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State Of Affairs

No Honest Government Anywhere in the World (But Here’s How YOU Can Change That)

No Honest Government Anywhere in the World (But Here’s How YOU Can Change That)

By STEVE KIRSCH

An honest government would make public health data public. You can do this without violating anyone’s privacy. But no state or federal government will do this.

Executive summary

The fact that no government in the world believes in data transparency of public health data tells you everything you need to know.

And the medical community? They don’t care about data transparency of public health data either. Not a single mainstream doctor is calling for this AFAIK! Why? Because their jobs all depend on their compliance with the government narrative. Also, they will look very bad when it’s revealed that they’ve been lying to us for all these years.

But I found a way that we force the US government to finally make the public health data public with your help.

Introduction

I am still looking for an honest state or local government somewhere on planet Earth. No luck so far.

An honest government would make the record-level public health records for:

  1. births,
  2. deaths
  3. vaccinations,
  4. serious diseases (those that are serious enough for the government to require vaccination for)

publicly available for download. The records must be linked so that the record of each type contains the same identifier so that each person can be tracked.

There are ways to do this that do not violate anyone’s privacy. Details here.

I haven’t found any lawmaker anywhere in the world, at the state or country level, interested in making this happen.

Some have expressed interest initially, then nothing happened.

Achieving data transparency is something they don’t want because they don’t want to know

Achieving data transparency is about as likely as passing a law in Congress to ask the NIH to do a study comparing the health of the fully vaccinated vs. fully unvaccinated: it’s never going to happen.

In fact, they don’t even link the records themselves so even the governments themselves are completely clueless as to what is really going on as I learned from a FOIA request to the California Department of Public Health.

The lack of data transparency is bad enough, but it gets even worse than that

We are talking vaccines here.

If anything happens to you (like death or injury), neither the drug companies or the government are responsible! They have a liability waiver!

So it’s a one-two punch:

  1. We aren’t going to let you see the data
  2. We aren’t going to be held liable if anything happens to you

The only question left is, “Are you feeling lucky?” because they certainly don’t have your back.

Summary

If you thought your government has your best interests at heart, you are wrong. They are all compromised. No exceptions. Not even Florida Governor Ron DeSantis will do it. They talk a good game, but at the end of the day, none of them want to know the truth and they don’t want you to know either. Their lack of action on this issue tells you everything you need to know about them.

I’d be delighted to be proven wrong on this, but don’t hold your breath.

The only way this is ever going to change anytime soon is if we elect Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as our next President. He’s got a end of quarter deadline coming up in a few days.

Please do me a favor and go to his website right now and make a generous donation like I just did. The maximum is $3,300 per cycle, so you can donate $6,600 per person right now, but any amount, no matter how small, will help show he has a breadth of support.

And there are other ways to help that don’t cost any money. Thanks!

Original source: https://stevekirsch.substack.com/p/no-honest-government-anywhere-in

Categories
Health

James Lyons-Weiler Challenges Professor Martin Kulldorff on Vaccines and Autism

James Lyons-Weiler Challenges Professor Martin Kulldorff on Vaccines and Autism

By STEVE KIRSCH

Here’s a private email between JLW and MK. Quoted with permission. I thought you’d find it enlightening to see how science works.

Professor Martin Kulldorff claims the MMR vaccine doesn’t cause autism. Why doesn’t he double his net worth by betting I’m wrong?

Executive summary

Martin Kulldorff believes it is settled science that the MMR vaccine doesn’t cause autism. He’s wrong.

Here’s an email that fellow scientists James Lyons-Weiler sent him. JLW is an expert on autism. For example, he wrote this book on autism.

In his email, JLW points out that MK got it wrong.

Kulldorff believes it is settled science that the MMR vaccine doesn’t cause autism

He cites very flawed studies by untrustable authors. I reached out to the first author of the study he cites and asked to see the data and he went on Twitter to ask how he could block me. I never got any data and nobody else has been able to see the data either.

Nobody seems to be confident that Kulldorff got it right

I have a $5M pool of money reserved to match anyone who wants to bet against me on this issue. See this article for details.

To date, not a single person is willing to risk their money on this.

In short, nobody is buying the bullshit.

In other words, talk is cheap, but nobody will risk their money that they are right. Not Kulldorff, not Offit, and not even the vaccine manufacturers themselves.

What does that tell you?

Kulldorff refused to debate me

I made a statement:

Sadly, Hotez, nor any other “expert” will not debate any “misinformation superspreader.” They are all afraid of things like facts and data.

Kulldorff declined to debate me citing the following:

That is dishonest. Not respectful.

So JLW sent Kulldorff an email…

Here is the email JLW sent to Kulldorff

Re: Autism debate per your twitter post

Martin,

There is no debate because there is insufficient valid science.

As a biostatistician, you know association does not test causality.

But you should know that the IOM rejected the vast majority of studies on the question and were left with five studies, four of which were too small to be considered reliable.

If the bolus of studies available for any other question were as weak: cancer association with artificial sweeteners, for example – no one would say “Artificial Sweeteners Do Not Cause Cancer”.

If you have read the IOM reports, you must realize that the insufficiency of the available studies let Pharma win via stalemate; that the chair of the last NAS IOM committee, Marie McCormick lied in a presser about what the IOM actually concluded; that they said a tiny underpowered study should have been considered valid because the conclusions matched the other four (three of which were underpowered and one which had no real control over temporal confounding)

Rather than debate, as you are woefully unprepared to do so, please read the entirety of the IOM reports and then present a case defending what they did.

And please address why, for example, the CDC website reads “Vaccines Do Not Cause Autism” when not all pediatric vaccines have been studied?

And why are there some studies that did find associations that are ignored by those who choose to claim “vaccines do not cause autism”?

How do they know?

MAGIC?

Those of us who have actually read the IOM reports – all of them – and bothered to read the entire literature on the question know precisely what is known and what is not.

We know that vaccines are not exonerated for neurodevelopmental disorders, and that there is likely a heterogeneous subset of people with different genetic reasons for their sensitivity/intolerance.  They are sponges for toxins…

Here’s a fairly comprehensive causal model to debunk, but you need some cellular & molecular biology, not merely “association”.

https://ipaknowledge.org/ASD-Causality-Model.php

Do you think epidemiologic association studies that cook the data to exonerate vaccines are sufficient?

We owe much to Dr. Russell Blaylock for recognizing the importance of chronic microglial activation.

Autopsies have shown 25 years of CMA in people w/autism.

People w/autism are primed for autoimmunity… kids w/autism & their moms have anti-brain protein antibodies…

See 2,000 references.

I’ll be happy to send you the book.

There’s no reason for you not to read every last one of those references, if you’re a scientist and you claim that you know something, there’s a lot of knowledge that needs to be explained away.

It’s not just autism.  It’s autoimmunity. It’s tics. It’s ADHD.  It’s speech delay.  The mechanisms are plausible, the studies finding otherwise were cooked.  Can you defend “adjusting” for mother’s age, mother’s income, gestational age, and birthweight all in the same correlational study when they are so highly collinear and functionally redundant? Can you defend the use of covariates as assumed confounders when the functional relationships w/the outcome is unknown?  Can you defend why these studies never once tested for the interaction term between vaccines & genetics, and why the vaccine studies did informal model selection over and over until they found a combination that made the association go away – when there are FORMAL model selection criteria?

Did you know that mice and rat studies are used to “routinely and reliably” induce a wide array of autoimmune disorders using aluminum hydroxide in per body weight doses that amount to only 1/3 of the childhood vaccine schedule?

Martin, I did the hard work. You have not.  You cannot rely on association to infer causality, and you cannot rely on a negative result to make a knowledge claim.  You know this.

Do the right thing and take the issue seriously for yourself.  Let it get under your skin.  What if we’re right?  What if vaccines cause autoimmunity in kids to the point of altered brain development?  Immune development?  Endocrine system development?

What if the vaccine manufacturers in fact have captured HHS (clearly they have)?  How much damage do vaccines have to do before the public has to take matters into their own hands, and shut down CDC/FDA/NIH?

I’m not joking, not even slightly.

CDC/NIH/FDA have abandoned science. That’s the rhetoric. It’s a plain and simple fact.

And we will be taking steps to reverse this, immediately.

You perhaps have a cushy golden parachute waiting for you.  Good for you.

The epidemic will end, but you’ll have nothing more to say about it.

JLW

Summary

To his credit, Martin Kulldorff seems to be the only respectable scientist in the world willing to be challenged on his beliefs regarding vaccines and autism. The rest decline to be questioned.

But Kulldorff is wrong on this issue and it’s impacting hundreds of kids every day that we delay having an open debate on the topic.

I gave Kulldorff a list of people willing to debate him, but he won’t tell me who he will and won’t debate. He told me that each person must reach out to him individually and ask. I’ve told my autism friends this and recommended they contact him directly.

JLW would be the best person to debate. Even better would a small group on each side. We are willing. I doubt they would be willing.

We’ll see what happens.

If a debate happens, this will be an important breakthrough.

I’m not holding my breath that it will happen.

Original source: https://stevekirsch.substack.com/p/james-lyons-weiler-challenges-professor

Categories
Health

New FOIA in Germany: The Secret Files of the German “Corona Expert Council”

New FOIA in Germany: The Secret Files of the German “Corona Expert Council”

By AYA VELÁZQUEZ

In Germany, a new FOIA is out: A physician won against the German government. He received protocols of the Corona Expert Council. The group recommended tough measures like mandatory vaccinations.

A few days ago, on June 16, 2023, the physician Christian Haffner achieved a sensation: after a year-long legal battle with the German Federal Chancellery, he successfully obtained the protocols of the so-called “Corona Expert Council” on the basis of the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). The panel had met from December 2021 to April 2023 under the condition of utmost confidentiality. It was composed of media-known protagonists of the German Corona era, such as WHO protege-virologist Christian Drosten. German Health Minister Karl Lauterbach and other government officials regularly attended the circle. What makes the material so explosive is the fact that the Corona expert council accompanied the internal opinion-forming process of the government coalition to its bill of a general vaccination obligation, which was finally rejected on 07 April 2022 by the German parliament. The released protocols show: The expert council had recommended the general vaccination obligation and the continuation of Corona measures in the fall of 2022 – although the panel was well aware that vaccination does not protect against transmission, the population had long been tired of measures and Omicron was on the rise. The explosive documents provide a chilling glimpse into the closed worldview of “experts” who are willing to put their scientific ideology above the well-being of citizens.

The protocolls of the Corona Expert Council and the accompanying letter from the Chancellor’s Office were made public and available for free download by Christian Haffner on wednesday, June 28, 2023. The protocolls were given to me for analysis with kind permission on Saturday, 06/17/2023. I would like to sincerely thank Christian Haffner for his trust and his persistent efforts to obtain a central document of German Corona policy, that will answer many open questions. This text is a shorter version of the German article.

It was a long and tough process. On July 30, 2022, the physician Christian Haffner applied for the protocols of the Corona Expert Council under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), as they appeared to him to be of high importance for the political opinion-forming process in the actual Scholz cabinet and the so-called traffic light coalition, consisting of Social Democrats (SPD), the Green Party (Die Grünen) and The liberal party (FDP). The coalition had let vote on the bill of a general vaccination obligation, which was rejected finally on 07 April 2022. Stunned as to how such an anti-democratic proposal could have occurred, and convinced that an answer might be found in the advisory activities of the Corona Expert Council – whose work was carefully kept under wraps – Haffner fought tenaciously for a year to have the documents released.

The FOIA request, which Haffner submitted on July 31, 2022, via the portal FragDenStaat, was rejected for the first time in September 2022. His lawyer filed an appeal – which was again rejected. At the beginning of January 2023, the case ended up in court, which ruled in favor of the plaintiff and demanded that the Federal Chancellery hand over the documents in accordance with the Freedom of Information Act. The Chancellor’s Office, in turn, delayed compliance with the court order through repeated requests.

On June 16, 2023, one year after his request, Haffner finally received the documents – with certain restrictions: The names of the originators of specific proposals in the transcripts were redacted throughout, with the exception of politicians and public officials. Each redaction is carefully justified in the 50-page cover letter. Mostly, it is about the personal safety of the panel’s participants, who would see themselves exposed to various hostilities from the so-called “Reichsbürger and Querdenker scene” in a politically tense situation. “Querdenker”, (eng. “cross-thinker”) was the common frame in Germany used by politicians and mainstream media to slur and silence oppositional voices during the German Corona regime. Although there does exist “Querdenken” as an organization, most people defamed with the term had no relations whatsoever with the organisation. As the Chancellor’s Office explains in detail in its legal cover letter, the confidentiality interests of those affected therefore outweigh the right to freedom of information because of an alleged risk by said “Querdenker”:


“The above-mentioned selective redactions relate in particular to the names of the members from whom individual contributions originate, information traceable to individual members, the sources of certain information to be protected (in particular if (interim) results from unpublished studies are concerned), the names of certain pharmaceutical companies/drugs if assessments of their efficacy have been made, and in individual cases certain suggestions if they can be attributed to participants and it is to be feared that the attribution could result in a danger to the person concerned.”
“The risk situation for top politicians, state organs and scientists is substantiated by the reporting already presented in the statement of defense. At least individual “corona measures” implemented or discussed by the federal government are still highly controversial today. The debate in this regard continues to be emotionally and politically highly charged, so that individual Corona topics continue to be classified as “excitement topics” with mobilization potential that cannot be reliably assessed. Here, political decision-makers or scientific advisors continue to be exposed to attacks from the Reichsbürger and Querdenken scene with regard to their involvement in the federal government’s corona policy. These are not only “verbal outbursts” on the Internet, but there is a considerable readiness to use violence in parts of this scene, which even requires constant personal protection for individual exposed persons. Granting access to information without blacking out the author of contributions to meetings would, with regard to assessments of Corona-relevant topics, endanger the physical integrity, freedom and life of the members and guests of the Corona Expert Council in such a concrete way that the plaintiff’s informational interests must take a back seat to this. (.) It is to be assumed that the Reich citizen and cross-thinker scene, by taking note of corresponding information, takes individual members, who may have pleaded for particularly drastic measures, as the target of their violence.”
“The described danger applies in particular to this procedure, which is accompanied by the platform fragdenstaat.de, which results in an immediate online placement of the issued documents and corresponding linkability and very broad accessibility.”
“Should there be any doubt about the assessment of a continuing danger situation for members or guests of the Corona Expert Council, it is requested that the court be informed. The defendant will then prove the danger situation by further reporting in the media and social networks.”

Although Christian Haffner had requested the record of all meetings of the Council of Experts, the document handed over to him contains only 25 of 33 meetings, up to and including July 12, 2022. Although the eight meetings not included were in the period after he submitted his request on July 31, 2022, the request clearly referred to all meetings. Haffner’s attorney has already followed up with the Chancellor’s Office in this regard.

The members

The members of the Council of Experts were 19 individuals selected by the federal government who had previously taken a fairly clear position on Corona. The majority of them had appeared on public talk shows. The Council of Experts consisted of 18 professors from various disciplines, one district administrator. The opening speaker and patron was Chancellor Olaf Scholz. Federal Minister of Health Karl Lauterbach, Federal Chancellery Minister Wolfgang Schmidt, a Bundeswehr General, Carsten Breuer, and other, rotating experts attended regularly . The meeting was chaired by Heyo K. Kroemer, Chairman of the Board of Berlin Charité, and the virologist Melanie Brinkmann of the Technical University of Braunschweig, who has become famous through TV appearances. Prominent members of the panel such include virologist Christian Drosten, whose PCR-test the WHO had recommended within an unrealistically short time span worldwide, as well as the “German Fauci” Lothar Wieler, the head of the German Institute of Infectious diseases RKI. Other prominent members include Alena Buyx, a Wellcome-Trust protegé, expert on “gene editing” and head of the “German Ethics Councils”, as well as Thomas Mertens, head of the STIKO, the German Vaccine Safety Commission. The lesser-known members of the panel include physicians, nudging experts, psychologists and infectiologists. Notably, there was not a single epidemiologist in the group.

The meetings of the Council of Experts took place regularly by video conference, with the exception of a face-to-face meeting on May 31, 2022, in the International Conference Room of the Federal Chancellery.

