France’s parliament voted to make vaccine passports a key part of daily life in the battle against Covid-19 this week, after a compromise between lawmakers from the upper and lower houses. Shortly after, France’s highest constitutional authority said it would rule next week on whether the new legislation will be accepted into law.

The Constitutional Council, which has the power to send laws back to the legislature and government for changes, said it would issue the ruling on August 5. The breakthrough in talks came a day after France was again shaken by protests against the rules that saw over 160,000 rally and dozens arrested.

President Emmanuel Macron last week ordered that vaccine passports — proof of full vaccination or a negative test — would be required for the French to visit venues such as cinemas or nightclubs. The announcement was a move by Macron to make vaccinations the top weapon against Covid-19 as new variants emerge, essentially requiring people to become vaccinated if they want to continue daily routines.

Those changes were implemented by decree, but parliament has been engaged in a marathon session since last week debating whether to extend them. Vaccine passports have encountered fierce opposition from some, who believe they erode civil liberties.

The ruling party has faced a tough task pushing the legislation through parliament. Pro-Macron MPs control the National Assembly, but the Senate — the upper house — is dominated by the opposition right.

The Senate had approved the legislation but added numerous amendments that the government feared risked limiting its impact. The two sides held three hours of talks Sunday, finding a compromise to pass the bill that evening by a large majority: 156 votes for, 60 against and 14 abstentions.

The legislation still needs to be approved by France’s highest administrative authority, the Constitutional Council, before becoming law — an extra step requested by Prime Minister Jean Castex.

Compromise deal

Macron’s announcement had already made the health pass compulsory for cinemas, museums and any venue gathering more than 50 people. The new legislation would make it compulsory from August for air travel and inter-city trains, as well as for visiting cafes and restaurants.

It would also make vaccinations obligatory for health workers and caregivers. The Senate wanted the legislation to be more mindful of civil liberties.

Parliamentary sources said the compromise means the system will only continue after November 15 following a new vote. The deal also limits the enforcement role of the police, and makes clear that health workers and caregivers who refuse vaccinations will not automatically be sacked but have their salary suspended.

“COVID is temporary, but firings are final,” argued one Republican member of the Senate, Philippe Bas. Some 161,000 people, including 11,000 in Paris, had protested Saturday against requiring vaccine passports for dining out and cinema visits.

Seventy-one people were arrested and 29 members of the security forces were injured, the ministry of the interior said.

Vaccine passports controversy

President Macron scoffed at how slogans of freedom were being brandished at the protests. “Everyone is free to express themselves calmly with respect for the other,” he said. “But freedom where I owe nothing to someone else does not exist”.

Macron said that under such logic, relatives could be infected by someone who is not vaccinated, or the person could themselves end up in hospital. “I don’t call this freedom, I call this irresponsibility and egoism.”

By maximizing vaccinations, the French government wants to minimize the impact of the fourth coronavirus wave. Some 40 million people should have received at least one shot by this week.

France recorded almost 23,000 new Covid-19 cases on Saturday, twice as many as last week, as the Delta variant caused a surge. But in figures the government credits to vaccinations, there are 878 Covid-19 patients in intensive care, compared with a peak of almost 6,000 at the end of April.

Source: https://techhq.com/2021/07/france-opting-for-vaccine-passports-despite-privacy-concerns/

The post France opting for vaccine passports despite privacy concerns first appeared on Garner Ted Armstrong Evangelistic Association.

We all knew this would happen.  Russia’s about to change the whole strategic equation by racing to the North Pole.  It’s also a perfect time for the Chinese to make their move on Taiwan.  Everything involving America’s interests is in reverse.

An announcement was made involving the U. S. exit from Afghanistan.  It looks like it is being handed over to the Taliban.  They’ll surely be benevolent caretakers until a peaceful democracy can be established (cough, choke!).

The embarrassments are now nearly every day.  Someone needs to take better care of the one they’re calling president.  He keeps embarrassing everybody, but never seems to notice.  Maybe it’s not true, but I get the idea that he’s playing Jimmy Stewart, but the stammer has gotten out of hand.

Dr. Fauci made huge news this week when he pointed both fingers at Senator Paul and barked, “You don’t know what you’re talking about!”  It turns out “gain of function” has nothing to do with taking an animal virus and altering it so that humans can be infected.  That’s not “gain of function” research, and nobody knows what they’re talking about except Fauci.  And he often changes his mind, which he’s entitled to do.  You wouldn’t understand.

Unfortunately for the most famous Dr. on earth, his critics have the goods.  They have the urgent messages he was sending in the middle of the night, trying to get out in front of the revelations he knew were coming.  For a while he was basking in the great fame of being the great Corona virus whisperer.  He, and he alone could divine the right approach to staying healthy, whether you’re elderly or just a toddler.  He’s still dishing out ruinous ideas, hoping governors will mandate them.

