They found the number of people who got a liver transplant or were put on a waiting list due to alcoholic hepatitis was 50% higher than what was forecast based on pre-pandemic trends.
With alcoholic hepatitis, the liver stops processing alcohol and instead creates highly toxic chemicals that trigger inflammation. The inflammation can kill off healthy liver cells, creating irreversible damage to the liver that may force the patient to get a liver transplant to survive.
Alcoholic hepatitis is a condition that often develops after years of heavy drinking, but it can also develop after a short period of excess. Scientists still don’t know why some people develop this condition and others don’t.
For this study, University of Michigan researchers compared the actual number of new people put on the US organ transplant list from March 2020 to January 2021 with the projected numbers that were based on pre-pandemic data. They also looked at national monthly retail alcohol sales records between January 2016 and 2021.
The results published in JAMA Network Open showed a positive correlation between the increase in the number of people on the waiting list for a liver due to alcoholic hepatitis and the increase in retail sales of alcohol during the pandemic.
A survey published Monday by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration found that American adults had claimed that they drank about the same amount of alcohol during the pandemic, at least in the fourth quarter of 2020. Sales figures may suggest otherwise. Researchers on this study noted alcohol sales increased sharply starting in March 2020 and stayed at about the same elevated level for the rest of the year.
From March 2020 to January 2021, researchers saw 51,488 more people were put on a waiting list for a liver and 32,320 liver transplants were performed due to alcoholic hepatitis. The number of people who needed a liver transplant for any other reason outside of alcoholic hepatitis remained about the same.
“While we cannot confirm causality, this disproportionate increase in association with increasing alcohol sales may indicate a relationship with known increases in alcohol misuse during COVID-19,” the researchers wrote. “This study provides evidence for an alarming increase in (alcoholic hepatitis) associated with increasing alcohol misuse during COVID-19 and highlights the need for public health interventions around excessive alcohol consumption.”
Kate Hudson used an attention-grabbing look for a good cause this week in the midst of Breast Cancer Awareness Month.
The actress stopped scrollers on Instagram on Monday night by posting an image of herself in a matching silky bra and lace briefs set. The pieces come courtesy of Kit Undergarments and offer up a charitable appeal as 15% of proceeds from the brand’s new collection go towards the Women’s Cancer Research Fund; the label’s Kits to Kick CCancecr collection can be found online at KitsUndergarments.com.
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To accent her own lingerie look, Hudson also held tight to a pair of glowing white booties set atop a stiletto heel with a sleek pointed toe.
Kit isn’t the only brand using its products for good this October. For example, Athletic Propulsion Labs (APL) has partnered with the Women’s Cancer Research Fund for Breast Cancer Awareness Month and Guess, in partnership with Marcolin and Sequel, is supporting The Get In Touch Foundation, an organization that promotes breast health awareness and teaches others how to perform breast self-exams.
Find an encompassing list of brands giving back this month here.
When she isn’t in glam designs, you can oftentimes find the “Fool’s Gold” star in pieces from her own line of athletic apparel, Fabletics. And, as it turns out, Kate Hudson’s own experience in the fashion industry is neverending. She partnered with New York & Company in 2018 as an ambassador and has previously starred in campaigns for Jimmy Choo, Ann Taylor, La Mer and Michael Kors amongst others.
For more formal occasions, the award-winning actress can be found in everything from Zuhair Murad Couture and Tamara Mellon heels to Atelier Versace, Prada and Reem Acra. Hudson’s off-duty outfits include, of course, Fabletics pieces but also Puma sneakers, Ugg slippers and even Danner hiking boots.
Take inspiration from Kate Hudson in these similar white boots.
Credit: Courtesy of Zappos
Courtesy of Zappos
Buy Now: Schutz Nikki Boots, $148.
Credit: Courtesy of Steve Madden
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Buy Now: Steve Madden Posse Boots, $100.
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Buy Now: Jeffrey Campbell Guillo Boots, $165.
