Opinion | COVID Next Moves (and how we Fight Omicron)

As we face the prospect of a third COVID winter with only a vaccinate & mask response, a needed third leg is missing: effective early treatment, especially measures that mitigate transmission associated with nasal/upper respiratory viral replication of the type that can occur in the noses of both vaccinated and unvaccinated persons. [To see a 2:45 min. video on why SARS-CoV-2 replication in the nasopharynx is a problem, click here.] While new oral antiviral drugs from Merck and Pfizer may be of use, we need to improve and keep improving, our ability to intervene early by designing effective cocktails even as we deploy what we already have available, and by doing good science in the nasal spray category. The following three steps, taken immediately, might really help:

  1. Encourage participation in the COVID-OUT clinical trial <NCT04510194>, and in the ACTIV-6 clinical trial once COVID-OUT is fully enrolled. COVID-OUT is run by a group out of University of Minnesota that includes the United Health Group, part of a network of Minnesota-based companies that includes the United Health Care insurance company. This multi-drug trial includes five combinations of three agents:

    1. metformin,

    1. ivermectin,

    1. fluvoxamine,

    1. fluvoxamine + metformin,

    1. ivermectin + metformin,

and, of course, a placebo group. Medicine is provided by the study and taken at home. Participants are paid $400.  When completed, this will be the first phase 3 outpatient clinical trial of these repurposed COVID-19 treatments in the U.S. Some have criticized some of the associated protocols but the fact that these repurposed drugs are under study continues to progress.

  • There are nasal sprays that may be helpful at fighting the spread of SaARS-CoV-2 available in other nations, but not in the United States. We are hearing from U.S. doctors about one in particular, SaNOtize from Israel, that is safe and should be made available to U.S. doctors and their patients without delay. Click here to read a full Trial Site News article concerning SaNOtize Nasal Spray. If the product is available in Israel pharmacies, why could that be explored in the United States and elsewhere?

  • Still more exciting are monoclonal antibody nasal sprays in development. Such products might be of particular use in outbreak containment situations such as the one occurring now in South Africa. As scientists rush to determine whether current vaccines are effective against the Omicron Variant, we suggest they also test the IgM-14 antibody in investigational nasal spray IGM-6268. Why this one when there are plenty other exciting developments in the monoclonal antibody space? For the same reason NIH Director Francis Collins blogged about it in June; because this antibody is active in mucus, and there’s no need to report to an infusion center if it can be developed as a nasal spray. This type of delivery could boost access with favorable economics.

Each new SARS-CoV-2 variant that exhibits a fitness advantage does so, in part, by leveraging speed – especially the window of time it takes a host to produce mucosal antibodies. To meet the challenge, we must respond with alacrity and focus, yet with flexibility and respect for one another. Take-home readiness kits that include self-administered COVID tests, a fingertip pulse oximeter, and COVID treatments, are now possible.

Even when we are not each on the same page, we can find ways to work together that unite us. Let’s strive to do that. While there isn’t enough data yet to determine the severity of Omicron, and in fact some early reports evidence possibly higher transmissibility yet milder infection, we must be prepared for the worst.

Dying COVID-19 Patient Recovers After Court Orders Hospital to Administer Ivermectin

An elderly COVID-19 patient has recovered after a court order allowed him to be treated with ivermectin, despite objections from the hospital in which he was staying, according to the family’s attorney.

After an Illinois hospital insisted on administering expensive remdesivir to the patient and the treatment failed, his life was saved after a court ordered that an outside medical doctor be allowed to use the inexpensive ivermectin to treat him, over the hospital’s strenuous objections.

Ivermectin tablets have been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to treat humans with intestinal strongyloidiasis and onchocerciasis, two conditions caused by parasitic worms. Some topical forms of ivermectin have been approved to treat external parasites such as head lice and for skin conditions such as rosacea. The drug is also approved for use on animals.

Remdesivir has been given emergency use authorization by the FDA for treating certain categories of human patients that have been hospitalized with COVID-19. But the use of ivermectin to treat humans suffering from COVID-19 has become controversial because the FDA hasn’t approved its so-called off-label use to treat the disease, which is caused by the CCP virus also known as SARS-CoV-2.

