39 Comments

At our home, we are very grateful for you! Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours!

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Ours too! Thanks to the YLE Team for keeping us up to date!

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We are most grateful too, thank you

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After 41/2 years of avoiding covid, my wife and I caught it together in mid October. We both have had every vaccine and booster offered including the current one at the beginning of September. Let me tell you that while levels may be low, it’s still out there and it’s not pleasant. I don’t want to think about how bad it would have been if we weren’t vaccinated. And after years of wondering if home antigen tests really work, I can assure people that if you have it, you’ll know within minutes.

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Thanks again for all you do, good to know the state of affairs! I hope you have a lovely (and healthful) Thanksgiving!

Another reason people I know of are getting flu and covid vaccines is that they think it might be their "last chance" because of RFK, even though he's promised not to take away our vaccines. Some don't trust his promises, and some are worried that they might lose ACA coverage and thus not be able to afford vaccines next year (I live in a low-income area.) No idea if that's a national trend though.

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I agree! So grateful for Dr. Jetelina’s constant vigilance in reporting the public health situations in our country! Just an addition to her reporting; as it stands today, if someone does not have health insurance, or is underinsured for themselves or other family members; they are most likely eligible for free or very low cost vaccines through their local public health department. The Vaccine for Children (VFC) program was created for children so that no child goes without the CDC recommended vaccines. State public health departments help those over 18 years old get vaccinated who are eligible for receiving CDC recommended vaccines at low cost or free. Eligibility is defined as vulnerable populations, or those who don’t have health insurance coverage or whose coverage does not include CDC recommended vaccines. Not sure what RFK Jr. will do but if nothing changes this still stands. So the a most likely reason, today, that someone is not getting CDC recommended vaccinations would be “access”to a local public health center, or the public health center not carrying vaccines that one needs. Be safe everyone and consider vaccination if you are eligible to receive them, as they save lives and minimize the spread of contagious and sometimes deadly diseases.

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Oh and another reason someone may not be eligible to receive a vaccine would be due to allergies to their components or if they are immunocompromised.

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Nov 26Edited

Thank you for your good work and for your commitment.

Please consider clarifying that "use a fan" means an exhaust fan, for ventilation. A ceiling fan, for example, does nothing helpful. Your long-time readers know that, but when we share the newsletter, it might not be clear to others.

Thanks, and best wishes to your family.

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We're very appreciative of your calm presentation of facts and your encouraging recommendations, enjoy the blessings of the season and family/ friends, Dr Jetelina

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"pregnant folks"?

No. Pregnant WOMEN.

Please, Katelyn, every year in this country, thousands of gay kids are subjected to the conversion therapy of "gender affirming care". Every year, over 1000 underage lesbians have their healthy breasts sliced off because they have been told (on the internet, at school) that they are really boys. It's the greatest medical scandal of all time and an ongoing crime against humanity. Your use of the language of the transhumanists behind it only helps perpetuate it. Please stop.

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Wow. Doesn't take much to trigger your dystopian fantasies, does it?

Unlike you, it seems, I know some trans folks. They didn't go through the difficult stages of conversion because of something they saw on the Internet. In fact, no sane person has body parts removed because someone told them to do it. Get a grip and stop drinking the Koolaid.

Maybe try talking to some actual trans folks and find out how they came to realize who and what they really were. They won't give you cooties, honestly.

Sheesh.

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The numbers are real, not fantasy. In the United States between 2019 and 2023:

13,994 minors underwent sex change treatments

5,747 minors had sex change surgeries

8,579 minors received hormones and puberty blockers

62,682 sex change prescriptions were written for minors

https://stoptheharmdatabase.com/about

"Sex change" is not good language: sex in mammals is fixed at conception and cannot be changed later by any means. These are "sex trait modifications", not "sex changes".

Several European countries, with not-for-profit healthcare systems, have done evidence reviews of pediatric sex trait modification, and found it has no clear benefit and much potential harm, and are curtailing the practice. Here is the report from the UK, which no longer permits puberty blockers or cross-sex hormones for minors outside of controlled clinical trials: https://cass.independent-review.uk/home/publications/final-report/

There are also multiple whistleblower reports on what is happening in the US. Here is one: https://www.thefp.com/p/i-thought-i-was-saving-trans-kids

And yes I know some "trans folks", including people with lifelong mental health issues who believed that transition would solve all their problems. It only gave them new physical problems.

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Your numbers are all from Do No Harm, which offers no independent sources for them. I couldn't find a single cite for those claims anywhere else. "Take our word for it" doesn't fill one with confidence, especially coming from an organization with such an obvious agenda.

