AstraZeneca, the pharmaceutical company behind the latest COVID-19 vaccine to release the results of its clinical trial, is looking to join the ranks of vaccines already approved in the United States. On Monday, the company announced that their vaccine was found to be 79% effective against the spread of the coronavirus in the U.S. and that they would be applying for approval for usage in April, according to the Associated Press.

The news of the AstraZeneca vaccine’s overall effectiveness comes after Europe enacted a temporary ban against it following reports of blood clots and unexplained bleeding in people who received it. Out of the millions of injections across the continent, about 30 cases of blood clots forming in the body came to light, prompting leaders from countries including France and Germany to stop the import of the vaccine out of public concern. However, the European Medicines Agency (EMA), after investigating the issue, concluded on Thursday that there were more benefits than risks in relation to the usage of the AstraZeneca vaccine.

“This is a safe and effective vaccine,” Emer Cooke, the executive director on EMA, said during a press briefing on Thursday, as reported by Al Jazeera. “If it were me, I would be vaccinated tomorrow.”

Although skepticism around this particular vaccine has reached the U.S., there’s no evidence to support it. Medical experts have stood in AstraZeneca’s corner throughout the pushback. Many have highlighted that the vaccine has proven to be effective in what it sought to do in the first place: protect people from the spread of COVID-19.

“Although the AstraZeneca vaccine is not yet approved for use in the USA, I hope that it soon will be,” Dr. Paul S Pottinger, MD, a professor at the University of Washington’s Department of Medicine, Division of Allergy & Infectious Diseases, told Refinery29. “This is because it has been found to be very safe and highly protective against COVID-19 in very large and well-designed clinical trials.”

On whether or not the AstraZeneca vaccine played a role in the development of blood clots in certain patients, Dr. Pottinger notes that they weren’t a side effect detected during larger clinical trials and is doubtful of a causal relationship between clots and the vaccine. “The risk of being harmed or even killed by COVID-19 is certainly greater than this theoretical and unproven risk of blood clots,” he added.

Despite the uproar caused by the few blood clots cases, the AstraZeneca vaccine isn’t even the first widely distributed vaccine to be connected to this side effect: Blood clots were reported to have formed in some patients after the usage of the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine Gardasil during the late 2000s to the mid-2010s. After further exploration from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), 90% of people who reported blood clots had underlying risk factors, including genetic clotting abnormalities and smoking.

“It was the Danes who put the kibosh on Gardasil several years ago over a very vague pain syndrome,” said Dr. John D. Grabenstein, RPh, PhD, the general manager of Vaccine Dynamics, noted in his defense of the AstraZeneca vaccine. “Stopping a vaccination program should take more than the identification of an adverse event, it should be when it’s rising above a baseline value, not just when something bad happened in a vaccinee.”

Popular forms of birth control pills, which are widely available and commonly used, are also known to increase the risk of blood clotting in a woman’s body up to four times thanks to the increased production of estrogen, according to the Cleveland Clinic.

Still, even in their defense of the AstraZeneca vaccine, the cautious approach taken by European medical experts has been understood to a degree by experts here in the U.S.

“It’s early and so I think we have to be cautious,” said Dr. Norman Baylor, the President and CEO of Biologics Consulting. “They were very clear this was out of an abundance of caution. You can look at the science and you can also look at perception. I’m only speculating, but I think they felt perception-wise, this was the best thing to do. The verdict is still pending.”

Should the AstraZeneca vaccine get approved for usage in the U.S., it certainly won’t be the first vaccination that comes with a risk of some sort. In the long run, its hypothetical approval will lead to more vaccine accessibility for those who need it.

Additional reporting by Molly Longman.

Like what you see? How about some more R29 goodness, right here?

Women Are More Likely To Have Vaccine Side Effects

Everyone Loves Michelle Obama's Vaccine Photo

Trump Wants Vaccinated People To Thank Him

A new study released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has concluded that women are more likely to experience side effects after receiving the COVID-19 vaccine. According to the “First Month of COVID-19 Vaccine Safety Monitoring” study published last month, 79% of reports of the more serious symptoms caused by the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines came from women.

