USA: famous anti-vaccine radio host died of COVID-19

Phil Valentine, a popular radio host in Nashville (southern United States) of conservative ideas and reluctant to be vaccinated against covid-19, died aged 61 from this disease, as the station reports.

“It is with sadness that we announce the death of our host and friend Phil Valentine. Please keep your family in your thoughts and prayers.Super Talk 99.7 said in a message to his audience via Twitter.

According to digital media tennessean.com, Valentine announced on social media on July 11 that he had covid-19, but was hopeful.

A few days later, family members said he was very ill in a hospital and wanted his listeners to get vaccinated.

Mark Valentine, brother of the deceased, said if Phil could speak he would tell his audience to get the shot and stop worrying about politics and “conspiracy theories.”

In early August, it was learned that Dick Farrel, a former radio host and presenter of right-wing newsmax TV, had died of covid-19. He was a “fierce opponent” of vaccines against the coronavirus, which he once called “bogus”, according to WPTV.

A friend of Farrel’s revealed he received a text from him stating that the coronavirus was not a “joke” and that he would have liked to have been vaccinated, according to the same outlet.

They ask Americans to get vaccinated

United States President Joe Biden on Wednesday ordered his government to deny disbursement of funds from two public programs to nursing homes that do not require their staff to be vaccinated against covid-19.

The measure, announced by the White House in a press release, assumes the first time you threaten to withhold federal funds to vaccinate more people.

Specifically, the president has asked the US Department of Health to draft a new rule that says immunization of all its employees will be a condition for nursing homes to receive funding from the subsidized Medicare and Medicaid health insurance programs.

It will affect more than 15,000 nursing homes with about 1.3 million employees and about 1.6 million people in need of care, the White House said.

About 40% of the employees of these residences are not vaccinated, according to official data cited by the CNN channel.

The new rule could go into effect next month, but the Biden administration will work with residences, their staff and unions to speed up the vaccination of those workers before the rule goes into effect, CNN said.

“With the expansion of the delta variant and the threat of a boom in covid cases, it is especially important to ensure that those caring for the most vulnerable are vaccinated,” said a team member. response to the White House pandemic. , Carole Johnson.

The delta variant already accounts for 99% of covid-19 cases in the United States, and data shows that in residences with lower employee vaccination rates, infections among the elderly they serve are increasing, assured the White House.

In addition, Biden will ask US Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona on Wednesday to “use all available tools” to ensure that state governors and other leaders do not interfere with the safe return to classrooms of students, he told the White House, without giving more details.

In late July, Biden further announced that That would force his government’s 4 million workers to prove they are vaccinated if they don’t want to be regularly tested for COVID-19, and many private companies across the country have followed suit.

The Pentagon has also assured that it will order all its active soldiers to be vaccinated against covid-19 from September.

50.9% of the US population has received the full schedule of covid-19 vaccines, a percentage that rises to 59.5% if only those over 12 are considered, the only ones allowed to receive this vaccination by the country’s health authorities.

(with information from the EFE)

KEEP READING: