Dems Hide Behind BS ‘Parliamentarian’ Excuse AGAIN

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qBBt97TsWyU

Scientists take a stand against “Wuhan lab” witch-hunt

https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2021/06/03/wuha-j03.html




Andre Damon
10 hours ago







The open embrace by the US media of the conspiracy theory that COVID-19 was released from the Wuhan Institute of Virology has incited a right-wing campaign against scientists researching the origin of the pandemic.

Scientists who have for years warned about the dangers posed by infectious diseases and have sought to defend society from a raging pandemic are being scapegoated in a vicious witch-hunt.

But leading scientists, under relentless and slanderous attack not only by the far-right gutter press but by the “mainstream” media, have taken a courageous and principled stand, defending science, international collaboration, and the fight to save lives in the ongoing pandemic.

Since the publication by the Wall Street Journal claiming to present new evidence for the Wuhan lab conspiracy theory, the Washington Post has declared the theory “credible,” while the print and broadcast media have joined in the right-wing chorus condemning scientists for having rejected the false theory.

Since the start of the pandemic, Dr. Anthony Fauci, director the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) has been publicly associated with a scientific approach to COVID-19. Despite making accommodations to Trump’s criminal “herd immunity” policies, and the abandonment of public health measures under Biden, Fauci has argued against conspiracy theories and other forms of right-wing hysteria.

For this, he has been the main target of vilification and violent threats by the right-wing mob, best summed up by the demand by Trump’s former campaign CEO Stephen K. Bannon for Fauci’s head to be put on a pike outside the White House.

But this campaign went into overdrive on Tuesday with the publication by the Washington Post of hundreds of emails by Fauci from March 2020.

The emails show that Fauci and his colleagues, including Kristian G. Andersen, director of Infectious Disease Genomics at Scripps Research Translational Institute and Peter Daszak, president of the Ecohealth Alliance, discussed and investigated the lab-leak theory before categorically rejecting it on the basis of a thorough scientific investigation.

But right-wing pundits and politicians have seized upon the emails as evidence of a “smoking gun,” claiming that the scientists’ good-faith investigation of all possible theories, and the rejection of the “Wuhan lab” theory, constitutes evidence of a conspiracy to suppress the allegedly genetically-engineered origins of the pandemic.

Leading the charge was Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Green, an advocate of the QAnon and Pizzagate conspiracy theories who claimed that Jewish bankers are responsible for wildfires in California. ‘He needs to be FIRED!’ Green demanded.

“Anthony Fauci should be in prison,” wrote Charlie Kirk, the head of the right-wing Turning Points campus organization. “#FIREFAUCI” tweeted Rand Paul, the far-right anti-vaccination Republican senator.

The front page of the right-wing UK Daily Mail blared, “Fauci’s smoking gun emails.” The fascist Fox News pundit Tucker Carlson declared that Fauci should be under “criminal investigation.”

The front page of the Daily Mail’s online edition Wednesday

“Corrupt Media Ignore Smoking Gun Emails In Order To Protect Fauci,” writes the Federalist, which advocated early in the pandemic that infected people engage in “chicken pox parties” to infect others.

The mainstream press joined in, with NBC News demanding that Fauci explain his discussions Chinese health officials, and pressing him on whether the government did “enough to investigate the origins of the virus.”

On Sunday, Peter Daszak, co-leader of the subgroup on Animal and Environment for the World Health Organization’s investigation into the origins of COVID-19, was denounced in a hit piece in the British Daily Telegraph as having “sympathized with the Chinese government.”

Replying to this right-wing campaign, Kristian G. Andersen, who discussed the origins of the disease with Fauci in March, reiterated on Twitter his opposition to the “Wuhan lab” conspiracy theory, explaining the fact that the consideration—and possible rejection—of theories is critical to how science works:


As I have said many times, we seriously considered a lab leak a possibility. However, significant new data, extensive analyses, and many discussions led to the conclusions in our paper. What the email shows, is a clear example of the scientific process.

Andersen cited his March 17, 2020, peer-reviewed paper in the Nature science journal where he and his colleagues wrote:


The genetic data irrefutably show that SARS-CoV-2 is not derived from any previously used virus backbone… Instead, we propose two scenarios that can plausibly explain the origin of SARS-CoV-2: (i) natural selection in an animal host before zoonotic transfer; and (ii) natural selection in humans following zoonotic transfer.