The monthlong study followed the first 13,794,904 Americans who received the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines, noting how they reacted to the shots from December 14, 2020, to January 13, 2021. People reported symptoms using the vaccine adverse event reporting system, or VAERS, for the study; the VAERS system also monitored the vaccine’s effect on the body. During this time, the most frequent side effects reported were headache, fatigue, and dizziness, along with 62 cases of anaphylaxis. One hundred and thirteen total deaths were also reported by the study’s end, including 78 among long-term care facility residents taking part. By the end of the study, it was found the vaccine’s side effects were overwhelmingly reported by women. Only 62.1% of the actual study participants were women.

Experts have pointed to differences in immune systems between men and women as a reason why one sex reported more symptoms. “We see more autoimmune diseases in women than we do in men and we know the effects of pregnancy on the immune system can be significant,” David Wohl, MD, an infectious diseases physician at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Medicine, told ABC7 on Saturday. He also explained that women are more likely to report their symptoms to a medical professional compared to men.

Microbiologist and immunologist Sabra Klein, PhD, who works at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, echoed the “sex difference” in how people are affected by vaccines in The New York Times earlier this month, stating that it was “completely consistent with past reports of other vaccines.” She also noted that “there is value to preparing women that they may experience more adverse reactions. That is normal, and likely reflective of their immune system working.”

Since the study’s end, Johnson & Johnson’s COVID-19 vaccine has been given approval for usage in the U.S., and AstraZeneca is applying for approval in April. Vaccine eligibility currently varies by state, but many frontline workers, public-facing government and other employees, and people over the age of 60 are among those being given priority. President Joe Biden announced earlier this month that all adults in the U.S. would be eligible to be vaccinated by May 1 in an effort to get the country largely back to “normal” by July 4.

Like what you see? How about some more R29 goodness, right here?

Why Do I Feel Guilty About Getting The Vaccine?

Everything You Can Do After Being Vaccinated

Johnson & Johnson's Vaccine Isn't "Less Effective"

The conversations surrounding NFTs, or non-fungible tokens, may still be relatively new and ongoing, but that isn’t stopping some people from cashing in on how trendy these digital tokens are right now. Case in point: Film director Alex Ramírez-Mallis has decided to make additional money with his farts.

Ramírez-Mallis sat down with the New York Post on Thursday to share, without a hint of hesitation, that he has sold an audio recording of his flatulence for the NFT currency of 0.05 Ethereum, which equals roughly $85, to an anonymous buyer. He and a group of friends are also auctioning off the digital rights to one year’s worth of their fart sounds, called the “One Calendar Year of Recorded Farts.” Why? Because they can.

“If people are selling digital art and GIFs, why not sell farts?” Ramírez-Mallis told the Post. He went on to describe the NFT boom happening right now as “absurd — this idea of putting a value on something inherently intangible.” He continued, “These NFTs aren’t even farts, they’re just digital alphanumeric strings that represent ownership.”

Despite equating the NFT moment the world is having right now to “technological novelty that masquerades as revolutionary,” Ramírez-Mallis remained upfront about cashing in on the craze. The idea to record farts with his friends began in March 2020 as a unique way of keeping in touch with each other over WhatsApp, just as stay-at-home orders began in New York. The group eventually compiled all of their fart sounds together into a 52-minute recording to sell. It clearly worked in their favor, since the recording currently has a top bid of $183.

“If the value increases, they could have an extremely valuable fart on their hands,” Ramírez-Mallis told the Post.

The speed at which NFTs are taking hold in the mainstream right now is being seen across popular culture, from music to the art world, and it’s either here to stay or another passing fad (is anyone still regularly checking the Robinhood app or talking about GameStop?). But based on the recent $69 million sale of the artist Beeple’s digital files to auction company Christie’s and the continuous million-dollar-plus sales of concept art around Hollywood, the former is looking more and more likely.

At least we have more to choose from than just hour-long fart recordings.

Like what you see? How about some more R29 goodness, right here?

A Mom Was Arrested For Rigged Homecoming Election

The Sad Story Of The Real St. Valentine

How One Cheer Mom Harassed Her Daughter's Friends

The Biden administration is going back on its promise not to get rid of staffers over past marijuana use, according to a report from The Daily Beast published Thursday. Despite the administration telling staffers back in February that their history of using marijuana wouldn’t affect their jobs, numerous employees have since been asked to leave their positions, work remotely indefinitely, or been suspended.