Critics have long accused the FDA of dragging its heels and being dangerously over-cautious and indifferent to human suffering in its approach to regulating pharmaceuticals, a criticism that led to then-President Donald Trump signing the Right to Try Act in May 2018. The law, according to the FDA, “is another way for patients who have been diagnosed with life-threatening diseases or conditions who have tried all approved treatment options and who are unable to participate in a clinical trial to access certain unapproved treatments.”

Medical doctors are free to prescribe ivermectin to treat COVID-19, even though the FDA claims that its off-label use could be harmful in some circumstances. Clinical human trials of the drug for use against COVID-19 are currently in progress, according to the agency.

The drug “most definitely” saved the elderly patient’s life “because his condition changed right immediately after he took ivermectin,” attorney for the family, Kirstin M. Erickson of Chicago-based Mauck and Baker, told The Epoch Times.

Sun Ng, 71, who was visiting the United States from Hong Kong to celebrate his granddaughter’s first birthday, became ill with COVID-19 and within days was close to death. He was hospitalized on Oct. 14 at Edward Hospital, in Naperville, Illinois, a part of the Edward-Elmhurst Health system. His condition worsened dramatically and he was intubated and placed on a ventilator a few days later.

Ng’s only child, Man Kwan Ng, who holds a doctoral degree in mechanical engineering, did her own research and decided that her father should take ivermectin, which some medical doctors believe is effective against COVID-19, despite the FDA’s guidance to the contrary.

But against the daughter’s wishes, the hospital refused to administer ivermectin and denied access to a physician willing to administer it.

The daughter went to court on her father’s behalf and on Nov. 1, Judge Paul M. Fullerton of the Circuit Court of DuPage County granted a temporary restraining order requiring the hospital to allow ivermectin to be given to the patient. The hospital refused to comply with the court order.

At a subsequent court hearing on Nov. 5, Fullerton said one physician who testified described Sun Ng as “basically on his death bed,” with a mere 10 to 15 percent chance of survival. Ivermectin can have minor side effects such as dizziness, itchy skin, and diarrhea at the dosage suggested for Ng, but the “risks of these side effects are so minimal that Mr. Ng’s current situation outweighs that risk by one-hundredfold,” Fullerton said.

The judge issued a preliminary injunction that day directing the hospital to “immediately allow … temporary emergency privileges” to Ng’s physician, Dr. Alan Bain, “solely to administer Ivermectin to this patient.”

The hospital resisted the order on Nov. 6 and 7, denying Bain access to his patient. The hospital claimed that it couldn’t let Bain in because he wasn’t vaccinated against COVID-19 and that its chief medical officer wasn’t available to “proctor” Bain administering ivermectin.

The daughter’s attorneys filed an emergency report with the court on Nov. 8 and Fullerton heard from both sides. The judge admonished the hospital and restated that it must allow Bain inside over a period of 15 days to do his job. When the hospital filed a motion to stay the order, Fullerton denied it, again directing the facility to comply.

The ivermectin appears to have worked, and Sun Ng has recovered from COVID-19. He was discharged by the hospital on Nov. 27.

“My father’s recovery is amazing,” his daughter, Man Kwan Ng, said in a statement.

“My father is a tough man. He was working so hard to survive, and of course, with God’s holding hands. He weaned off oxygen about three days after moving out of the ICU. He started oral feeding before hospital discharge. He returned home without carrying a bottle of oxygen and a feeding tube installed to his stomach. He can now stand with a walker at the bedside and practice stepping. After being sedated for a month on a ventilator in ICU, his performance is beyond our expectations. Praise the Lord.”

Attorney Erickson said the “happy” end result here provides “hope for the nation.”

“We get calls from all over the place,” she told The Epoch Times. “People that want to sue hospitals after someone’s passed, they wanted to get the medicine and couldn’t. Obviously, that’s a different, difficult case because a medical malpractice case is very difficult.”

People just want to do what’s best for their family members and “find ivermectin themselves” and have it on hand “and use it when someone starts to develop symptoms,” Erickson said.

She said her legal team and client were “really thankful” that Ng recovered and “we salute” Judge Fullerton, Dr. Bain, and others, as well as the hospital for abiding by the court order in the end.

For more information on ivermectin and how to obtain it, Erickson said people should visit the website of the Front Line COVID-19 Critical Care Alliance at Covid19CriticalCare.com.

Keith Hartenberger, system director for public relations for Edward-Elmhurst Health, declined to comment.