Peter Daszak added on Twitter:


This is called science, folks. You look at the evidence, generate hypotheses, discuss with others, dig deeper, refute some hypotheses, find evidence to support others, then you come to a conclusion & make that public. The peer-review is critical, & was done over & over again.

Daszak retweeted a recent editorial in Nature calling on scientists to “protect precious scientific collaboration from geopolitics,” declaring, “Researchers, institutions & governments must all play their part to guard against a chill in scientific collaboration.”

Peter Daszak (Credit: Ecohealth Alliance)

Leading scientists have prominently shared and discussed a recent article by Dan Samorodnitsky, a biochemist and senior editor at Massive Science, who presented a devastating critique of the “Wuhan Lab” theory in layman’s terms:


One hypothesis requires a colossal cover-up and the silent, unswerving, leak-proof compliance of a vast network of scientists, civilians, and government officials for over a year. The other requires only for biology to behave as it always has, for a family of viruses that have done this before to do it again. The zoonotic spillover hypothesis is simple and explains everything. It’s scientific malpractice to pretend that one idea is equally as meritorious as the other. The lab-leak hypothesis is a scientific deus ex machina, a narrative shortcut that points a finger at a specific set of bad actors.

In recent days, the World Socialist Web Site has published a series of widely read and discussed articles debunking the Wuhan laboratory lie. On Tuesday, we published an article pointing out that Michael Gordon, the lead author of the Wall Street Journal article that led the US media to declare the story “credible,” had co-authored the debunked “aluminum tubes” report, together with Judith Miller, that spearheaded the US propaganda campaign before the 2003 military onslaught against Iraq.

On Sunday, we published an article entitled, “How the US media declared the ‘Wuhan lab’ lie ‘credible,’” explaining the central role of former Trump campaign CEO Bannon in promoting the conspiracy theory.

Peter Daszak thanked the World Socialist Web Site for its coverage, writing, “Thanks for resurfacing this!” When he came under right-wing attack for this statement, Daszak defended the World Socialist Web Site, writing:


I thanked them for resurfacing evidence of link between nefarious characters like Miles Guo, Lude & political activists on the right. Factually laid out in that article, on CNN & NYT which they cite. Last time I checked we’d moved beyond McCarthy in the US!

In the coming days, the World Socialist Web Site will do everything in its power to warn working people all over the world about the right-wing witch-hunt against the world’s leading experts on infectious diseases. We stand ready to work with scientists in defending a scientific approach to the pandemic, which is critical to saving lives. Working people, who are the target of the ruling class’s herd immunity policies, must come to the defense of scientists who have sought to arm society with the knowledge necessary to stop the pandemic!

UAW-backed contract includes new attacks on Volvo Truck retirees

https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2021/06/03/veba-j03.html




Jerry White
10 hours ago







Volvo workers: Contact the Volvo Workers Rank-and-File Committee by email at volvowrfc@gmail.com or by text at (540) 307-0509.

Nearly 3,000 workers at Volvo Truck’s New River Valley plant in Dublin, Virginia will be voting this Sunday on a six-year labor agreement backed by the United Auto Workers union. Rank-and-file workers are actively opposing the deal, which is only a slightly modified version of a previous UAW-backed deal workers decisively rejected last month.

There are many elements of the proposed agreement that have enraged workers. Over the last three contracts, the Swedish multinational and the UAW have pointed to supposed economic difficulties to justify demands for concessions, including the introduction of a multitier wage and benefit system that condemns young workers to inferior pay and denies them fully paid pension benefits.

Striking Volvo workers (Source: UAW L. 2069 Facebook page)

With the company enjoying years of rising profits and market share, workers are determined to recoup their losses and win substantial improvements for current and retired workers.

In a statement calling for a “no” vote on Sunday, the recently formed Volvo Workers Rank-and-File Committee informs UAW President Rory Gamble, Secretary Treasurer Ray Curry and UAW Local 2069 President Matt Blondino what the minimal basis would be for an agreement that workers will accept.

This includes:
A 25 percent across-the-board wage increase to restore income lost over the last three contracts
Maintain current health insurance rates and coverage
Fully paid health care benefits for retirees, with no copays or premiums
End the multitier wage system and transfer all workers to top-tier pay and benefits
Eliminate the Alternative Work Schedule and keep current overtime rules
Implement a COLA clause to meet the soaring prices of consumer goods
Five personal days for all workers, not just salaried workers, and no cuts to vacation days
A $4,000 contract ratification bonus

The defense of the livelihoods and health of the thousands of retirees and surviving spouses is a principled issue for the VWRFC. The committee has fought for the unity of all workers, young and old, “Core Group” and “Competitive Workers,” active and retired, and fought against all efforts by the company and the UAW to divide and weaken workers.

