Vaccine & COVID News
The Daily Signal provides explore reporting and analysis on vaccines, from COVID mandates to public health controversies, with a focus on personal liberty and informed choice.
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- Opinion
The End of COVID-19
We don’t want Antifa and Black Lives Matter activists shutting down cities with riots, and we shouldn’t want truckers blockading roads either. In each case, as the rule of law is upheld, it is incumbent on those in power to also look at the root causes driving the unrest. American authorities seemed inclined to look…Neil Patel -
- News
Democrats Lose Trust as Pandemic Fatigue Seeps Into Culture Wars, Poll Finds
Democrats are losing the culture wars in key areas, a Politico-Morning Consult poll released Wednesday found, due in part to pandemic fatigue and distrust in the federal government’s COVID-19 response. Although Democratic voters are still divided on the issue, the majority of voters are in favor of lifting mask mandates, the polling data shows. “Democratic…Maggie Hroncich -
- Opinion
COVID-19 and the Failure of America’s Major Religions
For two years, Americans have been partially or entirely deprived of fundamental freedoms—of assembly, speech, religious liberty, making a living, a child’s right to an education, access to early treatment for a potentially deadly virus, and more—for the first time in American history. That half of America, especially its elites, has either made peace with…Dennis Prager -
- Opinion
What Corporate Media, Health ‘Experts’ Don’t Want You to Know About COVID-19 Mask Mandates
Masks have become a flashpoint in the global response to COVID-19. But what the corporate media doesn’t want you to know is: They don’t work. “I think it’s one of the most consistent things we can see across locations, is that there’s been really no impact from masking,” Ian Miller, the author of the new…Douglas Blair -
- Opinion
Meet Doctor Suing Rhode Island Over Vaccine Mandate
Dr. Stephen Skoly’s request for a medical exemption to the state’s vaccine mandate was denied. Then the Rhode Island Department of Health ordered him to stop his critical surgical care in October. Now, represented by the Washington, D.C.- based civil rights group the New Civil Liberties Alliance, he is suing Rhode Island to stop the state from…Mary Margaret Olohan -
- News
Report: Ineligible Labor Unions Received Over $36 Million in Federal COVID-19 Relief Loans
Up to 226 forgivable loans totaling more than $36 million were given to labor unions and related organizations that weren’t eligible to receive the loans, according to a new report by the Freedom Foundation, a free market conservative think tank. The loans were administered by the Small Business Administration through the Paycheck Protection Program, which…Maggie Hroncich -
- News
Big Tech Censored Dozens of Doctors, More Than 800 Accounts for COVID-19 ‘Misinformation,’ Study Finds
Major technology companies and social media platforms have removed, suppressed or flagged the accounts of more than 800 prominent individuals and organizations, including medical doctors, for COVID-19 "misinformation," according to a new study from the Media Research Center. The study focused on acts of censorship on major social media platforms and online services, including Facebook,…Ailan Evans -
- News
EXCLUSIVE: Doctor Prohibited From Practicing Medicine Over Vaccination Status Sues Rhode Island
A doctor prohibited from practicing medicine because of his vaccination status is suing Rhode Island to regain his ability to practice. The Rhode Island Department of Health ordered oral and maxillofacial surgeon Dr. Stephen Skoly to cease his critical surgical care on Oct. 1, 2021, after the state denied his medical exemption to the COVID-19…Mary Margaret Olohan -
- News
Lockdowns Did Little or Nothing to Stop Deaths From COVID-19, Study Shows
A Johns Hopkins University meta-analysis released in January found that lockdowns across Europe and the U.S. reduced the COVID-19 mortality by 0.2%. The researchers’ analysis of “lockdown measures” included school closures, business closures, bans on international travel and internal movement, and other nonpharmaceutical government mandates such as mask mandates. The study also found that shelter-in-place orders were ineffective,…Laurel Duggan -
- News
‘This Place Is Supposed to Be Open’: Bar Owner Emotionally Shares Why He’s Defying DC’s Vaccine Mandate
The Big Board was pretty packed Tuesday night for a bar without a liquor license in a city that loves its booze. Multiple Republican members of Congress and a slew of their staffers showed up to support the D.C. bar and restaurant, located at 421 H St. NE, mere hours after the city’s Health Department…Mary Margaret Olohan -