Check out the gallery to see Kate Hudson’s style evolution over the years.
Launch Gallery: How Kate Hudson’s Street Style Has Changed From 2004 to Today
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You’ve likely heard the advice to “keep your cholesterol levels” low, but do you know why? While it is true that our bodies need cholesterol, high levels have been shown to increase our risk of heart disease. This is because fatty deposits hang on in your blood vessels, eventually limiting the blood flow to your arteries. As you can imagine, this isn’t beneficial for your health, so it’s wiser to adopt better practices.
Here, we spoke with nutritional experts about the eating habits to avoid if you don’t want high cholesterol. From limiting saturated fat to getting up and movin’, these strategies will help you maintain your vitality and longevity. Then, be sure to read up on our list of the 100 Unhealthiest Foods on the Planet.
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Rather than stocking up on foods that are high in saturated fat—think: cakes, pastries, bacon, and so on—try to stick to a plant-based diet. Unhealthy, calorie-dense foods don’t benefit our overall digestive system and can lead to health conditions. A diet that’s full of fresh vegetables and fruits offers us antioxidants that have been shown to prevent LDL cholesterol from becoming problematic, explains Serena Poon, a certified nutritionist, and celebrity chef.
“If you do decide to make a shift to plant-based eating, make sure to stick to eating whole, fresh vegetables and fruits, whole grains, and nuts and legumes,” she says. “Packaged vegan foods tend to be high in sodium and other ingredients that may cause inflammation. Eat a wide variety of colors of vegetables and fruits to gather the greatest benefit.”
RELATED: Get even more healthy tips straight to your inbox by signing up for our newsletter.
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Poon says alcohol has a complicated relationship with cholesterol. As with all vices, anything in moderation can be beneficial for our health. However, when we overdo it, it has the opposite impact. With booze, that’s anything over one a drink a day for women or two drinks a day for men.
“Alcohol consumption can be hard on your body on a few different levels, so I usually recommend that people enjoy very moderate amounts of alcohol,” Poon says. “Almost everyone I work with who has cut back on alcohol consumption has reported feeling great, along with a balance of a number of biomarkers, including lower overall cholesterol.”
Along with affecting your cholesterol levels, Here’s What Happens to Your Liver When You Drink Alcohol.
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You may love your fast food fix or your weekly dozen doughnuts, but it’s better to steer clear of processed, refined foods that have carbohydrates and added sugars, says Dr. Josh Axe, D.N.M., C.N.S, D.C., the founder of Ancient Nutrition. When you regularly eat these foods, you will likely see an increase in your levels of triglycerides and a decrease in high-density lipoprotein cholesterol.
“Although carbohydrates provide fuel for the body and they’re needed for healthy energy levels, they shouldn’t make up more than 60% of your diet,” he says. “And when you are adding carbohydrate foods to your diet, they should be complex, nutrient-dense carbs, like sweet potatoes, bananas, legumes, quinoa, and buckwheat.”
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If you’re working from home or you are chained to a desk day-in and day-out, getting enough exercise may be an ongoing uphill battle. But if you need another nudge to watch a Netflix show while walking on a treadmill, here’s one from Poon: fitness has been shown effective at countering high cholesterol.
Remember, you don’t have to run a marathon to keep your limbs in motion. Instead, Poon suggests finding an activity you enjoy, and you look forward to engaging in regularly.
“Be it cycling, hiking, fencing, or playing soccer, moving your body will support health. Partaking in an activity that you love will help you maintain the habit of moving your body,” she adds.
Here’s The Single Most Effective Way to Work Out Every Day, Say Psychologists.
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Though we all experience times in our lives that are more hectic and taxing than others, stress is something that needs to be treated. As Poon says, when we experience chronic stress levels, it becomes a risk factor for increased cholesterol.
“It is also true that stress can contribute to lifestyle choices that are risk factors for high cholesterol, such as poor diet, alcohol overconsumption, and lack of exercise,” she says. “Learning to reduce stress and tension is truly one of the most important skills to have in your wellness toolbox.”
