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File photo of the AstraZeneca vaccine Frank Augstein/AP/Press Association Images

South Africa suspends AstraZeneca vaccinations amid concern over efficacy

Researchers are working to update the vaccine to deal with the South African variant.

SOUTH AFRICA HAS suspended the start of its AstraZeneca inoculation programme over concerns the shot does not work on the SA variant, with WHO experts due to meet today to discuss the vaccine already facing questions about its efficacy for over-65s.

A study published today found that the Oxford-AstraZeneca jab was not effective at preventing mild illness caused by the more infectious South African mutation.

A trial showed the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine provides only “minimal” protection against mild to moderate Covid-19 caused by the variant first detected in South Africa, a setback to the global fight against the pandemic as many poorer nations are relying on the logistical advantages offered by the AstraZeneca shot.

The findings could mean that British citizens will need a third vaccine dose this year.

WHO are experts due to meet today to discuss the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine which has faced some questions about evidence of its efficacy for people aged over-65s.

However, virologist Müge Çevik said this was “a small study” and “cannot answer the efficacy question with confidence, and protection against severe illness is currently unknown but probable”.

Africa’s hardest-hit nation was due to start its vaccination campaign in the coming days with a million AstraZeneca doses but the government decided to hold off in light of the results from the trial conducted by the University of Witwatersrand in Johannesburg.

“It’s a temporary issue that we have to hold on AstraZeneca until we figure out these issues,” Health Minister Zweli Mkhize told reporters yesterday.

The 1.5 million AstraZeneca vaccines obtained by South Africa, which will expire in April, will be kept until scientists give clear indications on their use, he added.

AstraZeneca, which developed the shot with the University of Oxford, told AFP: “We do believe our vaccine will still protect against severe disease.”

A company spokesperson said researchers are already working to update the vaccine to deal with the South African variant, which has been spreading rapidly around the world.

Pfizer vaccine effective against variant

2.56899314 PA Graphics PA Graphics

The news comes as a small study suggests that the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine is effective against the same variant.

In a small study of 20 vaccine recipients, researchers at the University of Texas Medical Branch (UTMB) at Galveston, America, found that the Pfizer vaccine neutralises the virus with the N501Y and E484K mutations.

In the UTMB study published today, after testing the sera samples – obtained from blood – authors found evidence that the mutant viruses were neutralised – destroyed by the sera panel.

However, there was variation as neutralisation against the E484K mutation was slightly lower than neutralisation against the N501Y mutation, according to the study published in Nature Medicine.

New strains of the virus that appeared in the UK and South Africa share the same N501Y mutation. A separate South African strain has an E484K mutation, but a number of cases have also been detected in the UK causing concern.

 

Worth Health Org meeting

A World Health Organization panel is due to meet today in Geneva to examine the shot, which is a major component of the initial Covax global vaccine rollout that covers some 145 countries – mostly lower income and lower-middle income economies.

Out of the initial 337.2 million Covax doses, 240 million are AstraZeneca shots, which do not require the super-cold storage needed for the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines.

There were already concerns about the efficacy of the AstraZeneca shot among over-65s, with a number of European nations not authorising it yet for that demographic.

In Ireland, it is expected that people aged 70 and over will have received their first dose of a Covid-19 vaccine by mid-April.

The original plan had been for all people in this age cohort to receive their first dose by the end of March.

However, given supply issues and the government’s decision that over 70s would not receive the newly-approved AstraZeneca vaccine and instead be given the Pfizer-BioNTech or Moderna vaccines, this looks set to delay that process by a few weeks.

‘Be careful’

The coronavirus pandemic has claimed more than 2.3 million lives globally out of nearly 106 million known infections, and despite the AstraZeneca setback, vaccine rollouts in other countries are gathering pace.

Hungarian authorities yesterday said they have approved Russia’s Sputnik V shot, while Cambodia became the latest nation to receive delivery of the Chinese Sinopharm vaccine, taking on 600,000 doses of the jab.

Efforts are under way in the United States, the hardest-hit nation, to accelerate its mass vaccination programme, which has been plagued by supply and logistics issues.

US President Joe Biden, who took office last month, said his predecessor Donald Trump’s handling of the pandemic “was even more dire than we thought”.

“We thought they had indicated there was a lot more vaccine available, and it didn’t turn out to be the case,” he told CBS News yesterday. “So that’s why we’ve ramped up every way we can.”

Biden also asked American football fans to “be careful”, with health experts worried about the virus spreading at parties expected during and after the Super Bowl, the country’s biggest sporting event.

“I was bored at home.”

Schools were also expected to reopen on Monday in Romania, the Netherlands, Denmark and Austria. Museums and shops were also due to reopen in Austria.

And there was both gloom and optimism in Venice, where the annual Carnival kicked off with much smaller celebrations.

“Venice is strange this year. It is shocking to see it so empty,” said Armando Bala, a costume salesman.

“We are here today to say that Venice can live and be reborn, as it has several times in its history.”

© AFP 2021 with reporting by Órla Ryan

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    Mute Me-llamo Noel
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    Jun 1st 2023, 9:09 PM

    @Steve Creaton: You should be ashamed of yourself to make such a comment.