Among the retirees are the original workers at the New River Valley plant, which was built in 1979 and was originally owned by White Motor Corp. of Cleveland. Volvo bought the plant and other assets as part of its takeover of near-bankrupt White Motor in 1981 and further entry into the North American truck market, which included a controlling interest in the General Motors Truck and Bus Group of Pontiac, Michigan.

Beginning in the 1980s, the UAW handed over one concession after another to the auto and truck manufacturing corporations as part of its corporatist program of labor-management collaboration and enticing the global corporations to invest in the US by ending strikes and systematically lowering labor costs. This included abandoning millions of retirees who had spent their working lives producing corporate profits.

This took a qualitative turn in mid-2005 when the UAW agreed to grant historic concessions to GM, including the company’s demand to cut billions of dollars’ worth of health care benefits to its 500,000 retirees and their dependents. In 2007, the UAW abandoned the principle of fully paid retiree health benefits, won by autoworkers in 1964 after nearly two decades of bitter struggles, and allowed the Detroit automakers to dump their obligations.

This took the form of the establishment of a so-called Voluntary Employees’ Beneficiary Association, or VEBA, which was initially funded (in fact drastically underfunded) by the corporations. The UAW, which was handed billions in dollars of corporate shares, was thus put in charge of rationing medical benefits to retirees and their survivors.

To push the VEBA through, the UAW went so far as joining General Motors in a legal action against retirees who had filed a class action suit to stop the first-ever reductions in health care benefits. The Detroit Free Press noted at the time that legal experts said the UAW took such “an unusual step to keep disgruntled retirees from challenging the union’s right to negotiate such concessions and tying the deal up in years of litigation.”

Between 1984 and 2005, the collective bargaining agreements between the UAW and Volvo provided that health benefits for pension-eligible employees “will be continued into retirement with [Volvo] making the full contribution.” In 2005, however, the UAW agreed to the setup of a VEBA with Volvo, along with a mechanism to shift higher costs onto retirees if there was not enough money in the VEBA trust.

According to court documents from the 2011 case Quesenberry v. Volvo Trucks Retiree Healthcare argued before the US District Court, Fourth Circuit, the 2005 agreement also outlined the limits of Volvo’s financial obligations, “Volvo’s liability for retiree health insurance expenses was limited to an average cost of $13,606 per year for each non-Medicare-eligible retiree and $3,292 for each Medicare-eligible retiree. To resolve problems posted by potential costs in excess of those caps, Volvo agreed to create a Voluntary Employees’ Beneficiary Association (VEBA) trust, to which it was required to contribute a total of $3.943 million, including $1.585 million on the last day of the 2005 CBA’s term in 2008. Of that amount, Volvo in 2005 projected that only $400,000 would be necessary for cumulative above-cap costs until the agreement’s expiration on January 31, 2008. The VEBA assets were to be held ‘for the exclusive purpose of paying all costs incurred by Retiree Participants under the Volvo Plan that exceed the limits set forth above.’”

The documents further state: “In the event that the VEBA trust was projected to be exhausted within a calendar year, Volvo and the UAW were required to meet to discuss how to reduce health care costs. If those negotiations proved unsuccessful, Volvo could charge each retiree for any costs over the caps according to a formula set forth in the Cost paragraph.”

In a 2011 decision that is strikingly similar to the one the courts reached in the phony case the UAW brought against GM in 2005, the US District Court ruled that Volvo could not unilaterally cut retiree benefits unless “the VEBA is projected to be exhausted within one year and Volvo and the Union are unable to agree on benefits reductions to reduce the premium costs which Volvo pays for the employees.”

It is likely that the UAW and Volvo have deliberately underfunded the VEBA over the last several contracts, putting into motion a series of new cuts. In an ominous threat to retiree benefits, the tentative agreement the UAW is now pushing states that “the Company and the Union agree to continue meeting to discuss potential prospective changes to the Volvo Plan as it applies to each group.” This includes Volvo’s hiring of a third-party contractor to assist with analysis of potential cost-cutting changes.

