Written and published on 16 January 2021

Dear Ones,

I write this blog for prison health care officials in the United States, and for agencies that look to the welfare of the homeless in this nation. I offer a timely, cost-effective solution to COVID-19 deaths among these populations, as a stopgap measure until the COVID vaccine can be provided to them.

I see that people in prisons and the homeless are not slated to receive the COVID-19 vaccine until Phase 2 of the COVID-19 Vaccine Distribution Plan. (1) Yet prisoners and the homeless are at very high risk for COVID-19 deaths (2) (3); of concern on a par with residents of adult care facilities.

In the long run, I feel that this country’s disregard of the urgent need of the downtrodden … the indigent, the homeless, those judged lacking or wrong … will be seen as a great disgrace, a blot upon the escutcheon of our honor as a nation. But in the short run, because our hopes of liberty and justice for all are so bound down by our fears for our own lives and those of our families … so ringed round by notions of danger lurking everywhere … I feel that Americans may see prisoners and the homeless as adding to the notion of the bête noire that prowls through their unsettled dreams.

Government and politicians know that punishment of the downcast will be a sop to the masses, and are bound to act in such a way that the fears of the people are assuaged. Considering the social unrest that growls through the nation, hungry for work, hungry for recreation, hungry to enjoy once more the prosperity of former times, I can hardly hold government and politicians culpable in that regard.

There are other ‘fear factors’ in the news right now. For instance, I see that supply chain shortages are anticipated in the rollout of COVID-19 vaccine distribution. (4)

As well, there are two new strains of COVID that add to the currently very high level of stress most Americans are experiencing …

• The very infectious strain in Europe, which I feel may have hit California last week, and may be responsible for greatly increased numbers of infection soon, bringing the numbers closer to those Europe has suffered in recent month; (5) and
• A mutant strain in Brazil, which may render the COVID vaccines somewhat less effective. (6)

These two new strains add to the public onus of COVID-19 concerns, and by my lights, might make it continue to be difficult for the public to place emphasis on the plight of prisoners and the homeless, and their urgent need for the COVID-19 vaccine, who might be viewed in a less felicitous light, for placing a burden on the social system.

I understand the reaction of health care planners nationwide to serve first those whose lives are deemed to be most of value to our communities, and that prisoners and the homeless may not be high on the distribution list for that reason.

Thus I feel there can be no hope of timely COVID vaccine distribution to prisoners and to the homeless. I say this for prison health care officials in the United States, and for agencies that look to the welfare of the homeless in this nation.

Yet there is a timely, low-cost answer to the urgent problem of COVID-19 deaths among prisoners and the homeless. That answer lies in the recent finding of the University of Denver that the ordinary, everyday flu shot prevents severe COVID-19 symptoms …

Link: “Ordinary, Everyday Flu Shot Prevents Severe COVID Symptoms,” by Alice B. Clagett, written and published on 9 January 2021; updated … https://wp.me/p2Rkym-lbl ..

You may not have heard about this startling finding yet, and the reason for that may, I feel, lie with Big Pharma, and the need of COVID vaccine research and development companies to recoup their investments. Big Pharma’s concern for profit is understandable, considering the investments that have been made in rapid vaccine development; but I feel certain that, long-term, those with approved vaccines will see good profits. After all, the need is very great for these products, and will be great for years to come. So I feel.

If severe COVID-19 symptoms are prevented in most cases, for those who receive the everyday, ordinary flu shot, then there will be many fewer deaths. Prison health officials and agencies providing health care for the homeless might turn to administration of the annual flu shot as a means of preventing COVID-19 deaths among those in their care.

Alice Clagett

This article is also featured in my blog “Awakening with Planet Earth.”

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FOOTNOTES

(1) Link: “Phased Distribution of COVID-19 Vaccines,” by Kathleen Dooling, MD, MPh, ACIP Meeting, 20 December 2020 … https://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/acip/meetings/downloads/slides-2020-12/slides-12-20/02-COVID-Dooling.pdf ..

(2) Link: “The Coronavirus Pandemic Turns Every Arrest into a Potential Death Sentence,” by Ephrat Livni, 24 March 2020, in Quartz … https://qz.com/1824280/coronavirus-turns-every-arrest-into-a-potential-death-sentence/ ..

(3) Link: “COVID-19: The ‘Crisis Within a Crisis’ for Homeless People,” by Molly Bohannon, Katie Surma, Austin Fast, Nino Abdaladze, Megan Lupo, Jamie Fields and Sanjana Garg, Howard Center for Investigative Journalism, 28 August 2020, in USA Today … https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/investigations/2020/08/28/covid-19-invisible-victims-homeless-people/5636938002/ ..

(4) Link: “The COVID-19 Vaccine Supply Chain: Potential Problems and Bottlenecks,” by Caroline Barnhill, 5 January 2021, at NC State University … https://poole.ncsu.edu/thought-leadership/the-covid-19-vaccine-supply-chain-potential-problems-and-bottlenecks/ ..

(5) Link: “New COVID Strain May Dominate US by March,” by Brenda Goodman, MA, 15 January 2021, in WebMD … https://www.webmd.com/lung/news/20210115/cdc-new-covid-strain-may-dominate-us-by-march ..

Link: “New Coronavirus Variant Reaches Canada, Japan and Several EU Countries,” by Rebecca Falconer, 27 December 2020, in Axios … https://www.axios.com/covid-19-variant-canada-japan-eu-c9266832-476d-47c3-8226-ba61fa26cceb.html ..

(6) Link: “A New Covid Variant Has Been Discovered in Brazil – Here’s What We Know So Far,” by Sam Meredith, 15 January 2021, at CNBC … https://www.cnbc.com/2021/01/15/brazil-a-new-covid-variant-has-been-discovered-heres-what-we-know-so-far.html ..

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MORE INFORMATION

Link: “Can the Wrong Diet Cause COVID Death?” by Alice B. Clagett, written and published on 25 November 2020 … https://wp.me/p2Rkym-kPN ..

Link: “Diet to Diminish the Harshness of COVID-Like Symptoms,” by Alice B. Clagett, written and published on 10 June 2020 … https://wp.me/p2Rkym-iAS ..

Link: “Does Buffered Vitamin C Make COVID Symptoms Less Severe?” by Alice B. Clagett, written and published on 9 January 2021 … https://wp.me/p2Rkym-lbh ..

Link: “Ordinary, Everyday Flu Shot Prevents Severe COVID Symptoms,” by Alice B. Clagett, written and published on 9 January 2021 … https://wp.me/p2Rkym-lbl ..

Link: “Sobre el Coronavirus,” in El Blog de Camilo Acosta, 27 January 2020 … https://canalelsalvador.wordpress.com/2020/01/27/sobre-el-virus-corona/ … COMMENT: In Cambodia, garlic and Vitamin C have been used for COVID. As well, the blog recommends drinking plenty of water and avoiding fried, fatty, or spicy foods. I can offer my own anecdotal corroboration of the Cambodian diet recommendations for COVID-19.

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Except where otherwise noted, “Pragmatic Prophecy” by Alice B. Clagett …  https://pragmaticprophecy.com … is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License (CC BY-SA 4.0) … https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/ ..

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community health, coronavirus, COVID, COVID vaccine, COVID-19, COVID symptoms, COVID morbidity, correctional system, homelessness, health