On Wednesday Massachusetts state public health officials announced students will be required to get the influenza vaccine. The mandate includes anyone six months of age or older who attend child care, pre-school, kindergarten, K-12, as well as colleges and universities.

The flu shot requirement is intended to reduce flu-related illness in order to reduce respiratory illnesses during the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a press release from the Department of Public Health.

This requirement is in addition to existing vaccine requirements for students in school in Massachusetts.

Students will be expected to have received a flu vaccine by December 31. Exceptions include those with medical or religious exemptions and those who homeschool or participate only with distance learning.

Related: How To Detoxify and Heal From Vaccinations – For Adults and Children

Many parents are against the new mandate, others are in favor of it, but regardless your child must get the flu vaccine by December 31 of this year in order to return to school January 1. This mandate includes elementary and secondary students who are using a remote education model, they will not be exempt.

“Every year, thousands of people of all ages are affected by influenza, leading to many hospitalizations and deaths,” said Dr. Larry Madoff, Medical Director, DPH’s Bureau of Infectious Disease and Laboratory Sciences. “It is more important now than ever to get a flu vaccine because flu symptoms are very similar to those of COVID-19 and preventing the flu will save lives and preserve healthcare resources.”

22WWLP

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California Appeals Court rejected Monsanto’s effort to overturn a trial victory by California school groundskeeper, Dewayne Johnson, who developed cancer after continual use of Monsanto’s product Round-Up. Glyphosate, among other ingredients in Round-Up, is known to cause non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma.

Image: BENOIT TESSIER / REUTERS

Johnson is entitled to $10.25 million in compensatory damages and another $10.25 million in punitive damages. The appeals court stated that Johnson was entitled to punitive damages because Monsanto acted with “willful and conscious disregard of others safety” Johnson’s lawyers presented the courts with internal emails and other records clearly showing Monsanto scientists discussing ghostwriting scientific papers to support the safety of Monsanto’s products as well as plans to discredit critics.

Documents also showed plans to suppress the government’s evaluation of the toxicity of glyphosate. Monsanto anticipated that the International Agency for Research on Cancer would classify glyphosate as a probable or possible human carcinogen.

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Tens’s of thousands of plaintiffs have filed lawsuits against Monsanto, with 2 trials taking place after Johnson’s, both resulting in verdicts against Monsanto. Bayer, which finalized purchased of Monsanto in 2018, stands behind the safety of Round-up.

The appeal court’s decision to reduce the compensatory and punitive damages is a step in the right direction, but we continue to believe that the jury’s verdict and damage awards are inconsistent with the evidence at trial and the law. Monsanto will consider its legal options, including filing an appeal with the Supreme Court of California.

Appeals Court Upholds Groundskeeper’s Roundup Cancer Trial Win over Monsanto

Many Americans are awaiting what they consider a return to normal as other countries around the world slowly begin to open back up.

David L. Ryan/Boston Globe via Getty Images

Unfortunately for us, it doesn’t look like that will be happening here anytime soon. With the initial poor handling of the pandemic, many states are having to reimpose restrictions due to a spike in cases, meaning we’re actually moving backward instead of forward.

The CDC said we could get COVID-19 under control if everyone just wore masks for 6-8 weeks. The problem is, we did that… and it didn’t work. The government essentially said, “…stay home! We’ll take care of you!…” and they didn’t do that either.

Related: The Open Air Method: What We Might Be Missing To Treating COVID-19

So now, here we are, desperately wanting to return to normal but being seemingly unable to get things under control. America is a bit of a unique case. The CDC lied to American citizens initially, saying they did not need masks because they were in low supply. The CDC later came out and said that we did need masks to slow the spread. It’s a little difficult to instill trust in the government after they lie to their people, and of course, no one wants to listen to the government when they know the government won’t take care of them.

It seems many are relying on a vaccine to be available before returning to normal. Unfortunately, it’ll probably be awhile on that as well. A vaccine generally takes 10 years to develop, and millions of dollars. Between the research, and the funding as well as the testing, it’s a pretty lengthy process.

Producing enough vaccine for only, say, the 100 million most vulnerable Americans would itself take a few months. You also have the obstacle of distributing it and actually vaccinating people, as well as dealing with anti-vaxxer sentiments, so add another few months. That brings us into the start of 2022 on a highly optimistic timeline.

Bad News about the Pandemic: We’re Not Getting Back to Normal Any Time Soon

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All that aside, COVID-19 is a Sars virus similar to the common cold that can be particularly difficult to vaccinate against. It’s likely we’ll end up with a flu vaccine like scenario where the vaccine is not nearly as effective as others. Some health officials have reported that they could have a vaccine available as early as 2021. This, however, is an extremely optimistic guess and is highly unlikely, and of course, vaccines are toxic under the best of circumstances. Who knows what kind of problems could be caused by a vaccine that is produced as quickly as health officials are hoping.

If you’re worried about COVID-19 we recommend making sure you have a healthy diet and a healthy gut. A healthy gut is the best way to build a strong immune system and prevent diseases.

A salmonella outbreak linked to onions has caused more than 500 people to get sick in the U.S and Canada, starting in early July. So far 59 people have been hospitalized in 34 different states, according to the CDC.

The outbreak was first linked to red onions, however, the recall currently included red, white, and yellow onions due to concerns of cross-contamination. The CDC has yet to disclose whether or not cases are more linked to restaurants or home cooking.