“We’re not able to comment due to patient privacy guidelines,” he told The Epoch Times by email.

“The King” & The Breakthrough COVID-19 Infection

In further proof, sports are now big business. The Wall Street Journal reports that Los Angeles Lakers star and basketball great LeBron James will spend the next ten days in COVID-19 protocol because “The King” has either tested positive or “inconclusive” for SARS-CoV-2, the virus behind COVID-19. James, who says he’s fully vaccinated, must conform to NBA rules and have a seat off the court. This appears to be yet the latest example of a high-profile breakthrough infection. TrialSite observes an ever-growing number of breakthrough cases. Numerous studies demonstrate waning effectiveness implying vaccine durability issues. Will new variants such as Omicron make this situation worse?

This is the latest blow to the Lakers who’ve had a tough time in the NBA so far this year.  According to the article in the Journal, James is asymptomatic. It’s a setback for the superstar who’s missed half of the Laker games this season. An article on CNN.com says James missed games with an abdominal strain, then the star was suspended one game and fined $15,000 for making an obscene gesture to a fan. 

James is one of the biggest draws in the NBA and last year was somewhat cagey about his vaccination status. In September, of this year, James announced he was vaccinated. He has not endorsed or spoken out against vaccination, saying, “I don’t feel like, for me personally, I should get involved in what other people should do for their bodies and their livelihoods.” 

“The King” himself has neither confirmed nor denied he’s tested positive but left it up to teammate Anthony Davis to make the announcement. Davis said, “COVID is a very scary thing” suggesting the 36-year-old James may have, in fact, tested positive. 

James’ absence could be a blow to TV ratings. The Lakers have several upcoming nationally televised games first with the Boston Celtics and then the Los Angeles Clippers. The games are major, and James could be out for both of them. NY Knicks fans were disappointed when the Lakers played at Madison Square Garden without James. “The King” was serving his suspension for the “obscene gesture”.  Obviously, James is a huge draw for basketball fans. 

The NBA is pushing players to get vaccinated and boosted because the league plays indoors with a greater risk of contracting covid. The league also announced players would be subject to increased testing if they don’t get the booster. This is not only a question of health but also to guard against loss of revenue. The National Hockey League has suffered from a loss of revenue due to the virus. The NY Islanders had to cancel games last week because a large number of players tested positive for coronavirus.

Meanwhile, TrialSite observes what appears to be ever-growing numbers of breakthrough infections due to a combination of waning COVID-19 vaccine effectiveness—a significant problem that could possibly worsen with new variants. Hence the government’s recommendation for booster shots.

James has always touted his physicality but this year after the abdominal injury and covid, perhaps “The King” has finally been proven to be more like the rest of us. 

Italy Holds ‘March of the Vaccine Dead’ To Remember Those Killed By The COVID-19 Vaccine

Last weekend, a group numbering in the hundreds staged a mourning march in Parma, Italy to commemorate those who have died as a result of the COVID-19 vaccine. The marchers held up pictures of the dead as they moved in solemn procession through central Parma, chanting the names of those lost to the experimental vaccines.

This kind of vigil seems to be spreading across the world. On November 20th, relatives of the vaccine dead held a vigil in South Korea where they shaved their heads in mourning for their lost loved ones and begged for answers from government officials.

Marchers holding up pictures of those killed by the vaccine

Some of the victims being remembered in the march have been documented on this website, such as Stefano PaternòSofia BenhariraGiulia Lucenti, and Traian Calancea.

As the number of dead and injured from the vaccine continues to rise, marches like this can only become more common as the public outpouring of grief continues.

Julieta Anahí Ilundain: 15-Year-Old Dies At Her Birthday Party From Sudden Cardiac Arrest Months After Receiving Moderna Vaccine

Argentina has been shocked by the sudden death of a young girl who collapsed from a heart attack and died at the start of her 15th birthday party last week. According to the Argentinian newspaper El Día de Escobar, the dead girl was Julieta Anahí Ilundain, a well-known singer from Ingeniero Maschwitz.

Julieta was given a flower arrangement by her brother when she suddenly collapsed. Horrified onlookers attempted CPR and called an ambulance, however, the 15-year-old was pronounced dead at a local health center soon after. Julieta had received the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine in late August.