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Though it’s not a bad idea to fill your plate with bountiful veggies and fruits, you could be a tad more strategic and pick fiber-rich foods. As Poon says, fiber has been shown to lower our cholesterol levels. Goodies from nature include nuts, beans, oat bran, whole grains, and vegetables and fruits.
“Vegetables give you the added benefit of supplying your body with antioxidants and phytonutrients that support vibrant health,” says Poon. “As you begin to feel better and more enlivened, you might feel inclined to start experiencing new and exciting plant foods.”
For even more healthy eating tips, read these next:
Officials with Maine’s largest hospital system on Tuesday pleaded with the public to get vaccinated as hospitals and intensive care units fill with COVID-19 patients.
The fall surge in COVID-19 patients combined with health care workforce shortages is straining Maine’s hospital systems. Elective surgeries continue to be delayed so that hospitals can care for COVID-19 patients, most of whom are unvaccinated.
Dr. Andrew Mueller, MaineHealth CEO, said the vaccine mandate imposed by Gov. Janet Mills – which goes into full effect on Oct. 29 – is not contributing to workforce shortages at MaineHealth and is helping keep staff from missing shifts because of exposure to the virus. The MaineHealth network is Maine’s largest and includes Maine Medical Center in Portland.
“It’s clear the vaccine mandate helps protect and preserve our workforce,” Mueller said. All health care workers must be fully vaccinated by Oct. 29 to keep working. Mueller anticipates about 1.5 to 2 percent of MaineHealth’s workforce will resign or be fired because of the mandate. But a fully-vaccinated workforce means there will be far fewer employees who will be absent from work from falling ill with COVID-19.
COVID-19 patients are crowding out services for other patients, including elective surgeries, such as knee and hip replacements, and cancer surgeries that can be safely delayed a few months. About one-third of all elective surgeries at Maine Medical Center are being delayed, hospital officials said, and there’s a backlog of 1,500 surgical procedures.
“It will get worse in terms of some of those delays,” said Dr. Joan Boomsma, chief medical officer at MaineHealth, the parent company of Maine Med and seven other Maine hospitals. “There’s not an easy solution, or easy end in sight.”
The increase in COVID-19 hospitalized patients at Maine Medical Center and other MaineHealth hospitals is taking an emotional toll on health care workers.
“They’re caring for patients, particularly in the ICU, who are as sick as any patients we take care of in the ICU,” said Dr. Joel Botler, chief medical officer at Maine Med. “They have to look at these patients, look at their families knowing that if the (COVID-19 patients) had been vaccinated, this would not be the outcome. For our care team members, it is very, very difficult.”
Maine Med is currently caring for 32 COVID-19 patients, with six additional patients suspected of having the disease. Botler said the total patient count at Maine Med is 643 on Tuesday, straining the hospital’s capabilities.
Meanwhile, Maine on Tuesday reported 882 new cases of COVID-19 over a three-day period, and 25 additional deaths.
The death statistics reflect the Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention conducting a periodic review of death certificates, with 19 of the 25 deaths attributed to the records review.
The 882 cases are the result of case counts from Saturday, Sunday and Monday, as the agency no longer reports cases on weekends.
The seven-day average of daily new cases stood at 464 on Tuesday, compared to 527.9 a week ago and 520.7 a month ago.
Since the pandemic began, Maine has reported 101,849 cases of COVID-19, and 1,147 deaths.
Maine reported 215 patients hospitalized with COVID-19 on Tuesday, down from 223 on Monday, but higher than the 201 reported on Sunday. Hospitalizations peaked at 235 patients on Sept. 25, declined to 152 by Oct. 7, but have increased again during the past two weeks.
The overwhelming majority of those hospitalized have either been unvaccinated or are fully vaccinated but older with other serious health conditions, according to health officials.