“There were one-on-one calls with individual affected staffers — rather, ex-staffers,” a now-former White House staffer, who was reportedly asked to resign due to weed use, told The Daily Beast. “The policies were never explained, the threshold for what was excusable and what was inexcusable was never explained.”

Last month, the administration said it would review staffers’ marijuana use on a case-by-case basis. It largely came down to who was eligible for security clearances, as a record of drug use can affect this eligibility. As a result, they decided that staffers who had “limited” past marijuana use — an amount determined by the administration — and were applying for positions where security clearances weren’t absolutely necessary could have their drug use overlooked.

Less than a month later, staffers have said this is no longer the case, as dozens of them have been temporarily or permanently affected by the Biden administration’s apparent change in policy.

A spokesperson for the White House stood by the administration’s decision, saying in a statement to The Daily Beast, “The White House’s policy will maintain the absolute highest standards for service in government that the president expects from his administration, while acknowledging the reality that state and local marijuana laws have changed significantly across the country in recent years.”

“This decision was made following intensive consultation with career security officials and will effectively protect our national security while modernizing policies to ensure that talented and otherwise well-qualified applicants with limited marijuana use will not be barred from serving the American people,” the spokesperson added.

The administration’s position is unsurprising given Biden’s track record of tough stances on drug-related crimes and laws. The Anti-Drug Abuse Act of 1986 and the Anti-Drug Abuse Act of 1988 — which he sponsored, and co-sponsored and helped write, respectively — not only created the Office of National Drug Control Policy, but resulted in increased prison time for drug possession and drug transportation.

Vice President Kamala Harris’ stance on marijuana legalization, has also been criticized, particularly her reluctance to vote in favor of California legalizing adult usage in 2016 as the state District Attorney. She has since come around in support of legalization.

Weed is legal in 14 states and the District of Columbia, and millions of people use it recreationally. It is, however, still considered an illegal substance at the federal level.

Like what you see? How about some more R29 goodness, right here?

What's In Biden's Stimulus Package Besides Checks?

Republicans Criticize Biden For Saying "Nance"

Is Joe Biden Doing Enough?

After over three decades of maintaining his innocence, death row inmate Pervis Payne is moving closer to receiving an execution date — despite activist-collected evidence that could prove his innocence. Payne was arrested and charged with murder for killing a woman and her 2-year-old child in Millington, Tennessee. But Payne maintains that he wasn’t even there for the murder.

In 1987, Payne was living with his parents and siblings. According to his statement at the time, he was waiting for girlfriend, Bobbie Thomas, at her Millington apartment when he stumbled upon the homicide of her neighbor, Charisse Christopher, and her two-year-old daughter Lacie Jo. Both were found stabbed to death, while Christopher’s three-year-old son Nicholas survived. Payne, who has an intellectual disability, was later convicted of the murders in February 1988 and put on death row.

But over the past 33 years, he has stood by his original statement: He wasn’t the one who killed Christopher and her child. Now, activist organizations are rallying behind him to prove his innocence and have him released from death row.

Over the course of his sentence, Payne’s legal team has hit several roadblocks while seeking clemency — despite evidence that, at the very least, creates ample reasonable doubt. For one, the DNA on the murder weapon at the crime scene was never tested until September of 2020, so there’s no proof of Payne coming in contact with the murder weapon before he was convicted and put on death row. According to the Innocence Project, Shelby County District Attorney General Amy Weirich allegedly blocked any DNA testing from occurring on evidence found at the crime scene until last late last year.

When the test was finally conducted, it revealed that an unknown man’s DNA was found on the murder weapon. Still, the additional DNA wasn’t enough to commute Payne’s sentence and was considered too degraded to charge another suspect with the homicides, with Criminal Court Judge Paula Skahan stating that “Nothing exonerated Pervis Payne. Nothing.” Skahan later dismissed any additional testing on the DNA discovered.