"Do No Harm" is a right wing organization which, like so many of those organizations, has an excessive interest in anything involving sex, gender or anything else it considers "woke" (which appears to be quite a lot). Especially someone else's sex and gender. One need only look at their web site and look at the headlines to figure that out. Or read up on the people behind it, e.g. https://www.statnews.com/2022/10/17/uptodate-racism-problem-stanley-goldfarb/

Also, you have misrepresented the NHS study (which, I suspect, you either did not read or looked over selectively for something that appeared to support your agenda). I actually read it. I invite anyone else who is interested to do the same. And to also look at the extreme political agenda behind "Stop No Harm."

In any case, it's interesting (as I noted earlier) how excessively interested in this subject some people are, even to the point of injecting their excessive interest in forums that have nothing to do with it. What would Freud say, I wonder?

P.S. Sex and gender are not synonyms. Gender dysphoria is real. It is true that reliable numbers are hard to come by since, as the NHS study notes, definitions are still not as clear as they should be. Citing raw numbers is meaningless since they don't take into account the increase in overall population. And since the medical interventions for gender dysphoria are still relatively new (it wasn't even in the DSM until 1980), it's difficult to make historical comparisons. It's like looking at the increase in cataract surgery numbers and then assuming that there's something suspicious about them.

Here's some history from the APA for you to ignore, but others may find it useful: https://www.psychiatry.org/psychiatrists/diversity/education/transgender-and-gender-nonconforming-patients/gender-dysphoria-diagnosis

Also the Mayo Clinic: https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/gender-dysphoria/diagnosis-treatment/drc-20475262

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Here are some earlier numbers from Reuters, less comprehensive because they are based on a smaller set of records:

>The Komodo analysis of insurance claims found 56 genital surgeries among patients ages 13 to 17 with a prior gender dysphoria diagnosis from 2019 to 2021.

>Among teens, “top surgery” to remove breasts is more common. In the three years ending in 2021, at least 776 mastectomies were performed in the United States on patients ages 13 to 17 with a gender dysphoria diagnosis, according to Komodo’s data analysis of insurance claims. This tally does not include procedures that were paid for out of pocket.

>At least 14,726 minors started hormone treatment with a prior gender dysphoria diagnosis from 2017 through 2021, according to the Komodo analysis.

https://www.reuters.com/investigates/special-report/usa-transyouth-data/

The exponential growth is bad because of the fact that every thorough evidence review has concluded that these procedures have little to no value and the prospect to do great harm. The AAP promised its own evidence review over a year ago but has done nothing.

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I breathed a sigh of relief reading your post this morning, especially regarding Covid-19 levels. However, not letting my guard down!! Incredibly grateful that you & your team provide us with trustworthy information to use in our daily lives.

Happy Thanksgiving to you & your family, as well as all your readers. Enjoy & be well.

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Happy Thanksgiving!! Thankful to you for all that you share with us!

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Are you going to get a second Novovax 2 months after the first one? I asked my primary and she had no idea if I should get a second dose. Thanks and Hapoy Thanksgiving!

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great question and I would love to read an elaboration on this subject. i have read "citizen scientists" (and a couple of physicians) on social media laying out a schedule of two Novavax two months apart as necessary for full protection but haven't seen confirmation of this.

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What is YLE's prediction, please, about whether or not updated Covid and influenza vaccines will be available for us next year, considering changes that will come with the new administration? I am worried.

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Happy Thanksgiving to Dr. Jetelina and the YLE team! Very grateful for your guidance.

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here in northern front range Colorado, the state stopped wastewater sampling our county in August to save $, but elsewhere in the state detections are slowly starting to climb. Eldest offspring has tested faint positive for COVID for a week now, her therapist preemptively canceled last week b/c she has COVID, and I am not feeling sanguine about the current state of COVID in my neck of the woods as a result. Perhaps it is just an unlucky coincidence that we know two people on the leading edge of a wave, but we also knew of four people in our circle who got it last month. COVID doesn't seem to ever fully go away. (We have hepa filters running, MERV13 on the furnace and we mask in common spaces. No spread to the rest of the household 🤞. We all got our fall boosters in Sept, use Norizite consistently, but DD did stop masking when socializing among friends and caught this on a college football weekend with them).

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A mention as to WHY one’s rapid antigen test is likely to result in a false positive might be useful: they are inherently insensitive, compared, say, to PCR testing. A far better alternative, while pricey, is the molecular amplification tests developed at Lucira, now sold by Pfizer. It’s not like you can’t have useful, and potentially life-saving pre-holiday testing. It’s just that you have to pay for it. Cheap insurance, I believe….

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Heard rumors pertussis was around also. Any reports on this?

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We are thankful for you and your team! We so need what you do!!

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I am always thankful for every single newsletter you put out! I've recommended you to many friends and family members. Thank you and have a great holiday!

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