On the vaccination from 909,948 Maine people are fully vaccinated against COVID-19, representing 67.7 percent of the state’s 1.3 million population. The vaccination numbers have been on a slow but steady climb since the summer, but will likely see a significant bump soon if the Pfizer vaccine is approved for schoolchildren.
Federal regulators are on the verge of approving COVID-19 vaccines for ages 5-11, with a Food and Drug Administration advisory board set to meet Tuesday to potentially recommend the Pfizer vaccine, followed by a similar U.S. CDC advisory committee next week. If the CDC advisory committee gives the green light, federal regulators could approve the vaccine for use quickly.
That means the vaccine rollout for elementary-aged children could begin as soon as next week, setting the stage for a significant increase – possibly 5-7 percent – in the percentage of the state population that is immunized. About 100,000 schoolchildren would become eligible.
The higher the overall vaccination rate, the stronger likelihood that reductions in COVID-19 transmission will be long-lasting, public health experts have said. Also, school children, because they interact with large numbers of children and adults at school, can be vectors of the disease.
Maine is expected to offer the vaccine to newly-eligible schoolchildren at school-based clinics, pediatrician’s offices and drug stores, among other places.
This story will be updated.
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The Facebook Papers are a set of internal documents that were provided to Congress in redacted form by Frances Haugen’s legal counsel. The redacted versions were reviewed by a consortium of news organizations, including The Washington Post.
The trove of documents show how Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg has, at times, contradicted, downplayed or failed to disclose company findings on the impact of its products and platforms.
The documents also provided new details of the social media platform’s role in fomenting the storming of the U.S. Capitol.
Read more from The Post’s investigation:
Key takeaways from the Facebook Papers
How Facebook neglected the rest of the world, fueling hate speech and violence in India
Have a question about the Facebook Papers? Ask The Post.
File photo showing President of Brazil Jair Bolsonaro coughing at Planalto Palace on December 9, 2020.Photo: Andre Borges (Getty Images)
A bizarre video message from Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro posted to Facebook on Friday was finally deleted early Monday morning because it was spreading misinformation about covid-19. What did Bolsonaro say in the video that could be so bad it needed to be deleted for breaking Facebook’s rules? Bolsonaro claimed in the video that covid-19 vaccines were giving people AIDS.
“People who are fully vaccinated against covid-19 are developing Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome much faster than expected,” Bolsonaro said, according to an English translation by France 24.
Bolsonaro’s claim about vaccines being tied to AIDS comes from a debunked internet rumor going viral in anti-vaccine circles that supposedly cited the British government.
“I recommend you read the article,” Bolsonaro said in the now-deleted video, without explaining which article he was talking about.
But Bolsonaro clearly knew he was spreading bullshit, because he even noted that giving too much information about this conspiracy theory could lead to him getting banned from Facebook.
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“I’m not going to read it here,” Bolsonaro said about the article, “because I don’t want to lose my Facebook live video.”
Why bother to mention the unnamed article then if you knew it was so garbage it would potentially get your video yanked? That part isn’t clear. But Bolsonaro, who contracted covid-19 but survived, has been a major impediment to getting Brazilians vaccinated against covid-19, the only thing that will stop the coronavirus pandemic in the long term.
Facebook did not respond to Gizmodo’s request for comment overnight and it’s not clear why it took so long for the video to be deleted if it was indeed against the social media giant’s terms of service.
Bolsonaro, a far-right ally of other authoritarians like Donald Trump, has been accused by Brazilian lawmakers of crimes against humanity for his response to the covid-19 pandemic, which has killed more than 606,000 people. Bolsonaro’s hostility to Brazil’s indigenous population and the needless death of indigenous people has been called out as especially egregious.
“Even before the pandemic, President Jair Bolsonaro commanded an anti-indigenous policy that deliberately exposed native peoples to a lack of assistance, harassment, land invasions and violence, with these acts of outright hostility intensifying … after the arrival of the virus,” the draft report says, according to a copy reviewed by the Guardian.
