2089 replies to this topic

[Hip]

Ask the gay community what they think of fauci's many year quest to find a vaccine, rather than find Therapeutics to treat the HIV infection. Luckily for them, other voices finally prevailed and HIV is now not a death sentence. They believe Fauci is a murderer.

 

Why would anyone become a public servant these days, when every decision you make, someone condemns you for it? If you turn left, someone condemns you. If you turn right, then someone condemn you. If you keep going in the same direction, then someone condemns you.

 

It's not possible for public officials to take ANY path now without someone condemning them. 

 

 

In the UK, half the nation are angry at the government for not starting lockdowns earlier, and running lockdowns for longer, which they say could have saved tens of thousands of lives of loved ones. And the other half of the country are angry because lockdowns restricted their lives and movements, and so did not want any lockdowns.

 

We are living in an era where the public has become more and more angry, in ways that are often contradictory and illogical. We need to educate the general public into becoming better people.

Edited by Hip, 18 August 2023 - 01:27 AM.

[joesixpack]

Why would anyone become a public servant these days, when every decision you make, someone condemns you for it? If you turn left, someone condemns you. If you turn right, then someone condemn you. If you keep going in the same direction, then someone condemns you.

 

It's not possible for public officials to take ANY path now without someone condemning them. 

 

 

In the UK, half the nation are angry at the government for not starting lockdowns earlier, and running lockdowns for longer, which they say could have saved tens of thousands of lives of loved ones. And the other half of the country are angry because lockdowns restricted their lives and movements, and so did not want any lockdowns.

 

We are living in an era where the public has become more and more angry, in ways that are often contradictory and illogical. We need to educate the general public into becoming better people.

You seem to have missed the point.

[Hip]

You seem to have missed the point.

 

What point are you trying to make?

 

 

I don't know much about this story, but I imagine that Dr Fauci bet on what he thought would be the most expedient route to getting the AIDS epidemic under control, believing that developing a vaccine would be the optimum solution (which it would if a vaccine could be created). As it transpired, an HIV vaccine turned out to be too technically challenging, and so was not achieved. But these technical difficulties would not have been known in advance.

 

Generally speaking, it is a lot easier to create a vaccine than it is to produce effective antivirals. For example, nobody has developed any antivirals for COVID which rival the amazing death preventing abilities of the COVID vaccines. So the decision to go down the HIV vaccine route probably was a very sensible one at the time. 

 

Unfortunately it did not work out. And with the benefit of hindsight, we see that antivirals for HIV work better. But we have to judge people on the information they had to hand at the time of making the decision, not judge people in retrospect, and with the benefit of hindsight. 

 

Had this HIV vaccine strategy succeeded, Dr Fauci would have been considered a saviour, for eliminating HIV entirely. 

Edited by Hip, 18 August 2023 - 01:55 AM.

[Dorian Grey]

What point are you trying to make?

 

 

I don't know much about this story, but I imagine that Dr Fauci bet on what he thought would be the most expedient route to getting the AIDS epidemic under control, believing that developing a vaccine would be the optimum solution (which it would if a vaccine could be created). As it transpired, an HIV vaccine turned out to be too technically challenging, and so was not achieved. But these technical difficulties would not have been known in advance.

 

Generally speaking, it is a lot easier to create a vaccine than it is to produce effective antivirals. For example, nobody has developed any antivirals for COVID which rival the amazing death preventing abilities of the COVID vaccines. So the decision to go down the HIV vaccine route probably was a very sensible one at the time. 

 

Unfortunately it did not work out. And with the benefit of hindsight, we see that antivirals for HIV work better. But we have to judge people on the information they had to hand at the time of making the decision, not judge people in retrospect, and with the benefit of hindsight. 

 

Had this HIV vaccine strategy succeeded, Dr Fauci would have been considered a saviour, for eliminating HIV entirely. 

