Healthcare

A water drop and ripples

Fading vaccine effectiveness shows the foolishness of confidence.

By Justin Katz | October 8, 2021 |

One of (the many) aspects of our public arguments around COVID-19 and the vaccine is the confidence with which everybody is asserting their positions.  This affects both sides, but I’m thinking in particular of the pro-vax people who assert that we know that naturally acquired immunity fades after a few months.  Frankly, the virus hasn’t been…

A water drop and ripples

A kidney patient and her willing donor are being denied the operation because they aren’t vaccinated.

By Justin Katz | October 7, 2021 |

The world has gone mad.  Disclaimer: I’ve been vaccinated and think other adults should be, too.  But this is ridiculous. This is concerning at the baseline level. This becomes even more concerning when you overlay that both the kidney donor and the transplant patient are unvaccinated and aligned without issue. The hospital is refusing the…

A water drop and ripples

Maybe officials should put their lives where their policies are.

By Justin Katz | October 6, 2021 |

I’d caution against reading too much into this development, but it does provide some important context for U.S. public health decisions: Swedish health officials on Wednesday paused usage of the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine for younger people and children after reports of possible side effects including myocarditis, while Denmark also announced that it halted the shot…

Children in tug of war

The position of individual liberty versus COVID deserves the mantle of “group rights.”

By Justin Katz | October 6, 2021 |

Sometimes aphorisms or statements of principle are used to steal bases in political debates.  Take, for instance, the assertion of the Twitter account for the Roosevelt Society that: The rights of the group outweigh the rights of the individual, the basis for vaccine mandates. 700,000 deaths many, many could have been avoided with vaccines. Even…

A water drop and ripples

A protection against COVID so wild it just might work.

By Justin Katz | October 5, 2021 |

What sort of chemicals do they have in the water up in New Hampshire? In a recent opinion piece for the LaCross Tribune, Frank Edelblut, commissioner of the New Hampshire Department of Education, posed what some vaccine-focused health officials on the COVID-19 front lines might call a radical idea: Why not work on getting healthy…

Piero Della Francesca, Battle Between Heraclius and Chosroes

Politics This Week with John DePetro: Battles Brewing in RI

By Justin Katz | October 4, 2021 |

John and Justin discuss brewing turmoil among and between factions in the Ocean State.

A water drop and ripples

Vaccination has become a marker of social class.

By Justin Katz | October 4, 2021 |

Michael Morse reframes some of the more-strident pro-vaccination rhetoric to illustrate how it appears to the other side: You cringe when you hear one of them speak out, you shut them down, ignore them, and secretly hope they get sick, and with any luck, die. It serves them right. Probably Trump supporters anyway, and we…

Sledge hammer

McKee & Alexander-Scott: COVID Didn’t Crash RI’s Healthcare? Let us Take a Whack!

By Monique Chartier | October 3, 2021 |

Hospitals, healthcare facilities and nursing homes around Rhode Island have been dutifully firing their valued, ESSENTIAL employees to comply with Rhode Island’s rigid edict that all healthcare workers must receive the COVID-19 vaccine or lose their license. Over ninety health care facilities, including Rhode Island Hospital, Miriam Hospital and dozens of nursing homes, were not…

A container ship

Modern Oncology, Supply Chain Challenges, and Parents’ Lawsuit Against the Governor

By John Loughlin | October 2, 2021 |

John Loughlin interviews Dr. Tim Shafman, Heritage Foundation Senior Fellow Brent Sadler, and Rich Southwell of the Parents’ Union.

A water drop and ripples

Fauci is the chief misinformation officer of the United States.

By Justin Katz | October 1, 2021 |

Look, I’m vaccinated against COVID-19, and I’m hesitant-but-persuadable on a booster at some point, but the fact is that everything Anthony Fauci says has to be considered a convenient lie, at this point: “Ultimately I believe that the optimal regimen for the vaccine for the mRNAs is going to include that third booster shot,” Fauci,…