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Recall efforts will extend far beyond the removal of whole onions from supermarket shelves. Much of the potentially contaminated product was likely used in prepared foods, meaning restaurants and retailers will have to examine their sourcing and identify everything that might have contained onions from Thomson International.

–Onions recalled in all 50 states after Salmonella sickens 500

The current outbreak is the largest Salmonella outbreak in America in the last decade. The outbreak is linked to Thomson International, a grower, packer, shipper, and supplier based in California.

The onions have been sold to wholesalers, retailers, and restaurants in Canada, and the US, as well as stores including Kroger and Food Lion.

Throughout the world, many countries in some form of lockdown have seen a drastic drop in premature birth as well as SIDS. Denmark reported a 90% decrease in premature births, a 73% drop in Ireland, and a near 50% decrease in Canada. America, Australia, and the Netherlands have also reported reductions in SIDS and premature deaths.

During the 11-week period following the emergency declaration (through May 30) there were 1465 fewer deaths in US children compared to 2019 (5923 vs 7388). The difference is statistically highly significant.

-Striking Decline of Premature Births and SIDS During COVID

Related: Circumcision Linked to Sudden Infant Death Syndrome

Doctors have not come to a conclusion as to why premature births and SIDS rates have dropped so much, but they have one theory.

One theory is that pregnant women may have been under less stress than before lockdown. Staying at home may have allowed some pregnant women the opportunity to get more rest and prioritize prenatal care.

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This seems highly unlikely. Many of the women who are susceptible to premature births and SIDS are women who work lower-income jobs (service industry, or retail jobs, for example) many of these women worked through lockdown and may have been under more stress. Women who were more likely to have time off, and to prioritize prenatal care were likely already doing so before lockdown.

Natural health practitioners tend to feel that conventional medical intervention often does more harm than good. One possibility that seems a likely contributor, but is unlikely to be addressed by the mainstream media, is the drop in vaccines, both prenatal and infant. Childhood vaccine rates have dropped since the beginning of the lockdown. In California childhood vaccine rates decreased 40% weeks after the lockdown began. Most non-emergency medical appointments were canceled during lockdown.

With childhood vaccines dropping it is unconfirmed but not unlikely that maternal vaccines have dropped as well. Some studies have suggested that maternal vaccines can increase the risk of premature birth, with one study saying maternal vaccines could raise premature births on average 14%.

Data has suggested that infant vaccinations could be increasing SIDS rates. America has the highest vaccination rates and the highest SIDS rates of any other comparable developed country. For comparison, Japan has banned vaccines for children under the age of two and has virtually eliminated SIDS. A 2011 study noted that out of 34 nations, those that require the most vaccines have higher infant mortality rates, compared to those who require the fewest vaccines that had the lowest infant mortality rates.

Currently, there is not enough data on recent vaccination rates to draw solid conclusions as to what has caused the sudden drop in SIDS and premature births. However, as is often the case, it is likely a combination of many different causes.

Germany has seen a 64% decrease in plastic bag usage since 2015. Recently Germany agreed to ban the sale of single-use plastics, including plastic straws, cutlery, cotton buds, and food containers by July 2021.

Many disposable plastic products are superfluous with no sustainable use of resources. In addition, plastics end up too often in the environment or in the oceans. We are taking an important national step in the fight against the plastic flood.

–Federal Environment Minister Svenja Schulze

We throw away 1.3 billion tons of trash worldwide every year, and Germany alone produces 3 million tons of plastic waste annually. Germany’s recent bill to ban singe-use plastic is in accordance with the EU’s directive to reduce plastic waste.

Related: How to Detox From Plastics and Other Endocrine Disruptors

Many of the single-use plastics we go through a day are full of toxins like BPA and BPA alternatives. A study published by the Journal of Environmental Science and Technology examined 34 everyday plastics made of 8 different types of plastic and showed that 74% of the products were toxic in some way.

With a healthy gut and a healthy lifestyle, the chances of experiencing health problems from plastic toxicity are extremely unlikely. Still, for the environment and your health, you’re better off avoiding single-use plastics and using reusable alternatives.

Related: Many Hand-me-down Plastic Toys Are Toxic for Kids

Data from a recent study shows that young men between ages 18-24 are having less sex than years previous. From 2000 to 2018, around one in three U.S men between the ages of 18 to 24 in the study reported no sexual activity within the previous year.

Additionally, there was a decrease in sexual activity in men and women ages 25-34, although not as drastic as men age 18-24. Data was collected from 10,000 men and women between the ages of 18-44. Between 2016-2018, 16.5% of respondents reported less sexual activity compared to 9.5% of respondents reporting less sexual activity between 2000-2002.

There are now many more choices of things to do in the late evening than there once were and fewer opportunities to initiate sexual activity if both partners are engrossed in social media, electronic gaming, or binge watching.

-Jean Twenge, department of psychology in San Diego State University 

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The decrease in sexual activity is likely due to a number of factors. Likely factors include increased usage of social media and electronic gaming, as well as the stress of managing work and intimate relationships.

Men with lower income, or who were unemployed, along with both male and female students were more likely to be less sexually active. Unmarried women, as well as gay men, saw no notable decline in sexual activity.

Given a preference for men of higher socioeconomic status and the larger number of college-educated women than men, some young men may find it difficult to form heterosexual relationships, the researchers note.

–Young U.S. men having a lot less sex in the 21st century, study shows