“By allowing the virus to proceed … he caused death and suffering remotely. The constant harassment and deliberate neglect, combined with the pandemic, were worse than weapons,” the report continues.
Brazil is averaging about 11,000 new covid-19 cases per day with a seven-day average of 334 new deaths per day. And while that’s much better than the U.S. is currently doing, Brazil also has a smaller population.
The U.S. reported over 105,500 new cases of covid-19 on Monday and 1,591 new deaths. The vast majority of those dying from covid-19 currently are the unvaccinated.
Tumbling COVID-19 case counts have some schools around the U.S. considering relaxing their mask rules, but deaths nationally have been ticking up over the past few weeks, some rural hospitals are showing signs of strain, and cold weather is setting in.
The number of new cases nationally has been plummeting since the delta surge peaked in mid-September. The U.S. is averaging about 73,000 new cases per day, dramatically lower than the 173,000 recorded on Sept. 13. And the number of Americans in the hospital with COVID-19 has plummeted by about half to around 47,000 since early September.
In Florida, Miami-Dade County’s mask mandate could be loosened by the end of October if the encouraging numbers continue, and nearby Broward County will discuss relaxing its requirement on Tuesday. The superintendent in metro Atlanta said he will consider waiving mask requirements at individual schools.
A high school outside Boston became the first in Massachusetts to make masks optional after it hit a state vaccination threshold. With about 95% of eligible people at Hopkinton High inoculated, school leaders voted to allow vaccinated students and staff to go maskless for a three-week trial period starting Nov. 1.
Still, there are some troubling indicators, including the onset of cold weather, which sends people indoors, where the virus can more easily spread.
With required mask use reduced in much of the U.S., the University of Washington’s influential COVID-19 forecasting model is predicting increasing infections and hospitalizations in November.
Also, COVID-19 deaths per day have begun to creep back up again after a decline that started in late September. Deaths are running at about 1,700 per day, up from close to 1,500 two weeks ago.
The virus is still striking unvaccinated communities, many of them rural areas in states including North Dakota, Wyoming, Alaska and Minnesota. More than 67% of the nation’s eligible population is fully vaccinated, and the Biden administration is getting closer to enacting a workplace vaccine mandate for every business in the country with more than 100 employees.
In Alaska, which has ranked at or near the top in per-capita case rates over the last month, hospitals remain strained, but health care workers are not speaking out the way they had, said Jared Kosin, president and CEO of the Alaska State Hospital and Nursing Home Association. A recent debate over masks in Alaska’s largest city, Anchorage, grew heated, and hospital and public health officials last month reported hostilities toward health care workers related to COVID-19.
It’s not yet clear, he said, if the state has peaked in terms of cases in this latest surge.
“It’s not letting up and I think that’s the hardest part with this. It’s not like you can see hope on the horizon, you know we’re going to see a rapid decline and get through it. it just seems to come and go and when it comes it hits really hard.”
In sparsely populated Wyoming, which has one of the nation’s lowest vaccination rates, hospitals are coping with more patients than at any other point in the pandemic. The vast majority of hospitalized patients in Wyoming haven’t gotten the vaccine, the state’s vaccination rate is only about 43%. Only West Virginia ranks lower.
“It’s like a war zone,” public health officer Dr. Mark Dowell told a county health board about the situation at Wyoming Medical Center, the Casper Star Tribune reported. “The ICU is overrun.”
In smaller hospitals in North Dakota, many people are getting long-delayed treatments for other ailments, but combined with COVID patients, facilities are pushed to the limit, said Dan Olson, executive director of a network that includes many of those facilities.
“You can talk in the morning and they have beds and by afternoon they might be at capacity,” Olson said.
In rural Minnesota, a man waited two days for an intensive care bed and later died. Bob Cameron, 87, had gone to to his hometown hospital in Hallock with severe gastrointestinal bleeding and COVID-19. Officials searched for space in a larger center.
