Independence Day in Indy; Vaccine Victims Find Little Help

It feels like Independence Day came early to Indianapolis: almost all COVID restrictions have been lifted here as of July 1. In a few days there will be fireworks downtown and the air filled with the smell of barbecue and gunpowder. Fittingly, the state of Indiana became a little freer as several laws went into effect today:

• The state or a local unit cannot issue or require a COVID-19 "immunization passport" (a document concerning an individual's immunization status).
• The state may not restrict the right to worship or to worship in person during a disaster emergency. The state may also not impose restrictions on the operation of a religious organization, or religious services that are more restrictive than the restrictions imposed on other businesses and organizations that provide essential services to the public.
• Facilities should allow patients who are in end-of-life situations, those with Alzheimer's disease, dementia, or a related cognitive disorder or other situations to have visitors during a public health emergency or a similar crisis. Eligible visitors include family members, legal representatives, the patient's designee, a member of the clergy, essential caregivers or any other individual capable of meeting the patient's needs.
• The local governing body overseeing a county or city health officer is required to approve any health order whose provisions go beyond state requirements during an emergency.
• Police officers and firefighters are no longer required to live within 50 miles of the community they serve if they have adequate transportation to their job and reliable telephone service.

Photo from Pixabay.

Further, some sensible police reforms were passed and the protection of monuments will be prioritized. Indianapolis has more war memorials than any American city, second only to Washington, DC. Monument Circle is at the center of the city.

Photo by "alexeatswhales." License here.

But Independence Day will be a struggle for some. Like wounded veterans left behind, injured participants of the experimental vaccines have had trouble being heard and being healed. The vax victims haven't gotten answers from the CDC, FDA or the vaccine manufacturers. A few of them spoke at a press conference put on by Senator Ron Johnson of Wisconsin, and even though everyone there said they were "pro-science and pro-vaccine," Johnson was eviscerated as a liar and a scaremonger by public health officials and the media just for letting the patients speak. The participants acknowledged that their side effects were rare, but all said they were left with debilitating nerve pain and fatigue, some had digestive problems or heavy periods. One was a young girl now confined to a wheelchair and on Medicaid. None had been compensated for their medical expenses or gotten a diagnosis for the problems. 

Sen. Ron Johnson with Brianne Dressen and Candace Hayden, who say they suffered injuries due to their COVID vaccination. Screen shot from video on June 28. 

Facebook took down a COVID vaccine injury support group with 200,000 members, but there's now an informational web site here. 

The women (all were women) hoped they could get medical help and some research into their problems so they could get back to normal. Dream on. Anyone who's dealt with endocrine or digestive problems could tell them that since their problems don't fit with medical dogma, they're not going to get any help from the medical industry. Any research is going to "prove" the problems are all in their heads (indeed, some of them said their doctors diagnosed their problems as anxiety) or otherwise explain away their symptoms. Industry has long experience at setting up trials to get the results they want. 

Pharma gets up to more than drug trials. Remember when Pfizer got together with the city of New London, Connecticut to build a new campus by kicking people out of their houses? 

Suzette Kelo and Avner Gregory in front of Kelo's little pink house Pfizer sought to tear down. The house was moved; Gregory later purchased it. From The Oregonian.

In 1998, pharmaceutical giant Pfizer built a plant next to Fort Trumbull and the City determined that someone else could make better use of the land than the Fort Trumbull residents. The City handed over its power of eminent domain—the ability to take private property for public use—to the New London Development Corporation (NLDC), a private body, to take the entire neighborhood for private development. As the Fort Trumbull neighbors found out, when private entities wield government’s awesome power of eminent domain and can justify taking property with the nebulous claim of “economic development,” all homeowners are in trouble.

The fight over Fort Trumbull eventually reached the U.S. Supreme Court, where the Court in 2005, in one of the most controversial rulings in its history, held that economic development was a “public use” under the Fifth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.

...the Fort Trumbull project has been a dismal failure. After spending close to $80 million in taxpayer money, there has been no new construction whatsoever and the neighborhood is now a barren field. In 2009, Pfizer, the lynchpin of the disastrous economic development plan, announced that it was leaving New London for good, just as its tax breaks are set to expire.

That infamous case--Kelo v. New London--sparked a backlash of beefed-up property right across the country. Maybe these vax victims can spark a backlash to force compensation for their injuries onto Pfizer et al instead of the taxpayers via Medicaid.

In any case, they are medically on their own and off the map. But they do have the benefit of having a lot of medical professionals, scientists and engineers among them. (APO E4 a common thread, maybe?) If there's an answer to their problems, I think they will find it.