 

Here's a good write-up of Fauci's Follies with HIV

 

https://www.huffpost...story_b_4762295

 

Whitewashing AIDS History

 

Frontline doctors actually treating AIDS patients in the field said a cheap generic (Bactrim) was saving lives, & begged Fauci to endorse its use, but Fauci was thinking only of his precious AZT, which at the time was the most expensive drug in the history of medicine.  

 

Thousands died a horrible death, while the frontline docs spread the word themselves.  

 

Hey!  This issue sounds rather familiar!  Didn't Fauci just run through a similar scenario with COVID, HCQ, remdesivir, & frontline doctors?  

[Hip]

but Fauci was thinking only of his precious AZT

 

Your account seems to contradict joesixpack's above post, where he claimed that Dr Fauci was not perusing antivirals, but HIV vaccines.

 

 

As for the idea of using antibiotics to save AIDS patients, I cannot see how that would help one iota. With the immune system in terminal decline, antibiotics are not going to be able to hold back the tide. The fact is, without an immune system, you are going die.

[Dorian Grey]

I'm sure the Fauch was pursuing a billion dollar baby, whether it be antiviral or vaccine. Anything other than a cheap generic therapy!  

 

The frontline doctors were buying time, as that's what they do.  You've got stage 4 cancer with metastasis to your liver, lungs, & brain?  No problem!  Just because you're going to die, doesn't mean we're not going to TRY to buy you some time.  Do you want aggressive treatment?  Or palliative life extending care?  

 

Bactrim prophylaxis was keeping AIDS patients out of PCP pneumonia, and for as long as it was, the patients were thanking God, and their frontline doctors.  Fauci was thinking much like you, coldly observing:  These guys are toast...  Why bother treating them at all!  

[Hip]

The frontline doctors were buying time, as that's what they do. 

 

When you have terminal AIDS, you may feel pretty bad mentally in the final months, with psychiatric symptoms such depression and anxiety. You are incredibly feeble both physically and mentally. Prolonging that sort of suffering is not the right thing to do. 

[Dorian Grey]

When you have terminal AIDS, you may feel pretty bad mentally in the final months, with psychiatric symptoms such depression and anxiety. You are incredibly feeble both physically and mentally. Prolonging that sort of suffering is not the right thing to do. 

 

I'm guessing you've never worked in healthcare, and seen the frightened eyes of a patient imploring you to "do what you can" from just a foot or two away.  I have!  35 years in the operating room; one of the scariest places you'll ever see.  I used to lock eyes with a patient, and tell them "we're going to do our very best for you today".  The relief & gratitude on their faces said it all, but most thanked us profusely too.  

 

You simply don't tell a wretched soul...  Even a dying one, to just go away and stop wasting your time.  I'm not a great believer in the magic sky dude that will judge us all some day, but I like to think I'm a bit more human than a cold blooded animal.  I understand, of course others have different opinions and philosophies.  

[joesixpack]

I'm guessing you've never worked in healthcare, and seen the frightened eyes of a patient imploring you to "do what you can" from just a foot or two away.  I have!  35 years in the operating room; one of the scariest places you'll ever see.  I used to lock eyes with a patient, and tell them "we're going to do our very best for you today".  The relief & gratitude on their faces said it all, but most thanked us profusely too.  

 

You simply don't tell a wretched soul...  Even a dying one, to just go away and stop wasting your time.  I'm not a great believer in the magic sky dude that will judge us all some day, but I like to think I'm a bit more human than a cold blooded animal.  I understand, of course others have different opinions and philosophies.  

 

The point, Hip, is that Fauci delayed therapeutics, except for his crap (that did not work), and pounded on for a vaccine that was never successful against HIV. Eventually sound minds took over and wow, we have therapeutics that can tame HIV.

 

Decades later, we have the same guy trashing all therapeutics, except the ones he has a an interest in (and that don't work) and pounding ahead for a vaccine that does not work, may cause incredible harm, and he wants you to take every 2 months. Pfizer now prices at $180.00, or something like that.

