some of the horror stories I've heard from places with large uptakes of AstraZeneca, I actually find this plausible), I decided to do a writeup on some of the acute gaslighting recipients of these shots were subject to prior to the December 2021 recommendation reversal. Totally disregard if you're swamped, but if you're interested, the information is here: https://veryofficialnews.substack.com/p/yes-the-cdc-did-perpetuate-an-overt