TallGuyJohninBKK

Trump calls on drug companies to 'justify the success' of COVID vaccines September 1, 2025 "Amid turmoil at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, President Trump on Monday called on pharmaceutical companies to "justify the success" of their COVID vaccines. "It is very important that the Drug Companies justify the success of their various Covid Drugs. Many people think they are a miracle that saved Millions of lives. Others disagree! With CDC being ripped apart over this question, I want the answer, and I want it NOW," Trump wrote on his social media platform. ... Trump called on the companies to "clear up this MESS, one way or the other!" and said he hoped Operation Warp Speed -- a key achievement of his first term -- was "as 'BRILLIANT' as many say it was." It's unclear what exact data Trump wants the companies to provide. Studies show COVID vaccine programs saved millions of lives during the pandemic." (more) https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/trump-admin-live-updates-trump-urges-companies-to-justify-success-of-covid-drugs/ar-AA1LDEyF

Worth noting, while Monarez was a legitimate and experienced scientist with a specialty in microbioogy, she wasn't an MD (medical doctor), and she was the first U.S. CDC director to not have an MD in more than 70 years, dating back to 1953! "Monarez completed a B.S. in microbiology at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, and then her Ph.D. in microbiology and immunology in 2003 at the same institution.[4] ... and her research focused on developing technologies to prevent, diagnose, and treat infectious diseases, particularly those affecting low- and middle-income countries. She lasted less than a month under the Trump administration, from her Senate confirmation in late July to her ouster last week. Now we get O'Neill, who isn't an MD and isn't a scientist. But he does have this going for him, according to the NYT: "Mr. O’Neill carved out a career in Silicon Valley, working closely with Peter Thiel, the billionaire and Republican megadonor. Mr. O’Neill also served as the chief executive of SENS Research Foundation, a longevity nonprofit that aimed to cure aging-related conditions. Mr. O’Neill has long criticized the Food and Drug Administration as too cautious in approving drugs. He has suggested that the agency approve drugs as soon as they are demonstrated to be safe, even without data on effectiveness." ... “Has America run out of actual health practitioners with demonstrated experience improving public health outcomes?” Dr. Atul Gawande, a surgeon and former Biden administration official, wrote in a social media post. https://archive.ph/8a4u0#selection-721.0-721.228

Not surprisingly, Jim O'Neill, the Silicon Valley tech investor and recent HHS deputy secretary under Sec. Robert F. Kennedy Jr. that the Trump Administration has named to be acting CDC director seems to be right in the same mold as Kennedy, meaning not committed to legitimate science and a past supporter of unproven, debunked COVID treatments: Who Is the New Acting C.D.C. Director? ... “During the previous administration, C.D.C. lost public trust by manipulating health data to support a political narrative,” Mr. O’Neill wrote in a social media post on Friday afternoon. “The Trump administration is rebuilding trust and refocusing CDC on its core mission of keeping America safe from infectious disease.” Errr... It's HHS and the Trump Admin. that have been putting on a master class lately in manipulating (and simply making up) health data....[see the cited links]😞 "The pick leaves the nation’s premier public health agency under the leadership of an official without medical or scientific training, and seems likely to tighten political control of the agency, critics in Congress said." It's Trump and RFK Jr. Predictable. And that's why the CDC's senior professional leadership resigned en masse last week. "During the Covid pandemic, he [O'Neill] indicated support for a number of unproven coronavirus treatments and preventives, including ivermectin, hydroxychloroquine and vitamin D." Fitting right into the RFK Jr. and Trump mold. "During his [HHS] confirmation hearing in May, Mr. O’Neill described himself as a strong supporter of vaccines. But under questioning from Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, Mr. O’Neill said that he thought Mr. Kennedy was “doing a great job” handling the nation’s ongoing measles outbreak. Mr. Kennedy has repeatedly spread false information about the safety of the M.M.R. vaccine, which protects children against measles. Gag! New York Times https://archive.ph/8a4u0 For anyone who thought thus far in 2025 has been rough for public health and legitimate science, it looks like things ahead are going to get even worse, with the ouster of a legitimate scientist, Susan Monarez, as CDC director and her replacement with a no medical background techie political ideologue.