 

Get it? Do you see a pattern here?

 

Again, go check with the Gay community and see what they think. This is not my concoction. And feel free to take as many vaccines as you want.

[Mind]

One major problem going forward is that there is hardly any new testing or safety data for new COVID injection boosters. There is even talk of combining various vaccines with the COVID injections - with zero long term safety data. It is unreal to see so many people lining up to take a new therapeutic with no RCT trials - and which also comes with a laundry list of severe side effects.

 

Unlike the incompetent bureaucrats at the FDA - who just rubber stamp every new COVID injection - responsible people are actually looking into the (rushed and sloppy) trial data - and finding all kinds of fraudulent and unethical record-keeping.

[adamh]

I'm going to take a stab at analyzing why people argue so much over the covid shot and why many websites and news sites ban any talk that the shot is bad. This is one of the very few sites where rational discussion on the topic is allowed yet we see attacks against any and all evidence. The doctors who say x must be wrong because there are other doctors who say y. The arguments tend to get emotional.

 

The ones arguing for the shot have taken it, those who are against it, by and large, have not taken the shot. Those who took it, do not want to be told they did a big stupid thing and they may pay a price for that mistake. They reject that from the core of their being. A few say ok if thats true I better look into strategies to mitigate the damage but most reject it and argue against the fact that its bad

 

A few rare individuals may get to the point they feel that if anyone mentions the bad side effects, its an attack on them personally. They feel that if they can win the argument that verifies their decision and protects them from harm. This is a kind of magical thinking that many people do. We don't do it on the rational level, its an emotional response. If you brought up the subject to them in person they may attack you physically. 

 

This of course makes it not just difficult to discuss the subject rationally, its almost impossible due to a lot of censorship. Its understandable that people don't want to be told they made a mistake but they need to be stopped from making the same mistake over and over. One good thing is that even if they don't believe it, having discussed it may convince people to at least stop taking "boosters". Not even those who argue in favor of the shot seem to say they plan to keep taking it. Maybe they will but bringing up the subject may help a few.

[Hip]

The point, Hip, is that Fauci delayed therapeutics, except for his crap (that did not work), and pounded on for a vaccine that was never successful against HIV. Eventually sound minds took over and wow, we have therapeutics that can tame HIV.

 

Decades later, we have the same guy trashing all therapeutics, except the ones he has a an interest in (and that don't work) and pounding ahead for a vaccine that does not work, may cause incredible harm, and he wants you to take every 2 months. Pfizer now prices at $180.00, or something like that.

 

Get it? Do you see a pattern here?

 

Again, go check with the Gay community and see what they think. This is not my concoction. And feel free to take as many vaccines as you want.

 

Why are there so many errors and assumptions in your posts? 

 

First you imply that Dr Fauci did not have a sound mind by following the HIV vaccine route. Where is your evidence? You would need to look at the papers and literature published at the time to see what the consensus was amongst the experts, regarding the HIV antivirals or HIV vaccine routes.

 

You are suggesting that at the time, only the sound minds backed the HIV antiviral drugs, and the unsound minds backed the HIV vaccine. Where is the evidence for this?

 

Also, your statement that Dr Fauci only went after the HIV vaccine contradicts what Dorian Grey says, about Dr Fauci backing AZT, which was actually the first successful HIV drug. So one of you must be wrong. 

 

If Dr Fauci did back AZT, it shows he has good judgement, as this was the very first drug that could make a difference for AIDS patients; and of course soon after, many other HIV antiretroviral drugs arrived.

 

 

Second, you state that the COVID vaccine does not work, when in fact it reduces COVID death by 2000%. How can you say with a straight face that the vaccine does not work, with that percentage death prevention? In fact the COVID vaccines work spectacularly well, given how tricky it is to make vaccines for coronavirus.