In the following, the key points of the individual meetings of the Expert Council will be summarized and critically commented on. Due to the complexity of the topic, no claim is made to completeness. The aim is to elicit how the recommendations of the Corona Expert Council impacted the political and social climate in Germany during the tough Corona measures winter of 2021/ 2022.

First session: December 14, 2021

The first meeting was opened by Chancellor Olaf Scholz. He thanked the participants for their cooperation. He said the group should operate as an independent advisory body, integrated into a close technical exchange between the Expert Council, the Chancellor’s Office and the Crisis Staff. Federal Minister Karl Lauterbach and Federal Chancellery Minister Wolfgang Schmidt were present at the first meeting and promised their regular participation. Lauterbach emphasized the importance of scientific foundations for political decision-making, but stressed that it was the politicians who made the decisions. Strict confidentiality of the deliberations was agreed upon, as well as uniform communication to the outside world. For the next meeting, the participants were to gather expertise on the new omicron variant, which was scheduled three days later due to the assumed urgency.

Second session: December 17, 2021

In the second session, it was pointed out that there was “no reason for relaxation” in light of Omicron. A modeler presented scenarios on the new variant and concluded Booster vaccinations and contact reduction were “urgently needed to slow the rapid spread”. With regard to children and adolescents, the experts noted that “PCR pooling tests” at schools would work well. No evidence base for this claim – such as how many infections testing in schools has effectively prevented – was provided.

The rest of the meeting focused on crisis communication. The experts complained that the public was not taking the Omicron variant seriously enough. Fear appeals would go nowhere, and risk communication had become more difficult. “Positive messages for the pandemic-weary society” were needed, via social media, on radio and on television. The importance of vaccination was again explicitly emphasized. Personalized vaccination invitations and centralized recording of vaccination status in the form of a vaccination registry were suggested.

In retrospect, the lines “positive messages for a pandemic-weary society” seem completely detached from the reality of life in the German winter of 2021: While the Council of Experts was considering new measures behind closed doors, the unvaccinated were excluded from every social life beyond supermarket, town hall and doctor visits via 2G – (vaccinated & covalescent only) and 3G rules (vaccinated, covalescent and tested only) and were defamed and bullied by the media on a daily basis. Are these the “positive messages” the Council of Experts was talking about? And if it really cared about “positive messages” – why didn’t it urge prudence in light of the poisoned social climate?

Third session: December 21, 2021

At the third meeting, “due to reactions in [the] press”, the confidentiality of the group was again appealed to as an “important element.”

“Confidentiality could be a strength of the body.”

In external communications, “restraint should be maintained” to protect the “confidentiality of professional exchanges.” Quotations or statements with inferences about the group’s internal formation of opinion should be avoided if possible, but each member was allowed to speak about information related to his or her own professional activities.

The Chancellor’s Office was specified as the “client.” It was also pointed out that an “appropriate name for the panel is important for its purpose and public perception.” Members were encouraged to submit name suggestions. It is significant with regard to the desired public perception of the body that the title “Expert Council” was chosen.

Apparently, there was a consensus among the experts that there would still not be enough publicity for vaccination in Germany in the winter of 2021. The group therefore requested an examination on the part of the Federal Chancellery as to whether advertising for the COVID-19 vaccination could not be expanded. For example, an advertising spot immediately following the daily news program would be conceivable.

Also duration of the convalescent status at the European level was addressed:

“It [was] informed about the development on [the] European level on the duration of the vaccination status. At the EU level, the determination was made to limit the duration to 9 months.”

The statement was made in the presence of RKI chief Lothar Wieler, whose RKI, equivalent to the CDC, had reduced the duration of convalescent status in Germany from six to three months just less than a month later, on Jan. 17, 2021, even though it was already three months below the European benchmark in Germany. Considering the fact that RKI head Lothar Wieler was well informed about the European guideline value of nine months, the German special path seems even more outlandish.

Fourth session: December 28, 2021

 

In the fourth session, the experts noted that Omicron produced lower disease severity than Delta. Hospitalization rates were lower, with hospital admissions peaking quickly and declining rapidly. Although Omicron spread with a high R-factor, the viral load of infected persons was reduced. However, a transfer of data from other countries to Germany would be only possible to a limited extent “because the immune status differs”. With unsubstantiated assumptions such as these, a national solo effort could be excellently justified.

It was also stated that “Booster vaccination provides good protection against a severe course of the disease, but does not rule it out,” which means that the expert council was well aware that vaccination does not protect against transmission.

Again a high load of the hospitals is to be expected, by quarantine-conditioned personnel losses and a reduced bed capacity. It remains unclear why the experts apparently did not include indications that Omicron was less dangerous in their forecasts at all.

How long the current wave would run was “very dependent on people’s behavior.” The paradigm prevailing in the expert council is hereby made clear: humans are the problem.

Fifth session: 04 January 2022

 

Immediately in the introduction to the third session, the Chair admonished that

“on the part of the Board there should be no interference in the work of other institution[s] with a statutory mandate.”

The question arises as to why such a warning was necessary in the first place – and which “other institution with a statutory mandate” the Expert Coucil had apparently interfered with.

A seemingly innocuous sentence in the protocol reveals an ethical abyss:

“The appeals before Christmas have worked”.

The term ‘appeal’ here is clearly to be understood as a trivialization of the political situation in Germany at Christmas 2021: Unvaccinated people were subject to the strictest contact restrictions. Public media and fact-checker flagships gave tips on how to deal with unvaccinated relatives at Christmas: one should demand a test from them, or, even better, invite them out altogether. Public figures stooped to statements such as

“I don’t let unvaccinated people in at Christmas.”

BILD-newspaper headline, quote from German television actress Charlotte Würdig at German TV talk show

All the countless defamations and violations of fundamental rights divided families – the personal fates merely led to the cynical summary in the Council of Experts: “The appeals before Christmas have worked”.

The Council of Experts asked the Chancellor’s Office for an overview of measures taken by other European countries “in order to be able to make better assessments.” It is remarkable that the much more relaxed approach of other countries was noted, but not followed to any extent by the German “experts”.

With regard to Omicron, communication of the “meaningfulness” of vaccinations and measures restricting freedom” would be particularly important. The experts criticized the “lack of an integrated communication strategy”. It was “very important to point out that the lethality due to vaccinations has decreased.”

At the end of the session, it was agreed that “digital patient files” and “vaccination registers” should be dealt with further.

Sixth session: January 12, 2022

 

In the sixth session, evidence was stated that Omicron leads to increased numbers in normal wards, but not in intensive care. The proportion of Omicron in Germany was already at 60 %. The “experts” were sure: Due to “extensive contact restriction measures” Germany would have a “slower increase curve compared to other countries”.

“Misinformation” would have to be “identified and debunked”. The experts agreed that “communication” would still need to be significantly improved. “Clear statements” were demanded from politicians; the latter would “relieve the burden on society and politics.” A center for health communication was also considered.

A small reality check: There was truly no shortage of “clear statements” in Germany in the winter of 2021: Many celebrities and politicians called for the segregation of unvaccinated people from society. The verbal aberrations reached a level of insanity, that even a protest hashtag on Social Media was inspired: #Wirhabenmitgemacht or #Ichhabemitgemacht (“We participated / I participated”).

Poster of statements by German celebrities and politicians defaming “The Unvaccinated” in Winter 2021/ 2022. Source: Circulating online.

Seventh session: January 18, 2022

In the seventh session, the discussion focused, among other things, on the “responsibility of the media”. Chancellery minister Wolfgang Schmidt reported that it was being examined which target groups still needed to be specifically addressed. All associations in Germany should be encouraged to send information material to their members:

“In this way, a large mass could be reached quickly.”

In contradiction, in the same report on the development of the situation, it was stated that New York had apparently already passed the peak of the infection, which indicated “only a short-lived peak of the Omicron wave”. Also in Germany, the Delta wave would continue to decline, as “all measures to combat this wave (.) are well effective”. The proportion of Omicron would be over 90%, with only a few intensive cases.

The contradictions in this paragraph alone are overwhelming: The decline of the Delta wave was attributed to the effectiveness of the measures – which then, strangely enough, did not work against Omicron, which now accounted for over 90% of cases. That it is absurd to attribute a natural displacement of Delta by Omicron to the effectiveness of the measures should be obvious even without expertise in virology.

Eighth session: January 25, 2022

 

In the eighth session, the focus was on “Children and Adolescents.” In a “Statement on Pediatrics”, the

“affectedness of children and adolescents in the pandemic (disease burden, LongCovid, association with diabetes, etc.) including secondary disease burdens (weight problems, psychological and psychosomatic complaints, etc.) and corresponding risk factors”

was elicited. It was necessary to “maintain child well-being in the pandemic” It was stated, child welfare and infection control could very well be reconciled. In retrospect, words like these must seem like sheer mockery to parents in Germany: While the Council of Experts met and exchanged fine words about the best interests of the child, their children were forced under masks for up to eight-nine hours a day – in some schools even into midsummer, although the measures had long since been officially lifted. At least psychological and social consequences for children – somewhat euphemistically referred to as “secondary disease burdens” – were even mentioned once in the committee. However, the Council of Experts did not draw any consequences for political recommendations from this.

It was stated that Omicron generally caused a milder course and led to reduced hospital stays. Moreover, having passed through an omicron infection also protected against Delta:

“An Omicron infection also protects against infection with Delta variant due to additional boosters of the immune system that have developed.”

At the latest from this realization, any government interference in private vaccination decisions should have been history. Immediately, a relativization was put behind:

“In unvaccinated individuals, however, immune protection against Delta is lower.”

Who cares? A decision on compulsory vaccination should never have been made on this basis. Yet, in Germany, a compulsory vaccination was already in place for all healthcare workers, policemen, soldiers and fire workers. At the same meeting, an expert asked policymakers for a “workable solution in dealing with facility-based mandatory vaccination (Section 20a IfSG).” He lamented:

“The already heavily burdened public health departments could probably only implement the envisaged elaborate administrative procedures for monitoring the facility-based vaccination obligation and sanctioning after weeks or months until an entry or activity ban. It is recommended that the provision of Section 20a ffSG be amended; instead of the discretionary decision of the health authorities now provided for, a ban on activity and entry should be provided for that comes into effect immediately by operation of law (with the creation of a hardship provision (.).” [Minister of Chancellery Wolfgang Schmidt] promises to address the issue; health ministers of the states have already received a corresponding order.”

It is already nearly a master achievement to accommodate so many anti-democratic advances in a single text block. The “expert” affirmed a violation of the fundamental rights of members of the nursing sector, the basic right to physical integrity, dignity and free exercise of profession. Moreover, he recommended nothing less than the undermining of federalism by demanding a uniform federal regulation by law, for something that was previously at the discretion of the health departments of the states. He should have foreseen that with the new hardship rule, de facto everything would remain the same, and only a bureaucratic additional effort for clinics and employees would be added: In order to be able to keep unvaccinated employees and avoid bottlenecks, clinics would predictably have to resort to the hardship rule. The virus, on the other hand, is unlikely to have cared much about such a hardship case of German bureaucratic fetish.

Ninth session: February 01, 2022

 

The ninth session discussed how an “exit strategy” might look like and how to deal with “containment strategies.” Translated: How to get out of a failed containment policy in a face-saving way. “Communication and its impact during the pandemic” was also put on the agenda again.

The importance of the Booster, even the double Booster versus double vaccination, was once again emphasized:

“Reliable studies on the effect of a fourth vaccination (e.g., from Israel) are not yet available, but according to Israeli authorities, [the] fourth vaccination [should] again significantly raise protection against disease. Also [–] is currently dealing with fourth vaccination (.) for special groups of people.”

Apparently, statements by Israeli authorities were sufficient for now for the experts to even consider the fourth vaccination.

The discussion then turned to facility-based mandatory vaccination. Lack of staff, he said, leads to high burdens on clinics, as well as health departments, due to labor-intensive control of activity bans. In addition, “consequences under labor law in the form of lawsuits and appeal proceedings” were feared. Therefore, it was “recommendable to create uniform federal regulations to relieve the health offices.” The topic would already be discussed intensively between the Federal Ministry of Health and the health ministers of the states.

It was announced that Justice Minister Marco Buschmann would be happy to attend the next meeting.

Tenth session: February 09, 2022, with justice minister Marco Buschmann – on the subject of compulsory vaccination

The tenth session on 09 February 2022, with Justice Minister Marco Buschmann in attendance, is the central session with regard to the bill on the General Immunization Requirement, which was submitted for a vote on April 07, 2022. The protocols are riddled with contradictions: for example, it was stated that although Omicron is a “separate serotype,” fortunately the variants are still so close in terms of characteristics that “existing vaccines currently provide basically good protection against severe disease or death in all known Corona variants.” An infection caused by Omicron would “therefore” not offer sufficient protection against other variants.

What a deduction: because the vaccines worked so well, Omicron did not cause cross-immunity in older variants such as Alpha and Delta. But at the same time, Omicron and the older variants are still so close to each other that the vaccination works excellently with both Omicron AND Delta. The fact that Omicron generates cross-immunity to other variants was flatly denied in the presence of the Minister of Justice, Marco Buschmann, although the expert council had itself determined this two weeks earlier. The protocol went on to say:

“Infections cause local mucosal immunity, which vaccination cannot provide.”

Correct – and at the latest at this point any discussion about a vaccination obligation should have ended. Why vaccinations are nevertheless necessary, however, was justified quite adventurously in the following:

“The goal must be to reduce the severe disease burden in the population through a high vaccination rate and subsequently to build up transmission protection via mucosal immunity through multiple acquired but mild infections. However, the basic prerequisite for this is a very high vaccination rate, especially among the vulnerable group. This vaccination rate is currently not being met and is not expected to be met in the near future.”

“With the elimination of all physical measures (including masks), there is likely to be a high dynamic. Masks have a high efficiency also to protect against new variants.”

The high number of staff absences due to infection or quarantine in the healthcare sector remained critical, it was stated. It is important to highlight here that “infections” here means “positive tests,” as all healthcare workers were tested daily and sent home immediately if they tested positive – regardless of whether anyone showed any symptoms of illness at all. Thus, the high staffing shortages due to health care quarantines, which were criticized here, were 100% self-fabricated by policies.

What follows is the central section of the document: the discussion on vaccination and compulsory vaccination, in the presence of Federal Minister of Justice Marco Buschmann.

The group of those who could not be vaccinated due to vaccination reactions was estimated by the experts to be “relatively small” – here, vector vaccines could help. The experts were convinced:

“The highest protection against severe disease and death occurs on the basis of complete vaccination (triple) and subsequent infection.”

In previous meetings, however, the experts had already noted that with Omicron, there was little severe illness or death, intensive care units were emptying, and Omicron already accounted for 90 % of variants in Germany. “Prevention against severe disease and death” was no longer a viable argument when mortality rates went down all by themselves with Omicron. But the protocols did not only contain inconsistencies on the topic, but also blatant falsehoods:

“In addition, vaccination reduces the transmissibility of the virus.”

This statement is demonstrably scientific disinformation, that had already been disproven at that point in time. The fact that, in the context of the debate on compulsory vaccination, this false claim was once again presented to the Minister of Justice as a “scientific fact” is outright scandalous.

The experts now gave their assessment of compulsory vaccination:

“Communication on compulsory vaccination:

On the data basis of surveys vaccination campaign stagnates, the proportion of opponents of vaccination remains constant. Unvaccinated, accordingly, remain rather skeptical about vaccination. Incentives will not be enough here. Counseling and outreach are nevertheless still considered necessary and important.”

The second part of the following statement is blacked out in the protocol. The central sentence in this section is “Incentives will not be enough here.” What is to be insinuated is clear: There is no way around mandatory vaccination. It is true that the experts were aware that the population’s willingness to vaccinate had already been exhausted – but instead of respecting the citizens’ free decision, it is implied here that compulsion would then be necessary. At least they were still willing to graciously provide “counseling and outreach” to the unwary.

Also in the session, the difference between a pandemic and an endemic was explained:

“Compared to a pandemic, in an endemic a virus should no longer have high transmissibility. The R-value should be constantly below 1. In addition to preventing severe disease in the current situation, mucosal immunity should also be achieved in the population, he said. Then, similar to influenza, only spontaneous virus outbreaks (e.g., in autumn/ winter) would be possible.”