In a letter to the Volvo Workers Rank-and-File Committee, a worker who retired after 31 years has written, “I am so proud of all of you that are standing up for the retirees. We have been getting the shaft for several years and if you let this new contract be approved without a Veba trust fund, then both the retirees and the current employees are screwed.

“After the 2016 contract was approved, I sat in a retiree meeting and heard our local president say that they had overlooked the Veba trust fund but don’t worry because he would take care of us in 2021. I had cold chills run down my back because I knew if they did not look out for us in 2016, they sure as hell would not look out for us in 2021.

“The only thing the company wants for us is to die and to get rid of their liability!!! Our retirement income benefit has dwindled away and the future does not look bright for us having any income or insurance. I feel sure that the company told Anthem to put co-pays and out of pockets on our latest insurance card because they intend to shove those down our throat as well. I would love to vote on this contract!!”

The letter concludes by thanking the committee “for what you are attempting to do for us and all current employees.”




Volvo workers: Contact the Volvo Workers Rank-and-File Committee by email at volvowrfc@gmail.com or by text at (540) 307-0509.

Florida data scientist Rebekah Jones granted whistleblower status

https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2021/06/03/flor-j01.html




Trévon Austin
10 hours ago







Rebekah Jones, a former Florida Department of Health employee, has been granted whistleblower status a year after being fired for speaking out against the state government’s campaign to reopen schools and workplaces amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

Inspector General Michael J. Bennett informed Jones’ attorneys May 28 that she met the criteria set down in state law for whistleblower status, which begins a process of investigation to determine whether her complaints are justified by the evidence.

The Miami Herald reported Bennett said Jones’ complaints demonstrate “reasonable cause to suspect that an employee or agent of an agency or independent contractor has violated any federal, state or local law, rule or regulation.” Under the state’s whistleblower rules, Jones could be reinstated to her previous job or be eligible for compensation if an investigation finds her firing was in retaliation for the concerns she raised.

In the complaint, filed July 17, 2020, Jones alleged she was fired for “opposition and resistance to instructions to falsify data in a government website.” She described being asked to bend data analysis to fit predetermined policy and delete data from public view after questions from the press—actions she claimed “represent an immediate injury to the public health, safety, and welfare, including the possibility of death to members of the public.”

Jones, a geographer specializing in Geographic Information System (GIS) data science, who helped build Florida’s online presentation of its COVID-19 data, garnered national attention for refusing to strategically manipulate the information to minimize the severity of the pandemic. At the time, Florida was an epicenter of the coronavirus pandemic.

Republican Governor Ron DeSantis, who had been pushing to reopen the state for commerce, bitterly denounced Jones and claimed she displayed “insubordination” and “blatant disrespect” for her colleagues. DeSantis said he felt “that it was best to terminate her employment.”

Within a few weeks of being fired, Jones launched her own website to keep track of Florida’s COVID-19 information. Her website, COVID Monitor, uses the same data science software and data extraction techniques Jones had used to build the Florida Department of Health dashboard. Jones’ new website included an enhanced metric with hospital bed availability by facility, something that was not being publicly reported.

Jones also continued to raise doubts about the official figures reported by the Health Department and challenge the drive to reopen schools and workplaces. The Florida Department of Health filed a complaint against Jones on November 10 alleging she gained unauthorized access to a department messaging system. The message urged health officials to “speak up before another 17,000 people are dead. You know this is wrong. You don’t have to be a part of this. Be a hero. Speak out before it’s too late.”

Jones denied the hacking allegations, which were quickly proven to be false. Still, the Florida Department of Law Enforcement announced they had issued a search warrant “after suspecting Jones of being responsible for a computer hack into the health department website.” Police also claimed she downloaded unauthorized health department state data.

On December 2, Jones and two colleagues published an article in US News & World Report critical of the reopening of schools across the country. The article noted that more than 1 million children had been infected with COVID-19 by that time.

“Our data demonstrates that schools are not the safe havens or silos some believed they would be, and that they in fact contribute to the spread of COVID-19 in a number of ways,” they wrote. “In our opinion, the data suggests schools are NOT safe and DO contribute to the spread of the virus—both within schools and within their surrounding communities,” the article concluded.

Jones’ exposure of the disastrous “herd immunity” policy made her a target and officers raided her home on December 7, pointing their guns at Jones’ husband and children. During the raid, police seized Jones’ phone, all her computers, and other equipment she used to keep Florida COVID Action up-to-date. She also said flash drives seized by the police contained proof that state officials “were lying in January about things like internal reports and notices from the CDC,” in addition to “evidence of illegal activities by the state.”