 

As for checking with the gay community to see what they think: why should we listen to the views of lay people, when it is quite clear from these COVID threads that lay people are 99% emotion and 1% reason. If the nonscientists on these threads were in charge of pandemic policies, it would be a disaster for the world.   

 

 

Edited by Hip, 18 August 2023 - 05:43 PM.

[Hip]

I'm going to take a stab at analyzing why people argue so much over the covid shot and why many websites and news sites ban any talk that the shot is bad. This is one of the very few sites where rational discussion on the topic is allowed yet we see attacks against any and all evidence. The doctors who say x must be wrong because there are other doctors who say y. The arguments tend to get emotional.

 

The ones arguing for the shot have taken it, those who are against it, by and large, have not taken the shot. Those who took it, do not want to be told they did a big stupid thing and they may pay a price for that mistake. They reject that from the core of their being. A few say ok if thats true I better look into strategies to mitigate the damage but most reject it and argue against the fact that its bad

 

A few rare individuals may get to the point they feel that if anyone mentions the bad side effects, its an attack on them personally. They feel that if they can win the argument that verifies their decision and protects them from harm.

 

You said that already, and as a psychological analysis, it's completely off the mark. Especially since some of the people criticising the COVID vaccine have taken the vaccine. 

[Gal220]

I'm going to take a stab at analyzing why people argue so much over the covid shot and why many websites and news sites ban any talk that the shot is bad.

 

Well on X/Twitter, and many other sites, there are these pharma shills who would cry about killing grandma with misinformation.  

Elon bought it and now there is once again this kind of discussion, he then released all the censorship requests by our own govt with the twitter files

 

 

You can also speak freely on Gab, Gettr, MInds, and telegram

 

 

However Google and other search sites may wind up deplatforming you if they get wind of it, you will notice this domain in the list

https://selfhack.com...se-crushing-it/

 

So there are consequences for defying the pharma Overlords

Yandex.com is the best search alternative to Google.  Qwant and Presearch are decent alternatives.   

[Hip]

I'm going to take a stab at analyzing why people argue so much over the covid shot

 

Adamh, if you want to provide a psychological explanation for the vaccine issues, your explanation will need to encompass the fact that many people on these COVID threads are strongly opposed to EVERYTHING that government health authorities have recommended or implemented during the pandemic.

 

People here are not just anti-vaccine, they are also anti-mask, anti-lockdown, anti-vaccine mandate, anti-ventilators, and generally anti-everything the government says and does. But they are of course pro ivermectin, I guess just because ivermectin was not recommended by the government (had it been promoted by the government, I expect people here would be against it).

 

So what psychology would you propose to explain that?

Edited by Hip, 19 August 2023 - 07:58 PM.

[Advocatus Diaboli]

Hip, if you want to provide a psychological explanation for the vaccine issues, your explanation will need to encompass the fact that many people on these COVID threads are strongly in agreement with EVERYTHING that government health authorities have recommended or implemented during the pandemic.

 

People here are not just pro vaccine, they are also pro-mask, pro-lockdown, pro-vaccine-mandate, pro-ventilators, and generally pro everything the government says and does. But they are of course anti ivermectin, I guess just because recommending ivermectin would have abnegated the government's sweetheart EUA deal given to vaccine makers.

 

Meanwhile:

 

On September 24, New York governor Andrew Cuomo said the state will independently review all vaccines authorized by the federal government. "Frankly, I'm not going to trust the federal government's opinion and I wouldn't recommend to New Yorkers based on the federal government's opinion," he said in a statement.

 

At the start of September, Democratic vice presidential nominee Kamala Harris said she would not trust President Donald Trump's word alone that any vaccine developed is safe and efficient.

 

A week later, Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden made similar remarks during a speech in Delaware, saying, "I trust vaccines, I trust scientists, but I don't trust Donald Trump."

 

 

So what psychology would you propose to explain that?

 

Tendentiousness?

 

[Hip]

recommending ivermectin would have abnegated the government's sweetheart EUA deal given to vaccine makers.