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    Mute Brian Boru
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    Jun 1st 2023, 9:13 PM

    Let’s be honest, he will be too old for a second term, especially in the final year or two. The Democrats have a problem on their hands.

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    Mute Paul Furey
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    Jun 1st 2023, 9:08 PM

    @Steve Creaton: why?

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    Mute Rafa Condron
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    Jun 1st 2023, 9:09 PM

    Happens me all the time. I’m half his age.

    Never forget putting on the swagger walk when I was younger, group of young ones coming towards me, tripped on a crack in the pavement and faceplanted. They laughed. I laughed.

    I was a lovely shade of red.

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    Mute An Drew Bearla
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    Jun 1st 2023, 11:06 PM

    @Rafa Condron: if this is commonplace for you, fair enough. How many times does he have to stumble and mumble before people admit he is not fit for office.

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    Mute Rafa Condron
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    Jun 2nd 2023, 4:58 AM

    @An Drew Bearla: what an inane comment. Bore off

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    Mute Colm Kane
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    Jun 2nd 2023, 9:56 AM

    @An Drew Bearla: Did you not see the sandbag that was on the stage that he tripped over…. It can happen to anyone!

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    Mute Mark O Brien
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    Jun 2nd 2023, 11:02 AM

    @An Drew Bearla: The same people who think Biden isn’t fit for office for these reasons will swear blind that trump is fit for office, and he has done much of the same type of stuff.

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    Mute An Drew Bearla
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    Jun 2nd 2023, 1:45 PM

    @Mark O Brien: I know this is difficult to comprehend, but just because you criticise Biden, it does not mean you support Trump. Treating politics the same as your favourite football team leads to this type of blinkered vision, resulting in terrible politics and government.

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    Mute Daithi
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    Jun 1st 2023, 9:31 PM

    He was rather slow getting back up – one could say he was Biden his time.

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    Mute Joanne Stokes
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    Jun 1st 2023, 10:44 PM

    @Daithi: hahaha…

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    Mute Aindriú de Domhain
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    Jun 1st 2023, 9:13 PM

    @Steve Creaton: You should be in a care home

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    Mute McMahon G
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    Jun 1st 2023, 9:43 PM

    RFK Jr. for President.

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    Mute Tony Murphy
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    Jun 1st 2023, 9:57 PM

    @McMahon G: YES!!

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    Mute John A.
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    Jun 1st 2023, 9:28 PM

    @Hannah Hannah: You should all be ashamed of yourselves for trying to make eachother feel ashamed!

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    Mute Tony Murphy
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    Jun 1st 2023, 9:55 PM

    @McMahon G: Yes, showering with his teenage daughter puts him in that category. She attributes her subsequent problems to this experience.

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    Mute Real Chief Police Trump MAGA 2024
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    Jun 1st 2023, 9:56 PM

    Hope the clone makes a full recovery

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    Mute Denis Ryan
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    Jun 1st 2023, 10:23 PM

    @Real Chief Police Trump MAGA 2024: I thought you said he was a actor with a 3/4 scale white house on a sound stage.

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    Mute Real Chief Police Trump MAGA 2024
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    Jun 1st 2023, 10:30 PM

    @Denis Ryan: I got intel from a reliable source that for 80′s actor Arthur roberts was removed as a body double as he wasn’t playing to the ‘script’.

    when roberts (playing Biden) met boris johnson last summer he asked johnson did he ever see any of his martial arts movies in the 80′s. Johnson became suspicious and democrats decided to use a clone to lay Biden. No one knows what became of roberts. Clearly this clone is malfuntioning. the technology is still at the early stages…

    https://flipboard.com/article/biden-body-double-blows-cover-during-meet-with-boris-johnson-real-raw-news/f-bf1486acd5%2Frealrawnews.com

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    Mute Andy O'B
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    Jun 1st 2023, 10:57 PM

    @Real Chief Police Trump MAGA 2024: the crazy thing about the internet is now I do not know if you are being serious or not…if you aren’t, it’s a funny joke. If you are being serious, you need help. Seriously!

    48
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    Mute Real Chief Police Trump MAGA 2024
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    Jun 1st 2023, 11:10 PM

    @Andy O’B: I’m only offering you the red pill to learn potentially unsettling or life-changing truths – or the blue pill of you wish to continue living in the matrix. you will never see who deep the rabbit hole goes sniffling around on the surface
    https://www.buymeacoffee.com/truther

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    Mute Denis Ryan
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    Jun 1st 2023, 11:21 PM

    @Andy O’B: Seriously Andy, would you not take the red pill ;)
    So to recap red pill good, blue pill bad. Its weird most of the pills I took back in the day were white or slightly speckled. Had a pink panther once in Amsterdam but that’s a story for another day.

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    Mute Daithi Mac An TSionnaigh
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    Jun 1st 2023, 9:40 PM

    @Steve Creaton: you should be in a care home

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    Mute Martin Lynch
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    Jun 1st 2023, 9:38 PM

    @Steve Creaton: Disgusting comment!