She compared the scene to a Nazi raid, saying police intended to terrorize her and use her as an example. “This was DeSantis. He sent the gestapo,” she tweeted shortly after the raid. “This is what happens to scientists who do their job honestly. This is what happens to people who speak truth to power.” Jones later turned herself in to police after they issued a warrant for her arrest in January.

The COVID Monitor documented that at least 491,403 students and 206,894 educators have been infected in K-12 schools across the US. An additional 74,944 cases linked to schools have not been specified.

The Florida state government and the ultra-right have stepped up their campaign against Jones in recent months. DeSantis recently hired as his press secretary Christine Pushaw, the author of a vicious smear attack on Jones in the right-wing magazine Human Events .

Rebekah Jones was silenced because of her efforts to tell the truth about the pandemic, which threatened the ruling class’s drive to end health and safety restrictions. Just as with whistleblowers Julian Assange, Chelsea Manning and Edward Snowden, Jones is being persecuted for the crime of telling the working class the truth: in this case, about the pandemic and the criminal response of the state and federal governments.

Iranian ship, petrochemical plant hit by fires amid threats from Israel

https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2021/06/03/iran-j03.html




Bill Van Auken
10 hours ago







Iran was struck with two major fires in the past two days. The first one ravaged and then sank a naval vessel, the Kharg, reportedly the largest ship in the Iranian fleet. After a 20-hour battle to extinguish the blaze, the ship sank Wednesday near the strategic Strait of Hormuz.

The second fire erupted Wednesday at a petrochemical plant in southern Tehran, sending up a thick cloud of smoke that could be seen throughout the city.

The Kharg, the largest warship in the Iranian navy, caught fire and later sank on Wednesday in the Gulf of Oman. (Source: Iranian army via AP)

Iranian authorities said that the cause of the fire that sank the Kharg, named after the island that serves as Iran’s main oil terminal, was under investigation. The ship was 40 years old and used for support and training purposes. There were 400 crew members and trainees on board when the fire began. There were no deaths or serious injuries reported.

Spokesmen for Iran’s petrochemical industry said that the fire at the plant in southern Tehran began in one of its gas pipelines and spread to a gas tank. They said that no one was injured in the fire and rejected the possibility that the blaze was the result of sabotage.

The two blazes have taken place in a tense environment characterized by repeated attacks on Iranian targets by Israel’s spy agency, Mossad. It has been standard operating procedure for Israel to neither confirm nor deny such attacks. For its part, Tehran for its own reasons has at times been loath to acknowledge Mossad’s ability to strike with impunity against targets on the soil of Iran or off its coast.

Israeli attacks on Iran have included the detonation of a bomb inside the country’s main uranium enrichment facility at Natanz in April, which had the potential of triggering a catastrophic chemical or radiation disaster.

This provocation was timed to coincide with the resumption of indirect talks between Tehran and Washington on the revival of the 2015 nuclear accord between Iran and the major powers, a deal formally known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA). The Trump administration unilaterally abrogated the agreement in 2018, imposing a “maximum pressure” sanctions campaign that has led to soaring poverty rates in Iran and stymied the country’s attempts to obtain vital medical supplies to combat an accelerating spread of the coronavirus.

The two latest fires erupted just as the latest round of talks between the remaining parties to the JCPOA—Iran, China, Russia, Britain and Germany, along with the European Union—was wrapping up in Vienna.

While the Iranian delegate to the talks expressed optimism that outstanding obstacles to the deal’s revival could be resolved, the US administration of President Joe Biden has thus far taken the position that, as a precondition, Iran must roll back its increases in enrichment and stockpiles of uranium it built up in response to Washington’s illegally violating the agreement and reimposing sanctions.

Washington is also reportedly pressing Tehran for further concessions on its conventional missile program as well as demanding that it surrender its influence in the broader Middle East, bowing to the US quest for hegemony.

Also in April, Mossad carried out a mine attack on the Iranian military vessel Saviz, which had been deployed in the Red Sea by the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps as part of its anti-piracy efforts. The mining was part of a continuing campaign of attacks by Israel on Iranian shipping, particularly vessels bound for Syria, which is dependent upon Iran for oil imports.