Julieta performing on stage in Maschwitz

The young singer was well-known in the community and had competed in the 2021 Buenos Aires Games, among other activities. She was an ambassador for the local House of Culture and had participated in the Zero Hunger race two weeks ago, organized by the Municipality of Escobar in Maschwitz.

Julieta’s mother, Karina Acosta, is also well-known in Maschwitz due to her work with the House of Culture. She shared a post on Facebook where Julieta is seen receiving the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine on August 20th.

“Moderna for teenagers she was a little bit in panic about the needle but it’s already done”

The recent increase in deaths of young people from sudden cardiac arrest after having the vaccine will undoubtedly add to the concern and uncertainty surrounding recommendations and mandates about administering the vaccine to children.

To remember Julieta’s death, here is a video of her singing from Facebook. Who knows where her singing career could have led if she had survived.


Rory James Nairn: 26-Year-Old Dies 12 Days After Receiving Pfizer COVID-19 Vaccine, Fiancee Speaks Out

DUNEDIN, NEW ZEALAND – A fit and active 26-year-old man has died 12 days after receiving the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine, the NZ Herald reports. Rory James Nairn had heart palpitations for several days before collapsing to the floor of his home on November 17th. His fiancee Ashleigh Wilson recently went public to speak about the ordeal.

Rory and Ashleigh

“I watched him die and I could not get to him. We were about to leave for the hospital and he was in the toilet and I heard a thud. He had fallen, his body was blocking the door, his full weight was against it and I couldn’t get it open. I could just see him through a crack in the door, I could see that he was gone.”

Rory had received his first dose of the Pfizer vaccine on November 5th and started feeling ‘heart flutters’ that evening. The symptoms continued and 12 days later, he started to suffer heart palpitations and an ‘uncomfortable’ feeling in his chest.

“We put this down to stress as we were in the process of selling and buying a house and planning a wedding.

We finally decided to head to the hospital at 3 am for reassurance but within moments, Rory went into cardiac arrest and died instantly in our home.”

Rory’s death is now being investigated by the coroner and health officials to find out whether it is connected to the Pfizer jab he received 12 days earlier. However, Ashleigh is ‘110%’ certain that his death was due to the vaccine.

“So a few days after his passing, I looked at his phone and I saw some Google searches. They were like ‘myocarditis’ and ‘heart racing after the vaccine’, and there was about ten of them. They were all searched about an hour before he passed away.

So I think that night he was starting to panic and he thought that it was from the vaccine. And in his mind he started experiencing those symptoms, obviously after he had his vaccine. So that has really helped me make my mind up that I definitely 110% think that it was the vaccination.”

Ashleigh was interviewed by Chantelle Baker about the tragic death of her long-time partner and friend:

Three Foreign Billionaires Finance the Dem Dark Money Machine

A Swiss human experimenter, a Hungarian Nazi collaborator, and an Iranian tech tycoon walk into Washington D.C. What do you call them? The absentee owners of the Democrat Party.

It’s not a joke. Unfortunately it’s grimly serious.

Politico recently reported that the Sixteen Thirty Fund, the leading dark money machine of the Left, had pumped $410 million into Dem 2020 efforts to defeat Trump and Republicans.

The Sixteen Thirty Fund had raised a record $390 million that year and half the money came from just 4 donors. While the names of the donors are secret, the article did note the names of three major known STF backers: Pierre Omidyar, Hansjörg Wyss, and George Soros.

Aside from their support for leftist causes, the three billionaires have another thing in common.

Hansjörg Wyss, the richest man in Switzerland, may not even be a United States citizen. The article notes that his $135 million in STF dark money donations were "earmarked for non-electoral purposes".

George Soros illegally immigrated to the United States in the 1950s. Aside from his history of Nazi collaboration which should have barred his entry and made him deportable, an account states that his visa was based on a false affidavit filed on his behalf.

His Open Society Foundations have invested an estimated $17 million into STF in 2020.

Pierre Omidyar, an Iranian immigrant, currently the richest man in Hawaii, is a Big Tech billionaire born to wealthy foreign students in Paris, who brought him here as a child. His mother, a Berkeley academic, heads a pro-Iran group financed by her son’s fortune.

Omidyar injected an estimated $45 million into an STF fund.

There is something remarkably striking about three foreign billionaires, two of whom have been accused of immoral atrocities, funding the dark money machine behind leftist politics.

Together the three men account for nearly $200 million in outlay just to STF.

