Should I Be Concerned?

Should I be concerned?

That is a question several people have asked me in recent days who have gotten the Covid vaccine.

It is a question that more and more people are asking in light of new data showing that the vaccines may not be as effective as they were promoted to be.

I have highlighted some of this data in these pages previously here, here and here.

As I have also written in these pages, any medical intervention has benefits...and risks.

Every time a medical intervention (tests, immunizations, prescription drugs, surgery) is undertaken you are taking a risk. That risk is generally worthwhile because it will make you better in the long run. However, you could end up in worse shape because of the intervention.

To better understand this, consider the research that shows that in every instance in which doctors have gone on strike around the world, death rates have stayed the same or gone down when the doctors were out. There has never been a study that shows the death rate has gone up. Think about that. When the doctors are not involved the death rate actually drops?

This is attributed to the fact that elective or non- emergency surgeries do not get done when doctors are on strike and a surprising amount of mortality occurs following these procedures. Death rates actually rise when elective surgeries begin again.

That is why it is critical that anyone considering a medical intervention understand its benefits and risks. 

A major concern that I have had with the Covid vaccines from the beginning is that the CDC, the political class and the media have oversold the benefits of the vaccines while downplaying their risks.

At the same time, they have also done little to put the risks of Covid in context. This had the effect of magnifying the risk of Covid (particularly for younger demographics) which then magnified the benefit of the vaccine.

Accordingly, this has distorted the risk/benefit profile of the Covid vaccines.

Taking the vaccine is a smart decision if it reduces your chance of illness by 95% and reduces your chance of death to 0%.

Taking the vaccine may not be so smart if it does not significantly reduce your chance of illness and you may still die of Covid.

Should you be concerned if you took the vaccine?

I think there is actually a bigger concern for all of us.

I believe the biggest concern is whether you can trust the information you are getting from the CDC, the Biden administration and the political class about  Covid and the vaccines.

Have they given you trustworthy information in the past? Can you rely on it to make future decisions?

Are they actually trying to mislead us in order to manage the narrative they have created?

These are questions everyone should be asking.

That is where I believe our greatest concerns should be.

For example, I think most everyone remembers the recent statements from Dr. Fauci and others that over 99% of deaths from Covid are now from unvaccinated people.

This article was published barely a week ago.

Source: https://www.cnet.com/health/99-of-covid-deaths-are-now-of-unvaccinated-people-experts-say/

In early July, Dr. Anthony Fauci, the president's chief medical advisor, told CBS that 99.2% of COVID deaths are now of unvaccinated people.

I questioned this number in a recent post.

I don't know what the real truth is on the percentage of Covid deaths today that are related to those who are vaccinated.

However, I am certain it is not 1%. My suspicion is that this is a manipulated number based on data from early in the year. It does not represent current conditions as it is being portrayed to the public.

What is the real number?

I don't know.

 

Shortly after I wrote that, a confidential CDC slide presentation was leaked to The Washington Post and some other media outlets that contained the following slide.

It shows the number of hospitalized patients and in-hospital deaths among those who were fully vaccinated through May.

15.1% of Covid deaths in May were fully vaccinated. 

Source: https://humanevents.com/2021/07/30/breaking-leaked-cdc-slides-call-for-universal-masks-reinstating-mitigation-strategies-vaccine-mandates-for-hcp-to-stop-delta-variant/

That is a long way from 1%. That number is also from May before the current Covid surge began.

It makes you wonder what that number is now? 20%? 30% Higher?

It also makes you wonder why Fauci and others have not been honest about this number?

In the United States, 70% of all eligible individuals have now had at least one dose of the vaccines.

Logic would indicate that cases should fall if the vaccines were effective for their intended purpose of preventing Covid-19 with the vaccination rate that high. Prevention of being infected with Covid was the sole basis upon which the emergency use authorization was issued by the FDA.

However, new daily cases are actually about double what they were at this time last year when no one was vaccinated.

Source: https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/country/us/

The good news is that even though cases are up, deaths right now are only about half of what they were a year ago at this time.

Source: https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/country/us/

Is this proof that the vaccines may not be preventing infections but they are preventing deaths?

