Harry
2025-01-26 17:35:15 UTC
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Permalink- "protect 'public discussion of alternative medical treatments'"
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Don't forget faith healing!
Alberta task force recommends halt of COVID-19 vaccines in new report
The task force took aim at vaccines, which Alberta and other Canadian
jurisdictions required in order to access public gatherings and businesses
during the pandemic.Mary Conlon/The Associated Press
An Alberta government task force has recommended that the use of COVID-19
vaccines be halted unless more information is provided about risk, in a
report rife with suggestions that run counter to mainstream scientific
consensus.
The $2-million task forces final report, released Friday, touched on
several points common with disinformation campaigns such as the
effectiveness of public health restrictions and masking, while also
recommending some government authority over media.
Alberta Premier Danielle Smith, in the fall of 2022, directed the
governments then-health minister to strike a panel to review pandemic data
and provide recommendations. The Globe and Mail, in April, first revealed
details about the task force, which was led by Gary Davidson, a physician
who claimed the province manipulated statistics to introduce restrictions
and exaggerated pressure on hospitals during the height of the pandemic.
The task forces composition and report reflect Ms. Smiths skepticism
toward how governments around the world responded to the pandemic. The
final report, for example, revealed that Jay Bhattacharya was among its 13
panelists. U.S. President Donald Trump nominated Dr. Bhattacharya to run
the National Institutes of Health. In 2020, Dr. Bhattacharya co-authored
the Great Barrington Declaration, which argued against public-health
measures such as lockdowns.
The 269-page report is a sweeping criticism of the governments response
and defence of contrarian arguments, such as the value of drugs such as
ivermectin, which scientists determined were ineffective in warding off and
treating COVID-19.
The task force took aim at vaccines, which Alberta and other Canadian
jurisdictions required in order to access public gatherings and businesses.
Alberta launched a vaccine passport system in September, 2021, and while it
ended in early 2022, physicians still recommend booster shots.
The task force recommends halting the use of COVID-19 vaccines without
full disclosure of their potential risks, ending their use in healthy
children and teenagers, conducting further research into their
effectiveness, establishing support for vaccine-injured individuals, and
providing an opt-out mechanism from federal public health policy, the
report said.
Ms. Smith, prior to becoming premier, railed against Albertas management
of the pandemic, particularly vaccine mandates and restrictions on
gatherings. She promoted drugs, such as the antiparasitic drug ivermectin,
and also travelled to the United States to receive Janssens single-dose
shot because she was skeptical of mRNA vaccines.
The task force concluded federal and provincial health authorities took a
restrictive approach to certain drugs including ivermectin and
hydroxychloroquine, which is used to treat malaria.
Both drugs gained popularity in right-wing and anti-vaccination circles as
COVID-19 remedies, although the medical community insists there is no
evidence supporting their effectiveness against the coronavirus.
The panel said Alberta should protect public discussion of alternative
medical treatments under the provincial Human Rights Act and advised the
government to prevent regulatory bodies from using professionalism or
codes of conduct to obstruct the use of approved medications for off-label
use.
It also recommended halting disciplinary action against health care workers
for promoting or using these medications.
The task force took aim at both Alberta Health Services and the health
ministry on its collection of data to inform the need for booster shots.
The group stated that there is no quality data that supports the idea
that vaccines provide better protection from severe disease than natural
exposure to circulating variants. Ultimately, it was recommended that
public health information avoid ideological bias geared toward maximizing
vaccine coverage.
When it came to testing for COVID-19, the review concluded that there were
conflicting studies and methods utilized during the height of the pandemic,
which resulted in inconsistent determinations regarding the actual
infection rate in Alberta and consequently informed policy decisions.
We recommend that future pandemic responses prioritize minimizing severe
disease and mortality over extensive case detection. Specifically, Alberta
should focus on developing a screening tool to help estimate individual
risk, the report stated.
The panel also suggested that the media is politically or financially
compensated by public health or pharmaceutical contracts and said the
government should require the press to publicly disclosure any
affiliations.
When reporting on health-related matters, require media to cite levels of
supporting evidence and publicly disclose any political or financial
competing interests that may influence their reporting, including publicly
disclosing the dollar value and conditions of their public health and
pharmaceutical contracts, the report said.
Ms. Smith previously said she appointed Mr. Davidson as head the task force
because of his contrarian perspective. She defended the task force last
April and said it was created to investigate unexplained deaths and rumours
on social media about vaccine harms.
Medical professionals in Alberta were skeptical of the task force and the
final report said the panelists search for answers was hindered by
informational barriers, including reluctance of key stakeholders to
acknowledge and engage with our mandate.
Jessi Rampton, a spokeswoman for Health Minister Adriana LaGrange, said in
a statement the government is still reviewing the report and that no policy
decisions have been made at this time.
Their recommendations offer a perspective on how the government can be
better positioned to protect the health and safety of Albertans in the
future.
The government has been reviewing the report since August, when it received
it.
https://www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/article-alberta-releases-secret-
report-into-the-provinces-covid-response/