Did you see what happened in France last weekend?  Macron thought it would be a good idea to block entry to restaurants and bars unless the potential patron can produce paperwork showing that they’re “safe.”  Downtown Paris was choked with tens, maybe hundreds of thousands of people in protest.  We’ve seen nothing of the sort in this country, or any of the other formerly free nations of the West.

The vain Dr. couldn’t have lost his cool at a more appropriate moment from our perspective.  Check out the cover of the new 21^st Century WATCH.  Remember that Proverb about pride?  It still applies, as the good Dr. is finding out.  Governor Cuomo might be in for a tumble too.

The letter has just gone to print, and it’s impossible to cover much of what’s ailing earth’s societies.  We didn’t even mention the new lock-down that’s been implemented in whole provinces of Australia, or the insanity that’s gripped the UK or Canada.  They’re freaking out about the dreaded virus, again.  If the virus dies out, the authors of mandates become irrelevant.  So here they come.  They’ve got variants you never heard of, at least until the letter arrives.

There’s enough health advice to ruin countless lives, which has already been done on the flimsiest of whims, but with towering authority.  We hope those so fervently looking out for us are enjoying themselves.  The aftermath may not be what they’re expecting.

Mark

Source: http://www.intercontinentalcog.org/fridayupdates.php

The post Weekly Update by Mark Armstrong – 23 July 2021 first appeared on Garner Ted Armstrong Evangelistic Association.

It’s hard to fathom, but those pretending to be in charge are threatening to go “door to door” to ask whether we’ve been vaccinated.  Good luck with that.  Meanwhile the news is coming up with new variants, one is supposed to be unaffected by the vaccine.  Seems like they’re tying themselves in knots trying to tell everyone what to do.  Whatever happened to my body, my choice?  That’s one of their favorite slogans when it comes to abortion.  All fragile logic is shattered when it comes to instilling panic.

They had 92 shooting victims, 16 of which died including three wounded children LAST WEEKEND in Chicago (some outlets claim 104 shootings).  Their lives didn’t matter enough for blm to hold a rally or loot and burn a couple of businesses.  The Mayor… Somebody wrote to me and said, “If you can’t say something nice, don’t say anything at all.  So, look her up.  Apparently she’s not particularly concerned.

Where in the world do you have to go to find a crime rate to compare?  (It turns out that Chicago isn’t even among the top cities for murder and shootings, but at the current rate it just might make the list).  While peaceful, patriotic citizens are being accused of racism around the clock, people are shooting each other up in Chicago and several other inner cities (Detroit, Baltimore…) across the US. Most of these crimes are never solved. Just another drug deal turned deadly.  No, there are higher priorities.  Like calling everybody racist.  Meanwhile it’s a shooting gallery, with innocent bystanders and even children among the casualties.

The incredible thing about this circumstance is that the politicians claim it’s the fault of the guns.  It’s “gun violence” they tell us.  If they could just get rid of those guns that are shooting everybody.  If you own one, you must be partially to blame because, “all those guns!”  My Dad, like millions of Dads, owned several and taught us the safe handling of firearms.  We took classes to ensure safety was always the highest priority when shooting or hunting.  None of my Dad’s guns were ever pointed at anybody.  Never.  They never shot anyone.

It is interesting that Chicago has some of the strictest gun laws anywhere in the nation.  The simpletons that run the place give speeches about guns being available outside the city and the criminals merely drive or send someone to another state where guns are available.  But those places where they supposedly go to buy guns aren’t awash in shooting victims.  Is it the guns?  Or is it the criminals that are responsible for the bloodshed?  If there were no guns there would still be murders.

It’s like so many other things.  They’ve found something they can blame on peaceful citizens just exercising their Constitutional rights.  There is an untold number of firearms in the United States, and more all the time.  No passage of unconstitutional laws or confiscation plans is going to rid society of firearms.  If the geniuses get their way, only criminals will own guns.  It kind of makes you wonder if that’s not what they’re trying to accomplish.

Several incidents have gone viral where parents, and in some cases children, are telling off school boards that are trying to implement Critical Race Theory.  The brainwashing has been in effect for some time.  It is embarrassing to see purportedly “educated” college kids who know nearly nothing other than RACISM.  Critical race theory supposes that the United States was built on a foundation of racism, and we’re all culpable.. We’re all a bunch of Bible-thumping “extremists,” whether we know it or not.  That’s why you can’t be patriotic anymore.  What are you, some kind of domestic extremist?

Several agencies that we pay for are committed to this theory.  Stories claim that there will now be branches of Capitol Police established in places other than the Capitol.  Their mission?  Root out these “domestic extremists.”  Day after day one of these executive dirtbags comes out and publicly brands “domestic extremism” as the greatest danger we face.  You know where this is going.  People who loved and respected what #45 was doing fall under suspicion.  America first?  That’s caveman stuff according to the really smart news anchors who aren’t shy about telling us what to think and believe.

