Reading archive 2022-01-24

Saving the manatees — rescue by rescue, rehab by rehab: Florida is scrambling to prevent another horrific year of starvation deaths among the beloved mammals

A 73-year-old knew she was being scammed. So she lured the scammer to her home and had him arrested, police say.

Covid patient dies at a hospital weeks after his wife sued another to keep him on a ventilator: Scott Quiner’s case drew wide attention this month after his wife filed a court petition to stop a Minnesota hospital from removing the ventilator

A vaccine scientist’s discredited claims have bolstered a movement of misinformation - "Malone, who bills himself as having played a key role in the creation of mRNA vaccines, has emerged as one of the most controversial voices of the movement against coronavirus vaccines and health mandates. His claims and suggestions have been discredited and denounced by medical professionals as not only wrong but also dangerous. Twitter barred him for violating the platform’s coronavirus misinformation policy, but he has found platforms elsewhere — recently appearing on an episode of Joe Rogan’s wildly popular podcast, which averages 11 million listeners per episode.

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"A Canadian study suggesting a high rate of heart inflammation after people were given coronavirus vaccines was retracted by the study’s authors in September because of a significant mathematical error, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation reported. Despite the major inaccuracy, screenshots of the preprint study spread among the anti-vaccine community. Among those who shared it was Malone, who got a huge response to the tweet but did not take it down, even though many noted that the study had been retracted.

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"In November, Malone shared a deceptive video to his Twitter followers that falsely linked athlete deaths to coronavirus shots. The video suggested that coronavirus vaccination killed Jake West, a 17-year-old Indiana high school football player who died of sudden cardiac arrest. But the vaccine played no role in West’s death. The teen died of an undiagnosed heart condition in 2013.

A Canadian COVID-19 study that turned out to be wrong has spread like wildfire among anti-vaxxers - "Instead of 32,379 mRNA vaccine doses administered in June and July, as the study suggests, there were actually more than 800,000 shots given out at that time, according to Ottawa Public Health. That means the true rate of side effects is closer to 1 in 25,000 — not 1 in 1,000.

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"These so-called 'zombie papers' are often intentionally shared within anti-vaccination circles long after they're retracted or corrected in order to disingenuously influence public opinion and fuel misinformation, said Caulfield."

NATO to send more ships, fighter jets to Eastern Europe as Russia continues buildup on Ukraine border

The tangled history of mRNA vaccines: Hundreds of scientists had worked on mRNA vaccines for decades before the coronavirus pandemic brought a breakthrough.

'Cyber Partisans' Say They Hacked Belarus Rail to Disrupt Russian Troops