Dr Fauci seems a good choice to lead our COVID response: he has as much experience with infectious disease as anyone, having led the response to AIDS and been a director at the National Institute of Health (NIH) for a long while. Still, the results have been awful. The U.S. ranks 17th worldwide in COVID deaths (per capita), not what you would expect for our modern first-world technology. We have taken all manner of mitigating measures, but apparently not the right ones. Many insist our strategy saved lives; more would have been lost otherwise. I will attempt to definitively disprove this.
A critic said to me it has all been to the good; government officials are well intentioned. His argument echoes many heard for more than two years:
- Any government that has taken measures, like offer a free vaccination to it, is only acting responsibly towards the issue. If less was done and more people would have died, would you not have held it against your government?
- If the population does not reach a certain limit of vaccination, then there will be scores of people whose lives are threatened by this – even children.
- We do not yet even know how serious the long term repercussions of the disease may become. Viruses are rapidly mutating diseases, so their counter measures need to change fast too. Sometimes this may seem inconsistent to the public, but sadly much of the countering is a guessing game. Those are guesses made by virologists and other professionals, so it is not as bad as it sounds, but they do disagree at times and it is time that tells who was right.
- What we do know, from all the international and national organizations monitoring the situation all over the globe, is that the vaccines have worked. Not as definitely as we would have hoped for, but still they have saved lives and businesses.
- They have not caused any serious side effects, regardless of the fear people were spreading.
- Governments have adopted the same measures as all the others, at least after a while of stalling, which has cost lives.
- The disease is more easily transmitting through people who have not taken the shots, so in effect they are still causing danger to people who can not take the shots.
- I have run into this claim that the COVID-19 health measures were some sort of power grab. It appeared right when the discussion about health measures started. No such grab happened. All the measures were temporary, most have been lifted already, even though the pandemic is not at all over and there are still people dying. The unvaccinated being the most likely to die.
My Response
You make several non-controversial statements which I largely agree with. Vaccines have been readily available, certainly in the US. There is no concern with government advocating or absorbing the cost for vaccines.
Herd immunity was indeed the goal for all of 2021, but it has proven elusive. Cases and deaths rose and fell even as we steadily vaccinated. The US experienced significant increases in Summer 2021 (seven months into vaccination) and in Winter 2021 (a year into vaccinations). The US COVID case rate peaked at almost a million per day in January 2022. Why did the transmission rate spike four times in all since vaccinations began? An overwhelming majority of adults were vax’d by Summer 2021. It doesn’t count unless 95% are vax’d? Some countries reached that lofty goal, but had similar poor results. Vaccines never achieved the elusive herd immunity goal. Keep wishing for it if you like.
Furthermore, COVID deaths in the U.S. averaged 40,000 per month in 2020 (with no vaccine) and in 2021 (with a vaccine). Why didn’t the rate fall after more than a year of vaccinations? The death rate has fallen finally in 2022, but not due to vaccinations. The case rate remains stubbornly high still (90-110K the last two months).
I was very much pro-vaccine initially. My wife and I were vaccinated, but chose not vaccinate our teenage kids. A year later, I think we made the right choices. My wife and I may have benefited from the vaccines (who knows for sure? We still got COVID, in any case), but the kids didn’t need protection against something which was such a minute risk for them. The side effects (which every drug has), outweighed the virtually non-existent benefits.
I have repeatedly made the following point: vaccines are a good measure for some, but not necessarily for all. You, your doctor, your family, your friends should influence your choice. Your age, current health, risk factors, etc. should all be considered. The government should not intervene, yet they certainly have–and very obtrusively. I made a decision for me and my family. I provide data to help others make their own decisions. Why is Dr. Fauci allowed a veto?
The demagoguery surrounding the unvaccinated remained at a fevered pitch all of last year. The vaccines likely helped some, but were forced down the throats of those who did not want to be vaccinated, and perhaps should not have been. Japan urged citizens to vaccinate, but emphasized it is a personal choice and discouraged discrimination of the unvax’d. They got it right. The US did not. https://seek-the-truth.com/2021/12/30/all-roads-lead-to-the-vaccine-but-mother-nature-leads-us-out-instead/
Masks have been ineffective against COVID, and those eschewing mask were vilified. I have quoted many authorities questioning this policy. The garden variety mask used by most (including the ones they hand out at hospitals and doctor’s offices) allows the COVID virus, which is much smaller than the standard flu virus, to easily penetrate. These masks also have large openings on the sides which allows in unfiltered air with every breathe (the path of least resistance). Use a KN-95 at least. The CDC recommended against mask wearing after the Swine Flu epidemic in 2008. Dr. Fauci, the Surgeon General, and several public health officials recommend against masks in 2020, but then science was thrown out the window. https://seek-the-truth.com/2021/08/29/to-mask-or-not-to-mask-that-is-the-question/
Children were kept out of school for an entire year. The last two months of the 2020 school year were lost; schooling was remote and ineffective due to the suddenness of the change. The next school year, kids remained in remote learning until Spring. Some fared better at remote learning than others, but million of kids lost virtually an entire year of school; they were irreparably harmed by this decision. Healthy kids were not impacted by the disease–not at all. They were never proven to be a significant vector for the disease. At risk teachers could have remained remote while everyone else came to school.