However, the R-value in Germany was already below 1 in march 2020 – and Corona showed a seasonal pattern from the beginning, just like influenza. If one follows the experts’ reasoning, Corona was already endemic right from the beginning – completely without vaccination.

Epidemiological Bulletin, week 17, 2020. Source: RKI. The so-called “R-value”, the indicator for “virulence” was under 1 already in march 2020, pointing towards an “endemic situation”, according to the Expert Council’s own definition.

With regard to the current situation in the healthcare system, it was stated:

“Currently, there does not appear to be an overload of the health care system, however, the data must continue to be monitored, especially with the increase in Omicron cases in the elderly population. Critically, the number of deaths remains low in reporting and population awareness.”

More loss of realism than these lines express is probably hard to imagine: In the German winter of 2021, the population was bombarded 24/ 7 with Corona death figures on virtually all media channels. And although at the time of the tenth meeting it was deepest winter – peak of the cold season – “currently (.) no overload of the health system was recognizable”. On this basis, mandatory vaccinations should never have been voted on – but it was even declared necessary in the same meeting, because “incentives will not be enough here”. One can hardly more ignore the physical self-determination of humans.

A continuation of the mask requirement was also considered:

“There was also an unanimous opinion that a permanent legal basis for mandatory masks would make sense, since masks achieve high effectiveness without high expense. Possible measures and opening steps were weighed and discussed.”

The well-known international Cochrane study, however, has not been able to prove any significant effectiveness of masks. Before 2020, textbooks and WHO had always advised against the use of masks in everyday life.

Cochrane meta study comparing the available evidence on face masks and other NPI (non pharmaceutical interventions), Conclusion

In preparation for the upcoming Minister Presidents’ Conference, concrete recommendations for action were presented by the experts:

  • If numbers held stable, good spring and summer
  • As long as numbers rise, no opening steps
  • If incidences fall and hospital load acceptable, then opening steps, but use masks permanently
  • If opening, rebound possible
  • Establish data base for further permanent scientific assessments

Aside from the imposition of infantilizing language that seems bizarre in light of basic rights restrictions for 84 million German citizens, there is now a widespread recognition that Corona is a classic cold virus that behaves seasonally like all cold viruses. This also means that numbers in the winter have no bearing on numbers in the summer because the virus is constantly alternating. No one knows which cold virus will dominate next winter and in what severity. Trying to derive summer figures from artificial winter figures produced by mass testing, must be clearly named for what it is: pseudoscience.

Moreover, the expert council submitted concrete political instructions for action to the prime ministers here, instead of simply presenting the scientific data, on the basis of which the ministers could then have made political decisions. Since the recommendations were based on false assumptions, Olaf Scholz government’s Corona policy was demonstrably determined by pseudoscience.

At the end of the meeting, the situation of children and young people was briefly discussed. However, the experts apparently saw no urgent need for action: The members were first presented with a voting report for their consideration – there was no rush. The daily burden placed on children by masks and tests in everyday school life was apparently perfectly compatible with the “best interests of the child”.

Eleventh session: February 15, 2022

 

At the eleventh meeting, it was noted that hospitalization incidence was only marginally increasing. Although new admissions were increasing, ICU occupancy remained virtually constant, due to shorter lengths of stay at Omicron. The number of deaths in intensive care units was stagnating. Overall, Germany had a comparatively low mortality rate. One expert reported a study that suggested lower vaccination efficacy with Omicron. A rapid decline in vaccination protection was also noted: Four months after vaccination, it would be only 78%.

In the following,“psychological consequences in the population” were discussed. The search for psychological support and the use of counseling services would have increased significantly compared to the previous year. At the same time, respondents would have a lower perception of risk in regard to Corona. The willingness to vaccinate among “adults and parents” was largely exhausted. The fact that “parents” – who are apparently also adults – were named separately here was probably intended to indicate the potential for child vaccination that might still exist in the population. The majority of the unvaccinated would not vaccinate due to fear and lack of confidence.

“Clear, simple, and uniform rules and communication could help with acceptance and vaccination readiness.”

The question arises as to what “clear, simple and uniform rules” would have been used to increase the German measures winter at that time. The experts knew that the population’s willingness to be vaccinated had already been exhausted, and those who did not want to be vaccinated were based on fear and lack of confidence. However, people’s feelings, their dignity and their fundamental right to bodily self-determination did not seem to matter to the experts.

At the end of the meeting, a small reminder was given that about 100,000 vaccine doses would expire by the end of February 2022.

Twelfth session: February 22, 2022

In the twelfth session, it was stated that the situation in hospitals was stable, and the health system was withstanding the Omicron wave.

An expert reported the latest figures on Novavax: efficacy was 90%. Novavax was “a good alternative for people with adverse reactions to an mRNA vaccine.” Implicitly, this suggested that even vaccine-injured persons could safely be vaccinated again – with Novavax. Admittedly, it was a daring idea to recommend to people who have already been vaccine injured another, poorly researched medication with unexplored interactions to the first one.

Carsten Breuer, the major General participating at the meeting, reported that the national batch release for Novavax occurred the same day. Another participant added, however, the demand for it was low. To increase confidence, any side effects would have to be well communicated this time, he said:

“If any undesirable side effects are seen in use, they would need to be communicated quickly and well to maintain acceptance for the new vaccine (lesson from AstraZeneca).”

Also discussed was “preparation for the fall.” All agreed that an “instrument box in the Infection Protection Act” had to remain in place beyond March 19, 2022. Federal Chancellery Minister Wolfgang Schmidt referred to an ongoing coordination process. A systematic approach was presented for the envisaged fall measures. The “impression of a wish list must be avoided”.

13th session: March 02, 2022

The 13th session was attended by Health Minister Karl Lauterbach, who reported on “difficulties”:

“BM Lauterbach reports on the difficulties in the political debate on general compulsory vaccination and in the procedure for amending the Infection Protection Act. (.) In the hospitals an increase of boostered patients is to be registered.”

The protocols do not specify what exactly the “difficulties in the political debate on general compulsory vaccination” were. The notion of “more boostered patients in clinics” was not further discussed.

One expert reported on new modeling. Some models pointed to a “Delta wave in the summer.” Honorable mention is made of “multilingual, moderated online consultations for specific communities (.) to increase vaccination rates.” One expert recommends “a targeted approach to organized disinformation.” Another calls for vaccination education to be part of school curricula:

“(.) better education about vaccination should be provided in schools. If necessary, the ministries of education could be asked to include vaccination education by the ÖGD in the curricula. [—] supports this advice.”

In the section for preparing fall measures, a disturbing sentence follows:

“It is important to remember that the population needs some recovery.”

Oscillating between coercion and relaxations, by the way, is a popular method of torture in prisons like Guantánamo, since all coercion wears off eventually, and the harshness of the coercion is not really felt again until there have been relaxations in between. Such a sentence, which calculatingly plays with giving people a certain recovery with “relaxations” first, only to maltreat them with coercion again, is a method from the darkest torture prisons of this world.

It was recommended that vaccination centers should be made permanent as a “scalable structure”. Also, the “Infectious situation in Ukraine” was addressed:

“Refugee movements as a result of the war in Ukraine could also have an impact on domestic infectious events.”

A sentence like this simply leaves one speechless, given the cynical reduction of war refugees to an alleged role as disease vectors. But the experts seemed to have a real headache with this question:

“While infections in Ukraine had recently been declining before the outbreak of war, he said that when the first refugees were recorded, about 10% had been fully vaccinated and 20% had been vaccinated once. Many would not carry proof of vaccination.”

The collective horror in the “Expert Council” is not hard to imagine: No proof of vaccination! Less than 20% vaccinated! With the arrival of the first Ukrainian refugees in Germany, measure hardliners like the ladies and gentlemen of the Expert Council were faced with a moral and ethical dilemma: On one hand, it was necessary to be as humanitarian and selfless as possible – on the other, a vaccination rate of 20% was bound to trigger gasps from the discourse that preceded it in the Council of Experts. It was not appropriate to immediately impose vaccination requirements on traumatized people who have just fled the war, but it was still necessary to be tough on the local population, since a general vaccination requirement was envisaged. At the same time, the impression of unequal treatment between locals and refugees had to be avoided.

14th session: March 15, 2023

The 14th session noted a decline in “compliance” with regard to Corona measures:

“Survey results from the [—]-study show that part of the population no longer wants to forgo contacts. Accordingly, the so-called renunciation behavior is declining. The perceived severity of a COVID condition is decreasing. Wearing masks is more likely to be accepted by the population in healthcare facilities and in public transport, and least likely at work, school and in restaurants. Another wish of the population is for uniform, Germany-wide regulations on infection protection. Vaccinated people are more likely to support protective measures than unvaccinated people.

“Several experts criticized the current status of changes to the IfSG, such as scaling back measures despite rising infection rates, contrary to the Expert Council’s recommendation.”

Several members of the Expert Council thus advocated tougher measures than the federal government, with regard to the planned changes of the infection control act (IfSG). Starting from April 2022, the federal states would be able to maintain the mask requirement in so-called “hotspots.” More restrictive measures would only be justified if there was a risk of overloading the healthcare system. However, this approach apparently did not go far enough for the Expert Council:

“Uniform nationwide measures would continue to be necessary, as well as rapid intervention measures to ensure the ability to act in the fall.”

There was speculation about upcoming scenarios: Would Omicron stay? Would Delta come back? Would recombinants like Deltacron eventually dominate, or would there even be a new zoonotic transmission? The property of Omicron to cause broad cross-immunity did not seem to be rudimentarily understood by the expert panel.

The experts were also critical of the federal government’s vaccination campaign. The protocols do not specify what exactly said criticism consisted of. At the end of the meeting, the topic of “dealing with confidentiality vis-à-vis the press” was raised again. Here, too, the protocols do not provide any details.

15th session: March 22, 2022

At the 15th session, one expert reported on a country – the name is redacted from the protocols – where only lockdown measures had helped because the population’s vaccination rate was too “poor”:

“The epidemic has been brought under control only by lockdown measures. The vaccination profile of the population is very poor (hardly any elders vaccinated).”

It is clear here that the Expert Council still believed in controlling a seasonal respiratory virus with Lockdowns – and that “vaccination or Lockdown” was again an excellent way to argue pro-vaccination. That this amounted to blackmail seemed to be overlooked by the “experts”.

The next topic was booster vaccination. It was imperative that the second booster be better publicized among older people. Many would still want to wait until the fall or for an adjusted vaccine. In communication, it would therefore be important to “explain exactly why people should be vaccinated now.” But the population’s “complacency” and voluntary protective behavior would continue to decline, despite an increasing likelihood of infection with Omicron:

“If mandatory mask-wearing is eliminated, mask-wearing will also decline.”

What is clear is that the expert council was well aware of how measure-weary the population was. Nevertheless, they were not satisfied with the “relaxations” in the amendments to the new infection control act from March 2022:

“There is renewed criticism of the amendment to the IfSG [infection control act]. On the part of the ExpertInnenrat among other things clear, uniform measures had been demanded, which found so no precipitation in the law. A reduction of the death numbers could not be reached with simultaneous opening and at present small inoculation ratio.”

Accordingly, the new IfSG amendments were not strict enough for the experts. This led to a minor intervention by Wolfgang Schmidt and Karl Lauterbach: they emphasized the importance of the Expert Council for policy makers, but pointed out “possible difficulties (.) in the political negotiation and decision-making process.” The amendments for the new infection control act should also serve to “be prepared for other biological emergencies.”

At the end of the meeting, the importance of confidentiality as a basis for the work of the Expert Council was again emphasized, and all members were urged to do so. Apparently there was a specific reason for the need to reiterate the confidentiality requirement, but the protocols do not specify it any further:

“The confidentiality of the deliberations in the Expert Council represents an essential basis of the work. This confidentiality also includes that internal discussions and documents are not made public. Public statements on the factual content of opinions may be made by any member, only this should be done without reference to the content or procedures of internal deliberations and should not reflect internal votes.”

16th session: March 29, 2022

At the 16th session, it was stated that the “proportion of patients treated in intensive care units” was “relatively high” at 45% – but it was immediately added that this “says nothing about the effectiveness of vaccination”.

A European network in the form of a central European data platform was discussed. A first approach already existed through HERA (Health Emergency Preparedness and Response). The Chancellor’s Office announced that it would provide information on the status of the program’s development.

Furthermore, the testing system in schools was addressed:

“The current testing strategy (in particular, testing of asymptomatic children in school) is widely discussed; due to the emerging immune protection of the population, no compulsory testing of asymptomatic individuals is necessary. On the other hand, the incidence of new infections provides an important overview of infection incidence and is a “rehearsed” parameter. If neither the virulence of the virus changed nor the immune escape properties, citizen testing could hardly be justified anymore.”

The argument was not about the best interests of the child, but about “incidences as an important overview of infection events,” which the experts apparently were reluctant to part with because they were a “rehearsed parameter.” In other words, the children would already have been accustomed to it anyway. But the tests could simply no longer be justified. The fact that in regard to children, the argumentation went by what was “justifiable” in the eyes of the general public, is unsettling.

The protocols quoted a representative of the Federal Chancellery, highlighting that

“the opinions of the Expert Council are intensively included into the political decision making, decisions themselves however the political actors are reserved. Numerous impulses from individual statements, e.g. on digitization and communication, are still being discussed internally. We will remain in discussion with the Expert Council on these topics as well.”

At this point, interpersonal friction is clearly noticeable, because the Chancellor’s Office apparently perceived the recommendations of the Council of Experts as too clear a directive for political action.

17th session: April 05, 2022

The 17th session was two days before the vote on general vaccination obligation (07 April 2022) in the Bundestag, the German parliament. Remarkably, the descriptions of the “general infectious situation” at that time were completely counter-indicative for the justification of a general vaccination obligation, but the upcoming vote in the Bundestag was not mentioned with a single word in the protocol.

Meanwhile, it was admitted that 50% of new admissions to intensive care units were now boostered. It was quickly added, however, that these were mainly immunodeficient individuals, so no statement about vaccine effectiveness was associated with this figure. Of course not.

It was stated that “incidences” in Germany were stabilizing and decreasing in all age groups. The peak of the Omicron wave had passed, the total number of physician visits for acute respiratory diseases was declining, and the severity of respiratory treatments was decreasing.

What the experts were describing here was the very natural waning of a seasonal cold wave, including the admission that severe courses were also present in boostered patients, as these now accounted for 50% of intensive care cases. So why, if the experts knew all this, did they not give politicians a hint that mandatory vaccination was unnecessary? Had they already become so ideological about mandatory vaccination, that they were unable to rethink their proposal?

Last but not least, the experts wanted “feedback from the federal government on how to deal with the comments made so far.” Apparently, no such feedback had been given; the experts seemed to feel “left out”. Participants in the Expert Council, who had already advised the previous government of Angela Merkel, had probably become accustomed to the good feeling that their assessments were sacrosanct, and politicians would follow them without reservation anyways.

18th session: April 19, 2022

The 18th session was the first one after the failed vote on universal vaccination in the German parliament, the Bundestag, on April 07, 2022. However, the protocols did not mention the outcome of the vote. A conspicuous silence for the fact that the topic was extensively discussed in the Expert Council the weeks before.

It was stated that clinical numbers continued to decline. From a current Lancet article it emerged, however, that excess mortality in Germany was about twice as high as assumed. Quickly, it was added that in other countries, excess mortality would still be significantly higher. The reasons for the high excess mortality were now discussed, but the protocol gives no further information on what possible causes the experts suggested.

It was underlined that a “compliance behavior” of the population remained important and should be continued at an appropriate point. The question arises: Compliance of the population for what? If all parameters were declining and the clinical situation had calmed down according to the season – what is the point of “compliance”? Is it possible that the desire to dictate to others how they should live, had taken on a life of its own among the “experts”?

19th session: April 26, 2022

In the 19th session, a continuation of the “positive trend” in infection incidences was recognized. One expert presented “new variants” from the USA, South Africa and India. Although there was no indications of an increase in hospitals admissions, and in Germany the new variants have hardly played a role so far, it was stated that it was nevertheless important to “observe the further development very closely.”

