Here we go again. It seems that medical freedom is under assault at every turn in New Jersey. We fought like hell a year ago and stopped the bipartisan "corruption caucus" led by Steve Sweeney and Declan O'Scanlon who were focused on stripping parents of their religious liberty. And with your voice and action, we won.

But on Monday the bill collapsed in spectacular fashion, torpedoed by angry parents and the mobilization of national anti-vaccine celebrities who were able to outmatch one of the state’s most powerful elected leaders.

Among the radio personalities who opposed the bill was Bill Spadea, a Republican who supports President Trump and hosts a morning show on one of New Jersey’s largest radio stations. “That’s what it looks like when New Jerseyans fight back against government intrusion into our families,” he wrote on Twitter, sharing a video of protesters outside the State House on Monday. - NY TIMES REPORT ON VACCINE BILL DEFEAT JAN 2020

I stood with you then and I'll stand with you now. This is not about whether the vaccines are safe and effective. It's about your choice to take a jab when there is literally no evidence of a dramatic public health need let alone a benefit. The vax is intended to protect the person taking it from severe symptoms of COVID. For someone in the highly vulnerable category, that makes sense. But this is an individual decision.

No employer should be able to force you to take something that you either don't need or simply don't want. No school should hold kids hostage from their education for a vaccine that nearly everyone under the age of 20 simply doesn't need based on the incredibly high survivability rate. The only recourse seems to be the religious exemption which we fought to keep a year ago.

Again, this is not an indictment on the actual vaccine. We won't know for many years what the health implications are from the vax. Both positive and negative impacts won't be fully understood until we have years of evidence as we have for other shots. The interesting thing about the COVID vax is that given the dozens of mutations and thousands of variations, it's clear that the only way for it to be effective is if it becomes a regular/annual shot like the flu shot.

We know from the past few years that fewer than half of American adults get the flu shot so we'll have to see what the percentages are for the COVID shot. But the fact remains, with only about 1 in 5 Americans fully vaccinated, the virus is nearly gone in states which are fully opened. Actually as I've pointed out over the past few days, cases are dropping in open states and rising in locked down states like New Jersey.

Some callers on Friday wanted me to do some research on the religious exemption, specifically for Catholics. I found a few things in my research.

The recent history of religious exemptions for Catholics can be backed up by a letter from the American Catholic Bishops from 2007, which was updated in 2015. The bottom line is that given the use of tissue and stem cells from aborted fetuses, Catholics have strong grounds for a religious exemption.

In March of 2007, the Committee discussed the issue and decided to recommend that diocesan institutions show a willingness to grant the exemption along the lines recommended by the Academy. In particular, in an area where public schools are granting a conscience exemption, based on the view of public health authorities that doing so does not pose a serious risk to the population, Catholic institutions should be willing to do so as well. - USCCB Letter

More recently, the archdiocese in New Orleans made a strong statement asking Catholics to refuse the Johnson & Johnson vaccine because of its strong ties to abortion.

"The archdiocese must instruct Catholics that the latest vaccine from Janssen/Johnson & Johnson is morally compromised as it uses the abortion-derived cell line in development and production of the vaccine as well as the testing," the statement read.

"We advise that if the Moderna or Pfizer vaccine is available, Catholics should choose to receive either of those vaccines rather than to receive the new Johnson & Johnson vaccine because of its extensive use of abortion-derived cell lines," the archdiocese continued. - Pull Quote from MSN Article

The Church has been consistent in the message that as long as public health and personal health are not in danger, it's OK to be vaccinated. The real disagreement given the hype around the COVID vaccine is that public health overall has never really been in real jeopardy. At least no more danger than some previous flu seasons. Remember that the death rate in 2020 is right in line with the expected number of deaths going back to 1969.

You'll hear a lot about "excess deaths" in the aftermath of the pandemic lockdowns. But a closer look at the numbers tracked by the CDC show something much less alarming.

Looking at the 12-month projection of 3,165,000 deaths in the U.S. expected after the final count, that is still a death rate of less than 1% with a population of more than 331,000,000. By comparison, in 2018 with a population of 327,200,000, the U.S. reported 2,831,000 deaths. That's .86%. In 2019 with a population of 328,200,200 the U.S. reported 2,845,000 deaths which is a rate of .87%.

To further drive home this point, I dug a little deeper and took a look at the deaths in 1969 when the Hong Kong Flu took its toll on the world. In 1969, the U.S. had a population of 202,700,000. Using the reported deaths per 100,000 people of 1,279. The comparable rate? 1.2%. In other words, a full 26% higher than the mortality rate of .95% in the "COVID" year of 2020. - Bill Spadea

I have argued for a year now that the public health crisis was effectively over on April 7, 2020 when we had a clear indicator from one of the hottest spots in the world in the Bronx. At 5 p.m. on that day, the number of discharges, deaths and transfers outnumbered the number of new admissions. In fact, I wrote an article, LAST MAY which has aged quite well.

The bottom line is that regardless of the metrics the governor wants to use in order to justify this continued immoral and illegal lockdown, we have survived COVID as a virus with flying colors. The real threat to our health and civilization is arbitrary government edicts and oppressive tactics in the name of public health.

Fight back. Tell them your simply not going to be a victim any longer.

The post above reflects the thoughts and observations of New Jersey 101.5 talk show host Bill Spadea. Any opinions expressed are Bill's own. Bill Spadea is on the air weekdays from 6 to 10 a.m., talkin’ Jersey, taking your calls at 1-800-283-1015.

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