Sports were also delayed or canceled. My son at one point was told to wear a mask while running cross-country. Our pediatrician recommended against this, but some health department official (who is unreachable for comment or complaint) told the school this was needed. Anyone with common sense could see this was unwise policy.
Sweden was one of the few control cases which did not require masks and did not keep kids home. If Sweden were a US state, their death rate would rank 45th out of 50. Schools continued unabated in Sweden–without masks. Media attacked Sweden mercilessly, but they did much better than the US (and many others) which kept kids out of school for a year. The overwhelming majority of countries took the same restrictive path as the US. Sweden demonstrated there was another, equally effective, perhaps even better, way. https://seek-the-truth.com/2021/12/03/curious-case-of-sweden-and-omnicron-too/.
Likewise, states which ended mandates first were called out by President Biden and the media; but often the results improved.
Empirical results repeatedly demonstrated mitigating measures, masks especially, had little or no impact on COVID itself. The policy did damage however. Not only were kids harmed, but our economy was placed into a coma for more than a year. Millions of jobs were lost, business shuttered forever, homes were lost, suicides rose. The list of extended shutdown impacts goes on and on. You can say they saved lives. I will counter they also cost lives. To make it worse, scores of politicians didn’t even follow their own rules.
A fair number of states lifted measures in 2021 and restrictions are virtually gone today. The US (and worldwide) death rate has actually fallen in 2022, without all the safety precautions. I am not against safety measures, mind you, but they should achieve results. Results eighteen months later are not quite good enough. Lowering the speed limit on the interstate to 25 mph would save lives, but would create worse problems. COVID safety measures saved a few lives while creating worse problems to boot. If they worked effectively, why did so many political leaders skirt them as well? What did they think of them, really?
What was gained from safety measures in 2020 and 2021? Fewer lives have been lost in 2022 with kids back in school, mask mandates lifted, and vaccine mandates overruled. If COVID were a sporting event, the booster club would have called for Dr. Fauci’s dismissal for such poor results.
Efficacy has been waning ever since vaccines were introduced. Dr. Robert Malone first sounded the alarm in summer 2021 saying that the vaccine duration was around six months. https://seek-the-truth.com/2021/08/03/covid-two-questions-answered-some-good-news-and-a-reason-for-pause/
Booster duration is even less than six months, the duration dropping with each successive shot . Malone, the doctor who actually invented the mRNA technology used in developing vaccines, was banned from Twitter for mentioning vaccine duration. Limited vaccine duration is now an established fact as my critic attests, but it was controversial a year ago. The US government discouraged any message which could have a negative impact on vaccination rates. Why? Denmark stopped recommending vaccinations earlier this year. Denmark is not saying vaccines are worthless, but they are saying the strategy does not make sense given the current environment and the many limitations. https://seek-the-truth.com/2022/04/28/masks-come-off-covid-deaths-plummet-denmark-stops-vaccinating/.
In 2021, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued a myocarditis warning for mRNA vaccines. The threat was greatest for teenage boys and young adult males. New, more alarming evidence has been released subsequently. Drs. Fauci and Walensky ignore this. Our government is now pushing vaccines on infants. I would not vaccinate an infant or preschooler if I had a child that age, nor would our pediatrician per his latest newsletter. Most parents won’t either despite government advocacy. We are glad our son was not vaccinated and did not run that unnecessary myocarditis risk. I don’t care if the risk is small. The threat from COVID was even less.
Our public health medical experts (Fauci, Walensky, Collins, Redfield, WHO doctors, and others) have DESTROYED their own credibility as well as the credibility of their institutions and science in general. This is a DISASTROUS consequence of our COVID policy. It will take a decade or more to recover the trust–if at all. They have lied to us repeatedly and abused their power, and for what? Their results stink. They followed the politics, not the science.
There has long been talk of autism as a vaccine side effect. I have been skeptical. Some say the COVID vaccine will kill you soon, we are being micro-chipped, or that vaccinations will led to negative long term consequences. I haven’t ascribed to any such theories. I need proof. The discussion alone leads to vaccine hesitancy, but the bigger problem is the lack of credibility from medical professionals. How do we trust Dr. Fauci and colleagues given all the lies and distorting of facts? They have cried wolf too often. Dr. Fauci admitted he lied about masks because he was attempting to achieve a certain result. If you still trust these folks, good for you. I wish I could as well.
I will also note many prior vaccines had problems. The initial polio vaccine was withdrawn and not re-introduced until eight years later. The Swine Flu vaccine was curtailed in 2008. Thalidomide was something that most probably don’t remember either; it led to the creation of the FDA. Meanwhile, our current government takes a strident pro-vaccination, vaccinate everyone, stance. They downplay the side effects for COVID vaccines, although it seems clear now there are numerous side effects and that this vaccine may have more problems than normal. It is a small rate of side effects, but other medications have been shut down for less significant impacts.