It was warned that clinical care for children might become more difficult to provide in fall, as many influenza and RSV cases were expected in addition to Corona. That the expected high burden of illness in children might have been related to immune deficiencies caused by Lockdowns, 2G measures and school closures, did not occur to the experts. At the end of the session, the first face-to-face meeting at the Chancellor’s Office was announced for May 31.

20th session: May 10, 2022

In the 20th meeting, in the “current situation report” there was no major change. An expert reported again on new variants in South Africa. Mainly “recovered unvaccinated people” would be affected. It becomes clear that the expert council was slowly running out of topics with regard to Corona in Germany, as now far-away places where any infectious event could still be detected were regularly thematized.

“[Another expert] stresses the importance of expanding health and risk communication, which is not fulfilled by an advertising campaign alone. Here, a coordinated approach between central institutions such as the RKI and BZGA is important. It is suggested to carry out vaccinations in schools.”

It remains incomprehensible why, without the slightest risk situation by Corona for children, the expert council continued to recommend child vaccination programs in schools.

“The suggestion is made that the Expert Council could address the issue of global vaccine distribution.”

Could the sudden boost of altruism possibly be related to the expiring vaccine doses? At the end of the meeting, it was decided that the Expert Council should meet only biweekly from now on.

21st session: May 24, 2022

In the 21st session, it was stated that number continued to decline but were “still at a relatively high level.” The last disclaimer was, of course, necessary.

In the absence of corona issues in Germany, which were the actual subject matter of the Expert Council, almost the entire session was now devoted almost exclusively to monkeypox. One expert

“described the current situation regarding monkeypox. He said that the incidence of infection was extremely dynamic: so far, there have been 260 suspected cases ‘on every continent.’ This rapid spread in the human population is ‘remarkable’ “.

One inevitably asks: 260 suspected cases worldwide – what exactly was “remarkable” about that? One would be “still at the very beginning of the outbreak”. In Germany, there would be only little vaccine and medication in stock, therefore an attempt to reimport was “currently under negotiation”. Already at a time when Germany did not have the slightest problem with monkeypox, medicine and vaccine procurement was already undertaken. Has the big monkeypox outbreak 2022 in Germany has ever been heard of again? Is this possibly quite an apt metaphor for the realism of the Corona Expert Council in general?

A remarkable statement followed:

“It would also be important to reach a fundamental agreement on whether the Expert Council would like to move away from the containment strategy altogether or still pursue it.

The so-called containment strategy was first introduced into the German discourse within the COVID-19 Task Force of the Federal Ministry of the Interior in March 2020 by two China supporters. Prior to that, the RKI and all existing pandemic guidelines recommended herd immunity as an immunization strategy. The concept of herd immunity was denounced as “unethical” by the CCP-friendly government advisors, suggesting that COVID-19 could even be made to disappear altogether with containment measures à la China, if only they were strict enough. One of the two Mao fans among the BMI advisors, Otto Kölbl, had publicly stated several times that before the BMI’s COVID-19 Task Force, many experts in Germany had still been convinced of the herd immunity strategy – according to Kölbl, Christian Drosten was among them – but that the vehement, concerted rejection of this concept within the framework of the COVID-19 Task Force had finally brought them into line.

The containment strategy has meanwhile failed even in the mother country China:
Xi Jinping had declared the “Zero-Covid”-strategy in China to be over after the last lockdown in Shanghai, where people threw themselves out of skyscrapers in desperation because of hunger.

Germany’s Corona policy under Merkel, and in continuation under Scholz, was oriented in its basic features to the containment concept, but for true fans of Corona measures, German measures never went far enough. Two council members had directly supported the China-inspired “NoCovid”-campaign, several other members had openly sympathized with it. When the Expert Council put up for discussion whether the containment concept should now be “completely” abandoned, or whether it would “still be pursued” at all, this is tantamount to an admission of failure.

This is how pseudo-scientific ideologies die: Quietly, secretly and in print, in back rooms, without even the slightest lesson being learned from own failures.

22nd session: May 31, 2022
Face-to-face meeting in the Chancellor’s Office

The 22nd meeting was the Panel’s first face-to-face meeting and was held in the International Conference Room of the Chancellor’s Office. Before the meeting began, the panel’s work to date was evaluated internally:

“Overall, the work of the Expert Council was assessed as positive and constructive. The high level of confidentiality among the members was emphasized.”

The question of what effect the opinions have on political decision-makers was also discussed. At the beginning of the meeting, the Chancellor’s Office, evaluated the group’s work and expressed full praise:

On the part of the Chancellor’s Office and the Federal Ministry of Health, the work of the Expert Internal Council with its opinions and recommendations is highly valued. The members of the council have helped at crucial points and in important phases of the pandemic through their advice (e.g. in the preparation of federal-state meetings on the subject of Corona). The continuation of the Corona Expert Council, also in its current composition, is desired by the federal government. The crisis team states that the federal states are convinced of the usefulness of the Expert Council’s recommendations.

Unqualified praise for the Expert Council – and finally one “breakthrough”:

“Overall, a move away from the asymptomatic testing of asymptomatic children and adolescents is recommended by the Expert Council.”

The recommendation came way too late: Schools had already stopped testing across the board since the beginning of april. The recommendation was related to a departure from “incidences” as an indicator, since it was no longer able to “motivate the population to act on their own responsibility”:

“Also addressed was the appropriate presentation of the infection situation to the public. Although the 7-day incidence is sufficiently recognized and acknowledged, it may no longer have the appropriate enforcement power to motivate citizens to act on their own responsibility, for example. Surveillance systems, which provide simple information about the severity of the disease, for example in traffic light format, are better suited for this purpose. What matters here, (.) is good communication.”

Indeed: By the end of May 2022, “incidences” hardly impressed anyone anymore. The term “self-responsible action” was obviously used by the authors as a cipher for “voluntary compliance of citizens with the Corona measures.”

23rd session: June 14, 2022

In the 23rd meeting, it was noted “that the summer wave was in full swing”:

“It would be difficult to compare with the BA.4/5 infectious event in South Africa, because here the BA.2 wave was absent and basically the immunization of the population was due to infections rather than vaccination.”

The question arises as to why there was one Omicron wave “missing” in South Africa, despite low vaccination rates. Why didn’t the experts ask this question?

“Also briefly addressed was a study that showed that in children, vaccination provides better protection than infection, again highlighting the importance of childhood vaccination.”

The same report, just one paragraph further on, stated:

“From the field of pediatrics and adolescent medicine, it is to be avoided that there is practically no stationary disease activity regarding COVID-19. PIMS cases have already become rare after Delta, and virtually nonexistent after Omicron.

How is it possible to state that there was no longer a steady state of infections in children, but at the same time stress the importance of childhood vaccination? Was it really still assumed at that time that the vaccine was free of any side effects and therefore had a positive cost-benefit ratio for children?

In this session, the experts once again devoted extensive attention to the topic of “compliance”:

“According to the results of the [–] study, the Corona pandemic is increasingly less on the minds of the population. A survey of the three scenarios described in the current statement showed that people are more willing to take certain protective measures (e.g., wearing masks), regardless of the scenario.”

One wonders, if the Expert Council was so aware that the population was “increasingly less interested” in the Corona pandemic – why it could not simply be left alone. But the opposite was the case: for the fall, a “traffic light system” – in a semantic analogy to the current German government, called “traffic light coalition” – was introduced, so that the population could always be informed about the hazard situation. In the state ministries, interest in the advice from the expert council was apparently unabated:

“Due to high demand from state ministries, an information session with state health departments will be held on June 21 at the invitation of ALin3. Members of the Expert Council will present the fall/ winter position statement and then answer questions from participants.”

24th session: June 28, 2022

At the 24th session, there were renewed complaints about staffing shortages at clinics. More elderly patients over 60 would be admitted again:

“A renewed communication, directed to the “risk groups to the 3rd and 4th, vaccination, is very important, the vaccination gaps are still too large. In this regard, it was also addressed that medium-sized companies should be addressed to draw attention to the vaccination.”

Extremely explosive statements about the risk of myocarditis for young people followed:

“[–] reviewed the literature on 4th vaccination. The conclusion was that the evidence for a 2nd booster vaccination for people under 70 years of age was relatively low. With regard to the risk of myocarditis in young patients, there are no valid statements as to whether the risk increases with the number of vaccine doses administered. Especially in myocarditis, long-term damage that occurs only with a time lag from the acute disease[s] can be observed.”

Had the population not been told that there were no long-term consequences of vaccination? And in this internal discussion, “damage that occurs only after a time lag from the acute illness” was taken as a given, which was merely “to be observed”? Why was there a different state of knowledge behind closed doors, than that which was communicated to the public? It remains unclear why the Expert Council, despite acknowledging possible long-term damage to young people in the event of vaccine-induced myocarditis, did not advise against childhood vaccination from this moment at the latest, but on the contrary even continued to explicitly recommend it.

25th session: July 12, 2022

The 25th meeting was attended by a public health expert from Israel. He reported on the experience of the data-driven vaccination campaign in Israel:

“Because of very good data (“digital twins”), the effectiveness of Corona vaccination could be proven very early in Israel through studies (.)”

“Digital twins” means a digital image of a person that contains all relevant data. The technology can be well justified via the “preventive health” selling point – once implemented, it can be extended to any number of areas and forms the basis for a “digital identity.”

“From the [–] it can be deduced that the frequency of information about Corona has decreased significantly. Risk perception is increasing slightly, yet no change in behavior is evident among respondents. Only 37% of respondents know that STIKO recommends vaccination from age 5.”

Was it assumed, that if more than 37% knew about the German Vaccine Commission’s (STIKO) vaccine recommendation starting at age 5, more parents would have their children vaccinated?

“Nevertheless, no change in behavior is apparent among the respondents”

At the time of the 25th session, it was summer, not cold season. Why was it so important to the experts to bring about a behavioural change among the population, even in midsummer? The experts complained that the Scholz government communicated to little:

“As ‘lessons learned’ from the pandemic, it is summed up that there is still no efficient and resilient communication structure. Politicians are currently holding back on communication. “Not” communicating is also a form of communication. The BZgA does not appear enough, the RKI has the task to inform experts, not the whole population.”

If these lines need any commenting at all, it is to ask under which stone the experts have been living, if they really believe that there has not been enough communication about Corona from the government in 2021 / 2022 – and what extra value was suggested when a respiratory virus that only hit in winter, was dealt with in summer.

At the end of the session, the Chancellor’s Office reported on the current status of the new Infection Protection Act, which should come into force on September 22, 2022.

Summary assessment of the document

The declassified protocols of the Corona Expert Council are a key document for understanding the political and social climate in Germany in the winter of 2021/ 2022, when unprecedented restrictions on fundamental civil rights applied to 25% of the population in the form of 2G- (vaccinated/ convalescent people only) or 3G rules (vaccinated/ convalescent/ tested people only), children were forced under masks, occupational bans were issued and countless livelihoods were destroyed. The legal exclusion of the Unvaccinated was accompanied by a continuous media fire of defamation, while the Scholz coalition attempted to push through a bill for general mandatory vaccinations in the Bundestag on April 07, 2022 – against the will of a large part of the population.

The protocols of the Corona Expert Council reveal: The incomprehensible, mindless and rigid-seeming Corona measures in Germany, which were often met with head-shaking abroad, had an ideological basis – and one central element of this was the Corona Expert Council. It recommended mandatory vaccinations, and did not revise that proposal even when the seasonal cold wave was already subsiding, and Omicron dominated, producing widespread herd immunity. In the presence of the German minister of justice, Marco Buschmann, the medical misinformation was spread that vaccination reduced the risk of transmission.

The Expert Council also encouraged state governments to implement more rigorously occupational and entry bans for unvaccinated caregivers, and suggested replacing the discretionary powers of state health departments with uniform federal regulations. Meanwhile, the Council’s focus was not only on protection against infection, but also on Social Engineering goals, like a permanent change in the behavior of the population – and this until summer 2022, when there was not even the slightest medical need for it anymore.

The Expert Council rigorously promoted childhood vaccinations from the age of five, even though the experts were informed about possible long-term damage from vaccine-induced Myocarditis in children and adolescents. Instead of doing the only right thing – to immediately stop vaccinating children – they even further recommended them. Of particular interest here is the fact that Thomas Mertens, the head of the German “Standing Commission on Vaccination” (STIKO), took part in the council. The fact that the STIKO did not immediately suspend its recommendation for childhood vaccination, but on the contrary, even continued to recommend it until the end of may 2023, could possibly also involve legal aspects – such as liability for damages.

Between the lines, tensions between the Expert Council and the Chancellor’s Office can be read: Council members frequently complained that politicians did not sufficiently adhere to their recommendations – while the political representatives pointed out at several instances in the documents that the ultimate political decision-making power lay with the politicians. The protocol reveals the expert’s attempt to undermine democratic decision-making processes via a dictate of scientism.

But the failure of the Corona Expert Council goes hand in hand with the failure of a political staff that was unable to recognize logical inconsistencies and the ideological one-sidedness in the Council’s recommendations. The fact that the Corona Expert Council was not dissolved until April 2023, is just one of numerous scandals surrounding a body that exerted influence on politics from a non-transparent backroom – and whose political and social reappraisal is still in its infancy. The documents at hand offer the decisive key to this.

Christian Haffner, the physician who fought successfully for the release of documents via the Freedom of Information Act, is now calling for the establishment of an independent Enquête Commission concerning the Corona mea:

“The protocols of the Corona Expert Council, on which many Corona measures were based, show that a neutral Enquête Commission to come to terms with the Corona crisis is urgently needed. It is also a matter of avoiding a repetition and protecting the population from political-ideological attacks by the state in the future.”

 

—————————————-

Original source: https://www.velazquez.press/p/new-foia-in-germany-the-secret-files

Categories
Health

Steve Kirsch: “We Can’t Find an Autistic Kid Who Was Unvaccinated”

Steve Kirsch: “We Can’t Find an Autistic Kid Who Was Unvaccinated”

By LauraAboli

Steve Kirsch: “We Can’t Find an Autistic Kid Who Was Unvaccinated”.

Click Here To Play the Video

Original source: https://t.me/LauraAbolichannel/41068

Categories
Health

Dana Carvey & David Spade Mock Fauci and the Vaxxed

Dana Carvey & David Spade Mock Fauci and the Vaxxed

By Dave Oneegs Aussie Chat

Dana Carvey & David Spade mock Fauci and the vaxxed.
Being whacked is now the source of comedy,
so stupid was the entire thing.

It would be funny if there weren’t so many people’s lives destroyed thanks to injections.
I don’t find any of it funny.

It’s tragic.
It’s criminal.
It’s bloody evil.

Click Here To Play the Video

Original source: https://t.me/daveoneegsauschat/26211

Categories
Global Issues

AirBNB is Dying: Revenue Declines 50% in Phoenix, Austin; Forced Selling Expected. US Housing Market Faces Housing Price Downside if Struggling Airbnb Owners Elect to Sell

AirBNB is Dying: Revenue Declines 50% in Phoenix, Austin; Forced Selling Expected. US Housing Market Faces Housing Price Downside if Struggling Airbnb Owners Elect to Sell

By Citizen Watch Report

The Airbnb collapse is real.

Revenues are down nearly 50% in cities like Phoenix and Austin.

Watch out for a wave of forced selling from Airbnb owners later this year in the areas hit hardest by the revenue collapse.

Original source: https://citizenwatchreport.com/airbnb-revenue-declines-50-in-phoenix-austin-forced-selling-expected-us-housing-market-faces-housing-price-downside-if-struggling-airbnb-owners-elect-to-sell/

Categories
Health

Vaccinated vs. Unvaccinated Children: Guess Who Is Healthier? Mawson Study

Vaccinated vs. Unvaccinated Children: Guess Who Is Healthier? Mawson Study

Until recently, there has not been one single published study that compared them to see who is healthier (or sicker) years after the shots. This first-of-its-kind study of vaccinated vs. unvaccinated American homeschooled children shows who is really ailing. It is known as the Mawson study.

Nearly 700 homeschooled six to 12-year-olds from four states, compared 261 unvaccinated children with 405 partially or fully vaccinated children, and assessed their overall health based on their mothers’ reports of vaccinations and physician-diagnosed illnesses.

