ICWA Weekly News
by Gerald Braude
In this newsletter:
Radio Show links
COVID-19 Shot Mandates for State Employees in Retrospect
Upcoming Washington Events This Week
Providence St. Joseph Health Fails Transparency As Assets Soar by $3.7 Billion
May 12 Episode of An Informed Life Radio - show links
Guests: Dale and Kaysha Richardson; Erin Kranzler
Reject 5599 Event | Pierce County Republican Party (piercegop.org)
Port Townsend FreePress | a source for original reporting, investigation, and commentary.
PeaceHealth cuts Bellingham jobs, announces clinic closure and reduces some services (yahoo.com)
Events — Patriots United - Take Back Washington (patriotsunitedwa.com)
Event - Floral Arranging and Wine Tasting (momsforliberty.org)
COVID-19 Shot Mandates for State Employees in Retrospect
On May 10, the following came from the Washington governor’s office:
Gov. Jay Inslee today announced he will rescind Directive 22-13.1 Thursday, May 11, 2023. The rescission directive ends the condition of employment related to COVID-19 vaccinations for executive cabinet and small cabinet agencies.
Nevertheless, Inslee kept the “incentive” form of coercion:
Inslee will be signing a budget soon that includes provisions to incentivize up-to-date vaccination. Beginning July 25, 2023, eligible state employees who choose to provide proof of their up-to-date vaccination status can qualify for a $1,000 incentive payment.
The question remains: why did the governor and his administration and the DOH believe mandates of the experimental EUA (Emergency Use Authorized) COVID-19 shots were ethical or necessary in the first place? And how can Governor Inslee possibly justify $1,000 incentives for what has proven to be unsafe, ineffective, and medically unethical “boosters”?
In the midst of the October 2021 mandate leading to 1,900 Washington state workers quitting or getting fired, twenty-one percent of them coming from the Washington Department of Transportation, Thurston County Superior Court Judge Carol Murphy denied a request for a temporary injunction in a lawsuit by hundreds of Washington State Patrol troopers, corrections officers, ferry workers and other public employees. The judge’s ruling was in direct opposition to EUA regulations and all human rights declarations and regulations regarding informed consent. Nevertheless, Washington Attorney General Bob Ferguson, who is currently in the exploratory phase of running for governor in 2024, said on Twitter that the verdict “ensures a safe and healthy work environment for all state employees.” His statement implied that he erroneously believed COVID-19 shots were capable of preventing transmission of the disease, that they were safe, and that those who took them would be afforded some measure of health.
It has long been a public health fallacy that receipt of a vaccine product equates to health. Even when a vaccine product provides some measure of temporary protection from the symptoms of a single targeted disease, that avoidance is not a measurement of health. There is nothing in a vaccine that is essential to the building and maintaining of human health. The immune systems of healthy people without vaccine exposure are capable preventing infection or of minimizing symptoms, leaving the individual afterward with immunity that is far broader and more durable than anything provided by a manmade vaccine. Every vaccinologist knows this.
“The idiom “infection beats injection” means that immunity is almost always stronger for those who survive and beat an infection than for those who receive a vaccination. The truth of this adage is as applicable today as it has ever been.” https://worldcouncilforhealth.org/resources/natural-immunity-vs-vaccine/
The question about why the federal government failed to incorporate naturally acquired immunity in their response was asked recently during House Oversight hearings. Some federal employees backpedaled, and attempted to claim that vaccination creates “natural” immunity, just like infection, which is absurd. Antibodies to a single genetically-altered spike protein are a world away from the broad and durable complex immune response that occurs when exposed to a virus.
With the governor’s emergency proclamation expiring in August of 2022, Brandy Chinn, rules and legislative relations manager in the Office of Financial Management (OFM), used the same reasoning for adopting the governor’s directive for state employees:
On August 5, 2022, Governor Inslee issued Directive 22-13.1, COVID-19 Vaccination Standards for State Employees, which directs a COVID-19 vaccination condition of employment requirement for state executive and small cabinet agencies. Although the emergency proclamation is expiring, COVID-19 and the effects of its risk of person-to-person transmission continue to impact the life and health of all Washingtonians and the economy of Washington State. COVID-19 vaccines are effective in reducing infection and serious disease, and widespread vaccination is the primary means we have as a state to protect the health and safety of our workforce. As an employer, there is an obligation to maintain a safe and healthy work environment for all state employees. The vaccination requirements set forth in these proposed rules will help establish and maintain a healthy and safe work environment to protect the welfare of all state employees.
Why were Inslee, Ferguson, and Chinn pushing this mandate in the name of a “healthy work environment” when the ability of the shots to prevent infection had already been established?
The first clear evidence that the COVID-19 shots may not prevent transmission came from a December 10, 2020 Federal Drug and Administration (FDA) briefing document for the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine. During the Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee Meeting, the following was revealed under 8.2:
Vaccine effectiveness against transmission of SARS-CoV-2 Data are limited to assess the effect of the vaccine against transmission of SARS-CoV-2 from individuals who are infected despite vaccination.
