First Lady Jill Biden has tested positive for COVID-19, the White House said in a statement released on Tuesday. She joins her husband, President Biden, and Pfizer CEO Alberto Bourla, in recent cases of high-profile individuals testing positive for the disease despite being quadruple-vaccinated.
Early in the vaccine push, drug makers and politicians claimed that the vaccines would be highly effective at preventing COVID-19 infection. Claims were also made that those vaccinated would be unable to infect others with the disease. The narrative then changed to state that being vaccinated would protect people from experiencing the most severe symptoms of the virus.
MANDATES STRUCK DOWN
The Biden Administration attempted to make vaccination mandatory through a backdoor – by modifying OSHA regulations that would force companies with more than 100 employees to require staff to be jabbed. The rule would affect 84 million Americans, forcing them to get injected or get tested on a weekly basis and wear a mask at work. But this rule was struck down by the Supreme Court in January of 2022.
But vaccine mandates are still in effect in the U.S. military, with a number of lawsuits pending. The U.S. Army has cut off over 60,000 National Guard and Reserve troops from pay and benefits for being unvaccinated. This at a time when the armed forces are experiencing severe difficulties in recruiting personnel – and the vaccine requirements may be a contributing factor to this problem.
Recently, Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin also tested positive for COVID-19 despite being fully vaccinated.
FLORIDA’S FIGHT AGAINST RESTRICTIONS
In Florida, Governor Ron DeSantis and his administration have fought tooth and nail against COVID mandates and restrictions – taking on both the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and the cruise ship industry. This has resulted in legislation that bans vaccine mandates, mask requirements and quarantines of healthy students in schools. Companies face stiff fines, up to $50,000 per violation, should they break the “Keep Florida Free” laws.
“Nobody should lose their job due to heavy-handed COVID mandates and we had a responsibility to protect the livelihoods of the people of Florida. I’m thankful to the Florida Legislature for joining me in standing up for freedom,” DeSantis said in a statement when the bills were passed last November.
Governor DeSantis has also spoken out against the vaccination of children, arguing that COVID-19 shots have not gone through enough testing and clinical trials to determine that they are effective, and that children are least likely to suffer serious health consequences from the virus.
CDC “STREAMLINES” GUIDANCE
The CDC, in a recent press release, stated that the agency is “streamlining” its COVID-19 guidance. According to these new guidelines, the agency no longer recommends separate measures for those vaccinated and those who haven’t taken the jab.
“With so many tools available to us for reducing COVID-19 severity, there is significantly less risk of severe illness, hospitalization and death compared to earlier in the pandemic,” the CDC said.
According to the nonprofit Children’s Health Defense Fund, which long has been critical of draconian COVID measures and the effectiveness of the vaccines, the CDC’s own data shows that COVID-19 death rates are nearly the same in all age groups reported whether a person is vaccinated or not.
