An orangutan named Karen (how apropos) was among the first great apes at a U.S. zoo to receive a COVID-19 vaccine after having previously been the first in the world to have open-heart surgery in 1994.
In February, Karen, three other orangutans, and five bonobos at the San Diego Zoo have received two doses each of an experimental vaccine for animals developed by a veterinary pharmaceutical company, says Nadine Lamberski, chief conservation and wildlife health officer at the San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance.
Lamberski said, “This isn’t the norm. In my career, I haven’t had access to an experimental vaccine this early in the process and haven’t had such an overwhelming desire to want to use one.”
In January, eight gorillas at the San Diego Zoo Safari Park became the first great apes in the world to test positive for COVID-19. Winston, a 49-year-old silverback even received experimental antibody treatment after his diagnosis and has been recovering along with the others.
According to Just the News, coronavirus vaccines for animals have existed for many years, but the animal health care company Zoetis which was once part of Pfizer has specifically focused on developing a SARS-CoV-2 vaccine for animals.
It sure seems Biden’s COVID vaccination “plan” is going smoothly:
Great Apes in San Diego are getting the China Virus vaccine while veterans and senior citizens who want it aren't.
Is this what Joe Biden means when he says he has a "plan" to manage vaccine rollout?
????
— Charlie Kirk (@charliekirk11) March 5, 2021
CDC Says Teachers Do Not Need To Be Vaccinated To Reopen Schools
Teachers do not need to be vaccinated in order for schools to reopen according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
In cites such as Chicago and Los Angeles, teachers unions are resisting the effort to put teachers back in the classrooms without proper precautions in place, including vaccinations.
According to a Wednesday report from CNBC, newly appointed CDC Director Rochelle Walensky says that teachers do not need to be vaccinated against COVID-19 before schools can reopen.
In statements during a COVID-19 White House press briefing, Walensky said, “There is increasing data to suggest that schools can safely reopen and that safe reopening does not suggest that teachers need to be vaccinated. Vaccinations of teachers is not a prerequisite of reopening schools.”
She also explained that a CDC advisory committee has placed teachers in the “1B” category — the same as essential workers — to receive vaccines, placing them second in line for priority to receive the injections.
The CDC has stated that there is “little evidence” of widespread coronavirus transmission in schools and many schools across the country have been open for in person teaching for a while with little to no issues.
Full story at the Blaze.
Joe Biden Covid-19 Adviser Says Life is Not Worth Living Past 75
One of the 10 advisory board members on Joe Biden’s new coronavirus task force, Dr. Zeke Emanuel, once argued that life is not worth living past 75.
This poses an interesting question since Former Vice President Joe Biden is now 77. In a 2014 Atlantic essay titled ‘Why I Hope to Die at 75’, Emanuel goes on to explain many reasons why we should not live past 75. What does this mean for the elderly across the nation affected with covid-19 that he would be entrusted with protecting?
The oncologist, 63, wrote at the time that he believed by 75, ‘creativity, originality and productivity are pretty much gone for the vast, vast majority of us.’
He suggested that society, as well as family members, would be ‘better off’ if nature took ‘its course swiftly and promptly’.
Emanuel also stated that beyond the age of 75, he personally will begin rejecting routine medical treatments such as flu shots.
‘Flu shots are out,’ he wrote. ‘Certainly if there were to be a flu pandemic, a younger person who has yet to live a complete life ought to get the vaccine or any antiviral drugs.’
Emanuel argued in his essay that since the 1960s, ‘increases in longevity have been achieved mainly by extending the lives of people over 60. Rather than saving more young people, we are stretching out old age.’
‘It is true that compared with their counterparts 50 years ago, seniors today are less disabled and more mobile,’ he continued. ‘But over recent decades, increases in longevity seem to have been accompanied by increases in disability—not decreases.’
Emanuel went on to say, “Americans seem to be obsessed with exercising, doing mental puzzles, consuming various juice and protein concoctions, sticking to strict diets, and popping vitamins and supplements, all in a valiant effort to cheat death and prolong life as long as possible. I reject this notion, I think this manic desperation to endlessly extend life is misguided and potentially destructive. For many reasons, 75 is a pretty good age to aim to stop.”
We can only wonder if Dr. Emanuel was the advisor to Governors Andrew Cuomo (D-N.Y.), Gretchen Whitmer (D-Mich.), Gavin Newsom (D-Calif.), Tom Wolf (D-Pa.), and Phil Murphy (D-N.J.) whose decision to put covid patients in nursing homes cost the lives of thousands.
Full story at Daily Mail.