Tensions in the region have increased in the context of the crisis in Israel, where a change of government was imminent on Wednesday that would end 12 years in power by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

On Tuesday, presiding over a change in command at Mossad, Netanyahu issued new threats against Iran, signaling that Israel would not be bound by any agreement reached between Washington and Tehran. “If we need to choose—I hope it doesn’t happen—between friction with our great friend the United States and eliminating the existential [Iranian nuclear] threat—eliminating the existential threat takes precedence,” he said.

Israeli Defense Minister Benny Gantz, who was on his way to Washington to request another billion dollars’ worth of US military aid to replenish the stockpiles Israel expended in its 11-day onslaught on the besieged occupied territory of Gaza last month, described Netanyahu’s remark as “provocative.”

The incoming head of the Mossad spy agency, David Barnea, was even more explicit, however. “The Iranian program will continue feeling Mossad’s might,” he said. “We are well acquainted with the nuclear program and its various components, we know personally the factors that operate in it and also the forces that drive them.”

The new Mossad chief also indicated that Israel would not limit its actions in deference to a renewed Iranian nuclear accord. “The agreement with world powers that is taking shape only reinforces the sense of isolation in which we find ourselves on this issue,” he said. “I say it clearly—no, we do not intend to act according to the majority opinion since this majority will not bear the consequences for the erroneous assessment of this threat.”

In reality, Washington has voiced no opposition to Israeli attacks on Iran. Biden and his secretary of state, Antony Blinken, have endlessly repeated the refrain that “Israel has the right to defend itself,” even during the recent massive aerial bombardment that claimed the lives of at least 253 Palestinians in Gaza.

For all the bluster by Israeli politicians about a supposed existential threat from Iran’s nuclear program, the greatest danger to the interests of the country’s capitalist ruling class comes from within, as was exposed by the widespread demonstrations and general strike by Palestinian citizens of Israel in opposition to the assault on Gaza and the Israeli police crackdowns and “ethnic cleansing” in Jerusalem.

Underlying this revolt are the immense internal contradictions of Israeli society as a whole. Among the most unequal of the OECD countries, the country has a poverty rate of over 20 percent and the world’s greatest concentration of billionaires.

The greatest fear within Israel’s capitalist oligarchy is that the emergence of mass opposition among Israeli Palestinians, who make up 20 percent of the population, will be joined by struggles of the Jewish working class, fatally undermining the entire Zionist project.

To counter this threat, the country’s ruling camarilla resorts to fomenting rabid nationalism and anti-Arab chauvinism, on the one hand, and attempting to divert growing social tensions outward through unrelenting militarism.

If the Israeli ruling establishment succeeds in forming a new government without Netanyahu, it will do nothing to defuse the attacks and provocations against Iran and the threat that they will precipitate a regional war that would rapidly draw in the major powers.

WORKER COOPERATIVES PROVE YOUR JOB DOESN’T HAVE TO BE HELL

By Jaisal Noor, The Real News.

June 2, 2021

https://popularresistance.org/worker-cooperatives-prove-your-job-doesnt-have-to-be-hell/




Is there really a “worker shortage,” or are frontline workers just tired of risking their lives for substandard pay, protections, and benefits? During the COVID-19 pandemic, worker co-ops demonstrated that it’s possible to run a successful business while still prioritizing the safety and input of workers over profits.

We speak with worker-owners at 8 co-ops in 4 states about the unique benefits, struggles, and limitations of of the worker cooperative model. In the words of Kimberly Britt, a worker-owner at ChiFresh Kitchen, “We work at and own this company, and we designed it to work for us, what would make it not feel like a job.”

Will people who got COVID-19 vaccines need booster shots?

Updated Jun 02, 2021; Posted Jun 02, 2021




https://www.oregonlive.com/coronavirus/2021/06/will-people-who-got-covid-19-vaccines-need-booster-shots.html



By The Associated Press


Scientists have found clues that the world’s leading COVID-19 vaccines offer lasting protection that could diminish the need for frequent booster shots, but they caution that more research is needed and that virus mutations are still a wild card.


Critical studies are underway, and evidence is mounting that immunity from the mRNA vaccines made by Pfizer and Moderna does not depend exclusively on antibodies that dwindle over time. The body has overlapping layers of protection that offer backup.



Pfizer and Moderna have fueled booster questions by estimating that people might need yearly shots, just like with flu vaccinations, and the companies are working to have some candidates ready this fall. But companies will not decide when boosters get used. That will be up to health authorities in each country.