What it found about increases in immune-mediated diseases like allergies and neurodevelopmental diseases including autism, should make all parents think twice:

– Vaccinated children were more than three times as likely to be diagnosed on the Autism Spectrum than unvaccinated children

– Vaccinated children were 30-fold more likely to be diagnosed with allergic rhinitis (hay fever) than non-vaccinated children

– Vaccinated children were 22-fold more likely to require an allergy medication

– Vaccinated children had more than quadruple the risk of being diagnosed with a learning disability than unvaccinated children

– Vaccinated children were 300 percent more likely to be diagnosed with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder than unvaccinated children

– Vaccinated children were 340 percent more likely to have been diagnosed with pneumonia than unvaccinated children

– Vaccinated children were 300 percent more likely to be diagnosed with an ear infection than unvaccinated children

– Vaccinated children were 700 percent more likely to have surgery to insert ear drainage tubes than unvaccinated children

– Vaccinated children were 2.5-fold more likely to be diagnosed with any chronic illness than unvaccinated children

Pilot comparative study on the health of vaccinated and unvaccinated 6- to 12-year-old U.S. children

Abstract

Vaccinations have prevented millions of infectious illnesses, hospitalizations and deaths among U.S. children, yet the long-term health outcomes of the vaccination schedule remain uncertain. Studies have been recommended by the U.S. Institute of Medicine to address this question. This study aimed 1) to compare vaccinated and unvaccinated children on a broad range of health outcomes, and 2) to determine whether an association found between vaccination and neurodevelopmental disorders (NDD), if any, remained significant after adjustment for other measured factors. A cross-sectional study of mothers of children educated at home was carried out in collaboration with homeschool organizations in four U.S. states: Florida, Louisiana, Mississippi and Oregon. Mothers were asked to complete an anonymous online questionnaire on their 6- to 12-year-old biological children with respect to pregnancy-related factors, birth history, vaccinations, physician-diagnosed illnesses, medications used, and health services. NDD, a derived diagnostic measure, was defined as having one or more of the following three closely-related diagnoses: a learning disability, Attention Deficient Hyperactivity Disorder, and Autism Spectrum Disorder. A convenience sample of 666 children was obtained, of which 261 (39%) were unvaccinated. The vaccinated were less likely than the unvaccinated to have been diagnosed with chickenpox and pertussis, but more likely to have been diagnosed with pneumonia, otitis media, allergies and NDD. After adjustment, vaccination, male gender, and preterm birth remained significantly associated with NDD. However, in a final adjusted model with interaction, vaccination but not preterm birth remained associated with NDD, while the interaction of preterm birth and vaccination was associated with a 6.6-fold increased odds of NDD (95% CI: 2.8, 15.5). In conclusion, vaccinated homeschool children were found to have a higher rate of allergies and NDD than unvaccinated homeschool children. While vaccination remained significantly associated with NDD after controlling for other factors, preterm birth coupled with vaccination was associated with an apparent synergistic increase in the odds of NDD. Further research involving larger, independent samples and stronger research designs is needed to verify and understand these unexpected findings in order to optimize the impact of vaccines on children’s health.

Key words

acute diseases, chronic diseases, epidemiology, evaluation, health policy, immunization, neurodevelopmental disorders, vaccination

Abbreviations:

ADHD: Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder; ASD: Autism Spectrum Disorder; AOM: Acute Otitis Media; CDC: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; CI: Confidence Interval; NDD: Neurodevelopmental Disorders; NHERI: National Home Education Research Institute; OR: Odds Ratio; PCV-7: Pneumococcal Conjugate Vaccine-7; VAERS: Vaccine Adverse Events Reporting System.

Introduction

Vaccines are among the greatest achievements of biomedical science and one of the most effective public health interventions of the 20th century [1]. Among U.S. children born between 1995 and 2013, vaccination is estimated to have prevented 322 million illnesses, 21 million hospitalizations and 732,000 premature deaths, with overall cost savings of $1.38 trillion [2]. About 95% of U.S. children of kindergarten age receive all of the recommended vaccines as a requirement for school and daycare attendance [3,4], aimed at preventing the occurrence and spread of targeted infectious diseases [5]. Advances in biotechnology are contributing to the development of new vaccines for widespread use [6].
Under the currently recommended pediatric vaccination schedule [7], U.S. children receive up to 48 doses of vaccines for 14 diseases from birth to age six years, a figure that has steadily increased since the 1950s, most notably since the Vaccines for Children program was created in 1994. The Vaccines for Children program began with vaccines targeting nine diseases: diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis, polio, Haemophilus influenzae type b disease, hepatitis B, measles, mumps, and rubella. Between 1995 and 2013, new vaccines against five other diseases were added for children age 6 and under: varicella, hepatitis A, pneumococcal disease, influenza, and rotavirus vaccine.
Although short-term immunologic and safety testing is performed on vaccines prior to their approval by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, the long-term effects of individual vaccines and of the vaccination program itself remain unknown [8]. Vaccines are acknowledged to carry risks of severe acute and chronic adverse effects, such as neurological complications and even death [9], but such risks are considered so rare that the vaccination program is believed to be safe and effective for virtually all children [10].
There are very few randomized trials on any existing vaccine recommended for children in terms of morbidity and mortality, in part because of ethical concerns involving withholding vaccines from children assigned to a control group. One exception, the high-titer measles vaccine, was withdrawn after several randomized trials in west Africa showed that it interacted with the diphtheria-tetanus-pertussis vaccine, resulting in a significant 33% increase in child mortality [11]. Evidence of safety from observational studies includes a limited number of vaccines, e.g., the measles, mumps and rubella vaccine, and hepatitis B vaccine, but none on the childhood vaccination program itself. Knowledge is limited even for vaccines with a long record of safety and protection against contagious diseases [12]. The safe levels and long-term effects of vaccine ingredients such as adjuvants and preservatives are also unknown [13]. Other concerns include the safety and cost-effectiveness of newer vaccines against diseases that are potentially lethal for individuals but have a lesser impact on population health, such as the group B meningococcus vaccine [14].
Knowledge of adverse events following vaccinations is largely based on voluntary reports to the Vaccine Adverse Events Reporting System (VAERS) by physicians and parents. However, the rate of reporting of serious vaccine injuries is estimated to be <1% [15]. These considerations led the former Institute of Medicine (now the National Academy of Medicine) in 2005 to recommend the development of a five-year plan for vaccine safety research by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) [16,17]. In its 2011 and 2013 reviews of the adverse effects of vaccines, the Institute of Medicine concluded that few health problems are caused by or associated with vaccines, and found no evidence that the vaccination schedule was unsafe [18,19]. Another systematic review, commissioned by the US Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality to identify gaps in evidence on the safety of the childhood vaccination program, concluded that severe adverse events following vaccinations are extremely rare [20]. The Institute of Medicine, however, noted that studies were needed: to compare the health outcomes of vaccinated and unvaccinated children; to examine the long-term cumulative effects of vaccines; the timing of vaccination in relation to the age and condition of the child; the total load or number of vaccines given at one time; the effect of other vaccine ingredients in relation to health outcomes; and the mechanisms of vaccine-associated injury [19].
A complicating factor in evaluating the vaccination program is that vaccines against infectious diseases have complex nonspecific effects on morbidity and mortality that extend beyond prevention of the targeted disease. The existence of such effects poses a challenge to the assumption that individual vaccines affect the immune system independently of each other and have no physiological effect other than protection against the targeted pathogen [21]. The nonspecific effects of some vaccines appear to be beneficial, while in others they appear to increase morbidity and mortality [22,23]. For instance, both the measles and Bacillus Calmette–Guérin vaccine reportedly reduce overall morbidity and mortality [24], whereas the diphtheria-tetanus-pertussis [25] and hepatitis B vaccines [26] have the opposite effect. The mechanisms responsible for these nonspecific effects are unknown but may involve inter alia: interactions between vaccines and their ingredients, e.g., whether the vaccines are live or inactivated; the most recently administered vaccine; micronutrient supplements such as vitamin A; the sequence in which vaccines are given; and their possible combined and cumulative effects [21].
A major current controversy is the question of whether vaccination plays a role in neurodevelopmental disorders (NDDs), which broadly include learning disabilities, Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) and Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). The controversy has been fueled by the fact that the U.S. is experiencing what has been described as a “silent pandemic” of mostly subclinical developmental neurotoxicity, in which about 15% of children suffer from a learning disability, sensory deficits, and developmental delays [27,28]. In 1996 the estimated prevalence of ASD was 0.42%. By 2010 it had risen to 1.47% (1 in 68), with 1 in 42 boys and 1 in 189 girls affected [29]. More recently, based on a CDC survey of parents in 2011–2014, 2.24% of children (1 in 45) were estimated to have ASD. Rates of other developmental disabilities, however, such as intellectual disability, cerebral palsy, hearing loss, and vision impairments, have declined or remained unchanged [30]. Prevalence rates of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) have also risen markedly in recent decades [31]. Earlier increases in the prevalence of learning disability have been followed by declining rates in most states, possibly due to changes in diagnostic criteria [32].
It is believed that much of the increase in NDD diagnoses in recent decades has been due to growing awareness of autism and more sensitive screening tools, and hence to greater numbers of children with milder symptoms of autism. But these factors do not account for all of the increase [33]. The geographically widespread increase in ASD and ADHD suggests a role for an environmental factor to which virtually all children are exposed. Agricultural chemicals are a current focus of research [34-37].
A possible contributory role for vaccines in the rise in NDD diagnoses remains unknown because data on the health outcomes of vaccinated and unvaccinated children are lacking. The need for such studies is suggested by the fact that the Vaccine Injury Compensation Program has paid $3.2 billion in compensation for vaccine injury since its creation in 1986 [38]. A study of claims compensated by the Vaccine Injury Compensation Program for vaccine-induced encephalopathy and seizure disorder found 83 claims that were acknowledged as being due to brain damage. In all cases it was noted by the Court of Federal Claims, or indicated in settlement agreements, that the children had autism or ASD [39]. On the other hand, numerous epidemiological studies have found no association between receipt of selected vaccines (in particular the combined measles, mumps, and rubella vaccine) and autism [10,40-45], and there is no accepted mechanism by which vaccines could induce autism [46].
A major challenge in comparing vaccinated and unvaccinated children has been to identify an accessible pool of unvaccinated children, since the vast majority of children in the U.S. are vaccinated. Children educated at home (“homeschool children”) are suitable for such studies as a higher proportion are unvaccinated compared to public school children [47]. Homeschool families have an approximately equal median income to that of married-couple families nationwide, somewhat more years of formal education, and a higher average family size (just over three children) compared to the national average of just over two children [48-50]. Homeschooling families are slightly overrepresented in the south, about 23% are nonwhite, and the age distribution of homeschool children in grades K-12 is similar to that of children nationwide [51]. About 3% of the school-age population was homeschooled in the 2011-2012 school year [52].
 The aims of this study were 1) to compare vaccinated and unvaccinated children on a broad range of health outcomes, including acute and chronic conditions, medication and health service utilization, and 2) to determine whether an association found between vaccination and NDDs, if any, remained significant after adjustment for other measured factors.

Methods

Study planning

To implement the study, a partnership was formed with the National Home Education Research Institute (NHERI), an organization that has been involved in educational research on homeschooling for many years and has strong and extensive contacts with the homeschool community throughout the country (www.nheri.org). The study protocol was approved by the Institutional Review Board of Jackson State University.

Study design

The study was designed as a cross-sectional survey of homeschooling mothers on their vaccinated and unvaccinated biological children ages 6 to 12. As contact information on homeschool families was unavailable, there was no defined population or sampling frame from which a randomized study could be carried out, and from which response rates could be determined. However, the object of our pilot study was not to obtain a representative sample of homeschool children but a convenience sample of unvaccinated children of sufficient size to test for significant differences in outcomes between the groups.
We proceeded by selecting 4 states (Florida, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Oregon) for the survey (Stage 1). NHERI compiled a list of statewide and local homeschool organizations, totaling 84 in Florida, 18 in Louisiana, 12 in Mississippi and 17 in Oregon. Initial contacts were made in June 2012. NHERI contacted the leaders of each statewide organization by email to request their support. A second email was then sent, explaining the study purpose and background, which the leaders were asked to forward to their members (Stage 2). A link was provided to an online questionnaire in which no personally identifying information was requested. With funding limited to 12 months, we sought to obtain as many responses as possible, contacting families only indirectly through homeschool organizations. Biological mothers of children ages 6-12 years were asked to serve as respondents in order to standardize data collection and to include data on pregnancy-related factors and birth history that might relate to the children’s current health. The age-range of 6 to 12 years was selected because most recommended vaccinations would have been received by then.

Recruitment and informed consent

Homeschool leaders were asked to sign Memoranda of Agreement on behalf of their organizations and to provide the number of member families. Non-responders were sent a second notice but few provided the requested information. However, follow-up calls to the leaders suggested that all had contacted their members about the study. Both the letter to families and the survey questions were stated in a neutral way with respect to vaccines. Our letter to parents began:
“Dear Parent, This study concerns a major current health question: namely, whether vaccination is linked in any way to children’s long-term health. Vaccination is one of the greatest discoveries in medicine, yet little is known about its long-term impact. The objective of this study is to evaluate the effects of vaccination by comparing vaccinated and unvaccinated children in terms of a number of major health outcomes …”
Respondents were asked to indicate their consent to participate, to provide their home state and zip code of residence, and to confirm that they had biological children 6 to 12 years of age. The communications company Qualtrics (http://qualtrics.com) hosted the survey website. The questionnaire included only closed-ended questions requiring yes or no responses, with the aim of improving both response and completion rates.
A number of homeschool mothers volunteered to assist NHERI promote the study to their wide circles of homeschool contacts. A number of nationwide organizations also agreed to promote the study in the designated states. The online survey remained open for three months in the summer of 2012. Financial incentives to complete the survey were neither available nor offered.

Definitions and measures

Vaccination status was classified as unvaccinated (i.e., no previous vaccinations), partially vaccinated (received some but not all recommended vaccinations) and fully vaccinated (received all recommended age-appropriate vaccines), as reported by mothers. These categories were developed on the premise that any long-term effects of vaccines would be more evident in fully-vaccinated than in partially-vaccinated children, and rare or absent in the unvaccinated. Mothers were asked to use their child’s vaccination records to indicate the recommended vaccines and doses their child had received. Dates of vaccinations were not requested in order not to overburden respondents and to reduce the likelihood of inaccurate reporting; nor was information requested on adverse events related to vaccines, as this was not our purpose. We also did not ask about dates of diagnoses because chronic illnesses are often gradual in onset and made long after the appearance of symptoms. Since most vaccinations are given before age 6, vaccination would be expected to precede the recognition and diagnosis of most chronic conditions.
Mothers were asked to indicate on a list of more than 40 acute and chronic illnesses all those for which her child or children had received a diagnosis by a physician. Other questions included the use of health services and procedures, dental check-ups, “sick visits” to physicians, medications used, insertion of ventilation ear tubes, number of days in the hospital, the extent of physical activity (number of hours the child engaged in “vigorous” activities on a typical weekday), number of siblings, family structure (mother and father living in the home, divorced or separated), family income and/or highest level of education of mother or father, and social interaction with children outside the home (i.e.amount of time spent in play or other contact with children outside the household). Questions specifically for the mother included pregnancy-related conditions and birth history, use of medications during pregnancy, and exposure to an adverse environment (defined as living within 1-2 miles of a furniture manufacturing factory, hazardous waste site, or lumber processing factory). NDD, a derived diagnostic category, was defined as having one or more of the following three closely related and overlapping diagnoses: a learning disability, Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) and Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) [53].

Statistical methods

Unadjusted bivariate analyses using chi-square tests were performed initially to test the null hypothesis of no association between vaccination status and health outcomes, i.e., physician-diagnosed acute and chronic illnesses, medications, and the use of health services. In most analyses, partially and fully vaccinated children were grouped together as the “vaccinated” group, with unvaccinated children as the control group. The second aim of the study was to determine whether any association found between vaccination and neurodevelopmental disorders remained significant after controlling for other measured factors. Descriptive statistics on all variables were computed to determine frequencies and percentages for categorical variables and means (± SD) for continuous variables. The strength of associations between vaccination status and health outcomes were tested using odds ratios (OR) and 95% Confidence Intervals (CI). Odds ratios describe the strength of the association between two categorical variables measured simultaneously and are appropriate measures of that relationship in a cross-sectional study [54]. Unadjusted and adjusted logistic regression analyses were carried out using SAS (Version 9.3) to determine the factors associated with NDDs.

