No One, but No One, Is Safe from Getting Covid, Regardless of Vaccination Status

 

Just in the past two weeks, the following people, high-up in the “Elites” group, have tested positive for Covid.

  • Jill Biden
  • Stacey Abrams
  • Lloyd Austin
  • Congresswoman Alma Adams (D-NC)

And the best of all?

  • Alfred Bourla, the CEO of Pfizer.

All of the above were fully vaccinated and had two booster shots. What does that tell anyone with a working brain? It tells us that the so-called vaccines do not work. We have already been told that yeah, you can still get sick, transmit the virus, and end up in the hospital even after being jabbed four times.

But our Government Masters continue to promote vaccinations and booster shots. It’s not about Covid anymore, it’s about controlling the population. No one now should ever get the vaccine. If you and your family have not yet been jabbed, don’t do it!

One person not on this list is Communist Chinese Dictator Xi Jinping. Even if he did get sick, he recovered and his minions kept it quiet. Even North Korean Dictator Kim Jong Un admitted that he has recovered from Covid. But the actual statistics from Communist China and North Korea are fake, so we may never know the actual toll from either place.

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  1. Old Bathos Member
    Old Bathos
    @OldBathos

    Overall excess deaths in US and Europe do not reflect huge vaccine-related numbers of deaths.  

    Anecdotally, several elderly acquaintances and family members died within a week of vaccination but that is not conclusive.

     I would not trust government agencies nor Pfizer numbers at face value but I do trust number crunchers like Phil Kerpen and analysts like Kevin Roche and those guys reject the claims from Naomi Wolf.

    There is nothing systematic about the way drug reactions are reported.  If Obamacare had delivered the one thing I wanted it to do–secure uniform medical record-keeping to allow for broad, virtually instantaneous research of trends and causal links–this kind of question would be easily resolved.

    • #31
  2. MiMac Thatcher
    MiMac
    @MiMac

    Annefy (View Comment):

    Just an interesting story.

    My hairdresser’s elderly mother (86) recently took a fall and broke her pelvis. She got fixed up at the hospital and her daughters wanted her to go to rehab for a few weeks to recover as she needs a lot of help.

    Because she had had only two shots, no boosters, they couldn’t find a place that would take her. She is now recovering in my hairdresser’s second story apartment.

    PS When she was in the hospital they discovered a large blood clot in one of her legs.

    Deep venous thrombosis are very common after a long bone fracture- I am sure you read A Separate Peace in high school…..

    • #32
  3. MarciN Member
    MarciN
    @MarciN

    Old Bathos (View Comment):
    If Obamacare had delivered the one thing I wanted it to do–secure uniform medical record-keeping to allow for broad, virtually instantaneous research of trends and causal links–this kind of question would be easily resolved.

    I have thought this a million times. 

     

    • #33
  4. MiMac Thatcher
    MiMac
    @MiMac

    Unsk (View Comment):

    MiMac: B)VAERS and EudraVigilance (the European database) don’t give you incidence data nor cause of the adverse event. If a death or “side effect” is reported it does not mean it was due to the vaccine

    The medical authorities absolutely did not want to correlate their deaths to the obvious cause- the VAX,for fear of the the oppressive regime we live under, which is not too different to the tactics used by the FBI.

    a conspiracy so vast… yes all MDs are bribed & coerced  and enjoy killing their patients-really???

    The Bhakdi/Burkhardt pathology studies

    They published a review from a selected group of 15 autopsies- who did the autopsy, how they where selected and where they where from was not explained. Their work has never been peer reviewed and they never provided any proof of their claims.  From such data you can’t extrapolate to make ludicrous claims like thousands died. Bhakdi has made a number of misleading claims about COVID ( denying it exists etc). A number of articles have rebutted his inaccurate claims.

    The cases they reviewed where up to 6 months post vaccination and included many elderly patients. The initial pathological exam did not agree with their conclusion. Butkhardt also made spurious claims about impurities in the vaccine.

    https://www.respectfulinsolence.com/2022/03/25/autopsies-for-everyone-will-end-vaccine-misinformation-immediately/

    I know Doctors who’ve treated mRNA VAX injuries and they say that the bloodwork of the VAX injury patients they treat under the microscope is often distinctly and disturbingly abnormal,

    what doctors? a little secret “doctors” do not look at blood smears under the microscope – very few ever look at such things. If your average MD looked at a smear he would be wasting his time.

    How do you explain the huge 30-40% increase in deaths

    there is this thing called COVID going around …..

