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Dec. 21, 2021 - Epoch Times
19:47
Hospital System Suspends Hundreds of Employees After Vaccine Mandate; Nurse Shortage | Facts Matter
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Good evening.
Just a few days ago, the Biden administration, they moved to nationalize the distribution of monoclonal antibodies, which is a popular non-hospital treatment for COVID. And what they did was that they essentially took the power away from the states and they placed the federal government in charge of allocating, distributing, as well as choosing which states get this treatment.
Meanwhile, according to newly released financial disclosure filings, it turns out that John Kerry's wife has over a million dollars invested into a hedge fund which specializes in equity investments over in China.
And then lastly, over in North Carolina, a hospital system there has just suspended hundreds of their employees after they implemented a new vaccine mandate.
And so this, along with similar actions taken by hospitals across the country, has some experts believing that we're actually heading towards a nationwide shortage of nurses.
Let's go through it all together.
This is your daily Facts Matter update, and I'm your host, Roman, from the Epoch Times.
And now let's begin today's discussion by talking about monoclonal antibodies.
Or more specifically, the lack of monoclonal antibodies.
That's because, just last week, the Biden administration took the power away from the states...
And they placed the federal government in charge of allocating, distributing, as well as choosing which states get this treatment.
Now, to back up for a moment, in case you've never heard of them, the infusion of monoclonal antibodies is a popular non-hospital treatment for COVID-19.
And in fact, here's how Dr.
Howard Huang, who is a medical director over at a hospital in Houston, here's how he explains how this therapy works.
This type of therapy relies on monoclonal antibodies.
These are antibodies that are similar to the ones your body would naturally make in response to infection.
However, monoclonal antibodies are mass-produced in a laboratory and are designed to recognize a specific component of this virus, the spike protein on its outer shell.
By targeting the spike protein, These specific antibodies interfere with the virus's ability to attach and gain entry into human cells.
They give the immune system a leg up until it can mount its own response.
And then more specifically, the use of this monoclonal antibody infusion is meant for people who have COVID but don't require hospitalization.
Here's again how Dr.
Huang explains the recent history of this therapy in regards to COVID. Quote, We're good to go.
The ideal scenario is to prevent severe symptoms from ever developing in the first place.
And that is exactly where this monoclonal antibody therapy came in.
Because with it, doctors now had a way to help prevent severe symptoms from developing in the first place.
In fact, there was a large clinical trial, actually several large clinical trials, which showed that the use of these antibodies, they reduced hospitalization or death by as much as 70%.
And that's exactly why, in states like Texas and Florida, they have placed such an emphasis on opening up monoclonal antibody sites.
Because as they saw spikes in COVID cases, they opened up the sites to get people to not have to go to the hospital.
In fact, over in Florida, they opened up as many as 15 over the course of just several weeks.
Now, for the last year, the way that the distribution of this treatment worked is as follows.
Monoclonal antibody treatments from two companies, from Regeneron as well as Eli Lilly, they were purchased by the federal government.
Then, these specific monoclonal therapy sites across the country, they would place an order with the government and have them shipped directly to their office.
However, this is exactly what the Biden administration has changed just a few days ago.
Starting last week, the federal government is now solely in charge of rationing exactly how many antibodies each state gets.
They ration them to the different states and then the states distribute them to the different monoclonal sites.
It's now more of a centrally planned type of setup.
Essentially, they have nationalized the entire distribution network.
And because of this sudden shift, it appears that the states are facing an antibody crunch.
And by the way, I do mean sudden, because according to some of the state officials that we interviewed, they were not even notified of this change until the very day that it happened.
In fact, here is part of a statement from Governor Ron DeSantis, the governor of Florida, about how this whole situation played out.
We are very, very concerned with OHS's recent, abrupt, sudden announcement that they are going to dramatically cut the number of monoclonal antibodies that are going to be sent to the state of Florida.
Just last week, on September 9th, President Joe Biden said that his administration would be increasing shipments of monoclonal antibodies in September by 50%.
And yet, on September 13th, HHS announced that it was seizing control of the monoclonal antibody supply and that it would control distribution.
And then on September 14th, the announcement was more than 50% of the monoclonal antibodies that had been used in Florida were going to be reduced.
So this is a dramatic reduction.
When you have something that has worked, you should want to continue doing that.
We've been thrown a major curveball here with a really huge cut from HHS and the Biden administration Likewise, echoing that same sentiment, here's what the governor of Maryland had to say.
Today, I pressed President Biden's theme to explain the sudden rationing of these life-saving treatments without any warning after the administration urged us to promote them.
It is yet another example of confusing and conflicting guidance coming from the federal government.
And that same sentiment was shared by many other states in the South as well.
For instance, we here at the Epoch Times, we reached out to the Texas Department of Health, and they told us via email that the federal government alerted Texas officials that, quote,"...the national supply has considerably decreased and states should expect lower amounts of therapeutics available for shipment in the coming weeks.
The amount available to distribute is expected to be disproportionately small compared to the amounts needed." Furthermore, the top medical officer over in Alabama, he said that a representative from the HHS, he recently called him to, quote, Let us know that Alabama and some other states are going to be on an allocation.