The bleeding exhausted the hospital’s blood supply, and state troopers drove 130 miles (209 kilometers) with new units, but his condition worsened after surgery and he died Oct. 13, t he Minneapolis Star Tribune reported.
“We can’t say for certain, of course, that if he got to an ICU bed sooner that he would have survived, but we just feel in our hearts that he would have,” said Cameron’s granddaughter, Janna Curry.
During a three-week stretch this month, rural hospitals in Minnesota were caring for more COVID-19 patients than those in the state’s major urban center, Minneapolis-St. Paul.
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Associated Press writers Carla Johnson in Washington state, Dave Kolpack in Fargo, North Dakota, and Becky Bohrer in Juneau, Alaska, contributed to this report.
Alaska on Monday reported five additional COVID-19 deaths, 229 hospitalizations and 1,686 more cases recorded over the weekend.
The state occupied the top spot in the country for the highest case rate Monday, with 550 cases per 100,000 people over the past week — over four times the national average of 124.7 cases, according to the Centers for Disease Control.
While there have been some slight ups and downs among case rates, hospitalizations and deaths, the state has so far continued on a level trajectory, state epidemiologist Dr. Joe McLaughlin said Monday.
“We’re not seeing at this point any clear downward trend in cases,” he said.
On Friday, there were 529 more cases identified, with another 800 positive test results coming in Saturday and 357 cases Sunday, state data showed Monday.
Nationally, cases rates are currently highest in large, rural states like Alaska, Montana, Idaho, Wyoming and North Dakota, McLaughlin said. They’re all seeing similar sustained, high case rates.
Over a fifth of Alaska’s hospitalized patients in Alaska were COVID-positive as of Monday, continuing a weeks-long stretch of elevated virus hospitalization numbers. High case counts and hospitalizations pushed 20 facilities statewide to activate crisis standards of care last month, though the situation varies widely from facility to facility and day to day.
[September was Alaska’s deadliest pandemic month. Here’s what that might tell us about the future of COVID-19 in the state.]
Hospitalizations hit a record high once again on Friday, further underscoring just how full the state’s hospitals are, said Jared Kosin, president and CEO of the Alaska State Hospital and Nursing Home Association.
While hospitalizations might dip a bit for a few days, they’ve continued to bounce back up, both in Anchorage and at hospitals on the Kenai Peninsula, in the Matanuska-Susitna Borough and in the Interior, Kosin said.
[What’s bringing people to Anchorage’s COVID-19 vaccine clinics: Work mandates, high case counts and good timing]
An influx of hundreds of state-contracted health workers from Outside has brought some relief to hospitals dealing with staffing shortages. But, Kosin said, capacity constraints continue to be the same with intensive care units in overflow and spillover status.
“Our hospitals are still getting hit really hard,” he said.
The five additional deaths reported Monday mean that so far, 678 Alaskans and 25 nonresidents have died with COVID-19 since the start of the pandemic in early 2020, state data showed.
The deaths involved a Kodiak man in his 50s, an Anchorage woman in her 50s, an Anchorage man in his 50s, a Wasilla man in his 40s and an Anchorage woman in her 70s.
Fairbanks Memorial Hospital on Monday also reported the death of a 53-year-old with COVID-19. It wasn’t immediately clear whether that death was reflected in state data.
Statewide, 9.21% of tests came back positive based on a seven-day rolling average.
ISLAMABAD: The number of active cases of Covid-19 has reduced by 75 per cent and admissions to hospitals have dropped four times in the country over the past two months.
However, as many as 698 persons were infected with Covid-19 and nine succumbed to the virus over the past 24 hours. The national positivity now stands at 1.65pc.
Data released by the National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC) showed that the number of active cases was 23,940 as of Oct 25. Just two months ago, the number of active patients was around 90,000.
According to the data, 1,591 patients of the virus were hospitalised across the country on Monday. In August, the number of Covid-19 patients was 6,000.
PM’s aide says Pakistan is close to eradicating polio
A total of 218 ventilators are now in use across the country. Similarly, the situation of oxygen beds has also improved.