    • #34
  5. MiMac Thatcher
    MiMac
    @MiMac

    MarciN (View Comment):

    Old Bathos (View Comment):
    If Obamacare had delivered the one thing I wanted it to do–secure uniform medical record-keeping to allow for broad, virtually instantaneous research of trends and causal links–this kind of question would be easily resolved.

    I have thought this a million times.

    You thought Obama had patients and practitioners in mind? Oh my.
    It only secured a guaranteed market for a few medical software vending companies- they are making billions. The truth is so far, the software has had a net negative effect as far as most practitioners are concerned. But bean counters & administrative types love this sort of stuff. The other major effect of the mandating of electronic medical records is the collapse of private medical practices- the typical small practice cannot afford the IT overhead. The administrative state doesn’t like a decentralized system with many providers- too hard to monitor and control. Additionally, Congressional Democrats seem hell bent on bankrupting the medical system so that the Feds will have to take it over to “save” it.

    addendum- to give you a flavor of the cost of the Obama IT mandates (typically known as EHR- electronic health records or EMR- electronic medical records) I will supply some stats. For a private practice I am aware of, IT rental fees are $100K/ practitioner/year. For a hospital system with ~600 beds the cost of adopting a new EHR was ~ $100 Million the 1st year. At that time every hospital system that adopted the new EHR saw a significant drop in revenue the 1st several months.

    • #35
  6. I Walton Member
    I Walton
    @IWalton

    it seems the rot was deep and already present.  Is there a fix?  How much of this story is being told in the mainstream media?  How wide is the knowledge about the fraud, misinformation, rip offs associated with the disease, the shut down, the destruction of the economy?  Everywhere I go probably half the people are wearing masks.  

    • #36
  7. MarciN Member
    MarciN
    @MarciN

    MiMac (View Comment):

    MarciN (View Comment):

    Old Bathos (View Comment):
    If Obamacare had delivered the one thing I wanted it to do–secure uniform medical record-keeping to allow for broad, virtually instantaneous research of trends and causal links–this kind of question would be easily resolved.

    I have thought this a million times.

    You thought Obama had patients and practitioners in mind? Oh my.
    It only secured a guaranteed market for a few medical software vending companies- they are making billions. The truth is so far, the software has had a net negative effect as far as most practitioners are concerned. But bean counters & administrative types love this sort of stuff. The other major effect of the mandating of electronic medical records is the collapse of private medical practices- the typical small practice cannot afford the IT overhead. The administrative state doesn’t like a decentralized system with many providers- too hard to monitor and control. Additionally, Congressional Democrats seem hell bent on bankrupting the medical system so that the Feds will have to take it over to “save” it.

    addendum- to give you a flavor of the cost of the Obama IT mandates (typically known as EHR- electronic health records or EMR- electronic medical records) I will supply some stats. For a private practice I am aware of, IT rental fees are $100K/ practitioner/year. For a hospital system with ~600 beds the cost of adopting a new EHR was ~ $100 Million the 1st year. At that time every hospital system that adopted the new EHR saw a significant drop in revenue the 1st several months.

    I have watched this monster in Massachusetts as well. 

    We spent something like $7 million on our original “health care reform” computer system, a system that never ever worked, and then a mere five years later, we had to spend that much and more again to comply with ObamaCare. With all that money flying out the door, not a single patient was ever made to feel better. Healthcare reform was actually a Silicon Valley unemployment solution and a new taxing system. It had nothing to do with care or health. 

    Regina Herzlinger saw all this coming. I wish more people had read her book and acted on her recommendations. We would not be in this mess. 

    • #37
  8. Columbo Inactive
    Columbo
    @Columbo

    Annefy (View Comment):

    To tailgate with @ unsk. I’ve been morbidly keeping a “ghoul” list since early 2020. Those in my circle who have died or suffered. To make the list, I need to know you, or you need to be known by JY or one of my kids (there’s four of them. miscreants all)

    Those lists are really, really long. Granted, some are due to the lockdown (the three suicides and the two undiagnosed cancers = 5) but there are many blood clots. And seizures. And heart attacks. And strokes. And a couple of “hey! who saw that coming?” And no one is on the list is older than me (63) Except for a beloved granny of a good friend; a wonderful and stately woman with a capable bosom. She died, 5″7″, weighing 90 lbs after being denied the company of her loved ones.

    Now, I’ve never been 63 before. But I was an adult when my parents were 63, and I don’t remember them going to as many funerals, nor had as many suffering friends, as I have right now. My prayer list is very, very long.

    There’s something happening here. What it is, ain’t exactly clear …

    It’s clear to me.