They’re trying to tell us that this gay claptrap is “universal.”  They want to be loved for “who they are,” the TV tells us.  “Be authentically who you are” the promos say.  Translation, if you’re a queer, by all means don’t change or give up over losing the respect of your parents or family.  Society has your back.  Besides, all those who disapprove are probably domestic extremists anyway.  All the big corporations and news media companies are telling us what we must think, and that’s a problem.

The best retort might just be to say, “It’s against my religion.”  Maybe that’s not appropriate in the eyes of the mainstream, but it’s true nevertheless.  The Bible is a little murky on some subjects that people tend to argue about.  But not this one.  Over and over, Old Testament and New, comes one condemnation after another.

They’ve taken the rainbow, a sign that God would never again drown the inhabitants of the earth, and made it stand for something He condemns throughout His Word.  That’s some coincidence.  Has “pride” month ended?  You should have seen the first-ever rally that took place in Tyler a couple of weeks ago.  Yeah, we want to be just like those people.  NOT!

Crime is legal, or nearly so in San Francisco.  This week featured video footage of masked thieves making their getaway after they’d smashed display cases and scooped up bags full of expensive merchandise at Neiman Marcus The police are not particularly interested.  Oh, shoplifting.  Yeah, they’ve got more important things to worry about.  Apparently some 17 Walgreens have had to shut down in the area.  Meanwhile, you hear the lament about “food deserts” in the inner cities.  People will have to find somewhere else to get their groceries or prescriptions filled, because the drug stores are headed for extinction.

It’s hard to make a profit when shoplifters come and go with impunity.  At least some mainstream chains are still interested in profit.  How racist is that?

Mark

Source: http://www.intercontinentalcog.org/fridayupdates.php

The post Weekly Update by Mark Armstrong – 9 July 2021 first appeared on Garner Ted Armstrong Evangelistic Association.

India has been battling the world’s worst COVID-19 outbreak and on Monday recorded another record in new cases with 352,991 in the past 24 hours along with 2,812 deaths.

Reuters reported that the situation in the country is dire, with hospitals in Delhi and other cities being forced to turn away patients due to a lack of medical oxygen and other supplies.

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“Every hospital is running out (of oxygen). We are running out,” Dr. Sudhanshu Bankata, executive director of Batra Hospital, a leading hospital in the capital, told a local channel.

Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III said in a statement Sunday that the U.S. stands ready to support “our Indian partners in their hour of need.”

He said he has directed the department to “use every resource at our disposal, within our authority” to rapidly provide India’s frontline healthcare workers with the materials they need. He said he instructed the department to provide transportation and logistics assistance and is prepared to “deliver needed supplies” including oxygen-related equipment.

INDIA REPORTS RECORD NUMBER OF NEW CORONAVIRUS CASES

The BBC reported that the U.K. shipped its first consignment aid on Sunday that included 495 oxygen concentrators, which the report said has the capability to extract oxygen from the air if the hospital systems buckle.  A correspondent from the network who covers India posted a video on Twitter that she said showed an oxygen tanker with a police escort.

A Covid-19 coronavirus patient lies on a stretcher outside a hospital in New Delhi on April 24, 2021. (Photo by Sajjad HUSSAIN / AFP) (Photo by SAJJAD HUSSAIN/AFP via Getty Images)

“More precious than gold,” Yogita Limaye posted.

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India’s infection surge, blamed on a highly contagious variant first detected here, came after Prime Minister Narendra Modi declared victory over the coronavirus in January, telling the virtual gathering of the World Economic Forum that India’s success couldn’t be compared with anywhere else.

The Associated Press contributed to this report

Source: https://www.foxnews.com/world/india-hits-new-record-with-covid-19-infections-us-vows-aid

The post India hits new record with COVID-19 infections, US vows aid first appeared on Garner Ted Armstrong Evangelistic Association.

• Canada’s third coronavirus wave is affecting young people more severely than before.
• Top health officials say the surge of infections are fueled by new COVID-19 variants.
• The new wave is prompting lockdowns and new restrictions in several provinces.
• See more stories on Insider’s business page.

Canada is battling a surge of coronavirus infections fueled by new variants which is sickening much younger adults than hospitals are accustomed to seeing.

On Saturday evening, the nation surpassed 1 million recorded coronavirus cases since the start of the pandemic. The third wave of coronavirus has mainly struck the provinces of Ontario, Quebec, and British Columbia, prompting all three to implement new restrictions to stop the spread.

Canada’s chief public health officer, Dr. Theresa Tam, recently announced a 64% increase in new cases involving coronavirus variants — 90% of which involved the B.1.1.7 variant first found in the United Kingdom in September.