VRBPAC-12.10.20-Meeting-Briefing-Document-FDA.pdf
An FDA news release on December 11, 2020 for Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 shot affirmed this uncertainty, for the last sentence under the “FDA Evaluation of Available Effectiveness Data” heading reads as follows:
“At this time, data are not available to make a determination about how long the vaccine will provide protection, nor is there evidence that the vaccine prevents transmission of SARS-CoV-2 from person to person.”
As for the Moderna COVID-19 shot, the Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee Meeting on December 17, 2022 revealed an FDA Briefing Document in which page forty-nine read as follows:
8.2 Unknown Benefits/Data Gaps
Data are limited to assess the effect of the vaccine against transmission of SARS-CoV-2 from individuals who are infected despite vaccination
Page forty-nine also revealed,
“Data are limited to assess the effect of the vaccine in preventing asymptomatic infection as measured by detection of the virus and/or detection of antibodies against non-vaccine antigens that would indicate infection rather than an immune response induced by the vaccine.”
Because Inslee, Ferguson, and Chinn had failed to look at the federal documents, apparently even when those documents and other evidence were submitted to them, some employees scrambled to get a religious exemption to keep their jobs.
One employee had immigrated from Russia fifteen years ago, where her mother, during the years of the USSR, was in a similar situation in which she was also mandated to receive vaccines as condition of employment. She wrote to the OFM that she had never imagined she would be asked to risk her life, as her mother had to do, to maintain employment.
Her letter also raised the absence in OFM’s ruling about addressing adverse reactions to the COVID-19 shots. She wrote, “The rule is silent on the actions of the employer, or responsibilities, with regard to those who will experience adverse reactions due to the mandate. The rule is silent on compensations, time off, mandatory reporting, and tracking of workers who will be harmed by the medical intervention required to maintain their employment.”
She further stated, “Given that state buildings are open to the public regardless of vaccination status, given that vaccines and boosters do not prevent infection or transmission, to demonstrate that a handful of workers present undue hardship in the workplace, seems like a tax-payers funded legal nightmare.”
Her religious exemption was granted so long as she exclusively teleworked from home. She could be on site of her work facility only during off hours (6:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m.) or on a Saturday or Sunday. If she needed to pick up or drop off any work products, documents, or files, she had to coordinate with her supervisor for an adjustment of her scheduled work hours so that she could drop off or pick up the necessary items during off hours.
Another Washington government employee applied for religious exemption. In her case, human resources decided that because they could not make the proper accommodations for her and, therefore, she was on undue hardship on the workforce, she was fired for refusing to take the COVID-19 shot. She worked in a basement in which she had her own private entrance and was not exposing herself to anyone.
One employee who started working for the government early in the pandemic said that she never heard from the union about voting on the contract. She had been allowed to take the religious exemption for the COVID-19 jab. Another union member says she was never informed about the COVID-19 shot requirement in the July1, 2023-2025 contract. She had ended up with heart issues from the Johnson & Johnson shot, but the doctors refused to acknowledge this.
More physical harm from the shots was revealed by state employee John Sienkiewicz in a letter that his parents gave to Washington Representative Cyndy Jacobsen.
Even though John worked from home as an employee for the Washington State government, he was required to take the COVID-19 shot or face termination. His symptoms from the shot included peripheral neuropathy, tinnitus, body tremors, internal vibrations, various paresthesias, involuntary muscle pressure in his head, neck, and face, loss of sensation in his head, hands, and feet, a loss of motor function, and severe immune system dysregulation.
Before receiving the COVID-19 shot, he had no health issues. He hiked three times a week. He never had a broken bone and never even had a cavity.
He loved the job he had for the state, but in the letter he stated, “I am forced to use a career’s worth of leave to keep my job and medical insurance to try and get well from the side effects of a mandated vaccine I was told would protect me and others.”
The letter stated that he had reached out to Governor Jay Inslee, Senator Patty Murray, and Senator Maria Cantwell about his COVID-19 shot injury, but “none have replied to me.”
It was this kind of negligence of not looking at the federal documents that led to the creation of the Silent Majority Foundation to lead the fight in the court system for those refusing to bow to the mandates. It also led to a boom in the popularity of Informed Choice Washington as well as the creation of local organizations, such as Be Brave Washington in Whatcom County, Health Freedom Information in Jefferson County, Clallam County Freedom Alliance, and the Seattle Truth Network. The question remains whether their efforts will be successful enough that these mandates on state employees will never happen again.
Upcoming Washington Events This Week
Friday, May 19; 6:00-9:00 p.m. Patriots United will be hosting an “Overcoming Adversity” event with Ryan Weaver at the Black Pearl on the Columbia River, 56 S. 1st Street, Washougal, WA 98671. Tickets are $25, but all students are free with code FREEDOM23 shown at the door. Events — Patriots United - Take Back Washington (patriotsunitedwa.com)
Friday, May 19; 6:30-8:00 p.m. will be a Reject 5599 event at Lundstrom Plaza, 10209 Bridgeport Way SW in Lakewood. The event organizers are seeking paid and volunteer workers to gather signatures to reject SB 5599, a bill recently passed that gives the state, not parents, rights over their child seeking transgender treatment.