He added that we don't think providers are going to be able to order as much as they would like.
Now, you might be asking yourself, why exactly did the Biden administration make this change?
Why did they choose to nationalize the distribution of these antibodies?
Well, According to a statement from the HHS, they said that the higher number of COVID cases across the U.S. over the last several weeks has caused a substantial surge in the utilization of monoclonal antibody drugs, especially in parts of the country with low vaccination rates.
And then in terms of how big of an increase it was, well, we reached out to the federal government and a man by the name of James Blumenstock, He then added that,
quote, However, some state officials are questioning the timing of this change as being rather odd.
That's because just last week, the Biden administration, they said that they would actually be increasing shipments of monoclonal antibodies to the different states by 50% in the month of September.
Which is now something that the critics of this nationalization are pointing to and using to question the true motives behind this nationalization.
For instance, here's what Governor Ron DeSantis' office wrote to us here at the Epoch Times in an email.
It is regrettable that the Biden administration will play politics with people's lives during a pandemic by withholding a life-saving treatment and providing mixed messages to Americans.
However, regardless of the mixed messages, according to several health experts, the effect, the real-world effect of this antibody nationalization, might actually be exactly in line with what the Biden administration is trying to achieve.
Because the drop in the national supply of monoclonal antibodies, specifically in the southern states, it might prompt people who have yet to get the COVID vaccine to go ahead and get the shot.
And along that line, here's what James Blumenstock, who is again that chief of health security that we mentioned earlier, here's what he said to us in a statement.
The public health message is, while everyone is doing their absolute best to treat and care for individuals who get sick from COVID, the best effort is to avoid that scenario in the first place and therefore get vaccinated.
If you'd like to read more about the situation with these monoclonal antibodies, I'll throw the links to several great articles about it into the description box below this video for you to check out.
And now, before we move on over and discuss how John Kerry's wife has over a million dollars invested into a hedge fund with close ties to Chinese state-owned companies, I would like to take a quick second and introduce our sponsor for today's episode.
That's right, Roman.
The sponsor of today's episode is an awesome company called AMAC. That's A-M-A-C. And it stands for the Association of Mature American Citizens.
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So, AMAC, thank you so much for sponsoring this episode.
Now, Roman in the studio, back to you.
And now, let's talk about John Kerry, or more specifically, about his wife.
And to start with, in case you don't know, John Kerry is currently the Biden administration's special presidential envoy on climate, also known as the climate czar.
He's the one who flies around the world working to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
And according to John Kerry's most recent financial disclosure filings, it shows that his wife, Ms.
Teresa Hines, has an investment of over $1 million through her family trusts in a hedge fund called Teng Yue Partners, which is a hedge fund that specializes in equity investments over in China.
And for your reference, by the way, Ms.
Teresa Hines, who is again John Kerry's wife, she is the heiress to the food company, which among several other things makes Hines Ketchup.
And in terms of her investment in Teng Yue Partners, well, here are three things that are worth knowing about this particular hedge fund.
First of all, the founder and managing partner of this hedge fund is a man named Tao Li.
And according to reporting by the Daily Mail, Tao Li is a Chinese national.
Secondly, according to official SEC filings, it shows that 97% of the money that Tang Yue manages is from non-United States persons, so people who are not U.S. citizens.
And third of all, one of Tang Yue's major holdings is a Chinese biotech company called Transcenta, which was recently backed by two Chinese-owned private equity firms.
Furthermore, back in December of 2020, Tang Europe Partners participated in a $105 million financing project for this biotech company alongside a state-owned project called China Structural Reform Fund and the CCT China Merchants Fund, which is a subsidiary of the state-owned China Merchants Group.
Now, you might be thinking, what is the matter that John Kerry's wife is invested into this hedge fund, which has ties to Chinese state-owned companies?
And it's true.
I mean, people can invest in whatever they want, and China is, of course, an open market.
However, when you have John Kerry making statements like this one here, back in April, when he said that China and the U.S. should push aside differences on human rights in order to work together on the climate change, well, it's good to know that his family is invested in that country.
Because whether it changes his policy decisions or not, it doesn't really matter.
Because in my opinion, we as the public have the right to know whether there is even the potential of a conflict of interest.
And that's doubly the case with an official like John Kerry, who very often meets with Chinese leaders and Chinese diplomats to negotiate as well as cut deals on reducing carbon emissions.
In fact, a man named Richard Painter, who is formerly the chief White House ethics lawyer under George W. Bush, well, here's what he told the Daily Mail in regards to this possible conflict of interest.
Whenever you're negotiating with a country to try to get something done and you have investments in that country, there is that risk that negotiators could try to threaten to hold those investments hostage in the course of the negotiations.
It can go either way.
The Chinese could also promise to help those companies if you took it easy on them.
If you'd like to read more about these investments that John Kerry's wife has in this particular hedge fund, I'll throw an article to that in the description box below this video for you to check out.
And all I ask in return is that you take a quick moment to smash that like button for the YouTube algorithm.
And now let's move on over to North Carolina.
According to a statement that was released by Novant Health, which is a North Carolina-based healthcare system, they have suspended hundreds of their employees after they implemented a COVID vaccine mandate.