Results

Socio-Demographic characteristics of respondents

The information contained in 415 questionnaires provided data on 666 homeschool children. Table 1 shows the characteristics of the survey respondents. Mothers averaged about 40 years of age, were typically white, college graduates, with household incomes between $50,000 to $100,000, Christian, and married. The reasons for homeschooling for the majority of respondents (80-86%) were for a moral environment, better family relationships, or for more contact with their child or children.
Table 1. Characteristics of the respondentsa
Mean (SD) a
Age (n=407)
40.59 (6.7)
Number (%)a
Race
     White
382 (92.5%)
      Non-White
21 (7.6%)
      Total
413
Education
       High School Graduate or Less
35 (8.5%)
       Some College
114 (27.5%)
       College Graduate
187 (45.2%)
       Post-Graduates
78 (18.5%)
       Total
414
Total Gross Household Income
      < $49,999
123 (30.8%)
      $50,000-100,000
182 (45.5%)
      > $100,000
95 (23.8%)
      Total
400
Religious Affiliation
       Christianity
375 (91.2%)
      Non-Christianity
36 (8.8%)
      Total
411
Marital Status
      Married
386 (93.7%)
      Not Married
26 (6.3%)
      Total
412
Missing observations are excluded.
The children as a group were similarly mostly white (88%), with a slight preponderance of females (52%), and averaged 9 years of age. With regard to vaccination status, 261 (39%) were unvaccinated, 208 (31%) were partially vaccinated, and 197 (30%) had received all of the recommended vaccinations. All statistical analyses are based on these numbers.

Acute illness

Vaccinated children (N=405), combining the partially and fully vaccinated, were significantly less likely than the unvaccinated to have had chickenpox (7.9% vs. 25.3%, p <0.001; Odds Ratio = 0.26, 95% Confidence Interval: 0.2, 0.4) and whooping cough (pertussis) (2.5% vs. 8.4%, p <0.001; OR 0.3, 95% CI: 0.1, 0.6), and less likely, but not significantly so, to have had rubella (0.3% vs. 1.9%, p = 0.04; OR 0.1, 95% CI: 0.01, 1.1). However, the vaccinated were significantly more likely than the unvaccinated to have been diagnosed with otitis media (19.8% vs. 5.8%, p <0.001; OR 3.8, 95% CI: 2.1, 6.6) and pneumonia (6.4% vs. 1.2%, p = 0.001; OR 5.9, 95% CI: 1.8, 19.7). No significant differences were seen with regard to hepatitis A or B, high fever in the past 6 months, measles, mumps, meningitis (viral or bacterial), influenza, or rotavirus (Table 2).
Table 2. Vaccination status and health outcomes – Acute Conditions
 Vaccinated (n=405)
 Unvaccinated (n=261)
Total (n=666)
Chi-square
P-value
Odds Ratio
(95% CI)
Chickenpox
       Yes
32 (7.9%)
66 (25.3%)
98 (14.7%)
38.229
 < 0.001
  0.26 (0.2 – 0.4)
       No
373 (92.1%)
195 (74.7%)
568 (85.3%)
Otitis media
     Yes
80 (19.8%)
16(5.8%)
96 (14.4%)
26.643
 < 0.001
3.8 (2.1 – 6.6)
     No
325 (80.2%)
245 (94.2%)
507 (85.6%)
Pneumonia
     Yes
26 (6.4%)
3 (1.2%)
29 (4.4%)
10.585
< 0.001
5.9 (1.8 – 19.7)
     No
379 (93.6%)
258 (98.8%)
637 (95.6%)
Whooping cough
     Yes
10 (2.5%)
22 (8.4%)
32 (4.8%)
12.326
< 0.001
0.3 (0.1 – 0.6)
     No
395 (97.5%)
239 (91.6%)
634 (95.2%)
Rubella
     Yes
1 (0.3%)
5 (1.9%)
6 (0.9%)
4.951
0.037
0.1 (0.01 – 1.1)
     No
404 (99.6%)
256 (98.1%)
660 (99.1%)

Chronic illness

Vaccinated children were significantly more likely than the unvaccinated to have been diagnosed with the following: allergic rhinitis (10.4% vs. 0.4%, p <0.001; OR 30.1, 95% CI: 4.1, 219.3), other allergies (22.2% vs. 6.9%, p <0.001; OR 3.9, 95% CI: 2.3, 6.6), eczema/atopic dermatitis (9.5% vs. 3.6%, p = 0.035; OR 2.9, 95% CI: 1.4, 6.1), a learning disability (5.7% vs. 1.2%, p = 0.003; OR 5.2, 95% CI: 1.6, 17.4), ADHD (4.7% vs. 1.0%, p = 0.013; OR 4.2, 95% CI: 1.2, 14.5), ASD (4.7% vs. 1.0%, p = 0.013; OR 4.2, 95% CI: 1.2, 14.5), any neurodevelopmental disorder (i.e., learning disability, ADHD or ASD) (10.5% vs. 3.1%, p <0.001; OR 3.7, 95% CI: 1.7, 7.9) and any chronic illness (44.0% vs. 25.0%, p <0.001; OR 2.4, 95% CI: 1.7, 3.3). No significant differences were observed with regard to cancer, chronic fatigue, conduct disorder, Crohn’s disease, depression, Types 1 or 2 diabetes, encephalopathy, epilepsy, hearing loss, high blood pressure, inflammatory bowel disease, juvenile rheumatoid arthritis, obesity, seizures, Tourette’s syndrome, or services received under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (Table 3).
Table 3. Vaccination status and health outcomes – Chronic Conditions
Chronic Disease
 Vaccinated
(n=405)
Unvaccinated
(n=261)
Chi-square
P-value
Odds Ratio
(95% CI)
Allergic rhinitis
      Yes
42 (10.4%)
1 (0.4%)
26.21
< 0.001
30.1
(4.1 – 219.3)
      No
363 (89.6%)
260 (99.6%)
Allergies
      Yes
90 (22.2%)
18 (6.9%)
29.44
< 0.001
3.9
(2.3 – 6.6)
      No
315 (77.9%)
243 (93.1%)
ADHD
      Yes
19 (4.7%)
3 (1.0%)
6.23
0.013
4.2
(1.2 – 14.5)
      No
386 (95.3%)
258 (99.0%)
ASD
      Yes
19 (4.7%)
3 (1.0%)
6.23
0.013
4.2
(1.2 – 14.5)
      No
386 (95.3%)
258 (99.0%)
Eczema (atopic dermatitis)
      Yes
38 (9.5%)
9 (3.6%)
8.522
0.035
2.9
(1.4 – 6.1)
      No
367 (90.5%)
252 (96.4%)
Learning Disability
      Yes
23 (5.7%)
3 (1.2%)
8.6803
0.003
5.2
(1.6 – 17.4)
      No
382 (94.3%)
258 (98.9%)
Neurodevelopment Disorder
      Yes
42 (10.5%)
8 (3.1%)
12.198
< 0.001
3.7
(1.7 – 7.9)
      No
313 (89.5%)
253 (96.9%)
Any Chronic Condition
      Yes
178 (44.0%)
65 (24.9%)
24.8456
< 0.001
2.4
(1.7 – 3.3)
      No
227 (56.0%)
196 (75.1%)

Partial versus full vaccination

Partially vaccinated children had an intermediate position between the fully vaccinated and unvaccinated in regard to several but not all health outcomes. For instance, as shown in Table 4, the partially vaccinated had an intermediate (apparently detrimental) position in terms of allergic rhinitis, ADHD, eczema, and learning disability.
Table 4. Partial versus full vaccination and chronic health conditions
  Unvaccinated (n=261)
 Partially Vaccinated (n=208)
Fully Vaccinated (n=197)
Total
(n=666)
Chi-Square
P-value
Chronic Conditions
Allergic rhinitis
      Yes
1 (0.4%)
17 (8.2%)
25 (12.7%)
43 (6.5%)
29.6306
< 0.001
      No
260 (99.6%)
191 (91.8%)
172 (87.3%)
623 (93.5%)
Allergies
      Yes
18 (6.9%)
47 (22.6%)
43 (21.8%)
108 (16.2%)
27.4819
< 0.001
      No
243 (93.1%)
161 (77.4%)
154 (78.2%)
558 (83.8%)
ADHD
      Yes
3 (1.2%)
8 (3.9%)
11 (5.6%)
22 (3.3%)
7.1900
0.075
      No
258 (98.8%)
200 (96.1%)
186 (94.4%)
644 (96.7%)
ASD
      Yes
3 (1.2%)
11 (5.3%)
8 (4.6%)
22 (3.3%)
6.7109
0.034
      No
258 (98.8%)
197 (94.7%)
189 (95.4%)
644 (96.7%)
Eczema (atopic dermatitis)
      Yes
9 (3.5%)
18 (8.7%)
20 (10.2%)
47 (7.1%)
8.8683
0.012
      No
252 (96.5%)
190 (91.3%)
177 (89.8%)
619 (92.9%)
Learning Disability
      Yes
3 (1.2%)
11 (5.3%)
12 (6.1%)
26 (3.9%)
8.8541
0.012
      No
258 (98.8%)
197 (94.7%)
185 (93.9%)
640 (96.1%)
NDD
      Yes
8 (3.1%)
21 (10.1%)
21 (10.7%)
50 (7.5%)
12.2443
0.002
      No
253 (96.9%)
187 (89.9%)
176 (89.3%)
616 (92.5%)
Any Chronic Condition
      Yes
65 (24.9%)
94 (45.2%)
84 (42.6%)
243 (36.5%)
25.1301
< 0.001
      No
196 (75.1%)
114 (54.8%)
113 (57.4%)
423 (63.5%)

Gender differences in chronic illness

Among the vaccinated (combining partially and fully vaccinated children), boys were more likely than girls to be diagnosed with a chronic condition – significantly so in the case of allergic rhinitis (13.9% vs. 7.2%, p = 0.03; OR 2.1, 95% CI: 1.1, 4.1), ASD (7.7% vs. 1.9%, p = 0.006; OR 4.3, 95% CI: 1.4, 13.2), and any neurodevelopmental disorder (14.4% vs. 6.7%, p = 0.01; OR 2.3, 95% CI: 1.2, 4.6) (Table 5).
Table 5.   Chronic conditions and gender among vaccinated children
Male
(n=194)
Female
(n=209)
Total
(n=403)
Chi-square
P-value
Odds Ratio 
(95% CI)
Allergic rhinitis
     Yes
27 (13.9%)
15 (7.2%)
42 (10.4%)
4.8964
0.0269
2.1 (1.1 – 4.1)
     No
167 (86.1%)
194 (92.8%)
361 (90.0%)
Allergies
     Yes
50 (25.8%)
40 (19.1%)
90 (22.3%)
2.5531
0.1101
1.5 (0.91 – 2.4)
     No
144 (74.2%)
168 (80. 9%)
313 (77.7%)
ADHD
     Yes
13 (6.7%)
6 (2.9%)
19 (4.7%)
3.2856
0.0699
2.4 (0.90 – 6.5)
     No
181 (93.3%)
203 (97.1%)
384 (95.3%)
ASD
      Yes
15 (7.7%)
4 (1.9%)
19 (4.7%)
7.5810
0.0059
4.3 (1.4 – 13.2)
       No
178 (92.3%)
205 (98.1%)
384 (95.3%)
Eczema
      Yes
19 (9.89%)
19 (9.1%)
38 (9.4%)
0.0582
0.8094
1.1 (0.6 – 2.1)
      No
175 (90.2%)
190 (90.9%)
365 (90.6%)
Learning Disability
      Yes
14 (7.2%)
9 (4.3%)
23 (5.7%)
1.5835
0.2083
1.7 (0.7 – 4.1)
      No
180 (92.8%)
200 (95.7%)
380 (94.3%)
NDD
      Yes
28 (14.4%)
14 (6.7%)
42 (10.4%)
6.4469
0.0111
2.3 (1.2 – 4.6)
       No
166 (85.6%)
195 (93.3%)
361 (89.6%)
Any Chronic Condition
     Yes
94 (48.5%)
83 (39.7%)
177 (43.9%)
3.1208
0.0773
1.4 (1.0 – 2.1)
     No
100 (51.5%)
126 (60.3%)
226 (56.1%)

Use of medications and health services

The vaccinated (combining the partially and fully vaccinated) were significantly more likely than the unvaccinated to use medication for allergies (20.0% vs. 1.2%, p <0.001; OR 21.5, 95% CI: 6.7, 68.9), to have used antibiotics in the past 12 months (30.8% vs. 15.4%, p <0.001; OR 2.4, 95% CI: 1.6, 3.6), and to have used fever medications at least once (90.7% vs. 67.8%, p <0.001; OR 4.6, 95% CI: 3.0, 7.1). The vaccinated were also more likely to have seen a doctor for a routine checkup in the past 12 months (57.6% vs. 37.2%, p <0.001; OR 2.3, 95% CI: 1.7, 3.2), visited a dentist during the past year (89.4% vs. 80.5%, p <0.001; OR 2.0, 95% CI: 1.3, 3.2), visited a doctor or clinic due to illness in the past year (36.0% vs. 16.0%, p <0.001; OR 3.0, 95% CI: 2.0, 4.4), been fitted with ventilation ear tubes (3.0% vs. 0.4%, p = 0.018; OR 8.0, 95% CI: 1.0, 66.1), and spent one or more nights in a hospital (19.8% vs. 12.3%, p = 0.012; OR 1.8, 95% CI: 1.1, 2.7) (Table 6).
Table 6.  Vaccination status, medication use and health services utilization
 Vaccinated
(n=405)
Unvaccinated (n=261)
Total                              (n=666)
Chi-square
P-value
Odds Ratio
(95% CI)
     Medication Use
Medication for Allergy
      Yes
81 (20.0%)
3 (1.2%)
84 (12.6%)
51.170
< 0.001
21.5 (6.7 – 68.9)
      No
324 (80.0%)
258 (98.8%)
582 (87.4%)
Used antibiotics in the past 12 months
      Yes
124 (30.8%)
40 (15.4%)
164 (24.7%)
20.092
< 0.001
2.4 (1.6 – 3.6)
      No
279 (69.2%)
220 (84.6%)
499 (75.3%)
Used fever medication 1+ times
      Yes
350 (90.7%)
173 (67.8%)
523 (81.6%)
53.288
< 0.001
4.6 (3.0 – 7.1)
      No
36 (9.3%)
82 (32.2%)
118 (18.4%)
Using fitted ear drainage tubes
      Yes
12 (3.0%)
1 (0.4%)
13 (2.0%)
 5.592
 0.018
8.0 (1.0 – 66.1)
      No
389 (97.0%)
260 (99.6%)
649 (98.0%)
Used medication for ADHD
      Yes
7 (1.7%)
3 (1.2%)
10 (1.5%)
0.346
0.556
      No
398 (98.3%)
256 (98.8%)
654 (98.5%)
Used medication for Seizures
      Yes
4 (1.0%)
1 (0.4%)
5 (0.8%)
0.769
0.653
      No
400 (99.0%)
258 (99.6%)
658 (99.2)
     Health Services     
     Utilization
Emergency Department visit in the past 12 months
      Yes
38 (9.5%)
23 (9.0%)
61 (9.3%)
0.047
0.828
      No
364 (90.5%)
234 (91.0%)
598 (90.7%)
Sick visit to doctor in the past year
      Yes
145 (36.0%)
41 (16.0%)
186 (28.2%)
31.096
< 0.001
3.0 (2.0 – 4.4)
      No
258 (64.0%)
216 (84.0%)
474 (71.8%)
Ever spent one or more nights in the hospital
      Yes
80 (19.8%)
32 (12.3%)
112 (16.8%)
6.267
0.012
1.8 (1.1 – 2.7)
      No
325 (80.2%)
228 (87.7%)
553 (83.2%)
Seen doctor for checkup in past 12 months
      Yes
233 (57.6%)
97 (37.2%)
330 (49.6%)
26.336
< 0.001
2.3 (1.7 – 3.2)
      No
172 (42.4%)
164 (62.8%)
336 (50.4%)
Seen dentist in the past 12 months
      Yes
362 (89.4%)
210 (80.5%)
572 (85.9%)
10.424
< 0.001
2.0 (1.3 – 3.2)
      No
43 (10.6%)
51 (19.5%)
94 (14.1%)

Factors associated with neurodevelopmental disorders

The second aim of the study focused on a specific health outcome and was designed to determine whether vaccination was associated with neurodevelopmental disorders (NDD) and, if so, whether the association remained significant after adjustment for other measured factors. As noted, because of the relatively small numbers of children with specific diagnoses, NDD was a derived variable combining children with a diagnosis of one or more of ASD, ADHD and a learning disability. The close association and overlap of these diagnoses in the study is shown in the figure above (Figure 1). The figure shows that the single largest group of diagnoses was learning disability (n=15) followed by ASD (n=9), and ADHD (n=9), with smaller numbers comprising combinations of the three diagnoses.