 

As far as I am aware, that is just a conspiracy theory created on Longecity. But if you know better, and have a link detailing how the government promoting ivermectin would prevent EUA for COVID vaccines, please do post.

 

 

As for the psychology your are looking for, it's just simple electioneering. 

 

 

 

 

[Advocatus Diaboli]

RE: post 1277:

 

"As for the psychology your are looking for, it's just simple electioneering. "

 

But that would be for only one side of the political spectrum, right?

[Advocatus Diaboli]

Hip writes, in post #1277:

 

"As far as I am aware, that is just a conspiracy theory created on Longecity. But if you know better, and have a link detailing how the government promoting ivermectin would prevent EUA for COVID vaccines, please do post."

 

Feast your eyes:

 

"An Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) is a mechanism to facilitate the availability and use of medical countermeasures, including vaccines, during public health emergencies, such as the current COVID-19 pandemic. Under an EUA, FDA may allow the use of unapproved medical products, or unapproved uses of approved medical products in an emergency to diagnose, treat, or prevent serious or life-threatening diseases or conditions when certain statutory criteria have been met, including that there are no adequate, approved, and available alternatives. Taking into consideration input from the FDA, manufacturers decide whether and when to submit an EUA request to FDA."

 

So, don't give ivermectin a chance, then the EUA meets the approval criteria! There was plenty of evidence that ivermectin had positive effects on COVID, when administered in accordance with available protocols. Please don't bore us with more of your evidence that it doesn't work, i.e. no more citation to your "designed to fail" studies. TIA

Edited by Advocatus Diaboli, 19 August 2023 - 09:59 PM.

[Hip]

Feast your eyes:

 

Yawn.

 

I've had this discussion before on these threads. Looks like I will have to go through the same discussion once again, in order to demonstrate that this silly ivermectin conspiracy theory is plain wrong.

 

Clearly treatments such as supplemental oxygen and corticosteroids given to hospitalised patients with worsening COVID have saved lives, and these treatments were used at the early stages of the pandemic. Thus if it were really the case that any alternative treatment would be enough to blow the COVID vaccine EUA out of the water, oxygen and corticosteroids would have blow the EUA out of the water already.

 

Obviously the key word here is "adequate" in the context of the EUA rules phrasing "adequate, approved, and available alternatives". We know that the vaccines reduce COVID deaths by a factor of 20, so an adequate alternative would have to offer a similar reduction in death.

 

But even the most optimistic and positive of ivermectin studies show that ivermectin only reduced the risk of death by a factor of 2. Which is far less than 20. Thus ivermectin is not an adequate alternative. Likewise for oxygen and corticosteroids, they are not adequate alternatives.

 

 

So please, stop with the silly conspiracy theories, theories that even smart 14 year olds would realise are nonsense. 

Edited by Hip, 19 August 2023 - 10:40 PM.

[Dorian Grey]

Dexamethasone wasn't FDA approved for use with COVID patients until August 2021. 

 

I remember Dr Kory was raging about how steroids had been the standard of care for cytokine storm for decades, but they resisted using them out of fear it might hamper immune response.  

 

From the beginning, till just a few months before omicron took the heat off the world, it was oxygen & remdesivir; and NO STEROIDS FOR YOU!  

[Advocatus Diaboli]

Re: Hip's post #1280

 

"Yawn."

 

I'm going to raise your "yawn" with a yawn followed by a pandiculation. 

 

Hip writes:

 

"Clearly treatments such as supplemental oxygen and corticosteroids given to hospitalised patients with worsening COVID have saved lives, and these treatments were used at the early stages of the pandemic. Thus if it were really the case that any alternative treatment would be enough to blow the COVID vaccine EUA out of the water, oxygen and corticosteroids would have blow the EUA out of the water already."

 

 

It's obvious from the above that you don't understand the difference between treating symptoms and treating disease. Yawn.