- News
Read the Powerful Words of Bar Owner Risking It All to Stand Up to DC Vaccine Mandate
Eric Flannery, a military veteran, is on the cusp of losing his business. In his Washington, D.C., bar, The Big Board, Flannery has a strict “everybody is welcome” policy. He’s not demanding to see vaccination cards, as the District of Columbia now requires bars to do, and he’s not forcing his team to wear masks….Daily Signal Staff -
- Opinion
10 COVID-19 ‘Truths’ That Weren’t True
The media, health officials, and Big Tech have been quick to condemn COVID-19 “misinformation” or conspiracy theories. They’ve censored social media posts and banned users, from high-profile lawmakers to your grandmother. They’ve locked down the country, shuttered businesses and churches, arrested pastors, ordered the masking of children for years, and fired essential workers over resisting…Mary Margaret Olohan -
- Opinion
We Hear You: Tracking Religious Objectors to Vaccine Mandates and Protecting the Unborn
Editor's note: The Daily Signal's audience continues to respond to our reporting on the Biden administration's tracking of federal employees who apply for an exemption from its COVID-19 vaccine mandates. Here's a sampling from the mailbag at [email protected].—Ken McIntyre Dear Daily Signal: We as Americans should all be disturbed by this trend reported by Sarah…Ken McIntyre -
- News
Vaccine Mandate ‘Feels Like Coercion,’ Says Boston Teacher Who Fears Being Fired
Special needs teacher Angela Jones could be fired from her job with the Boston school system. Why? Because she is unvaccinated. Jones teaches elementary students in Boston Public Schools, where she has taught for nearly 20 years. She says she is one of more than 400 teachers there who have declined to take a COVID-19…Virginia Allen -
- News
Pension Agency Latest to Track Exemptions From COVID-19 Vaccine Mandate
The federal agency overseeing government pensions on Friday became the latest agency to create a rule for keeping records on employees who seek medical exemptions from the Biden administration’s COVID-19 vaccine requirement. The Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp. placed a proposed rule on the Federal Register about keeping records of staff who request medical exemptions to…Fred Lucas -
- News
House Conservative Leader Slams Biden for Plan to Track Medical Exemptions From Vaccine Mandate
The head of the House’s conservative caucus is the latest Republican lawmaker to criticize the Biden administration for expanded tracking of federal employees who seek an exemption from a COVID-19 vaccine mandate. “President [Joe] Biden must rescind his unconstitutional COVID-19 vaccine mandates,” House Freedom Caucus Chairman Andy Biggs, R-Ariz., told The Daily Signal in a…Fred Lucas -
- News
Grappling With DC Vaccine Mandate, Capitol Hill Restaurant Owner Pleads for Decency
Vaccine mandate culture wars rage on, and Noe Landini and his staff are caught in the middle. Torn between desires to respect all customers, to comply with Washington, D.C.’s vaccine mandate, and to keep his restaurants afloat, he pleads for patience and the understanding that “mandates are not as simple as they seem.” “We know…Mary Margaret Olohan -
- Opinion
COVID-19’s Impact of Expressive Individualism
Philosopher Robert Bellah once posited that modern Western human beings identify themselves in a peculiar way: as emotional cores, surrounded by baser material. According to Bellah, we are expressive individualists—meaning that “each person has a unique core of feeling and intuition that should unfold or be expressed if individuality is to be realized.” This mode…Ben Shapiro -
- Opinion
COVID-19 Policies Are Hurting Kids More Than Virus Itself
COVID-19 itself has not been killing kids in droves. According to figures cited by the American Academy of Pediatrics, among the 46 states that reported, “children were 0.00-0.26 percent of all COVID-19 deaths, and four states reported zero child deaths.” But you’d never know that from the policies many states have instituted, including remote schooling,…Nicole Russell -
- Opinion
Amid COVID-19’s Toll on Schools, Now More Than Ever, Students Need More Education Options
Editor’s note: Jan. 23-29 is National School Choice Week. This is the third in a five-part series of commentaries exploring the successes and challenges of educational choice and the people fighting to make it available to all American schoolchildren. By the end of 2021, the COVID-19 pandemic made us wonder whether the virus would ever…Jonathan Butcher