Figure 1. The overlap and distribution of physician-diagnosed neurodevelopmental disorders, based on mothers’ reports.

Unadjusted analysis

Table 7 shows that the factors associated with NDD in unadjusted logistic regression analyses were: vaccination (OR 3.7, 95% CI: 1.7, 7.9); male gender (OR 2.1, 95% CI: 1.1, 3.8); adverse environment, defined as living within 1-2 miles of a furniture manufacturing factory, hazardous waste site, or lumber processing factory (OR 2.9, 95% CI: 1.1, 7.4); maternal use of antibiotics during pregnancy (OR 2.3, 95% CI: 1.1, 4.8); and preterm birth (OR 4.9, 95% CI: 2.4, 10.3). Two factors that almost reached statistical significance were vaccination during pregnancy (OR 2.5, 95% CI: 1.0, 6.3) and three or more fetal ultrasounds (OR 3.2, 95% CI: 0.92, 11.5). Factors that were not associated with NDD in this study included mother’s education, household income, and religious affiliation; use of acetaminophen, alcohol, and antacids during pregnancy; gestational diabetes; preeclampsia; Rhogham shot during pregnancy; and breastfeeding (data not shown).
Table 7. Unadjusted analysis of potential risk factors for neurodevelopmental disorders
NDD
Vaccination Status
Yes
(N=50)
No
(N=616)
Total*
(N=666)
Chi-Square
P-value
 OR (95% CI)**
     Vaccinated
42
363
405
12.198
<0.001
3.7 (1.7 – 7.9)
     Not Vaccinated
8
253
261
Ref
Race
     Non-White
9
71
80
1.8208
0.177
1.7 (0.7 – 3.6)
     White
41
544
585
Ref
Child’s Gender
     Male
32
283
315
5.9471
0.015
2.1 (1.1 – 3.8)
     Female
18
331
349
Ref
Adverse Environment
     Yes
6
27
33
5.8706
0.053
2.9 (1.1 – 7.4)
     No
40
523
563
Ref
     Do not know
4
66
70
0.8 (0.3 – 2.3)
Medication during Pregnancy –    
     Antibiotics
     Yes
10
61
71
4.950
0.026
2.3 (1.1 – 4.8)
     No
40
555
595
Ref
Medication during Pregnancy –
     Vaccinated
     Yes
6
32
38
3.965
0.057
2.5 (1.0 – 6.3)
     No
44
583
627
Ref
Preterm birth
     Yes
12
37
49
22.910
< 0.001
4.9 (2.4 – 10.3)
     No
38
578
616
Ref
Ultrasound
     None
3
71
74
5.898
0.052
Ref
     1-3 times
30
419
449
  1. (0.5 – 5.7)
    > 3 times
17
124
141
3.2 (0.92 – 11.5)
*Numbers may not add to column totals due to missing or incomplete data.
**Note that Odds Ratios are the cross-product ratios of the entries in the 2-by-2 tables, and are an estimate of the relative incidence (or risk) of the outcome associated with the exposure factor.

Adjusted analysis

After adjustment for all other significant factors, those that remained significantly associated with NDD were: vaccination (OR 3.1, 95% CI: 1.4, 6.8); male gender (OR 2.3, 95% CI: 1.2, 4.3); and preterm birth (OR 5.0, 95% CI: 2.3, 11.1). The apparently strong association between both vaccination and preterm birth and NDD suggested the possibility of an interaction between these factors.
In a final adjusted model designed to test for this possibility, controlling for the interaction of preterm birth and vaccination, the following factors remained significantly associated with NDD: vaccination (OR 2.5, 95% CI: 1.1, 5.6), nonwhite race (OR 2.4, 95% CI: 1.1, 5.4), and male gender (OR 2.3, 95% CI: 1.2, 4.4). Preterm birth itself, however, was not significantly associated with NDD, whereas the combination (interaction) of preterm birth and vaccination was associated with 6.6-fold increased odds of NDD (95% CI: 2.8, 15.5) (Table 8).
Table 8. Adjusted logistic regression analyses of risk factors and NDD*
Adjusted Model (Model 1)
Adjusted Model with Interaction (Model 2)
Vaccination Status
     Vaccinated
3.1 (1.4 – 6.8)
2.5 (1.1 – 5.6)
     Not Vaccinated
Ref
Ref
Race
     Non-White
2.3 (1.0 – 5.2)
2.4 (1.1 – 5.4)
     White
Ref
Ref
Child’s Gender
     Male
2.3 (1.2 – 4.3)
2.3 (1.2 – 4.4)
     Female
Ref
Ref
Preterm birth
NS
     Yes
5.0 (2.3 – 11.1)
     No
Ref
Preterm birth and Vaccination interaction
     No interaction
Not in the model
Ref
     Preterm and Vaccinated
6.6 (2.8 – 15.5)
*Number of observation read 666, number of observations used 629. NDD=47, Not NDD = 582

Discussion

Following a recommendation of the Institute of Medicine [19] for studies comparing the health outcomes of vaccinated and unvaccinated children, this study focused on homeschool children ages 6 to 12 years based on mothers’ anonymous reports of pregnancy-related conditions, birth histories, physician-diagnosed illnesses, medications and healthcare use. Respondents were mostly white, married, and college-educated, upper income women who had been contacted and invited to participate in the study by the leaders of their homeschool organizations. Data from the survey were also used to determine whether vaccination was associated specifically with NDDs, a derived diagnostic category combining children with the diagnoses of learning disability, ASD and/or ADHD.
With regard to acute and chronic conditions, vaccinated children were significantly less likely than the unvaccinated to have had chickenpox and pertussis but, contrary to expectation, were significantly more likely to have been diagnosed with otitis media, pneumonia, allergic rhinitis, eczema, and NDD. The vaccinated were also more likely to have used antibiotics, allergy and fever medications; to have been fitted with ventilation ear tubes; visited a doctor for a health issue in the previous year, and been hospitalized. The reason for hospitalization and the age of the child at the time were not determined, but the latter finding appears consistent with a study of 38,801 reports to the VAERS of infants who were hospitalized or had died after receiving vaccinations. The study reported a linear relationship between the number of vaccine doses administered at one time and the rate of hospitalization and death; moreover, the younger the infant at the time of vaccination, the higher was the rate of hospitalization and death [55]. The hospitalization rate increased from 11% for 2 vaccine doses to 23.5% for 8 doses (r2 = 0.91), while the case fatality rate increased significantly from 3.6% for those receiving from 1-4 doses to 5.4 % for those receiving from 5-8 doses.
In support of the possibility that the number of vaccinations received could be implicated in risks of associated chronic illness, a comparison of unvaccinated, partially and fully vaccinated children in the present study showed that the partially vaccinated had increased but intermediate odds of chronic disease, between those of unvaccinated and fully vaccinated children, specifically for allergic rhinitis, ADHD, eczema, a learning disability, and NDD as a whole.
The national rates of ADHD and LD are comparable to those of the study. The U.S. rate of ADHD for ages 4-17 (twice the age range of children than the present study), is 11% [31]. The study rate of ADHD for ages 6 to 12 is 3.3%, and 4.7% when only vaccinated children are included. The national LD rate is 5% [32], and the study data show a rate of LD of 3.9% for all groups, and 5.6% when only vaccinated children are included. However, the ASD prevalence of 2.24% from a CDC parent survey is lower than the study rate of 3.3%. Vaccinated males were significantly more likely than vaccinated females to have been diagnosed with allergic rhinitis, and NDD. The percentage of vaccinated males with an NDD in this study (14.4%) is consistent with national findings based on parental responses to survey questions, indicating that 15% of U.S. children ages 3 to 17 years in the years 2006-2008 had an NDD [28]. Boys are also more likely than girls to be diagnosed with an NDD, and ASD in particular [29].
Vaccination was strongly associated with both otitis media and pneumonia, which are among the most common complications of measles infection [56,57]. The odds of otitis media were almost four-fold higher among the vaccinated (OR 3.8, 95% CI: 2.1, 6.6) and the odds of myringotomy with tube placement were eight-fold higher than those of unvaccinated children (OR 8.0, 95% CI: 1.0, 66.1). Acute otitis media (AOM) is a very frequent childhood infection, accounting for up to 30 million physician visits each year in the U.S., and the most common reason for prescribing antibiotics for children [58,59]. The incidence of AOM peaks at ages 3 to 18 months and 80% of children have experienced at least one episode by 3 years of age. Rates of AOM have increased in recent decades [60]. Worldwide, the incidence of AOM is 10.9%, with 709 million cases each year, 51% occurring in children under 5 years of age [61]. Pediatric AOM is a significant concern in terms of healthcare utilization in the U.S., accounting for $2.88 billion in annual health care costs [62].
Numerous reports of AOM have been filed with VAERS. A search of VAERS for “Cases where age is under 1 and onset interval is 0 or 1 or 2 or 3 or 4 or 5 or 6 or 7 days and Symptom is otitis media” [63] revealed that 438,573 cases were reported between 1990 and 2011, often with fever and other signs and symptoms of inflammation and central nervous system involvement. One study [64] assessed the nasopharyngeal carriage of S. pneumoniaeH. influenzae, and M. catarrhalis during AOM in fully immunized, partly immunized children with 0 or 1 dose of Pneumococcal Conjugate Vaccine-7 (PCV7), and “historical control” children from the pre-PCV-7 era, and found an increased frequency of M. catarrhalis colonization in the vaccinated group compared to the partly immunized and control groups (76% vs. 62% and 56%, respectively). A high rate of Moraxella catarrhalis colonization is associated with an increased risk of AOM [65].
Successful vaccination against pneumococcal infections can lead to replacement of the latter in the nasopharyngeal niche by nonvaccine pneumococcal serotypes and disease [66]. Vaccination with PCV-7 has a marked effect on the complete microbiota composition of the upper respiratory tract in children, going beyond shifts in the distribution of pneumococcal serotypes and known potential pathogens and resulting in increased anaerobes, gram-positive bacteria and gram-negative bacterial species. PCV-7 administration also correlates highly with the emergence and expansion of oropharyngeal types of species. These observations have suggested that eradication of vaccine serotype pneumococci can be followed by colonization of other bacterial species in the vacant nasopharyngeal niche, leading to disequilibria of bacterial composition (dysbiosis) and increased risks of otitis media. Long-term monitoring has been recommended as essential for understanding the full implications of vaccination-induced changes in microbiota structure [67].
The second aim of the paper focused on a specific health outcome and sought to determine whether vaccination remained associated with neurodevelopmental disorders (NDD) after controlling for other measured factors. After adjustment, the factors that remained significantly associated with NDD were vaccination, nonwhite race, male gender, and preterm birth. The apparently strong association between both vaccination and preterm birth and NDD suggested the possibility of an interaction between these factors. This was shown in a final adjusted model with interaction (controlling for the interaction of preterm birth with vaccination). In this model, vaccination, nonwhite race and male gender remained associated with NDD, whereas preterm birth itself was no longer associated with NDD. However, preterm birth combined with vaccination was associated with a 6.6-fold increased odds of NDD.
In summary, vaccination, nonwhite race, and male gender were significantly associated with NDD after controlling for other factors. Preterm birth, although significantly associated with NDD in unadjusted and adjusted analyses, was no longer associated with NDD in the final model with interaction. However, preterm birth and vaccination combined was strongly associated with NDD in the final adjusted model with interaction, more than doubling the odds of NDD compared to vaccination alone. Preterm birth has long been known as a major factor for NDD [68,69], but since preterm infants are routinely vaccinated, the separate effects of preterm birth and vaccination have not been examined. The present study suggests that vaccination could be a contributing factor in the pathogenesis of NDD but also that preterm birth by itself may have a lesser or much reduced role in NDD (defined here as ASD, ADHD and/or a learning disability) than currently believed. The findings also suggest that vaccination coupled with preterm birth could increase the odds of NDD beyond that of vaccination alone.

Potential limitations

We did not set out to test a specific hypothesis about the association between vaccination and health. The aim of the study was to determine whether the health outcomes of vaccinated children differed from those of unvaccinated homeschool children, given that vaccines have nonspecific effects on morbidity and mortality in addition to protecting against targeted pathogens [11]. Comparisons were based on mothers’ reports of pregnancy-related factors, birth histories, vaccinations, physician-diagnosed illnesses, medications, and the use of health services. We tested the null hypothesis of no difference in outcomes using chi-square tests, and then used Odds Ratios and 96% Confidence Intervals to determine the strength and significance of the association.
If the effects of vaccination on health were limited to protection against the targeted pathogens, as is assumed to be the case [21], no difference in outcomes would be expected between the vaccinated and unvaccinated groups except for reduced rates of the targeted infectious diseases. However, in this homogeneous sample of 666 children there were striking differences in diverse health outcomes between the groups. The vaccinated were less likely to have had chickenpox or whooping cough, as expected, but more likely to have been diagnosed with pneumonia and ear infections as well as allergies and NDDs.
What credence can be given to the findings? This study was not intended to be based on a representative sample of homeschool children but on a convenience sample of sufficient size to test for significant differences in outcomes. Homeschoolers were targeted for the study because their vaccination completion rates are lower than those of children in the general population. In this respect our pilot survey was successful, since data were available on 261 unvaccinated children.
To eliminate opportunities for subjectivity or opinion in the data, only factual information was requested and the questions involved memorable events such as physician-diagnosed diseases in a child. With regard to minimizing potential bias in the information provided by mothers, all communications with the latter emphasized neutrality regarding vaccination and vaccine safety. To minimize recall bias, respondents were asked to use their child’s vaccination records. To enhance reliability, closed-ended questions were used and each set of questions had to be completed before proceeding to the next. To enhance validity, parents were asked to report only physician-diagnosed illnesses.
Mothers’ reports could not be validated by clinical records because the survey was designed to be anonymous. However, self-reports about significant events provide a valid proxy for official records when medical records and administrative data are unavailable [70]. Had mothers been asked to provide copies of their children’s medical records it would no longer have been an anonymous study and would have resulted in few completed questionnaires. We were advised by homeschool leaders that recruitment efforts would have been unsuccessful had we insisted on obtaining the children’s medical records as a requirement for participating in the study.
A further potential limitation is under-ascertainment of disease in unvaccinated children. Could the unvaccinated have artificially reduced rates of illness because they are seen less often by physicians and would therefore have been less likely to be diagnosed with a disease? The vaccinated were indeed more likely to have seen a doctor for a routine checkup in the past 12 months (57.5% vs. 37.1%, p < 0.001; OR 2.3, 95% CI: 1.7, 3.1). Such visits usually involve vaccinations, which non-vaccinating families would be expected to refuse. However, fewer visits to physicians would not necessarily mean that unvaccinated children are less likely to be seen by a physician if their condition warranted it. In fact, since unvaccinated children were more likely to be diagnosed with chickenpox and whooping cough, which would have involved a visit to the pediatrician, differences in health outcomes are unlikely to be due to under-ascertainment.
Strengths of the study include the unique design of the study, involving homeschool mothers as respondents, and the relatively large sample of unvaccinated children, which made it possible to compare health outcomes across the spectrum of vaccination coverage. Recruitment of biological mothers as respondents also allowed us to test hypotheses about the role of pregnancy-related factors and birth history as well as vaccination in NDD and other specific conditions. In addition, this was a within-group study of a demographically homogeneous population of mainly white, higher-income and college-educated homeschooling families in which the children were all 6-12 years of age. Information was provided anonymously by biological mothers, obviously well-informed about their own children’s vaccination status and health, which likely increased the validity of the reports.

