Category Archives: Health

I’m forced to take a leave of absence

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I’ve been posting at ilind.net more or less regularly for 26 years, beginning in early 2000, if I recall correctly (although it might have been the following year).

I think this is the first time I’m reluctantly putting it aside for more than a few days.

The greatly edited story is that I watched the weekend’s storm from a 6th floor room at Straub Hospital.

Two attempts to complete an endoscopy failed, and I’m hoping to be admitted to a medical center in San Francisco for further diagnosis and treatment.

I might be moved to grab the keyboard now and then, but I need to avoid that little daily background stress and concentrate on my health.

I know you all understand and I appreciate all of your support.

And don’t forget that this remains a good place to search for interesting tidbits from the past z25 or 26 years.

Subscribers will get a notice when I’m ready to resume.

A short personal note

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This is addresseed to regulars who stop by this site from time to time.

I have just discovered a medical issue that I have to deal with. It came up with minimal notice and took me by surprise.

While I’m trying to push the diagnostic process along, and trying not to scare myself by searching online for potential worst case outcomes, I might be a little erratic with posts here.

Hopefully it will be resolved soon.

The best I can suggest is that you subscribe, if you haven’t already. That way you should get an email notice each time I post.

So please bear with me while I sort things out.

The value of vaccines

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I saw this study referenced in a lawsuit filed by 15 states seeking to overturn the Trump administration’s reversing of longtime child vaccination protocols supported by years of evidence.

It provides estimates of the value of childhood vaccinations in sharp contrast to the actions of the current adminiatration.

The study: Health and Economic Benefits of Routine Childhood Immunizations in the Era of the Vaccines for Children Program — United States, 1994–2023

Link: CDC Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report of August 8, 2024

Abstract
Since 1994, the U.S. Vaccines for Children (VFC) program has covered the cost of vaccines for children whose families might not otherwise be able to afford vaccines. This report assessed and quantified the health benefits and economic impact of routine U.S. childhood immunizations among both VFC-eligible and non–VFC-eligible children born during 1994–2023. Diphtheria and tetanus toxoids and acellular pertussis vaccine; Haemophilus influenzae type b conjugate vaccine; oral and inactivated poliovirus vaccines; measles, mumps, and rubella vaccine; hepatitis B vaccine; varicella vaccine; pneumococcal conjugate vaccine; hepatitis A vaccine; and rotavirus vaccine were included. Averted illnesses and deaths and associated costs over the lifetimes of 30 annual cohorts of children born during 1994–2023 were estimated using established economic models. Net savings were calculated from the payer and societal perspectives. Among approximately 117 million children born during 1994–2023, routine childhood vaccinations will have prevented approximately 508 million lifetime cases of illness, 32 million hospitalizations, and 1,129,000 deaths, at a net savings of $540 billion in direct costs and $2.7 trillion in societal costs. From both payer and societal perspectives, routine childhood vaccinations among children born during 1994–2023 resulted in substantial cost savings. Childhood immunizations continue to provide substantial health and economic benefits, while promoting health equity.

A copy of the lawsuit is attached below.

Lawsuit seeks to end routine use of chemical weapons outside Portland ICE facility

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Will the fedaral courts be protect the rights of residents whose lives have been upended by the routine and unnecessary use of chemical weapons deployed by federal agents against peaceful protesters on the street outside their building?

A lawsuit filed last week against the Department of Homeland Security and other agencies and officials by the management company and several residents of an apartment building across the street from Porland, Oregon’s ICE detention center alleges the indiscriminant use of tear gas, smoke grenades, pepper balls, and other chemical agents in a “cavalier manner” has deprived the building’s residents of their basic rights to “life, liberty, and property.”

The problem, according to the plaintiffs, is that the chemical agents deployed against lawful protests outside the ICE facility enter their residences across the street and have created health issues and related problems for those living there.

Gray’s Landing is six-story nonprofit building with over 200 affordable apartments for households earning 60% of median family income, with 42 units targed to veterans. The lawsuit was filed on behalf of Reach Development, the company that manages the building; Reach B49 Partners L.P.; and several residents.

The complaint alleges “officers use these weapons without regard to crowd size, to the presence or absence of violence, or to basic safety….Defendants appear to have used these chemical munitions at times, not to address any real danger, but to put on a show for conservative “influencers” whom Defendants invited to the ICE facility to film the protests for propaganda purposes.”

“During a trial on the Trump administration’s attempt to deploy National Guard troops to the ICE facility, Portland police supervisors testified that they witnessed federal officers using disparate and unnecessary force by firing tear gas, pepper balls and other less-lethal munitions at largely non-violent protesters after federal officers already had pushed protesters away from obstructing the building’s driveway,” according to the Oregonian newspaper and its website, OregonLive.com.

The 44-page complaint was filed in Federal District Court for the District of Oregon.

The full complaint appears below.