The three men, two of them European and one Middle Eastern, are a study in contrasts and similarities. Wyss was born Christian, Soros was born Jewish, and Omidyar was born Muslim, only for them to have shed their past histories and adopted the generic identities of globalist megalomaniacs convinced that the fate of the planet and of humanity is in their hands.

The three immigrant billionaires inhabit estates in the ultra-luxurious Kahala neighborhood of Honolulu, in Wilson, Wyoming, and Bedford, New York and employ former Secret Service agents to guard them.

The three leftist billionaires made their money in transnational industries, finance, the internet, and medical technology that welcomed talented immigrants. Their allegiance to the country whose territories host their wealth and mansions varies from non-existent to outright antipathy.

Their true allegiance is to overriding social and technological philosophies, partly of their own devising, and they use their massive wealth to impose them on Americans. While their open advocacy has a fairly poor track record (how many people actually read Soros’ books, Omidyar’s thoughts on capitalism, or Wyss’ thoughts on environmentalism), they have learned that they can covertly buy influence by building their own manipulative political networks.

Dark money machines are unsurprising investments for men who avoid basic transparency and treat the American political system like a game of shadows that they can rig with their money.

Omidyar finances both Black Lives Matter and Never Trumpers. The eBay billionaire is the hidden hand behind the fake “Facebook whistleblower” advocating censoring conservatives. He has a project to “reimagine capitalism” while funding The Intercept which openly touts Marxism.

Soros is equally devious, having secretly funded J Street so that the anti-Israel group could pretend to be moderate opponents without being associated with a noted enemy of the Jewish State. Publicly, he bashes Xi and China, while his Quincy Institute defends the People’s Republic of China and advocates alongside the “Squad” against any anti-China measures.

Wyss has plowed a fortune into American politics without ever even going on the record as to whether he holds American citizenship. Meanwhile Wyss' Hub Project, operating out of STF, set up fronts like Floridians for a Fair Shake, Keep Iowa Healthy, and North Carolinians for a Fair Economy that went after Republicans. This isn’t politics: it’s a hostile foreign takeover.

Soros and Omidyar both benefited from economic disruption, technological and financial, that enabled them to get rich while inflicting heavy costs on existing industries and businesses. Like much of the Big Tech sector, they’re convinced that they’re geniuses and that their Nietzschean superiority gives them the right to destroy what exists in favor of their egotistical ideologies.

The two old men of the group, Soros and Wyss, have been accused of paving their path to wealth through horrifying crimes, whether it was Soros’ participation in the seizure of Jewish properties in Hungary, or the illegal medical experimentation on patients that sent multiple executives of the company that serves as the source of Wyss’ wealth to prison.

Wyss was reportedly “deliriously happy” when he learned that he would not be indicted over the experiments that had been tested on pigs, before killing the pigs, only to then be injected into human beings. “They do not have enough on me. They don’t have enough emails on me,” he reportedly boasted.

Their vast wealth and megalomania cannot be separated from the images of elderly patients dying on operating tables while representatives of Wyss’ company looked on and watched them suffer, or Tivadar Soros, the billionaire's father, writing that he sent George off to participate in antisemitic war crimes with a Nazi collaborator "to cheer the unhappy lad up" where "surrounded by good company, he quickly regained his spirits.”

“It is a sort of disease when you consider yourself some kind of god, the creator of everything, but I feel comfortable about it now since I began to live it out,” George Soros once quipped.

Omidyar and Wyss seem to know better than to announce their megalomania quite as nakedly, and even Soros scaled back his more outrageous boasts after increasing public scrutiny.

The three foreign billionaires named in the Politico article shared a common megalomania, filtered through the lenses of their own ideologies, and little attachment to the United States. American industries and companies made them fabulously rich, but their horizons have always been international, and they view America as little more than just another tool for their visions.

When Americans, the ordinary sort of people, don’t go all along, they manipulate them. Despite their official fealty to democracy, to open societies, and public discourse, their dark money investments reflect their determination to sideline the public and impose their will on America.

Democrats often complain about money in politics, but they are the worst offenders. Some of the richest men and the wealthiest zip codes buy up elections for them across the country. And they seem uninterested whether the billionaires buying them even have American citizenship.

Three foreign billionaires are engaged in a hostile foreign takeover of the Republic. The Democrats call this democracy. The rest of us call it ideological imperialism and colonial tyranny.