“The Court concludes the results are not favorable to Mr. Payne,” Skahan wrote in a released statement on January 25. “The Petitioner argues the absence of his DNA from several of the items tested supports his trial testimony, but Mr. Payne’s DNA is not entirely absent from the apartment,” highlighting that his DNA was found on a washcloth in Christopher’s bathroom.

But Payne’s case is anything from clear-cut, and activists are continuing to point out that a lot of this has to do with him being a Black man accused of murdering a white woman in the ’80s. When Payne was initially scheduled to be executed on December 3, 2020, which was delayed by the COVID-19 pandemic, it provided a renewed opportunity to prove his innocence. In recent weeks, as his new execution date approaches, social media users have rallied behind Payne, with the hashtags #PervisPayne and #JusticeForPervisPayne, calling for the courts to revisit the specifics of the case, including possible bias from the prosecution. Many — including the Innocence Project — continue to argue that prosecutors and arresting officers must be investigated for explicit anti-Blackness and the use of racial stereotypes used during his trial.

Activist Martin Luther King III penned an op-ed in the Tennessean pleading with Gov. Lee to grant Payne clemency and detailing the racial bias associated with Payne’s arrest and trial.

“The prosecutor casted Payne as a hypersexual Black man looking for a white woman to assault, going so far as to refer to her ‘white skin.’ This racist trope echoed powerfully before a jury in a county where large numbers of Black men were lynched for perceived affronts to white women,” King wrote earlier this month.

“He was a young Black man accused of murdering a white woman in Shelby County,  a county with a long history of racial violence and biased criminal justice and where my father was murdered by a white supremacist.”

Payne’s reprieve expires on April 9, 2021. There is currently a change.org petition circulating to take him off death row.

Like what you see? How about some more R29 goodness, right here?

Lisa Montgomery: What To Know About Her Execution

What To Know About Dustin Higgs' Execution Case

What To Know About The Brandon Bernard Case

Now that President Joe Biden’s $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief package has been approved, the third stimulus check — perhaps the most highly anticipated one to date — is already starting to be rolled out. Since the president signed the American Rescue Plan Act, first announced back in January, on Friday, many people on social media have already reported getting their $1,400 checks by direct deposit. The IRS confirmed this, stating that “some recipients started receiving as early as March 12.” Others, however, are still wondering when they’ll be receiving their stimulus checks.

The rollout of this payment, like the two payments before it, will be a steady one. Those who are eligible to receive their $1,400 should start seeing a direct deposit from the IRS by this week, and the rollout will continue over the coming weeks. Eligible parties who have an updated mailing address on file with the IRS should be receiving their physical checks or debit cards in the mail following the same timeline as those receiving direct deposits, just as they had with the first and second checks.

During the release of the first stimulus check back in March 2020, the IRS created a page called Get My Payment, which people could use to track the whereabouts of their checks. The feature, according to the IRS, updates once a day, so those curious about where their stimulus checks are will be able to regularly review its status. Get My Payment was also available during the rollout of the second stimulus check back in December.

But you might get a few different responses when trying to log into the site. After you enter your social security number, birth date, address, and zip code in the Get My Payment feature, the system will show one of three messages: “Payment Status” means that either you’re approved to receive a stimulus check, your money is being processed, and it will be deposited either by the date shown or when a date becomes available; “Payment Status Not Available” means that either the IRS hasn’t processed your information yet, or that you’re not eligible to receive a stimulus check; “Need More Information” means that the payment was returned to the IRS because there was no way for the Postal Service to deliver it. People who receive this message will be able to provide their bank account information through the Get My Payment link.

Like what you see? How about some more R29 goodness, right here?

New Stimulus Bill Will Cut Poverty By One-Third

The Third Stimulus Check Will Be On Its Way Soon —

What's In Biden's Stimulus Package Besides Checks?

On Monday, the first day in-person learning restarted in Arkansas, one student was injured during a shooting at Watson Chapel Junior High School in Pine Bluff. According to the school district’s Facebook page, as of two hours ago, all district campuses remain in lockdown following the shooting, which the district described as an “isolated incident.” The Jefferson County Sheriff’s Department and the Pine Bluff Police Department are reportedly on the scene to “control the situation.”