    PS I know “of” one person who died of Covid. Def my shortest list.

     

     

    • #38
  9. Jerry Giordano (Arizona Patriot) Member
    Jerry Giordano (Arizona Patriot)
    @ArizonaPatriot

    RushBabe49 (View Comment):

    Jerry Giordano (Arizona Patrio… (View Comment):

    RushBabe49: All of the above were fully vaccinated and had two booster shots. What does that tell anyone with a working brain? It tells us that the so-called vaccines do not work. We have already been told that yeah, you can still get sick, transmit the virus, and end up in the hospital even after being jabbed four times.

    I don’t think that this is correct.

    The fact that some vaccinated people get Covid tells us that the vaccines are not 100% effective. I don’t think that anyone paying attention thought that they were 100% effective.

    A small number — or even a large number — of vaccinated people being infected doesn’t even tell us how effective the vaccines may be. This can only be determined by comparing infection rates among the vaccinated and unvaccinated, which can be complex, as doing so properly requires adjusting for any demographic differences between the two groups.

    There are also several levels of effectiveness for the Covid vaccines — effectiveness against any infection; against symptomatic infection; against hospitalization; against death. As I recall, the data in the first year or so indicated that the effectiveness of the vaccines was higher for the more serious outcomes.

    This isn’t too complicated, is it?

    An example might help to illustrate the point. There is a great deal of data indicating that wearing a seat belt reduces the risk of serious injury or death in an auto crash. There are occasions, of course, when a belted person is nevertheless seriously injured or killed in such a crash. The existence of such examples does not prove that seat belts do not work. It only proves that they are not 100% effective.

    Wet-blanket strikes again. And do you really think that wearing a seat belt compares in any way to the bodily-invasion of a hypodermic injection?! Any shot, by definition, affects the workings of your body! People have died immediately after receiving a Covid shot-how many routine vaccinations have as a side effect, death? None!

    Your argument for the ineffectiveness of vaccines is precisely the same as the argument of someone who would claim that seat belts are ineffective because they are not 100% effective.  You have made a fundamentally flawed argument.

    Instead of admitting this, you respond with this strange objection about the “invasion of a hypodermic injection,” something that we’ve required for decades with other vaccines, something that people do quite regularly, and something that is not a big deal.

    I don’t know your motivation.  Please tell us.  The impression that I get is that you have adopted this strange aversion to needles (which I don’t share) or you hate the political party that you perceive as having been in favor of mandatory vaccination (and I don’t like them either, and I also opposed mandatory vaccination).  Perhaps you want to conclude that everyone who disagrees with you about mandatory vaccination is a horrible, evil person.  I actually agree with you that mandatory vaccination was unwise in this instance, but I think that reasonable minds can differ on this.

    I was only pointing out that you have not proven the assertion made in your post, about vaccine ineffectiveness.  It may turn out that the vaccines are ineffective, or not very effective, against the latest variants.  They were effective against the original variants, based on a number of studies that I reviewed at the time.

    • #39
  10. Jerry Giordano (Arizona Patriot) Member
    Jerry Giordano (Arizona Patriot)
    @ArizonaPatriot

    Old Bathos (View Comment):

    Jerry Giordano (Arizona Patrio… (View Comment):

    Old Bathos (View Comment):

    Jerry Giordano (Arizona Patrio… (View Comment):

    RushBabe49: All of the above were fully vaccinated and had two booster shots. What does that tell anyone with a working brain? It tells us that the so-called vaccines do not work. We have already been told that yeah, you can still get sick, transmit the virus, and end up in the hospital even after being jabbed four times.

    I don’t think that this is correct.

    The fact that some vaccinated people get Covid tells us that the vaccines are not 100% effective. I don’t think that anyone paying attention thought that they were 100% effective.

    A small number — or even a large number — of vaccinated people being infected doesn’t even tell us how effective the vaccines may be. This can only be determined by comparing infection rates among the vaccinated and unvaccinated, which can be complex, as doing so properly requires adjusting for any demographic differences between the two groups.

    There are also several levels of effectiveness for the Covid vaccines — effectiveness against any infection; against symptomatic infection; against hospitalization; against death. As I recall, the data in the first year or so indicated that the effectiveness of the vaccines was higher for the more serious outcomes.

    This isn’t too complicated, is it?

    An example might help to illustrate the point. There is a great deal of data indicating that wearing a seat belt reduces the risk of serious injury or death in an auto crash. There are occasions, of course, when a belted person is nevertheless seriously injured or killed in such a crash. The existence of such examples does not prove that seat belts do not work. It only proves that they are not 100% effective.