In Pakistan, 1,269,234 cases of coronavirus have so far been reported out of which 1,216,908 patients have recovered and 28,386 died.
The country has so far conducted over 20 million tests of Covid-19.
Meanwhile, Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Health Dr Faisal Sultan has said Pakistan is very close to eradicating poliovirus.
“We have been doing efforts to eradicate the crippling disease since 1994, but now we should not waste this golden opportunity to become a polio-free country. Despite difficulties due to Covid-19, the virus has been controlled in Pakistan. It happened because of a number of successful polio drives launched across the country,” he said while chairing a meeting.
He assured the participants of the meeting that all possible resources would be used to eradicate poliovirus.
It is worth mentioning that during the current year only one case of polio has so far been reported in the country. This case was found in Balochistan. In 2020, 84 cases of polio were detected in the country and the figure in 2019 was 147.
Polio is a highly infectious disease caused by poliovirus mainly affecting children under the age of five. It invades the nervous system, and can cause paralysis or even death. While there is no cure for polio, vaccination is the most effective way to protect children from this crippling disease.
Each time a child under the age of five is vaccinated, his or her protection against the virus is increased. Repeated immunisations have protected millions of children from polio, allowing almost all countries in the world to become polio free.
There are only two countries in the world — Pakistan and Afghanistan — where polio cases are still reported.
Pakistan remains under a polio-linked travel restriction imposed by the World Health Organisation due to which, since 2014, every person travelling abroad has to carry a polio vaccination certificate.
Brazil’s President Jair Bolsonaro reacts during a ceremony to sanction the bill that create the Federal Regional Court, at the Planalto Palace in Brasilia, Brazil October 20, 2021. REUTERS/Ueslei Marcelino/File Photo
RIO DE JANEIRO, Oct 25 (Reuters) – Facebook (FB.O)and YouTube have removed from their platforms a video by Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro in which the far-right leader made a false claim that COVID-19 vaccines were linked with developing AIDS.
Both Facebook and Alphabet Inc’s (GOOGL.O) YouTube said the video, which was recorded on Thursday, violated their policies.
“Our policies don’t allow claims that COVID-19 vaccines kill or seriously harm people,” a Facebook spokesperson said in a statement on Monday.
YouTube confirmed that it had taken the same step later in the day.
“We removed a video from Jair Bolsonaro’s channel for violating our medical disinformation policy regarding COVID-19 for alleging that vaccines don’t reduce the risk of contracting the disease and that they cause other infectious diseases,” YouTube said in a statement.
According to the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV and AIDS (UNAIDS), COVID-19 vaccines approved by health regulators are safe for most people, including those living with HIV, the virus that causes acquired immunodeficiency syndrome, known as AIDS.
Bolsonaro’s office did not respond immediately to a request for comment outside normal hours.
In July, YouTube removed videos from Bolsonaro’s official channel in which he recommended using hydroxychloroquine and ivermectin against COVID-19, despite scientific proof that these drugs are not effective in treating the disease.
Since then, Bolsonaro has avoided naming both drugs on his live broadcasts, saying the videos could be removed and advocating “early treatment” in general for COVID-19.
Bolsonaro, who tested positive for the coronavirus in July last year, had credited his taking hydroxychloroquine, an anti-malarial drug, for his mild symptoms. While Bolsonaro himself last January said that he wouldn’t take any COVID-19 vaccine, he did vow to quickly inoculate all Brazilians. read more
In addition to removing the video, YouTube has suspended Bolsonaro for seven days, national newspapers O Estado de S. Paulo and O Globo reported, citing a source familiar with the matter.
YouTube did not respond to a separate Reuters request for comment regarding the suspension on Monday night.
Reporting by Pedro Fonseca in Rio de Janeiro; Additional reporting by Gram Slattery in Rio de Janeiro and Anthony Boadle in Brasilia; Writing by Gabriel Araujo; Editing by Leslie Adler
Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
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