Ontario, in particular, has reported an influx of much younger patients in ICUs. Nearly half of the province’s COVID-19 ICU patients are under the age of 60, officials announced this week.

“It’s getting pretty alarming here. It’s spreading quickly, and it’s much faster than the last two waves,” Dr. Kashif Pirzada, an emergency physician in Toronto, told CNN. “The people filling the ICU right now are all in their 30s, 40s, and 50s.”

Pirzada recently tweeted images of cloudy-looking lungs from ICU patients in their 30s.

The post Canada’s 3rd wave of COVID-19 is ‘killing faster and younger’ and fueled by new variants first appeared on Garner Ted Armstrong Evangelistic Association.

1. Does vaccination completely prevent infection?

The short answer is no. You can still get infected after you’ve been vaccinated. But your chances of getting seriously ill are almost zero.

Many people think vaccines work like a shield, blocking a virus from infecting cells altogether. But in most cases, a person who gets vaccinated is protected from disease, not necessarily infection.

Every person’s immune system is a little different, so when a vaccine is 95% effective, that just means 95% of people who receive the vaccine – but who would have gotten ill if exposed to the virus before – won’t get sick. These people could be completely protected from infection, or they could be getting infected but remain asymptomatic because their immune system eliminates the virus very quickly. The remaining 5% of vaccinated people – if exposed to the virus – could become infected and get sick, but are extremely unlikely to be hospitalized.

Vaccination doesn’t 100% prevent you from getting infected, but in all cases, it gives your immune system a huge leg up on the coronavirus. Whatever your outcome – whether complete protection from infection or some level of disease – you will be better off after encountering the virus than if you hadn’t been vaccinated.

Vaccines prevent disease, not infection. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, CC BY

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2. Does infection always mean transmission?

Transmission happens when enough viral particles from an infected person get into the body of an uninfected person. In theory, anyone infected with the coronavirus could potentially transmit it. But a vaccine will reduce the chance of this happening.

In general, if vaccination doesn’t completely prevent infection, it will significantly reduce the amount of virus coming out of your nose and mouth – a process called shedding – and shorten the time that you shed the virus. This is a big deal. A person who sheds less virus is less likely to transmit it to someone else.

This seems to be the case with coronavirus vaccines. In a recent preprint study which has yet to be peer reviewed, Israeli researchers tested 2,897 vaccinated people for signs of coronavirus infection. Most had no detectable virus, but people who were infected had one-quarter the amount of virus in their bodies as unvaccinated people tested at similar times post-infection.

Less coronavirus virus means less chance of spreading it, and if the amount of virus in your body is low enough, the probability of transmitting it may reach almost zero. However, researchers don’t yet know where that cutoff is for the coronavirus, and since the vaccines don’t provide 100% protection from infection, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends that people continue to wear masks and social distance even after they’ve been vaccinated.

New, more infectious, and transmissible variants of the coronavirus might limit the effectiveness of current vaccines. AP Photo/John Raoux

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     3. What about the new coronavirus variants?

New variants of coronavirus have emerged in recent months, and recent studies show that vaccines are less effective against certain ones, like the B1351 variant first identified in South Africa.

Every time SARS-CoV-2 replicates, it gets new mutations. In recent months, researchers have found new variants that are more infective – meaning a person needs to breathe in less virus to become infected – and other variants that are more transmissible – meaning they increase the amount of virus a person sheds. And researchers have also found at least one new variant that seems to be better at evading the immune system, according to early data.

So how does this relate to vaccines and transmission?

For the South Africa variant, vaccines still provide greater than 85% protection from getting severely ill with COVID–19. But when you count mild and moderate cases, they provide, at best, only about 50%-60% protection. That means at least 40% of vaccinated people will still have a strong enough infection – and enough virus in their body – to cause at least moderate disease.

If vaccinated people have more virus in their bodies and it takes less of that virus to infect another person, there will be higher probability a vaccinated person could transmit these new strains of the coronavirus.

If all goes well, vaccines will very soon reduce the rate of severe disease and death worldwide. To be sure, any vaccine that reduces disease severity is also, at the population level, reducing the amount of virus being shed overall. But because of the emergence of new variants, vaccinated people still have the potential to shed and spread the coronavirus to other people, vaccinated or otherwise. This means it will likely take much longer for vaccines to reduce transmission and for populations to reach herd immunity than if these new variants had never emerged. Exactly how long that will take is a balance between how effective vaccines are against emerging strains and how transmissible and infectious these new strains are.

This story was updated to clarify the explanation of vaccine efficacy.

Source: https://theconversation.com/can-vaccinated-people-still-spread-the-coronavirus-155095

The post Can vaccinated people still spread the coronavirus? first appeared on Garner Ted Armstrong Evangelistic Association.