The shooting took place as students were changing classrooms to go to their next classes. Upon hearing gunshots, all students were abruptly moved to the gymnasium per protocol.

In a press briefing on Monday afternoon, Pine Bluff police detailed the events. According to Chief of Police Kelvin Sergeant, the department was alerted of the shooting at 9:59 a.m. and the first officer arrived at the school at 10:02 a.m. The victim, who is 15, was taken to Jefferson Regional Medical Center in Pine Bluff before being transferred to the Arkansas Children’s Hospital in Little Rock. He is currently in “serious condition,” according to officers.

Police also announced that they currently have a 15-year-old male suspect in custody. The suspect had initially fled the scene to hide behind a home on one of the neighboring streets. When police found him, he was taken to the Jack Jones Juvenile Detention Center in Pine Bluff.

According to the school district’s Facebook page, which has continued to post updates throughout the day, the parents of the student who was shot were notified, and all other students were declared safe.

In the hours following the shooting, local news outlet KATV shared video footage of multiple cars backed up on the road leading to Watson Chapel Junior High School, mostly filled with parents who were attempting to pick up their children. Police officers remained at the scene the entire time.

Sergeant reiterated that the department believed the shooting to be an isolated incident and wouldn’t speak to whether it was the result of gang-related activity. Whether the suspect will be tried as a juvenile or an adult will be announced in the next 36 to 48 hours. 

The family of the victim has yet to release a statement.

Like what you see? How about some more R29 goodness, right here?

Biden's Plan For Harassment, Shootings & Violence

Police Are Killing Black People At A Higher Rate

How Portland Police Shot & Killed Michael Reinoehl

Following former president Donald Trump‘s CPAC speech, in which he continued to falsely claim the election was stolen, allege voter fraud, and tease a 2024 presidential run, conservative commentator Candace Owens entered the chat. Specifically, Owens praised Trump as a “feminist” on Twitter after he touted some wildly transphobic views about trans women being included in women’s sports.

On Sunday, Trump gave a speech at the Conservative Political Action Conference, where he criticized Biden’s decision to allow trans kids to participate in sports according to their gender identity. Trump claimed, falsely, that transgender women in sports were breaking records, and referred to them as “biological males.” In response, Owens essentially called him a feminist hero (sure, Jan). “If you guys are wondering what actual feminism is, it’s Donald Trump having the courage to stand up on stage and call out the insanity of biological men dominating women’s sports,” Owens wrote. “He never kowtows to the Left. #CPAC2021 #CPAC.”

If you guys are wondering what actual feminism is, it’s Donald Trump having the courage to stand up on stage and call out the insanity of biological men dominating women’s sports.

He never kowtows to the Left. #CPAC2021 #CPAC

— Candace Owens (@RealCandaceO) February 28, 2021

Owens was immediately the subject of serious backlash on Twitter, with users calling her a TERF well into Monday, when her name started trending. “I’d say your fear of trans people is much greater than your intellect, but we all know it’s easy to find a bigger number than zero,” one user wrote. “At almost every level of government over the past few weeks we have heard about the ‘threat’ of trans kids in sports. Let’s talk about this because there is no threat and yet, we are about to see a massive expansion of privacy intrusions into and surveillance of kids’ bodies,” Chase Strangio, a lawyer for the ACLU, wrote.

Trump’s speech and Owens’ subsequent comments are responses to the recently passed Biden administration executive order titled “Preventing and Combating Discrimination on the Basis of Gender Identity or Sexual Orientation.” On January 20, Biden’s first day in office, he signed the order declaring that discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity were unconstitutional. The order notably states that “Children should be able to learn without worrying about whether they will be denied access to the restroom, the locker room, or school sports.”

The order — though praised among many for being an inclusive step forward — has become an easy excuse for conservatives to spew hate. And, this isn’t the first time Owens has been openly transphobic and tried to mask it as standing up for women’s rights. In February, she tweeted that transgender rights policies in the U.S. were “trampling over” the rights of women. In the past, she’s also stood her ground on the false claim that only women can give birth, spoken out against trans soldiers serving in the U.S. Army, and called the work of trans activists the work of Satan and “confusing” to children. Most notably, Owens rebuked Harry Styles’ Vogue cover, where he was photographed wearing a dress, saying, “bring back our manly men.”