That may be the case.

It certainly is the new narrative.

"The vaccines may not prevent you from getting Covid but they will keep you from serious illness and death".

I hold hope that is the case. Data from the UK indicates that it may be. Deaths have declined in the older age groups in particular.

However, let's compare Israel and Palestine.

If the vaccine is effective in preventing death, Israel should be doing a lot better than Palestine since Israel has vaccinated a large majority of its population. Palestine has vaccinated very few. They live right next to each other.

Compare the results on deaths since July 1, 2021.

Israel is spiking up. Palestine has been very steady.

Cumulative Covid deaths per million between Israel and Palestine are also almost identical since the pandemic began.

When you consider all of the medical interventions that Israel has deployed since the pandemic began (testing, masking, therapeutics, vaccines, etc) compared to what Palestine has been able to do, is it not remarkable that it appears not to have made much difference in the most important metric of all?

Can anyone look at this data and say definitively that the vaccines are providing the benefits that have been promised?

Should we be concerned?

Take all of this into account and now add into the equation that various cities, employers and the U.S. military are now going to effectively mandate that everyone takes the vaccine.

Add to this the fact that Israel and the UK are already getting ready to administer "booster" shots on top of the jabs people have already gotten. Of course, there have been no clinical trials on the effects (or safety) of these booster shots. Those who receive them will actually be the trial participants in a new experiment.

As evidence accumulates that the vaccines may not be effective in their intended use as promised, we are being told that the answer is to vaccinate even more people.

Perhaps someone could make the argument that the heavy-handed tactics are warranted if the data was irrefutable that the vaccines were totally EFFECTIVE and SAFE. We are a long way from there based on the current data.

Where is data like the following that shows the impact of the polio vaccines when they were first introduced in trials in 1952 and were fully approved in 1960?

Even though we can look back on this record now with satisfaction, many don't remember that the polio vaccines were suspended in 1955 when it was discovered that some children got polio from their shots after a massive trial began in 1954.

It also took more than seven years to get full approval of the polio vaccine once it was first administered in trials.

How long have the Covid vaccines been studied?

Keep this in mind as we hear that the FDA might give full approval to the Covid vaccines next month.

Ask yourself as well whether that decision is being driven by science or politics?

It took over seven years for the polio vaccine to get full approval but the Covid vaccines might be fully approved in nine months?

Should you be concerned?

The problem with assessing the benefits or risks of any drug or vaccine is that the assessments are taking place with a lot of background "noise". It is inherently difficult to determine the true benefits and risks of these interventions in the context of the overall health landscape.

You might remember a drug named Vioxx that the FDA approved in 1999 that was touted by its drug maker, Merck, as a superior painkiller to older drugs because it caused fewer gastrointestinal problems.

Over the next five years, 20 million Americans took Vioxx as prescribed by their physician. It resulted in billions of dollars in sales for Merck.

Merck eventually withdrew the drug five years later as mounting evidence showed that it was causing cardiovascular issues in those who took it.

A research study published in The Lancet later determined that Vioxx had caused at least 88,000 heart attacks and 38,000 deaths.

Merck later paid almost $5 billion to end thousands of lawsuits for it liability with Vioxx. 

The lesson here is that it can often take years and years to understand what is really going on with a drug or vaccine.

That is a reason that the approval process normally takes years.

Even then, in cases like Vioxx, the risks are not readily apparent because there is so much background noise.

Of course, no one can be sued for anything to do with the Covid vaccines. Everyone is exempt from liability. All of the risks are on those who take it. 

Should you be concerned right now?

As to Covid and the vaccines, it still comes down to your individual assessment of the risk/benefit profile. No two people are going to have the same profile. The benefits of the vaccines will generally be larger the older you are. The risks will generally be greater the younger you are.

However, the biggest concern for everyone right now should be that you are being told that mass vaccinations are the only way forward.

That may be proven in time.

It has not been proven yet.

Why then is everyone acting like it has?

Why is anyone who raises any questions or who has an alternative view censored and silenced? 

Yes, you should be concerned.

We are in a place that I never thought we would see in the United States of America.