 

It's also clear that you had/have no clue as to when the first vaccine EUA for COVID19 was issued-- December, 11 2020  The first injections occurred shortly thereafter. Yawn.

 

 

Hip writes:

 

"Obviously the key word here is "adequate" in the context of the EUA rules phrasing "adequate, approved, and available alternatives". We know that the vaccines reduce COVID deaths by a factor of 20, so an adequate alternative would have to offer a similar reduction in death."

 

So, are you saying that at the time of the issuance of the EUA (December 11, 2020) it was known that the vaccine, which was only available a few days later, reduced COVID deaths by a factor of 20?  And, "...therefore an adequate alternative would have to offer a similar reduction in death.". You need to look up the definition of "anachronism", as well as "obtuse". Needless to say, but I'll do it anyway, you are obviously channeling a Fox reporter . Yawn.

 

 

"So please, stop with the silly conspiracy theories, theories that even smart 14 year olds would realise are nonsense.",  Yawn.

 

 

 

[Daniel Cooper]

When you have terminal AIDS, you may feel pretty bad mentally in the final months, with psychiatric symptoms such depression and anxiety. You are incredibly feeble both physically and mentally. Prolonging that sort of suffering is not the right thing to do. 

 

That is a judgement to be made by the patient and perhaps their family, not by someone else. Certainly not by some government bureaucrat.

[Daniel Cooper]

The smallpox vaccine was one and done, for life. I had one when I was born, and was never offered another.

 
Actually that's not exactly correct.
 
CDC - Smallpox Vaccine Basics
 

 

Smallpox vaccination can protect you from smallpox for about 3 to 5 years. After that time, its ability to protect you decreases. If you need long-term protection, you may need to get a booster vaccination. Find out who should get smallpox vaccine.

 

It offered very robust protection for 3-5 years, then the protection gradually diminished. Re-vaccination would be done in areas with an outbreak before the virus was eradicated.

 

I got the smallpox vaccine in 1971 (just before entering the 1st grade if I recall correctly) and it was discontinued in the US the next year I believe. I once looked into how much protection my '71 vaccine might offer me today, 52 years later. The answer is, maybe a very small amount but not that much. The immune system does forget after enough time.

 

The reason we never needed a booster is that smallpox was becoming increasingly uncommon in the wild by the 1960s and almost unheard of in the developed world. So, you and I were very unlikely to encounter it. And of course, it had become so rare in the West that most European countries and the US/Canada stopped requiring vaccination in the early 1970s.

 

The last naturally acquired case of smallpox was in 1977 (had to look that one up).

 

You have to be of a certain age to remember the round quarter sized scar that every kid sported on his upper arm that he got from his smallpox vaccine. Whenever I got out in the sun and got a tan there was always that round spot near my shoulder that remained stubbornly pale. Kids today would have no understanding of what they were looking at if they saw one. My scar finally disappeared in my 20s I think.

 

The smallpox vaccine is undoubtedly one of the most effective and significant vaccines in the history of humanity. Unfortunately even it doesn't last forever. If smallpox ever escapes one of the labs that still hold it - or if it is synthesized de novo from the digitally published genome by some demented party, we'll have to get another vaccination if we're around to see it.

 

This is the one single case of humanity eliminating a virus from the wild through vaccination.  Smallpox vaccinations in various forms go back a long time. But the Jenner vaccine was the first to be widely deployed starting in the early 1800s. So, a really excellent vaccine was able to eliminate a virus in a mere 170 years give or take.

 

Those that implied (but generally never came out and directly said) that covid would be defeated through mandating widespread vaccination either did not know what they were talking about or were just not telling the truth.

 

 

Edited by Daniel Cooper, 20 August 2023 - 03:47 AM.

[Advocatus Diaboli]

Are there any "one and done" vaccines?

Edited by Advocatus Diaboli, 20 August 2023 - 03:49 PM.

[joesixpack]

Are there any "one and done" vaccines?