Are there good reasons for COVID vaccine hesitancy? The CDC’s VAERS database raises some red flags. The docu-dump from Pfizer (which was originally to be withheld for 75 years) raises red flags also. The dissembling of government medical officials raises even more red flags. Every medicine has side effects; this one is no exception. The discussion needs to be out in the open, but the debate is suppressed. This is the problem. Steve-Deace-Interview-Pfizer-Docu-Dump (forward to minute 29 for an interview with Del Bigtree).
The government is not a disinterested and fair arbiter unfortunately. Clearly, vaccine efficacy was greatly oversold. Was it by mistake? The New England Journal of Medicine just released a study showing vaccines are ineffective against the latest Omicron variants. My critic still believes the vaccines are effective (as many did initially), but the situation has changed and results have come in; yet the government stays the course. Empirical trials have shown vaccines can actually lead to worse results. There is a well known problem called ADE, Antibody Dependency Enhancement that might even explain such results.
https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMc2206576
These data show that the BA.2.12.1, BA.4, and BA.5 subvariants substantially escape neutralizing antibodies induced by both vaccination and infection.
The COVID virus mutates quite often. We now have tens of thousands of variants. Many doctors note “vaccinating into the pandemic”, creates even more variants, variants which eventually escape the vaccine. The New England Journal of Medicine says the current vaccines have outlived their usefulness. Scientists in Denmark, at least, agree and have influenced their government’s policy. Even I could see this coming. A vaccine developed for a strain that has mutated so far beyond the original is not going to remain effective. Still, our government continues to advocate for vaccinating more and more. They don’t adapt.
Government officials don’t want a debate on safety either. They have ALL the answers apparently. Social media censors doctors offering a different opinion, censor EXTENSIVELY. Their claims do not remotely resemble hate speech; they are medical professionals offering valid medical opinions. The medical experts at Twitter, Facebook, and the Congress think they know better. This is the PROBLEM.
Our government has locked into one policy–all roads lead to the vaccine. Furthermore, the CDC has actually discouraged treatment of COVID. They recommended no protocols. Patients were actually told to go home and wait for the symptoms to get worse. I know several who experienced this. Return to the hospital if you can’t breathe in a few days. This is an actual policy. Unacceptable.
At the same time, many doctors, especially front-line clinicians, advocated for Ivermectin, monoclonal antibodies, HCQ, and other drugs to treat COVID. Medical professionals have been barred from prescribing such treatments. I was prescribed Ivermectin and I had to travel forty miles to a mom and pop pharmacy to have it filled. Why? It is a safe drug. It is on the WHO list of essential medicines. Why would a pharmacy not fulfill a physicians’ order? Even if not effective against COVID, why not give it a try? It is better than doing nothing as the CDC recommended. In addition, numerous medical professionals believe it helps. Again, I have seen remarkable results myself.
So much of what has happened the last two years of COVID has broken the mold. Something is wrong. The problem is not that the vaccines are bad and government is wrong for encouraging vaccinations. The problem is that government has fouled up the policy and created numerous unintended bad consequences. The government is covering up its mistakes and infringing upon civil liberties, liberties that will be hard to get back if ever lost completely. I work for the government myself and I know how poorly we manage policy and how short-sighted we have become.
Final Arguments
My friend countered with a final response:
- I think as many as possible should get the shots. As many boosters as possible, because that is how vaccines work.
- They create the herd immunity for all, including people who can not have the shots, to be safe, but only if most people take them (about 95%).
- Sweden may have faired better than the USA, but they made some very poor choices early on and did not move to close their society as fast as the other Nordic countries and they paid a heavy price in lives lost. Later the Swedes adjusted their policy to more identical fashion with the rest of us and results have been better.
- I still do not see any actual power grab by your government in any of this.
Yes, let’s get boosters forever. I don’t see any risks there.
Herd immunity has not been achieved with vaccines. Whatever immunity we have is thanks to Omicron.
Sweden initially had a high death rate, but they didn’t change policy. They stayed the course. Schools never closed. I have no idea what policy he says they adjusted. Australia followed an opposite policy: very strict lockdowns until Omicron devastated them. Australia had 1,000 deaths in the first 18 months and 9,000 in the last ten months. The super-strict, liberty denying policy worked until it encountered a variant that was so transmissible. They have a pandemic now while the rest of the world does not.
I can show you the power grab, but I can’t make you understand. Look again at Australia and New Zealand to see how scary it can get. Who gains from these policies or who is hurt?
Numbers
I will post more on the numbers later, but note that May and June 2022 saw the lowest COVID death totals in the US since COVID struck, both months just under 10,000. Worldwide COVID deaths have fallen considerably the last few months. COVID is indeed a serious threat that remains with us. The COVID case count is still high, around 100,000 per day. COVID spiked during early summer the last two years, so we need to monitor the coming weeks to determine if it is spikes again and if a more virulent strain will come.
For more on my COVID posts: https://seek-the-truth.com/category/covid/
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