In reality, there’s no evidence of transgender children harming the upbringing of cisgender children, including in school sports. With nearly 2% of kids identifying as trans as of 2019, the conversation surrounding gender identity and children is becoming a more common one, thanks to the help of organizations like the Human Rights Campaign and PFLAG.

But given that ignorance is rampant in the Republican party, it’s no surprise Trump would latch onto this Biden order — and even less of a surprise that a noted TERF like Candace Owens would praise him for it.

Like what you see? How about some more R29 goodness, right here?

What's Up WIth This Giant Gold Trump Statue?

The Trump Vs. McConnell Fight Only Has Losers

The Trauma Of Trump's Impeachment Acquittal

In December, Angelo Quinto, a Navy veteran from Antioch, California, stopped breathing after police violently subdued him during a mental health episode. When the Quinto family called 911 to assist the 30-year-old, who began suffering from “paranoia and anxiety” after being assaulted earlier that year, according to the Washington Post, they were expecting help in deescalating the situation. The officers who arrived at their home on December 23, however, were not there to help. Instead, Cassandra Quinto-Collins, his mother, said the officers became violent and kneeled down on her son’s neck to subdue him. Quinto was pinned down for nearly five minutes, according to his family, and died at a hospital nearby three days later.

A video shot by Cassandra, which was publicly released on Thursday, shows the moment after Quinto was allegedly strangled by police. In the video, Quinto appears face down on the floor with his hands cuffed behind his back. He is unresponsive, and officers try shaking his body to wake him up. Quinto-Collins then asked: “what happened?” and asked the officers standing over his body if he had a pulse. Two officers then flip Quinto over, revealing his bloody face. He is quickly put into a white tarp bag and his body is transported out of the room.

Throughout the video, the officers asked Quinto-Collins if her son had any “illegal drugs” in his system or if she “saw anything,” while she repeatedly explained that she just came home from work and didn’t know what happened.

At the end of the footage from December 23, John Burris, the Quinto family’s attorney, featured a reenactment of the moments before he was no longer responding. Narrated by family members and lawyers, the reenactment shows officers pushing Quinto to the floor as he says “please don’t kill me,” twice. One officer then puts a knee to the back of Quinto’s neck, while another handcuffs him. According to their account, officers held him down for four and a half to five minutes total before noticing he was bleeding and turning him over.

According to Lieutenant John Fortner, the Antioch Police Department did not want to publicize what happened to Angelo Quinto while they continued to investigate his cause of death and to maintain his family’s privacy. But the Quinto family has since expressed their regret in trusting the police at all.

“When [Cassandra, Angelo’s mother] called 911, she was looking for help,” Robert Collins, Quinto’s stepfather, told the Mercury News. “She had no idea she was stepping into a system that’s broken.” Isabella Collins, Quinto’s sister, also said: “We trusted [the police] too much.”

In the days following the video’s circulation, the Antioch Police Department has largely remained silent. Lieutenant John Fortner still maintains that the police officers on the scene remained nonviolent, despite the fatality that occurred from a distressed person being kneeled on. In a January statement, Fortner said that although the officers handcuffed Quinto, they never made use of any other excessive force.

What is clear from Quinto’s death is, once again, how ill-equipped police officers are in the face of mental health crises. Quinto’s story is a tragedy that mirrors the death of Daniel Prude, who was pinned down and killed by police officers in Rochester, New York last December. Like Quinto, Prude needed assistance during a mental health episode; instead, the responding officers made fun of him, publicly, before suffocating him. Prude died of “complications of asphyxia in the setting of physical restraint” a week later. But not before footage of his death circulated online.

It’s this type of excessive and uncontrolled force from police officers nationwide that continues to drive forward the movement to defund the police in the U.S. Social justice advocates, including the ACLU, believe that right now — as we continue to face death after death at the hands of police officers in America — communities will benefit from access to resources that are not police in times of emergency or distress. And that’s exactly what we need: professionals who can deescalate mental health crises without resorting to putting a knee in someone’s neck, the very thing that caused George Floyd to die and sparked a resurgence of the Black Lives Matter movement in 2020.