And further, there's plenty of broad-scale research evidence that COVID the infection (which the Japan patient wasn't tested for at the time) is more of a risk factor for stroke that COVID vaccination, and that COVID vaccination itself does NOT increase one's risk of having a stroke (with this report below coming more than a year after the Japan report in the OP) Does the COVID-19 Vaccine Increase Your Risk of Stroke? May 25, 2023 "Your risk of stroke after the COVID-19 vaccine doesn’t appear to be higher than the stroke risk in the general population. [emphasis added] But, there does seem to be an elevated risk of stroke after having COVID-19, especially in the first 3 days after you become ill. What is the risk of stroke after the COVID-19 vaccine? Researchers have continued to study stroke risk after COVID-19 vaccination. So far, many have found that there’s no increase in the prevalence of stroke after getting the COVID-19 vaccine compared with stroke rates in the general population. [emphasis added] For example, a 2023 study looked at stroke risk after vaccination with mRNA COVID-19 vaccines in more than 4.1 million people. It didn’t find a higher rate of stroke in the 28 days after vaccination. This was true regardless of: age, sex, the type or combination of mRNA vaccines received." https://www.healthline.com/health/stroke/stroke-after-covid-vaccine#vaccines-and-stroke-risk

Meanwhile, we did have this report in the past month, and not based on the case of a single elderly woman who already had diagnosed heart problems: Study finds no safety issues with most recent mRNA COVID vaccines July 30, 2025 At a time when federal officials are calling into question the safety and necessity of COVID-19 vaccines, the mRNA COVID vaccine version used this past season showed no elevated risk of any of the 29 serious adverse events that researchers in Denmark assessed. The nationwide cohort study, published this week in JAMA Network Open, included 1,585,883 people (54% female), of whom 1,012,400 (64%) received the updated mRNA COVID vaccines containing the JN.1 lineage. ... No increased risk of 29 adverse events ... They found no statistically significant increases in the rate of hospital contacts for any of 29 adverse events during the 28-day period after patients received an mRNA vaccine. (more) https://www.cidrap.umn.edu/covid-19/study-finds-no-safety-issues-most-recent-mrna-covid-vaccines

A couple other addenda on this topic: 1. the report posted here (although you wouldn't know it from the OP post) dates back to early 2022, more than three years ago... and AFAIK there's been no widespread ruckus about such issues since then, whatever may have occurred in that singular case for whatever reason. And 2. the authors of the original journal article on the issue said they could not conclude a connection between COVID vaccinations and strokes based on what occurred with this one patient, unlike the anti-vaxer sentiments here or in the OP posted inflammatory anti-vaxer article. What the medical doctors actually wrote in their conclusion was: "Although we cannot infer a causal relationship between the vaccine and ischemic stroke based on this case alone, this association needs to be carefully monitored and caution may be needed in patients who have a stroke soon after the first dose. [emphasis added] Conclusion The relationship between the COVID-19 mRNA vaccine and ischemic stroke needs to be carefully monitored." https://www.strokejournal.org/article/S1052-3057(21)00638-8/fulltext

Anyone really expect to get credible COVID information from a place like this in the OP:

Predictably, more nonsense and worthless posting junk from bogus sources: Re the direct source quoted/linked in the OP: And re the original source where the Lioness pulled its worthless report from: https://mediabiasfactcheck.com/news-punch/ Let's repeat the concluding sentence of the above review: "This website has zero credibility due to the routine publishing of fake news." There's a reason this is the "Off the Beaten Track" subforum.

Yes, the CDC recently changed their longstanding recommendation under RFK Jr., after he fired the CDC's entire outside advisory panel of vaccine-related professionals and replaced them with a hand-picked, hastily vetted small group dominated by anti-vaxers, vaccine skeptics and several with no related experience at all. "Ahead of the new respiratory virus season, the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) today published an update to its recommended childhood vaccine schedule, which breaks from recent recommendations from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, which was overhauled earlier this year to include people known to spread vaccine misinformation and others without expertise in vaccines. [emphasis added] ... In May, [before he later fired the CDC's director] Kennedy unilaterally announced sweeping changes that removed the COVID vaccine recommendation for healthy children and pregnant women. A few days later, however, the CDC [when it still had a non-political director] updated its immunization schedule to only partly reflect the new position, saying that children ages 6 months to 17 years may receive the COVID vaccine based on parent preference and the clinical judgment of healthcare providers." [my own context comments above in brackets] https://www.cidrap.umn.edu/covid-19/aap-evidence-backed-immunization-schedule-reflects-break-cdc-advisers For young people, the American Academy of Pediatrics still has a broader recommendation for COVID vaccination. "For kids ages 2 through 18 years old, the AAP recommends a single dose of age-appropriate vaccine for those in the following risk groups: those at risk for severe disease, residents of long-term care or congregate settings, kids who have never been vaccinated against COVID, and those who have household contacts who are at high risk for severe COVID. "The AAP also recommends the vaccine be available for children ages 2-18 who do not fall into these risk groups, but whose parent or guardian desires them to have the protection of the vaccine," the group added. (same source linked above)