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    Mute Sean Partidge
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    Jun 1st 2023, 11:03 PM

    @Hannah Hannah: oh look Anna Anna is back.

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    Mute john murray
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    Jun 1st 2023, 10:23 PM

    Not as horrific as that time Enda Kenny tripped over a plantpot and accused Ursula Halligan of assault.

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    Mute Barry Donnelly
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    Jun 1st 2023, 9:58 PM

    Yeah but Trump

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    Mute GERARD KENNELLY
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    Jun 2nd 2023, 8:41 AM

    @Willie Marty:

    Compilation Joe Biden CSPAN

    RAW VIDEO & AUDIO January 6, 2015

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    Mute R
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    Jun 1st 2023, 9:56 PM

    @Steve Creaton: I hope when you’re his age we say the same about you.

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    Mute Michael Holland
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    Jun 2nd 2023, 12:21 AM

    If this happened Trump, there’d be another witch hunt..

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    Mute GERARD KENNELLY
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    Jun 2nd 2023, 8:43 AM

    @Michael Holland:

    i saw a Trump interview recently and he said Biden isn’t physically fit to be POTUS

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    Mute R
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    Jun 1st 2023, 9:58 PM

    @Hannah Hannah: You should be ashamed of yourself for believing in that conspiracy theory bulls**t

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    Mute Johnny Kelly
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    Jun 2nd 2023, 2:02 AM

    @Steve Creaton: He is 80!
    It can happen.
    More care needs to be taken where he has to climb on and off stages

    31
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    Mute Rafa Condron
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    Jun 1st 2023, 9:29 PM

    @John A.: SHAME!

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    Mute Lydia McLoughlin
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    Jun 1st 2023, 9:56 PM

    @Steve Creaton: I’d say he’s being very well cared for at home at the moment!

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    Mute Ham Hat
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    Jun 1st 2023, 10:35 PM

    He loves the Apartheid Occupation of the Middle East more than his homeless people. Such a ziosless

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    Mute GERARD KENNELLY
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    Jun 2nd 2023, 8:42 AM

    @Ham Hat:

    Joe Biden was committee chairman the week W Bush and Blair lied about WMD

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    Mute John Moore
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    Jun 2nd 2023, 12:13 AM

    He styled it out well. Nobody noticed.

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    Mute Vladimir Poitín
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    Jun 2nd 2023, 12:55 AM

    @John Moore: lol.

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    Mute Paul Furey
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    Jun 2nd 2023, 12:17 AM

    @Hannah Hannah: oh good grief!!! While your cult hero’s delays and ridiculous advice killed 1000s.

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    Mute Jason Walsh
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    Jun 1st 2023, 9:41 PM

    He definitely ordered a nuclear strike on that sand bag. “I’m said nuke it, I’m the president god darn it”

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    Mute Robert Halvey
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    Jun 2nd 2023, 7:19 AM

    Who among us ,of any age ,has not stumbled and in fact fell down .

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    Mute Anthony Ross
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    Jun 1st 2023, 9:46 PM

    I would say who put the bag there maybe a trumpet

    20
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    Mute Numinous20111
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    Jun 1st 2023, 11:11 PM

    @Anthony Ross: Whoever left any obstacle on a podium being used by a President (no matter what the president’s age or which president) should get a serious chewing out. That is beyond stupid carelessness.

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    Mute Daniel Carry
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    Jun 2nd 2023, 2:10 AM

    So what. Gerald Ford did it all the time. Bush Sr puked into the lap of the Japanese Prime Minister FFS.

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    Mute Jimmy Fitzpatrick
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    Jun 2nd 2023, 5:56 AM

    I was at a confirmation yesterday and I seen 3 people slip, won’t tell what gender they were!

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    Mute GERARD KENNELLY
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    Jun 2nd 2023, 8:46 AM

    @Jimmy Fitzpatrick:

    my uncle was working in Galway years ago and he was climbing up a ladder

    he was wearing white sneakers

    a man said “Isn’t it a fright to god to see a grown man still wearing his communion shoes”

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    Mute Dave Grant
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    Jun 2nd 2023, 7:46 AM

    Russia.

    9
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    Mute Anna Carr
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    Jun 2nd 2023, 8:16 AM

    I would trip over my own shadow and I’m not yet Joe’s age, but he certainly does seem to have some senior deterioration issues, mentally. But then, the USA presidency does seem to be a puppet title… Unless you’re Donald Trump.

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    Mute Edd
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    Jun 2nd 2023, 11:29 AM

    Who the US President is does not matter as they are not decision makers but they just rubber stamp the decisions of others.

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    Mute Fearg
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    Jun 2nd 2023, 9:50 AM

    American ‘elections’ are just their version of EuroVision. It’s shameful how poor the performers are. Surely there is more talent available for the corporate controllers to employ.

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    Mute GERARD KENNELLY
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    Jun 2nd 2023, 8:34 AM

    @Steve Creaton:

    Compilation Joe Biden

    CSPAN

    RAW VIDEO & AUDIO

    January 6, 2015

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    Mute Patrick D Keane
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    Jun 2nd 2023, 2:48 PM

    No need for a lone gunman when Biden is around

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