The Anti Police-Terror Project, an Oakland-based group focused on ending police violence against minorities, called for justice for Angelo Quinto on Monday: “A mental health crisis should not be a death sentence. PERIOD!”

Like what you see? How about some more R29 goodness, right here?

Why Police Should Never Interact With Kids

The Officer Who Shot Jacob Black Won't Be Charged

Defunding The Police Starts On College Campuses

On Friday, Rep. Louie Gohmert became the first of two politicians fined for not walking through the new metal detectors installed inside of the U.S. Capitol building. The Texas congressman was fined $5,000 after not stopping to be screened for a second time after he left the House floor on Thursday. Also fined was fellow Republican Rep. Andrew Clyde, who serves in Georgia’s 9th congressional district. Clyde reportedly didn’t stop to get screened a first time and he passed the metal detectors completely on his way to the House floor. Both fines will be deducted from the representative’s paychecks, and should they be fined a second time, the amount will jump to $10,000.

Many, however, feel the fines are deserved, considering the fact that these metal detectors were installed in the aftermath of the deadly Capitol insurrection carried out by supporters of former president Donald Trump on January 6. After a mob of white supremacists were able to easily bypass security guards and violently enter the building, the metal detectors were put in place for an extra layer of security — specifically, to protect members of Congress while in session.

But both congressmen skirting the metal detectors comes after the already-controversial response other Republicans have had to this new system. Namely, Republican Rep. Lauren Boebert was confronted by a Capitol Police officer after her bag made the metal detector go off and she refused to have it checked. An unwavering supporter of concealed carry who boasts carrying a glock around the capital, Boebert later tweeted: “I am legally permitted to carry my firearm in Washington, D.C. and within the Capitol complex. Metal detectors outside of the House would not have stopped the violence we saw last week — it’s just another political stunt by Speaker Pelosi.” She is now among several lawmakers who are refusing to walk through the metal detectors.

Indiana Rep. Larry Bucshon has also complained on Twitter about the presence of the machines, tweeting last month, “Members of Congress are not allowed to perform their duty to vote on behalf of their constituents without going through this ‘security’ checkpoint. @GOPLeader [California Rep. Kevin McCarthy] needs to formally protest.”

In the aftermath of the newly-waged fine system, Gohmert released a statement saying that he would be appealing the fine. According to him, he was “complying” with the metal detector and this is all a misunderstanding.

“I was allowed to enter the House session where debate was occurring. Knowing that I would soon be giving a speech, I stepped off the House floor to use the restroom right beside the Speaker’s lobby as I have done many times since the metal detectors have been installed,” he wrote. “At no time until yesterday did anyone mention the need to be wanded after entering the restroom directly in front of the guards. The three main entrances have metal detectors, but the House floor entrance from the Speakers’ Lobby does not. Originally I had gone around the metal detectors a few times until it was mandated. I have been complying for weeks since.” Naturally, he also went on to blame Democrats for “making up the rules as they go.”

Clyde also called the fine “a constitutional issue” during an interview on Fox News on Friday. “Those metal detectors are there to detain us, and that’s a violation of Article I Section 6 of the Constitution.”

However, the metal detectors, which are also used in other public buildings like offices and schools, aren’t any tool of suppression — they are explicitly there to protect the very Republican congresspeople that are pushing back against them.

Like what you see? How about some more R29 goodness, right here?

Lauren Boebert Is Trolling A Parkland Survivor

House To Vote On Marjorie Taylor Greene's Work

Yes, This Is Trump’s Real SAG Resignation Letter

The rollout of the COVID-19 vaccination process across the United States has been, to put it lightly, a hot mess. Since the first shot was administered on December 14, the number of vaccines available hasn’t matched with its dire necessity, and states have even toyed with halving one dose of the vaccine to avoid running out of vaccines completely. And it’s a far cry from the vaccination process playing out in other countries like Israel, where, according to The Intelligencer, at least half of the population has been vaccinated since December.

But despite Israel leading the world in terms of how many people are vaccinated against the virus, COVID-19 cases are still on the rise throughout the country. The Intelligencer reports that almost 74 out of every 100,000 Israelis are infected, compared to 40 out of every 100,000 Americans. And while Israel’s COVID-19 death toll currently sits at just over 5,000, less than a year ago in May 2020, it was 281.