Yep, that's 56 young people age 5-17 in the U.S. dead from COVID in just one recent year, fall 2023 - fall 2024... ...for a group that the anti-vaxers keep publicly claiming have NO risks from COVID. And that's SIX TIMES the total number of deaths (nine) that the CDC has attributed to all vaccine related issues for all age groups in the U.S. since the start of COVID vaccinations, amid many hundreds of millions of doses given. " The CDC has also told NewsGuard on multiple occasions, most recently in January 2025, that only nine deaths have been attributed to COVID vaccine side effects." https://www.newsguardrealitycheck.com/p/cdcs-new-vaccine-panel-head-is-a?open=false#§head-of-new-federal-covid-vaccine-task-force-is-a-covid-myth-superspreader And on the issue of recency, the same CDC report you linked to above includes the following comment re myocarditis: "The VSD has not detected a statistical signal for myocarditis/pericarditis following the 2024-2025 COVID-19 vaccine to date." Once again, thanks for helping make such a compelling case.

Thanks for posting that good data from the CDC, which you should note supports what I posted above: "According to CDC data, no increased risk has been observed for any age group since the 2022-2023 season.." But let's not stop there, since the same report you linked to goes on to make a pretty compelling case for why the medical community has long advised that getting the COVID vaccine outweighs the associated risks, even for young people... So, we can see the following from that same CDC report: The CDC makes a pretty compelling case.. Thank you! https://www.cdc.gov/acip/downloads/slides-2025-04-15-16/05-Panagiotakopoulos-COVID-508.pdf

Guess you missed the part re vaccine-related myocarditis about: "According to CDC data, no increased risk has been observed for any age group since the 2022-2023 season.." https://www.factcheck.org/2025/05/rfk-jr-misleads-about-safety-of-covid-19-vaccine-in-children/ And that's from a 2025 update on the subject.

Benefits of COVID-19 Vaccination Outweigh the Rare Risk of Myocarditis, Even in Young Males Updated on April 5, 2022 "Rare cases of myocarditis have been reported following the mRNA COVID-19 vaccines, particularly among young males after a second dose. Most cases resolve quickly without the need for advanced therapies, although research on any potential long-term effects is ongoing. Nonetheless, the benefits of vaccination outweigh the risks in all populations, even in young males. [emphasis added] ... That study and others have found that compared with classic viral myocarditis, post-vaccine myocarditis appears to resolve faster and have better clinical outcomes, although investigations into potential long-term effects are ongoing. In patients with vaccine-associated myocarditis, symptoms such as chest pain, shortness of breath, palpitations or fatigue usually appear within a week of vaccination and resolve within a few days. Case studies show that most patients have been hospitalized, but most of them have recovered with rest and nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, such as ibuprofen, with very few needing intense therapies. “In contrast, typical viral cases of myocarditis can have a more variable clinical course,” CDC experts point out in the JAMA study. “For example, up to 6% of typical viral myocarditis cases in adolescents require a heart transplant or result in mortality.” https://www.factcheck.org/2022/03/scicheck-benefits-of-covid-19-vaccination-outweigh-the-rare-risk-of-myocarditis-even-in-young-males/

RFK Jr. Misleads About Safety of COVID-19 Vaccine in Children May 7, 2025 "In recent interviews, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has minimized the risk COVID-19 poses to kids and exaggerated the risk of the vaccine, incorrectly claiming that the shot poses a “profound risk” to children. While serious side effects can occur, they are rare, and have not been shown to outweigh the benefits of the vaccine in protecting against COVID-19. ... Myocarditis and pericarditis, the inflammation of the heart muscle and the outer lining of the heart, were identified early-on as rare side effects of some COVID-19 vaccines. The risk of these side effects is highest for adolescent and young adult males after a second dose, but is still very low. For younger children, the risk is so low it is sometimes not detectable in vaccine safety surveillance systems. According to CDC data, no increased risk has been observed for any age group since the 2022-2023 season. There’s also no evidence of an increased risk of strokes or neurological problems following vaccination in children." Dr. Sean O’Leary, an associate professor of pediatrics at the University of Colorado and chair of the American Academy of Pediatrics Committee on Infectious Diseases, told us Kennedy’s claims are “inaccurate.” “The vaccines are very safe in kids,” he told us in a phone interview, referring to the COVID-19 shots. https://www.factcheck.org/2025/05/rfk-jr-misleads-about-safety-of-covid-19-vaccine-in-children/

The assessment I posted above isn't just a 2021 study. It's the current assessment of the American Heart Association. So you're arguing the American Heart Assn. doesn't understand heart issues, but you understand them better than the AHA....