 

I think some pneumococcal vaccines are one shot deals for adults over 65.

 

https://www.cdc.gov/...blic/index.html

[adamh]

I remember the vaccination scars, they were about a nickel in size as I recall. I got the shot but never got the mark, they say some didn't. 

 

The covid shot was never a vaccine, its an experimental genetic experiment that dr frankenstien, oh I mean dr fauci pushed on us. Funny how I  get those two doctors mixed up. The shot has shown no value in reducing infection or in being contagious but they push it anyway.

 

They are pushing hard for a "vaccine passport" and electronic system to keep track all of us useless eaters. It makes sure we are up to date on mandated death shots and proves our status. It reminds me of the system china uses, I think I will pass. If I can't travel anymore without the mark of the beast, I will stop traveling. Watch for pushback from airlines and travel companies when they realize it.

 

Natural immunity is best, we get constantly exposed to some form of corona viruses so our immunity keeps getting renewed. If you took the shot take nattokinase or serrapeptase every day as directed. It has been shown to help. Ivermectin if you can get it. I picked some up in mexico otc but most places its restricted.

[Hip]

The covid shot was never a vaccine, its an experimental genetic experiment that dr frankenstien, oh I mean dr fauci pushed on us.

 

Obviously you don't understand the basic science of immunity if you claim that mRNA tech is not a vaccine. It trains the immune system to target SARS-CoV-2, therefore it is a vaccine. I would suggest spending some time reading about basic biology.

 

It is usually the people who are least versed in science who have the most fear of vaccines. Which makes sense, since ignorance often breeds fear. I expect if these people spent more time boning up on medical science, they would not quiver so much in the corner when the topic of vaccines is discussed. 

Natural immunity is best, we get constantly exposed to some form of corona viruses so our immunity keeps getting renewed.

 

Nonsense. Some common cold viruses are coronaviruses, but exposure to these does not prevent death by SARS-CoV-2.

Edited by Hip, 20 August 2023 - 07:49 PM.

[Hip]

 The shot has shown no value in reducing infection or in being contagious but they push it anyway.

 

What a clanger of a statement! The COVID vaccines reduce death rate by 2000%, which is an extraordinary powerful protection.

 

I don't know what neck of the woods you live in, but obviously the media in your area must be backwards, if this information is not getting through to you. 

 

 

Edited by Hip, 20 August 2023 - 07:51 PM.

[Daniel Cooper]

What a clanger of a statement! The COVID vaccines reduce death rate by 2000%, which is an extraordinary powerful protection.

 

I don't know what neck of the woods you live in, but obviously the media in your area must be backwards, if this information is not getting through to you. 

 

I've seen death rate reductions all over the place and can't help but suspect that you've picked the best one you could find.

 

The question is, how much death reduction, how long does the protection last, and at what cost in terms of side effects and severe adverse events.

 

For the initial strain of the covid virus which was much more lethal, and for people with serious comorbidities, I accept that the vaccine most likely made sense in a lot of those cases.

 

For the young with no comorbidities and for outright children I doubt the vaccine ever made much sense. Now that the virus has evolved and become much less lethal, it makes even less sense.

 

Covid infection rates are way down, death rates are way down, and I don't know how it's going in your area, but in these parts almost no one is getting the boosters except a few very elderly and those that tend to have a lot of health anxiety. In terms of percentages, the numbers getting boosters in my region is for all practical terms irrelevant.

 

Now, at this point you normally raise the spectre of Long Covid. The problem is, I just don't see a lot of research there that I implicitly trust.  Unfortunately, the "disinterested scientist" seems to be in sort supply lately. Everyone seems to have an angle, everyone seems to have an agenda, and nobody seems distressed at bending the science in service of either. This isn't exactly new - science has long had an intertwined relationship with politics and money, but it does seem to have gotten worse in the last several decades. It really makes things difficult for those trying to sort out the truth.