Other experts say boosters may be needed only every few years.



“I would be surprised if we actually needed a yearly booster shot,” said Dr. Paul Offit, a vaccine specialist at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia who advises the Food and Drug Administration.



They point to ways the immune system remembers the coronavirus so that once original antibodies fade, the body’s defenses can swing back into action if a person is exposed again.



“I’m pretty optimistic. I wouldn’t rule out the need for boosters, but the immune response so far looks actually quite impressive,” University of Pennsylvania immunologist John Wherry said.



Antibodies that form after vaccination or natural infection do wane naturally, but there’s evidence that those levels remain strong for at least six to nine months after mRNA vaccination and possibly longer. They also appear effective against worrisome virus mutants, at least for now.



Scientists do not yet know what’s called the correlate of protection, the level below which antibodies cannot fend off the coronavirus without additional help.



Dr. Anthony Fauci, the U.S. government’s leading infectious disease expert, told a Senate subcommittee last week that vaccine protection would not be infinite.



“I would imagine we will need, at some time, a booster,” Fauci said. “What we’re figuring out right now is what that interval is going to be.”



To date, 62.8% of the adult U.S. population has received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine and 133.6 million, or more than 40 percent, are full vaccinated. The rate of new vaccinations has slowed to an average below 600,000 per day, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. That’s closing in on President Joe Biden’s goal of 70% with at least one inoculation by July 4.



Infections and deaths continue to fall. The nation’s seven-day average for daily new cases fell to less than 17,300 on Tuesday, down from more than 31,000 two weeks ago. Daily deaths declined to 588, down from 605, according to data from Johns Hopkins University. In all, the virus has killed more than 595,000 people in the U.S.



So-called long-lived plasma cells are one of the body’s backups. Immunologist Ali Ellebedy at Washington University in St. Louis found that nearly a year after people recovered from mild COVID-19, those plasma cells had migrated to the bone marrow where they were continuing to secrete antibodies. That’s why although antibodies do diminish with time, they have not disappeared.



Now Ellebedy is hunting for the same cells in vaccine recipients, and while the research isn’t finished, he’s finding hints that they’re forming.



An even more important backup system comes in the form of memory B cells. If existing antibodies are not enough to stop the coronavirus, memory B cells are poised to churn out large numbers of new antibodies, Ellebedy explained. Numerous studies have found those memory cells after COVID-19 vaccination.



And if the virus makes it past those defenses, yet another immune branch — the memory T cells — jumps in to eliminate infected cells and prevent severe illness.



With different coronaviruses that cause common colds, people tend to get re-infected every two to five years, Wherry noted.



Based on natural immunity against those related viruses, “we are sort of expecting our immunity may decline,” he said. “But we don’t know. For these mRNA vaccines, we may be doing better than nature, better than a natural infection.”



So far, health authorities agree that the most common COVID-19 vaccines in the U.S. and Europe protect against the virus mutations that are currently circulating, though not as strongly as they guard against the original virus.



Why? The vaccines mimic the protein that covers the outer surface of the coronavirus, and only certain spots of that protein are mutating, said FDA vaccine chief Dr. Peter Marks. The mRNA vaccines in particular make antibody levels skyrocket after the second dose. Those levels are so high that they offer some protection even when the vaccine and the variant are not a perfect match.



With so many people still unvaccinated, opportunities abound for more mutations to occur. The biggest sign that a booster might be necessary would be a jump in COVID-19 cases in fully vaccinated people, especially severe illnesses and especially if the infections are caused by a new variant.



To get ready, people vaccinated a year ago as part of the first Pfizer and Moderna vaccine trials now are being enrolled in studies of additional shots — either a third dose of the original or versions that have been updated to match a variant that first emerged in South Africa. Moderna says preliminary findings are promising. More results are due this summer.



The National Institutes of Health also just began testing a system in which patients are given a different brand of booster than their original vaccination, to see if it is effective.



Most of the world’s population has yet to receive a first dose. With different countries using different kinds of vaccines, decisions on booster shots may vary widely. Already, the United Arab Emirates has offered a third dose to recipients of a Chinese-made shot, the first formal introduction of any kind of booster.



If boosters eventually are called for, they will not be needed all at once because antibodies fade gradually rather than disappearing suddenly.



“Even if we require boosters or get to the point where we see immunity waning a little bit, we still are going to be far better off than we were a year ago,” Wherry said.