No, it's NOT a proven fact, and you of course have provided no credible evidence that it is, as is so common among such claims here. The facts are: myocarditis (a heart inflammation condition) after COVID vaccination is a VERY rare condition that can occur after COVID vaccination mostly in young men. The symptoms generally are mild and short-term, and resolve relatively quickly with generally no long-term impacts. Conversely, myocarditis is a VERY common side effect of COVID infections, and the infection derived cases are typically more severe and longer lasting. Per the American Heart Association: "(Myocarditis is inflammation of the heart muscle, while pericarditis is inflammation of the heart’s outer lining.) Research shows the benefits of COVID-19 vaccination outweigh the low risk of myocarditis after receiving the vaccine. Cases of myocarditis and/or pericarditis have been more common in adolescent boys and young men. A 2021 study shows that most people under age 21 who developed myocarditis thought to be linked to COVID-19 vaccination had mild symptoms that improved quickly." https://www.heart.org/en/coronavirus/coronavirus-questions/questions-about-covid-19-vaccination

Either you're not recognizing reality re Kennedy, or you've bought into the right-wing media's world of COVID disinformation big time. From a ABC News Australia news report I posted in a different thread here last night re Kennedy: "We know that Kennedy is a long-term vaccine skeptic. He has peddled false and unscientific conspiracy theories that some vaccines are linked to childhood autism. [emphasis added] There is no evidence for that, but Kennedy is convinced of it. He's convinced of a lot of scientifically unsound things. [emphasis added] And increasingly, the doctors who work at the Centers for Disease Control are concerned that he's imposing his false beliefs on this incredibly important agency by Kennedy making it harder for Americans to get the COVID 19 vaccine." https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iFRI8n_O2RM That's just one such report. But I could show you 100 more from credible sources far and wide. He's a documented and widely recognized loon on numerous health related topics.

You may see above, after your prodding, I took a crack at the challenge/question you posed: ...my personal opinion is, and it's only my opinion, that young people who aren't in poverty, who are able to get a decent education, and who aren't involved in drugs and gangs are probably less likely overall to get involved with firearm violence.

I'm only trying to counter a poster's misleading political propaganda... not solve the nation's ills. That's a bit above my pay grade. 🙂 But my personal opinion is, and it's only my opinion, that young people who aren't in poverty, who are able to get a decent education, and who aren't involved in drugs and gangs are probably less likely to get involved with firearm violence.

And a bit of a more recent update on this, that shows a mixed picture on the Red-Blue divide that's still contrary to Trump's claims: Where homicide rates are highest: Blue cities in red states Aug 15, 2025 "To hear President Trump tell it, the nation's murder problem is particularly bad in New York City, Chicago, Baltimore, Los Angeles and Washington, D.C. — Democratic-run cities in Democratic-led states (or district, in D.C.'s case). New FBI crime figures from 2024 tell a different story. The big picture: 13 of the 20 U.S. cities with the highest murder rates were in Republican-run states. Many of those cities were run by Democrats who often are at odds with state officials, an Axios analysis of FBI data finds. [emphasis added] (more) https://www.axios.com/2025/08/15/homicide-rates-highest-blue-cities-red-states

Any shooting anywhere is bad, but the OP here is clearly aimed at disparaging Chicago and making a poor case for Trump to send in the National Guard and/or U.S. military. Meanwhile, contrary to the political rhetoric, here's the reality: Red States Have Higher Gun Death Rates Than Blue States. Here’s Why Apr 28, 2023 "A new study published in Journal of the American Medical Association’s Surgery found that firearm deaths are more likely in small rural towns than in major urban cities, adding to research that contradicts common belief that Democratic blue areas have higher incidences of gun-related deaths than do Republican red districts. Researchers from Children’s Hospital Philadelphia, Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health and the University of California examined two decades of mortality rates and cause-of-death data from the National Center for Health Statistics’ National Vital Statistics System to compile the study. A Third Way report found that between 2000 and 2020, Trump-voting states had 12% higher murder rates than did Biden-voting cities. Data shows that in 2020, eight of the ten states with the highest murder rates voted for the Republican presidential nominee in every election in this century. [emphasis added] (more) https://www.forbes.com/sites/ariannajohnson/2023/04/28/red-states-have-higher-gun-death-rates-than-blue-states-heres-why/ AND So when's Trump going to start sending the National Guard to Louisiana, Alabama, Wyoming, etc etc.? Of course, he won't... It's only going to be to Democrat-dominated cities and states, because his real game is about politics, not public safety.

