CDC suspects anxiety as the culprit for negative effects in needle-averse people.
A new report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that anxiety is to blame for a series of adverse effects from the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, rather than the shot itself.
From April 7 to 9, the CDC received reports of “clusters of anxiety-related events” after patients received the J&J vaccine, including hyperventilation, low blood pressure, headaches, difficulty breathing, lightheadedness, nausea, and fainting, among others, at five mass vaccination sites.
At four of those sites, administrators temporarily suspended offering coronavirus vaccines due to the high relative frequency of patients fainting — 8.2 people per 100,000, according to the CDC. For comparison, 0.05 people per 100,000 faint after receiving an influenza vaccine.
After conducting interviews with the 64 patients (out of 8,624) who displayed those symptoms, the CDC concluded that none of the cases met their definition of serious side effects, and the majority were resolved within 15 minutes. The researchers attributed the symptoms to anxiety rather than any discrepancies between the J&J vaccine and its Pfizer and Moderna counterparts.
In fact, the main difference between Johnson & Johnson — also known as the Janssen vaccine — and the other vaccines is that it only requires one dose, which the CDC hypothesized could be the source of increased anxiety around it.
“Because the Janssen COVID-19 vaccine is administered as a single dose, this vaccine might be a more attractive option for persons who have needle aversion,” the report said. “Therefore, it is possible that some persons seeking Janssen COVID-19 vaccination could be more highly predisposed to anxiety-related events after being vaccinated.”
Fainting events were mostly highly concentrated among the youngest eligible group — those aged 18 to 29. The report found that to be expected, considering adolescents have the highest rates of dizziness and fainting after other vaccines.
The CDC recommended vaccine administrators observe patients for at least 15 minutes after injection, in order to monitor them for anxiety-related effects.
The adverse effects described in the study are unrelated to the 17 cases of patients developing blood clots, which led to a nationwide pause of the J&J vaccine’s usage in mid-April. The CDC found those instances to be extremely rare, and, along with the FDA, lifted the pause after 10 days. The vaccine now carries a warning for women under 50 regarding the risk of developing a blood clot.
Biden restricts travel from India as the coronavirus surges
The US vaccination campaign recently hit a milestone, as over 100 million people are fully vaccinated, representing a near doubling since the end of March. And while the case count is dropping in the US, with the daily average at its lowest total since mid-October, global virus cases reached a new peak last week, per the New York Times.
Much of the surge is being driven by a second wave in India, which now accounts for over 40 percent of the world’s new cases, according to the Times. As Jen Kirby and Umair Irfam reported for Vox, Indian hospitals desperately need oxygen, ventilators, beds, and vaccines, with less than 2 percent of the country fully vaccinated.
The Biden administration has promised to send supplies, including raw materials for vaccine manufacturing, though some experts have called for intellectual property rules to be waived for coronavirus vaccines so that India, a global manufacturing leader, can catch up. The administration is considering that option, but in the meantime, the US will impose restrictions on travel from India beginning Tuesday.
In a statement to CNN, White House press secretary Jen Psaki said the high case count in India, as well as potential new variants, drove the creation of the policy. Foreign nationals who have been in India over the past 14 days will be temporarily barred from entering the United States. The rule will not apply to American citizens, permanent residents, and humanitarian workers.
The Senate Intelligence Committee is investigating events that are targeting US spies and diplomats.
Leaders of the Senate Intelligence Committee confirmed cases of the mysterious “Havana syndrome” — instances of neurological harm to US personnel from direct energy attacks — are on the rise, in a Friday hearing. Over the past two years, two attacks have occurred in the US — including one in close proximity to the White House.
Sens. Mark Warner (D-VA) and Marco Rubio (R-FL), the chair and vice chair of the committee, respectively, said in a statement that they plan to investigate the pattern of attacks and work with the CIA to identify who is behind them.
Havana syndrome refers to a series of invisible attacks against US personnel, first reported in 2016 in Havana, Cuba, when US diplomats began to experience neurological problems such as insomnia and vertigo. Since then, about 40 government officials, mostly employed by the CIA or State Department, have been attacked, reports the Hill’s Rebecca Beitsch, with sometimes debilitating symptoms.
The majority of the attacks have been against officials stationed in other countries. But federal agencies are also investigating two neurological attacks that occurred on US soil, including one from November of last year that occurred alarmingly close to the White House, according to CNN.
The other attack occurred in 2019, against a White House official in a Virginia suburb of Washington, DC, per CNN.
Warner and Rubio committed to work with the recently-confirmed CIA director, William Burns, who they say has dedicated agency focus to the attacks, as well as to provide medical and financial support for victims.
“For nearly five years, we have been aware of reports of mysterious attacks on United States Government personnel in Havana, Cuba and around the world,” they said in a statement. “This pattern of attacking our fellow citizens serving our government appears to be increasing.”
“The Senate Intelligence Committee intends to get to the bottom of this,” the statement continued. “We have already held fact finding hearings on these debilitating attacks, many of which result in medically confirmed cases of Traumatic Brain Injury, and will do more.”
What is Havana syndrome?
A US government report from the National Academy of Sciences on the attacks found commonalities among the victims, including nausea, headaches, dizziness, and loss of hearing, occasionally severe enough to force some into early retirement. The report found that directed radio frequency energy, a form of radiation that also includes microwaves, is behind the attacks, giving credence to the theory that a foreign entity is behind them.
Some in the intelligence community believe Russia is the culprit, which Vox’s Zeeshan Aleem explained in December:
The timeline of the incidents, the plausible explanation of microwave weapons, and the specific locations in which they occurred have raised questions of whether Russia is behind them.