They added that these suspended workers, they have five days to get vaccinated, and if they refuse, well, they will just be fired.
Here's part of what they said in a statement.
Beginning this week, approximately 375 team members across 15 hospitals, 800 clinics, and hundreds of outpatient facilities, they have been confirmed to be non-compliant and are not able to report to work.
They will have an opportunity to comply over a five-day unpaid suspension period.
If a team member remains non-compliant after the suspension period, he or she will have their employment with Novant Health terminated.
And for your reference, by the way, Novant Health, this is the same healthcare system that we discussed in yesterday's episode, the one that had that leaked Zoom conference call where people were discussing the different vaccine scare tactics.
However, in regards to this statement, Novant Health claimed that 98.5% of their workforce have been already compliant with their policy, And they added that in regards to these workers, they will have until October 15th to get their second shot.
However, it's worth noting that this is now the first hospital system in this country to make this move, to either suspend or to fire their employees for not being compliant with the vaccine mandate.
In fact, just a few days ago, Indiana University Health, which is the largest hospital system in that state over in Indiana, they likewise had 125 of their workers leave because they refused to comply with the vaccine mandate.
And what's worth noting is that although everything right now seems fine on the surface, some people are warning of a national shortage of nurses if these vaccine mandates continue to spread throughout America.
For instance, we here at the Epoch Times spoke to a nurse over in Seattle, and we spoke to her under the condition of anonymity, and she told us that in her estimation, as much as 20% of her hospital's employees will refuse to take the vaccine.
Here's part of what she said.
It will be really terrible.
We're already understaffed.
Even losing 5% would be devastating to the community.
That same nurse added that her only solution is if her employer grants her religious exemption, which appears unlikely at this point.
Here's what she said.
It looks like they're going to reject my religious exemption.
They need more information, but they're not telling me what information they're going to need.
It puts me in a really tough situation.
I have two elderly parents who live with me.
It would be extraordinarily disruptive to move them.
It's extremely scary trying to start again somewhere else.
Likewise, we spoke with a registered nurse over at the UC Health System over in Colorado, and she said that she is also stuck between an employee rock and a medical hard place over her company's vaccine mandate.
She also fears that if her medical exemption is denied, she will lose her job.
Now, her medical system, by the way, UC Health, they've reported having more than 92% of their employees being fully vaccinated, leaving a reluctant 8% who are refusing to get the shot.
And even though 8% might not seem like a lot, in practice, it could actually aggravate an already precarious situation.
Here's what one spokeswoman for UC Health told us here at the Epoch Times.
"We do allow if there is a religious exemption or a medical exemption as well.
UCHealth has been facing the same staffing challenges that hospitals around the country are, definitely.
And again, that national shortage will likely become more acute.
In fact, that nurse we spoke with over at UC Health, she told us that she estimates that a couple of hundred opponents to the vaccine mandate, they're willing to walk away from their jobs very soon.
Here's what she added.
Right now, UC Health is working short-staffed at many facilities.
I'm concerned that the people who are vaccinated and are going to stay are going to take the majority of the workload.
We can't even get people now to fill positions.
It can get very scary.
If you would like to read more about this looming shortage of nurses as well as medical professionals across the country, I will throw a link to a phenomenal article on that topic into the description box below this video for you to check out.
And again, lastly, all I ask in return is that you take a quick moment to smash that like button for the YouTube algorithm.
Now lastly, since you've finished this episode of Facts Matter, then I would highly, highly recommend that you go on over to Epic TV and check out an awesome episode of American Thought Leaders, which has an interview with Larry Elder as he reflects on the recall election that just finished over in California.
Here's a trailer for that episode.
Only in America can a black person become president and become the face of white supremacy.
We have two Californias.
We're kind of split right down the middle...
Last Friday, I flew down to Orange County, California to do a live interview about the outcome of the recent recall election.
I spoke with Larry Elder, the frontrunner, who also hosts the Larry Elder Show for the Epoch Times, and former Republican State Senator John Moorlach.
It's really painful.
You bust your butt.
You look people in the eye.
You say, give me money because I think I can turn this around.
Here are my ideas.
People believe in you.
They come up to you crying.
They say, now I'm going to stay here.
And then you get crushed.
It's hard to deal with that.
This is American Thought Leaders, and I'm Jan Jekielek.
If you want to check out that episode of American Thought Leaders, as well as all the other awesome content over on Epic TV, I'll throw a link to it.
It'll be at the very top of the description box.
I hope you check it out.
I hope you subscribe to Epic TV. And I hope that you join us on this journey of exploring this beautiful, beautiful world through honest journalism that is based in truth and tradition.
Now lastly, if you haven't already, smash that like button for the YouTube algorithm.
subscribe to this youtube channel if you haven't already in order to get this type of honest news content delivered directly into your youtube feed while youtube still allows it also consider hitting that notification bell so you can actually be notified of any new videos as we publish them and then lastly if you have an instagram account consider following me at epic times roman i publish spicy memes as well as behind the scenes research And then, until next time, I'm your host, Roman from the Epoch Times.
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