(The Center Square) − The Louisiana House Homeland Security Committee heard testimony from state officials and doctors on the state's response to COVID-19 on Wednesday.
According to many sources, the federal government's response to COVID-19 has considerably undermined public trust in medical institutions after much has been uncovered about the effectiveness of the vaccines and masks, school and business closures and the suppression of information contrary to the standards and recommendations of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control.
Louisiana's emergency preparedness agency, the Governor's Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness functioned as "an administrative arm rather than an operational arm," director Jacques Thibodeaux said. "The primary function was to acquire resources, masks, gloves."
Thibodeaux pointed to a top-down, federal and state-wide approach to dealing with the pandemic, which he said was unable to accurately and adequately estimate the needs of the different parishes.
"Nobody knows your parishes and local areas better than you," Thibodeaux said. "The federal government is a very good safety net in recovery, but they're slow."
Thibodeaux mentioned the Morial Convention Center in New Orleans, which was transformed into a makeshift hospital to address overrun hospitals. The temporary hospital cost $178 million, but only 100 beds ended up being filled, according to the Thibodeaux.
The most jarring waste, however, came in human life. Louisiana lost more than 18,000 people to the virus, which, one doctor says, could have been easily prevented.
Dr. Steven Bartlett, a practicing physician in Texas, testified about federally sanctioned information suppression, in particular from the CDC, meant to discourage any information which the CDC deemed at odds with its recommendations, and to leave no alternatives to vaccines for Louisiana citizens.
"There was a concerted campaign around the world to discredit early treatment," Bartlett said. "The reason it had to be suppressed is because there's rules and laws and the FDA cannot give emergency use authorization for a vaccine or for another experimental product...if there was already an effective, safe treatment."
According to Bartlett, one early treatment, Budesonide, could have saved 90% of the lives lost during COVID.
Bartlett said he was "disheartened" by Thibodeaux who suggested that Louisiana acquire vaccines as fast as possible. The committee agreed that Thibodeaux could be forgiven for that suggestion.
Budesonide, an inhaled steroid used to treat asthma and other respiratory conditions, is sold over the counter, and has been found by Oxford researchers to reduce the need for urgent care by 90% when compared to "usual care".
"It's readily available, it costs three dollars a treatment, and is available at every pharmacy in the United States," Bartlett said.
Bartlett also presented studies to the committee that the vaccines from Moderna and mRNA contained ingredients which were "not for human or veterinary diagnostic of therapeutic use."
"Informed consent has not been given to the good people of Louisiana," Bartlett said, comparing the mass vaccination to human experimentation.
"We found, during the COVID pandemic, the CDC director Rochelle Walensky, lied to the people of Louisiana and to the doctors of Louisiana'" Bartlett continued. "She said, if you get the COVID shot, you will not get COVID. And later that a second false false statement is that it would prevent the spread, and then later a false statement that it would prevent serious disease."
"I'm embarrassed as a physician," Dr. Robert Fortier-Benson told The Center Square, mentioning that vaccinations are useless without a healthy immune system. "Imagine a wall. The studs are your immune system. The drywall is the vaccine."
Benson said that this is why, in many cases, the vaccines were ineffective and even worsened the virus. Those most at risk to the virus were individuals with weakened immune systems, in particular the elderly and individuals with pre-existing conditions.
The hearings will continue tomorrow at 9:30 a.m.
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