In 2018, US intelligence officials described Russia as the primary suspect behind what they believed to be attacks in Cuba and China. Russia has denied any involvement. NBC News reports that, now or then, no conclusive intelligence has pointed to that explanation. However, the Times notes a number of Russia experts at the CIA believe that all evidence points to the country being behind the illnesses.
In the past, both Russia and the former Soviet Union have used microwave weaponry, including against the US. In the 1970s and 1980s, the USSR bombarded the American embassy with microwave beams.
In his confirmation hearing, Burns addressed the attacks, saying he planned to review evidence. House Intelligence Chair Adam Schiff also committed to using his committee to continue to investigate, according to CNN.
Additionally, the Hill reports, the CIA has launched a task force to provide support to victims of past and future attacks.
The Senate Intelligence leaders also committed to holding perpetrators accountable, while acknowledging the current focus is on gathering more information about how the radiation technology works.
“Ultimately, we will identify those responsible for these attacks on American personnel and will hold them accountable,” the statement said.
Federal investigators are looking into Giuliani’s dealings in Ukraine as potential evidence of criminal conduct.
Federal law enforcement is ramping up their investigation into Rudy Giuliani, leaving other allies of former President Donald Trump on alert.
Giuliani was formerly Trump’s personal lawyer, and became one of his most loyal defenders, becoming a central figure in Trump’s failed efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 election. Now, he may be paying the price for that loyalty. On Wednesday, FBI agents, armed with search warrants, raided his home and office in Manhattan, seizing electronic devices.
Giuliani is currently the focus of an ongoing criminal probe from the US attorney’s office in Manhattan, centering on his business dealings in Ukraine and potential illegal activity involving his efforts to investigate Hunter Biden, President Joe Biden’s son. Wednesday’s raid confirms the seriousness of the investigation, which required Justice Department approval due to Giuliani’s status as a lawyer. The raid clarified the potential for Giuliani, and perhaps other Trump figures, to face federal charges.
The investigation hinges on Giuliani’s dealings in Ukraine
Investigators are looking for evidence related to Giuliani’s role in the firing of Marie Yovanovitch, Trump’s former ambassador to Ukraine and a central figure in his first impeachment trial, according to the New York Times. Yovanovitch was ousted in 2019 at the behest of Giuliani, who felt she was standing in the way of his attempts to find damaging information on the Biden family.
That saga played out as a small part of the larger impeachment probe regarding Trump’s conduct with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. Yovanovitch testified in 2019 that Giuliani was working with Ukraine’s former prosecutor general, Yuriy Lutsenko, asking him to open inquiries into political enemies including Hunter Biden — related to his time on the board of a Ukrainian energy company — and initiating a smear campaign against her when she attempted to follow protocol in arranging meetings between Ukrainian and American law enforcement officials.
Now, the Justice Department is investigating whether Giuliani’s conduct in that situation, and other events in Ukraine, were a violation of federal lobbying laws, according to the Times. Lobbying the US government at the behest of a foreign official without registering the activity with the Justice Department — a registration Giuliani never made — is a violation of the Foreign Agents Registration Act.
Giuliani went on Tucker Carlson’s Fox News show Thursday night to dispute the claims against him.
“I never represented a Ukrainian national or official before the United States government,” he said. “I’ve declined it several times. I’ve had contracts in countries like Ukraine. In the contract is a clause that says I will not engage in lobbying or foreign representation. I don’t do it because I felt it would be too compromising.”
Giuliani also claimed to have hard drives from Hunter Biden’s laptop that the agents were uninterested in despite his pleas; said he could have destroyed any evidence at any time over the last two years in which he has known about the probe; and asserted that the Justice Department, under Biden, was making up a case against him. He called on the officials overseeing his investigation to be investigated themselves, likening the situation to “East Berlin before the wall fell.”
Robert Costello, Giuliani’s lawyer, said in a statement that the investigation was evidence of a “double standard” in which the Justice Department will investigate prominent Trump supporters but will not open inquiries into Democrats such as Hunter Biden, whom he accused of “blatant,” though unsubstantiated, crimes.
Agents also obtained a warrant for the phone of Victoria Toensing, a lawyer who collaborated with Giuliani on efforts to investigate the Bidens in Ukraine. Toensing handed over her phone on Wednesday morning, according to the Wall Street Journal.
The New York Times has reported that in addition to Giuliani’s dealings regarding Yovanovitch, federal investigators are looking into his conversations with Lutsenko regarding a draft retainer for legal consulting services that eventually fell through. The investigation hinges on whether or not Giuliani was solely representing Trump in his dealings with Ukrainians, or if he was also working on behalf of Ukrainian officials and business associates’ interests.
The DOJ’s hard line could have implications beyond Giuliani
The raid is a major escalation of the federal investigation into Giuliani, and represents a serious willingness by the Justice Department to look into the shadowy dealings of Trump figures. Considering Giuliani is a lawyer protected in his dealings with Trump by attorney-client privilege on some level, the fact that investigators obtained a warrant indicates the high-level nature of the investigation and the potential for consequences of the informal relationships between Trump figures. Giuliani’s work for Trump was often done informally — limiting the scope of what attorney-client privilege can protect.
Sources close to the former president told CNN that the raid on Giuliani has left them uneasy about what else the Justice Department might be investigating.
Former Trump lawyer Michael Cohen, who pled guilty to charges of tax fraud, false statements to a bank, and campaign finance violations, flipped on his former boss in 2018. On CNN, he said he expected Giuliani to eventually do the same.
“Prior to Donald becoming president, Rudy didn’t like Donald and Donald didn’t like Rudy,” Cohen said on CNN. “He certainly doesn’t want to follow my path down into a 36-month sentence.”