TIME also did a broad overview article covering many of the different topics and issues related to COVID vaccine availability in the U.S. this fall: What to Know About Getting the COVID-19 Vaccine Right Now Aug 29, 2025 "As COVID-19 continues to circulate, questions remain about how to protect yourself in 2025. Should you get the COVID-19 vaccine? Will the shots be available at your local pharmacy? Will insurance cover it? The answers are complicated. The confusion stems from shifting federal vaccine recommendations, clashing guidance from medical groups, and the uncertainty of how doctors, pharmacies, insurance companies, and everyday people will navigate it all. ... Here’s what you need to know about getting the COVID-19 vaccine. (more) https://time.com/7313128/covid-19-vaccine-recommendations-cdc-fda/

Opinion: Cuts to scientific funding will be detrimental to the US, achieving the opposite to Trump’s stated aims A freeze on federal funding for science will be bad for the economy and business, as well as hugely harmful to the scientific community 07 March 2025 "In case you’ve missed it, over the past five weeks in the US, the Trump Administration has been dismantling the country’s scientific research enterprise. There are more disturbing moves against science than can fit on this page, but for starters, Robert F Kennedy Jr—an HIV denying vaccine sceptic and scientifically unqualified individual—was confirmed as the new Secretary of Health and Human Services, the large agency that includes the National Institutes of Health (NIH), Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), and oversight of the two public insurance programmes, Medicaid and Medicare. After freezing all federal funding, Trump’s administration went on to purge the FDA, the CDC, and the NIH of nearly 5,200 dedicated federal employees. Many of them were early in their careers, cutting short a generation of future scientists. ... Ultimately, the cuts to research funding are not in line with “Making America Great Again” and certainly are not going to “Make America Healthy Again.” Rather, they reflect a profound lack of concern for the scientific workforce, future science and innovation produced by the US, and our ability to combat the diseases that affect us and our loved ones and increase our quality of life and longevity. The best we can say is that the current administration is consistent in derailing and gutting science." (more) https://www.bmj.com/content/388/bmj.r476 Joshua Barocas, associate professor, Divisions of General Internal Medicine and Infectious Diseases, Department of Medicine, University of Colorado School of Medicine Esther Choo, professor, Center for Policy and Research in Emergency Medicine, Department of Emergency Medicine, Oregon Health & Science University

Public health experts dismayed by RFK Jr.'s defunding of mRNA vaccine research August 6, 2025 "The Trump administration is canceling almost $500 million in contracts to develop mRNA vaccines to protect the U.S. against future viral threats. The move thrilled critics of the technology but horrified many public health and biosecurity experts. ... The mRNA technology was used by the first Trump administration to create the most commonly used COVID-19 vaccines, which are widely considered a medical triumph that safely and effectively saved millions of lives. But vaccine mandates during the pandemic sowed fierce antipathy toward the technology, leading to widespread public opposition. ... "This may be the most dangerous public health judgment that I've seen in my 50 years in this business," says Michael Osterholm, who runs the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota. "It is baseless, and we will pay a tremendous price in terms of illnesses and deaths. I'm extremely worried about it." (more) https://www.npr.org/sections/shots-health-news/2025/08/06/nx-s1-5493544/rfk-defunding-mrna-vaccine-research

Current and former HHS staff respond to violent CDC attack August 20, 2025 "In response to the August 8 armed attack on the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) campus in Atlanta, more than 800 current and former Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), National Institutes of Health (NIA), and Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) signed a letter to HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., and members of Congress airing concerns about America’s health and security. ... Group calls on Kennedy to uphold pledge to safeguard the American public Kennedy is complicit in dismantling the US public health infrastructure and endangering the nation’s health by sowing scientific misinformation. They also said the HHS secretary has questioned the integrity of the CDC’s workforce, creating gaps in preparedness, worker safety, and chronic disease prevention by indiscriminate staff cuts, falsely claiming that mRNA vaccines aren’t effective, cancelling mRNA vaccine development contracts, undermining public trust in the measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) vaccine, replacing the vaccine advisory committee, and making false claims about vaccines and autism." (more) https://www.cidrap.umn.edu/anti-science/current-and-former-hhs-staff-respond-violent-cdc-attack