So, what exactly isn’t adding up here? The virus’s new variant — the B.1.1.7, which was first found in the United Kingdom — has been credited with the soaring positive infection rates. “This lockdown is very much affected by the British mutation,” Yoav Kisch, Israel’s deputy health minister, told the Israel Defense Forces radio network Army Radio, as reported by the Financial Times. “The numbers we used to see go down at a much faster rate are going down much slower.”

Prematurely ending country-wide lockdowns have also equated to more positive cases. Though Israel ended its third lockdown on Saturday, their national coronavirus information center fears another surge in infections by March due to the lifting of COVID-19 restrictions too soon, given that hospitals are still overwhelmed and not everyone over 60 has been fully vaccinated.

Ending lockdown too soon for a third time follows a pattern first set by the mishandling of Israel’s first lockdown by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu last May. After encouraging residents to go out and “have fun,” what followed was a summer of “no framework for testing, no nationwide contact-tracing system,” according to an unnamed senior official speaking to The Intelligencer. Today, only 24 percent of the country approves of the job the government is doing with handling the virus.

As of Monday, positive COVID-19 cases in Israel remain on a steady incline, with 568 infections per 100,000 people reported over the last 7 days, according to Reuters. It’s unclear of Netanyahu or other local leaders have a plan in place to combat this, or how vaccinations will prevent an already widely-spreading wave across the country.

Like what you see? How about some more R29 goodness, right here?

Are COVID-19 Vaccine Cards The Latest Scammer Con?

6 Women On What It’s Like To Get The COVID Vaccine

I Was The First Person To Get The COVID-19 Vaccine

Nine highly regarded health officials in various departments and bureaus throughout New York state have steadily resigned over the last six months, the New York Times reported on Monday. The departures — which include the deputy commissioner for public health at the New York State Health Department and the now-former medical director in the state’s division of epidemiology — haven’t been without reason: these mass resignations are reportedly the result of Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s handling of New York’s pandemic policy.

According to Monday’s report, Cuomo’s massive fumble in New York City’s vaccination rollout — for which he stands behind whole heartedly — is a final straw for many health officials. Specifically, the governor has allegedly refused to rely on medical expertise provided by aids and instead created his own vaccination distribution plan. And the news of the mass resignations came days after a press conference where he admitted that he did not trust the state’s health officials.

“When I say ‘experts’ in air quotes, it sounds like I’m saying I don’t really trust the experts,” he said during a press briefing on Friday. “Because I don’t. Because I don’t.”

The Times also reported that Albany-based health officials, prior to their leaving, would only learn of Cuomo’s pandemic-related plans during his live press briefings. They also had no say in the reopening schedule of public spaces across New York. The governor also gave primary vaccination rollout responsibilities to individual hospitals, which upset many COVID experts working in the state.

Among the health officials who have stepped down from their positions are the state epidemiologist, the director of the Health Department’s bureau of communicable disease control, the head of the renowned Wadsworth laboratory, the executive in charge of health data and others. Dr. Howard Zucker, who currently serves as the state health commissioner, is one of the top names to remain on staff.

As a result of Cuomo disregarding the advice of the now former senior health officials, New York state is currently 20th in the United States in terms of how many residents have been vaccinated. New York City has also stumbled in its planned vaccination rollout, with suppliers running out of the shots, causing appointments to be cancelled around the city and a delay in the opening of touted vaccination hubs like Yankee Stadium in the Bronx and CitiField in Queens.

In a statement to the Times regarding the resignations, Dr. Zucker noted that while several staff left, “many others joined the agency with the talents necessary to confront this new challenge.” Still, its unclear given his lack of trust in health officials how long even new team members will last. Between Cuomo’s public criticism from medical experts and Attorney General Tish James condemning the governor for the amount of nursing home COVID deaths that occurred in New York, morale for a stronger rollout remains at an all-time low.

Like what you see? How about some more R29 goodness, right here?

I Was The First Person To Get The COVID-19 Vaccine

How Biden Plans To Use The Defense Production Act

Former Cuomo Aide Accuses Him Of Sexual Harassment