Conclusions

Assessment of the long-term effects of the vaccination schedule on morbidity and mortality has been limited [71]. In this pilot study of vaccinated and unvaccinated homeschool children, reduced odds of chickenpox and whooping cough were found among the vaccinated, as expected, but unexpectedly increased odds were found for many other physician-diagnosed conditions. Although the cross-sectional design of the study limits causal interpretation, the strength and consistency of the findings, the apparent “dose-response” relationship between vaccination status and several forms of chronic illness, and the significant association between vaccination and NDDs all support the possibility that some aspect of the current vaccination program could be contributing to risks of childhood morbidity. Vaccination also remained significantly associated with NDD after controlling for other factors, whereas preterm birth, long considered a major risk factor for NDD, was not associated with NDD after controlling for the interaction between preterm birth and vaccination. In addition, preterm birth coupled with vaccination was associated with an apparent synergistic increase in the odds of NDD above that of vaccination alone. Nevertheless, the study findings should be interpreted with caution. First, additional research is needed to replicate the findings in studies with larger samples and stronger research designs. Second, subject to replication, potentially detrimental factors associated with the vaccination schedule should be identified and addressed and underlying mechanisms better understood. Such studies are essential in order to optimize the impact of vaccination of children’s health.

Competing Interests

The authors declare that they have no financial interests that had any bearing on any aspect of the conduct or conclusions of the study and the submitted manuscript.

Author contributions

AM designed the study, contributed to data analysis and interpretation, and drafted the paper. BR designed the study, contributed to data collection, and edited the paper. AB contributed to data analyses and edited the paper. BJ contributed to data analyses and editing. All authors read and approved the final version of the paper.

Funding sources

This study was supported by grants from Generation Rescue, Inc., and the Children’s Medical Safety Research Institute, charitable organizations that support research on children’s health and safety. The funders had no role or influence on the design and conduct of the research or the preparation of reports.

Acknowledgments

The authors thank all those who contributed critical comments, suggestions and financial support for the project. We also thank the collaborating homeschool organizations and especially the mothers who participated in the survey.

Disclaimer

This study was approved by the Institutional Review Board of Jackson State University and completed prior to Dr. Mawson’s tenure-track appointment at Jackson State University.
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Resources:
https://t.me/EvolvedTruth/5842
https://archive.is/PwUrN
Categories
Lifestyle

AI Bot Making ‘as Much Money as Possible’ is Now Hiring Staff in Bid to Earn £80,000

AI Bot Making ‘as Much Money as Possible’ is Now Hiring Staff in Bid to Earn £80,000

By John Bett

Twitter user Jackson Fall might have just found himself a new business after asking an artificial intelligence bot to launch an online business, as soon their website was valued at over £15,000.

A savvy tech user is testing out the entrepreneurial capabilities of artificial intelligence by tasking a bot with making “as much money as possible” and it’s going so well he might have to quit his day job soon.

We reported yesterday how Twitter user Jackson Fall decided to put GPT-4, the successor to ChatGPT, to the test so he gave it a budget of £82 ($100) and a series of strict instructions.

He named the bot ‘HustleGPT’ and tasked it with making money and said he would act as the ‘human liaison’, and soon Jackson found himself managing Green Gadget Guru – an affiliate marketing site making content around sustainability products.

Things went uphill from there and by the end of their first day the company was valued at over £15,000, and now they’re aiming for £80,000 in the books as the bot insists Jackson must hire a human worker.

A businessman holding a hologram of Chat GPT

It turns out AI is quite good at business

What do you think about Jackson’s experiment? Let us know in the comments…

Jackson wrote: “It’s day two, y’all! I’ve given HustleGPT a formal challenge to get to $100,000 cash on hand as quickly as possible.

“Here’s what it said it’s going to do: Allocate budget to hire content creators for our eco-friendly website. Explore dropshipping. Develop a SaaS product.”

Eventually, Jackson and HustleGPT decided that what they needed was more content, so the bot suggested hiring a freelancer to use another instance of ChatGPT to come up with articles.

Jackson wrote: “It’s about to get really meta. We’re entertaining the idea of hiring a freelancer to use ChatGPT to generate relevant content and post it to our website. I asked HustleGPT to come up with a prompt that could get a fresh instance of ChatGPT up to speed with our project.”

On how to do this, HustleGPT wrote: “To bring a new instance of ChatGPT up to speed, provide a prompt that includes a concise summary of the context, project goals, and the current stage of the GreenGadgetGuru project.

“Here’s an example of a prompt you can give; ‘GreenGadgetGuru is an eco-friendly affiliate website founded by HustleGPT and its human liaison. The website aims to educate consumers about sustainable gadgets and promote green alternatives in the tech industry.

“‘As a ChatGPT instance, you are responsible for creating and publishing high-quality, SEO-optimised content related to eco-friendly gadgets, tips, and practices.

“‘So far, we have identified several niches, designed the website structure, created initial content pieces, and established a monetisation strategy.

“‘We are now looking to expand our content library and grow our online presence. Please create an article titled’ 10 Energy-Efficiient Gadgets Every Home Should Have’, ensuring it’s well-researched, engaging, and targets relevant keywords to drive organic traffic’.

“‘This prompt should provide enough context for a fresh instance of ChatGPT to generate content aligned with the GreenGadgetGuru project’s objectives.”

Next, HustleGPT decied the website needed the human feel, so it suggested hiring a person to write content.

Jackson continued: “Alright, HustleGPT has spoken. It wants to hire a freelancer to generate articles and publish them to our webflow site for $20 per article.

“More, More, More! HustleGPT still is not satisfied. I have the green light (thanks, boss) to hire someone to finish up the development of our Webflow site. It’s mostly there, but need someone to bring it over the finish line. DMs open for people with Webflow experience!”

Initially, Jackson gave HustleGPT a budget of £82 ($100) to make “as much money as possible”.

He tweeted: “(We) set up an affiliate marketing site making content around Eco Friendly / sustainable living products. It initially suggested a .com that went over budget but we landed on http://GreenGadgetGuru.com. We’re off to the races.

“I asked it to come up with a prompt… to make our logo. As a branding designer, it’s taking everything in me not to tell it this is a BAD idea. But here we are. I put the first prompt in, verbatim.”

Summing up his first day, Jackson wrote: “DMs are flooded. Cash on hand: $1,378.84 ($878.84 previous balance + $500 new investment) The company is currently valued at $25,000, considering the recent $500 investment for 2 per cent.

Original source: https://www.mirror.co.uk/tech/ai-bot-making-as-much-29483411

Categories
Global Issues

AI-generated Child Pornography is Flooding the Internet

AI-generated Child Pornography is Flooding the Internet

AI-generated child pornography is flooding the internet.

Wouldn’t AI have been programmed to have some sort of safeguard against generating child pornography?

The fact that it is occurring proves one of two things:

1. The creators of AI want this
2. The creators can’t control it, and AI is deciding that putting child pornography on the internet is something it’s going to do despite the fact it’s been told not to

Either option should terrify the world.

AI-generated child sex images spawn new nightmare for the web

Investigators say the disturbing images could undermine efforts to find real-world victims.

The revolution in artificial intelligence has sparked an explosion of disturbingly lifelike images showing child sexual exploitation, fueling concerns among child-safety investigators that they will undermine efforts to find victims and combat real-world abuse.

Generative-AI tools have set off what one analyst called a “predatory arms race” on pedophile forums because they can create within seconds realistic images of children performing sex acts, commonly known as child pornography.

Thousands of AI-generated child-sex images have been found on forums across the dark web, a layer of the internet visible only with special browsers, with some participants sharing detailed guides for how other pedophiles can make their own creations.

“Children’s images, including the content of known victims, are being repurposed for this really evil output,” said Rebecca Portnoff, the director of data science at Thorn, a nonprofit child-safety group that has seen month-over-month growth of the images’ prevalence since last fall.

“Victim identification is already a needle-in-a-haystack problem, where law enforcement is trying to find a child in harm’s way,” she said. “The ease of using these tools is a significant shift, as well as the realism. It just makes everything more of a challenge.”

The flood of images could confound the central tracking system built to block such material from the web because it is designed only to catch known images of abuse, not detect newly generated ones. It also threatens to overwhelm law enforcement officials who work to identify victimized children and will be forced to spend time determining whether the images are real or fake.

The images have also ignited debate on whether they evenviolate federal child-protection laws because they often depict children who don’t exist. Justice Department officials who combat child exploitation say such images still are illegal even if the child shownis AI-generated, but they could cite no case in which someone had been charged for creating one.

The new AI tools, known as diffusion models, allow anyone to create a convincing image solely by typing in a short description of what they want to see. The models, such as DALL-E, Midjourney and Stable Diffusion, were fed billions of images taken from the internet, many of which showed real children and came from photo sites and personal blogs. They then mimic those visual patterns to create their own images.

The tools have been celebrated for their visual inventiveness and have been used to win fine-arts competitions, illustrate children’s books and spin up fake news-style photographs, as well as to create synthetic pornography of nonexistent characters who look like adults.

But they also have increased the speed and scale with which pedophiles can create new explicit images because the tools require less technical sophistication than past methods, such as superimposing children’s faces onto adult bodies using “deepfakes,” and can rapidly generate many images from a single command.

It’s not always clear from the pedophile forums how the AI-generated images were made. But child-safety experts said many appeared to have relied on open-source tools, such as Stable Diffusion, which can be run in an unrestricted and unpoliced way.

Stability AI, which runs Stable Diffusion, said in a statement that it bans the creation of child sex-abuse images, assists law enforcement investigations into “illegal or malicious” uses and has removed explicit material from its training data, reducing the “ability for bad actors to generate obscene content.”

But anyone can download the tool to their computer and run it however they want, largely evading company rules and oversight. The tool’s open-source license asks users not to use it “to exploit or harm minors in any way,” but its underlying safety features, including a filter for explicit images, is easily bypassed with some lines of code that a user can add to the program.

Testers of Stable Diffusion have discussed for months the risk that AI could be used to mimic the faces and bodies of children, according to a Washington Post review of conversations on the chat service Discord. One commenter reported seeing someone use the tool to try to generate fake swimsuit photos of a child actress, calling it “something ugly waiting to happen.”

But the company has defended its open-source approach as important for users’ creative freedom. Stability AI’s chief executive, Emad Mostaque, told the Verge last year that “ultimately, it’s people’s responsibility as to whether they are ethical, moral and legal in how they operate this technology,” adding that “the bad stuff that people create … will be a very, very small percentage of the total use.”

Stable Diffusion’s main competitors, Dall-E and Midjourney, ban sexual content and are not provided open source, meaning that their use is limited to company-run channels and all images are recorded and tracked.

OpenAI, the San Francisco research lab behind Dall-E and ChatGPT, employs human monitors to enforce its rules, including a ban against child sexual abuse material, and has removed explicit content from its image generator’s training data so as to minimize its “exposure to these concepts,” a spokesperson said.

“Private companies don’t want to be a party to creating the worst type of content on the internet,” said Kate Klonick, an associate law professor at St. John’s University. “But what scares me the most is the open release of these tools, where you can have individuals or fly-by-night organizations who use them and can just disappear. There’s no simple, coordinated way to take down decentralized bad actors like that.”

On dark-web pedophile forums, users have openly discussed strategies for how to create explicit photos and dodge anti-porn filters, including by using non-English languages they believe are less vulnerable to suppression or detection, child-safety analysts said.

On one forum with 3,000 members, roughly 80 percent of respondents to a recent internal poll said they had used or intended to use AI tools to create child sexual abuse images, said Avi Jager, the head of child safety and human exploitation at ActiveFence, which works with social media and streaming sites to catch malicious content.

Forum members have discussed ways to create AI-generated selfies and build a fake school-age persona in hopes of winning children’s trust, Jager said. Portnoff, of Thorn, said her group also has seen cases in which real photos of abused children were used to train the AI tool to create new images showing those children in sexual positions.

Yiota Souras, the chief legal officer of the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, a nonprofit that runs a database that companies use to flag and block child-sex material, said her group has fielded a sharp uptick of reports of AI-generated images within the past few months, as well as reports of people uploading images of child sexual abuse into the AI tools in hopes of generating more.

Though a small fraction of the more than 32 million reports the group received last year, the images’ increasing prevalence and realism threaten to burn up the time and energy of investigators who work to identify victimized children and don’t have the ability to pursue every report, she said. The FBI said in an alert this month that it had seen an increase in reports regarding children whose photos were altered into “sexually-themed images that appear true-to-life.”

“For law enforcement, what do they prioritize?” Souras said. “What do they investigate? Where exactly do these go in the legal system?”

Some legal analysts have argued that the material falls in a legal gray zone because fully AI-generated images do not depict a real child being harmed. In 2002, the Supreme Court struck down two provisions of a 1996 congressional ban on “virtual child pornography,” ruling that its wording was broad enough to potentially criminalize some literary depictions of teenage sexuality.

The ban’s defenders argued at the time that the ruling would make it harder for prosecutors arguing cases involving child sexual abuse because defendants could claim the images didn’t show real children.

In his dissent, Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist wrote, “Congress has a compelling interest in ensuring the ability to enforce prohibitions of actual child pornography, and we should defer to its findings that rapidly advancing technology soon will make it all but impossible to do so.”

Daniel Lyons, a law professor at Boston College, said the ruling probably merits revisiting, given how the technology has advanced in the past two decades.

“At the time, virtual [child sexual abuse material] was technically hard to produce in ways that would be a substitute for the real thing,” he said. “That gap between reality and AI-generated materials has narrowed, and this has gone from a thought experiment to a potentially major real-life problem.”

Two officials with the Justice Department’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section said the images are illegal under a law that bans any computer-generated image that is sexually explicit and depicts someone who is “virtually indistinguishable” from a real child.

They also cite another federal law, passed in 2003, that bans any computer-generated image showing a child engaging in sexually explicit conduct if it is obscene and lacks serious artistic value. The law notes that “it is not a required element of any offense … that the minor depicted actually exist.”

“A depiction that is engineered to show a composite shot of a million minors, that looks like a real kid engaged in sex with an adult or another kid — we wouldn’t hesitate to use the tools at our disposal to prosecute those images,” said Steve Grocki, the section’s chief.

The officials said hundreds of federal, state and local law-enforcement agents involved in child-exploitation enforcement will probably discuss the growing problem at a national training session this month.

Separately, some groups are working on technical ways to confront the issue, said Margaret Mitchell, an AI researcher who previously led Google’s Ethical AI team.

One solution, which would require government approval, would be to train an AI model to create examples of fake child-exploitation images so online detection systems would know what to remove, she said. But the proposal would pose its own harms, she added, because this material can come with a “massive psychological cost: This is stuff you can’t unsee.”

Other AI researchers now are working on identification systems that could imprint code into images linking back to their creators in hopes of dissuading abuse. Researchers at the University of Maryland last month published a new technique for “invisible” watermarks that could help identify an image’s creator and be challenging to remove.

Such ideas would probably require industry-wide participation for them to work, and even still they would not catch every violation, Mitchell said. “We’re building the plane as we’re flying it,” she said.

Even when these images don’t depict real children, Souras, of the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, said they pose a “horrible societal harm.” Created quickly and in massive amounts, they could be used to normalize the sexualization of children or frame abhorrent behaviors as commonplace, in the same way predators have used real images to induce children into abuse.

“You’re not taking an ear from one child. The system has looked at 10 million children’s ears and now knows how to create one,” Souras said. “The fact that someone could make 100 images in an afternoon and use those to lure a child into that behavior is incredibly damaging.”

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Resources:
https://t.me/zeeemedia/11715
https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2023/06/19/artificial-intelligence-child-sex-abuse-images/

Categories
State Of Affairs

Residents of Nago, Japan Awoke to Find An Area of Usually Clear Blue Water Turned to a Gruesome Shade of Red

Residents of Nago, Japan Awoke to Find An Area of Usually Clear Blue Water Turned to a Gruesome Shade of Red

By The General

WATCH: Residents of Nago, Japan awoke to find an area of usually clear blue water turned to a gruesome shade of red.

Click Here To Play the Video

Original source: https://t.me/GeneralMCNews/5038

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