Reject 5599 Event | Pierce County Republican Party (piercegop.org)
Saturday, May 20; 3:00 to 5:00 p.m. Informed Choice Washington will join forces with COVID Betrayal-A Path Forward event for frontline healthcare providers and family members dealing with adverse reactions, loss, and mental impacts from the COVID-19 shots. NBA Hall of Famer John Stockton will be the keynote speaker. Appearing on Zoom will be Dr. Ryan Cole who last May 3 addressed members of the European Parliament at the COVID-19 Summit in Brussels, Belgium. COVID Betrayal ->> A Path Forward - Informed Choice Washington | ICWA
Saturday, May 20; 10:00 a.m. March for Freedom has signed up with the City of Seattle to clean the Greenwood neighborhood. The city is supplying everything needed, including volunteers. Fifty persons already are signed up, but there’s room for more. The clean up starts at Alice Ball Park at 8102 Greenwood Ave. N, which is near the Greenwood Library.
Sunday, May 21, 2:00-4:00 p.m. The King County Chapter of Moms for Liberty presents a floral arranging class and wine tasting fundraising event in Woodinville. Lynn Trinh will teach the class, and she can be contacted for questions at 425-749-9901 Event - Floral Arranging and Wine Tasting (momsforliberty.org)
Providence St. Joseph Health Fails Transparency As Assets Soar by $3.7 Billion
On May 11, The Defender posted an article by Adam Andrzejewski, who is the CEO and founder of OpenTheBooks.com, in which his organization’s’ auditors investigated America’s healthcare system and found that the twenty largest nonprofit hospitals in the country continued making massive profits while their cumulative net assets soared to $324.3 billion in 2021 from $200.6 billion in 2018. The year 2021 is the latest year available for cross-comparison purposes.
Top 20 ‘Nonprofit’ Hospitals Pocketed $23 Billion in Taxpayer-Funded COVID Aid
Those hospital systems received congressional COVID-19 bailouts of $23 billion.
The chart below shows that Providence St. Joseph Health, whose headquarters are in Renton, WA, ranked second at $3 billion for the highest amount of COVID-19 aid.
Furthermore, the article went on to state that in 2020, the Trump Administration issued, and the Biden Administration finalized (January 2021) a healthcare transparency rule — to spur market competition and inform patients.
Yet, two years after the rule took effect, an independent audit found that nearly three-quarters of hospitals in the country were not complying — flouting the mandate that prices be posted clearly and comprehensively.
Even though the twenty largest nonprofit hospital systems saw their combined net assets soar 62%, or $124 billion, in the three years to 2021, only two systems complied fully with United States government price transparency rules, according to a key healthcare watchdog.
Patient Rights Advocate (PRA), wrote in its February 2023 report, “This blatant obfuscation of prices and flouting of the rule demonstrates that implementation and enforcement efforts must be rigorously examined and markedly strengthened to improve compliance, enable technology innovators to parse the pricing data, and empower American consumers with upfront prices.”
PatientRightsAdvocate.org+Feb+2023+Price+Transparency+Compliance+Report.pdf (squarespace.com)
The chart below shows that all fifty-two hospitals reviewed for Providence St. Joseph Health were noncompliant with their transparency.
The article then did financial breakdowns of ten large nonprofit hospital systems with all or most of their hospitals being non-compliant on price transparency. Here is the breakdown given for Providence St. Joseph Health:
2021 Net assets: $17.7 billion.
2018 Net assets: $14 billion.
Top Paid Exec Salary: $10.9 million.
COVID-19 Aid Received: $3 billion.
Hospitals in compliance: None of Providence St. Joseph’s 52 hospitals.
Percent compliance: 0%.
The breakdown also stated, “A hospital spokesperson did not return a request for comment by our deadline.”
The summary section of the article states that, of the ten hospital systems mentioned above, only Kaiser Permanente paid back their COVID-19 aid.
The summary section also raised the following noteworthy points:
If we are spending more, and hospital assets are increasing markedly, why has life expectancy in the United States dropped by 2.5 years?
Are these “nonprofit” hospitals operating in the public interest or their private interest?
Compliance is not impossible. Patient Rights Advocate found 489 hospitals with “exemplary” files and described as “easily accessible, downloadable, machine-readable, and including all negotiated rates by payor and plan.”
The federal price transparency rules are clear. One of every four hospitals follows those rules. They comply with price disclosure. CMS needs to enforce the rules on three-quarters of hospitals that ignore those same rules.
America’s nonprofit hospitals must justify their pandemic profiteering. In the top 20 largest nonprofits, for every $1 in COVID-19 bailout from the U.S. taxpayer, their net assets jumped — on average — $5.
Thanks for another excellent article.