    Vaccination reduces the severity of symptoms for at least 3-6 months. Vaccination does not prevent infection or re-infection and thus also does not reduce spread. Given that the initial promise/selling point (and the basis for mandatory vaccination) was the reduction/elimination of spread it would not be wrong to say that the vaccines are ineffective with respect to their stated purpose.

    Proponents of seat belts never promised they would reduce the incidence of collisions, only that the likelihood and degree of injury would be lessened in the event of a collision. Vaccines were not promoted with the same level of candor and factual basis.

    I haven’t seen information about the effectiveness of the vaccines in the past 6-12 months. Do you have a source of data for this?

    Your statement that “Vaccination does not prevent infection or re-infection and thus also does not reduce spread” is not correct, as a logical matter. If vaccination reduces the rate of infection or re-infection, then it might also reduce spread. I don’t know whether the vaccines do so or not, at present, though I did see quite a bit of data a year or so ago that indicated that the vaccines were effective at that time.

    I disagree with your assertion about the “level of candor” used for vaccine promotion. I recall good, effective communication about this. I do also recall sound-bites, mere statements like “the vaccines are safe and effective,” which didn’t provide as much detail. If you looked for the detail at the time, you could find it. Many people seem to have such short attention spans that I don’t blame those who provide the sound-bites. I seem to recall Trump being one of those, because if you only have 15 or 20 seconds to make your point, you can’t provide much detail.

    My point stands, I think. The claim in the OP that the vaccines are ineffective is not supported by the data provided. No one is providing any more data. Rather than arguing about perceptions, it might be more helpful for someone to do the work of finding us a good source for the effectiveness of the vaccines at present.

    Rather than wade through data about declining effectiveness against Omicron, relative infection rates etc let’s start with something simple in what may be the most vaccinated country in Europe:

    It is simply not possible to claim effectiveness against infection when vaccination rates are this high and cases are also high. We can pick the flysh*t out of the pepper and try to claim lessening risk of limited duration (can I get a harrumph ?) but trying to twist that into a prevention narrative consistent with our understanding of the word “vaccine” is simply silly. The vaccines are more like a prophylactic dose of Theraflu–not a prevention of cure but may help keep symptoms down–for a while.

    We were expressly told that vaccination would “give us our lives back”, eliminate the need for masks and end the spread. Absolutely nobody told us during the rollout that the vaccines would be largely ineffective against infection nd only reduce symptoms. We used the term “breakthrough infection” as if a vaccinated person being COVID positive was going to be some kind of rare event rather than the norm for future cases.

    This is better data, but still not very good.

    Here’s a link to a fairly recent paper evaluating the effectiveness of the vaccines, during the Omicron period.  As usual, it’s complicated, as the results differ by age and differ based on the criterion for measuring effectiveness (e.g., infection vs. hospitalization).

    If I’m following the technical lingo of this particular paper correctly, vaccine effectiveness against emergency room and urgent care encounters — a criterion somewhere between symptomatic infection and hospitalization — for adults aged 50 and older, during the recent period when Omicron was the dominant variant, was:

    • 32%, 120 or more days after a third dose, rising to
    • 66%, 7 or more days after a fourth dose

    For the same population but measuring effectiveness against hospitalization, the result was:

    • 55%, 120 or more days after a third dose, rising to
    • 80%, 7 or more days after a fourth dose

    This is pretty strong evidence of effectiveness, particularly of the boosters, and specifically for older people (like us) who have been the highest risk group throughout the pandemic.

    Personally, I received the original Pfizer vaccine, one of the options that involved two doses.  I have not yet received a third dose.

    • #40
  11. David C. Broussard Coolidge
    David C. Broussard
    @Dbroussa

    I do not support mandatory vaccinations for Covid-19.  I see their value with highly communicable diseases in forced social settings such as school and the military, but not in most cases.

    Since I am in a high risk category, I got a vaccine as soon as I was able to.  When they opened up boosters I did the same (I have two).  I then came down with Covid-19 in mid June of 22.  It was reminiscent of my bout of Legionnaires Disease that I caught in 2003, but significantly milder.  In 2003 I ran a high fever as was bed ridden for over two weeks.  This time I ran a low fever (just over 100), and was extremely tired for about a week, and the just tired for another one.  I had scheduled vacation for the time anyway and we weren’t going anywhere so it was just a stay-sick-cation.

    What does this tell us about the Pfizer Covid-19 vaccine?  Nothing really.  Its likely that I got one of the very recent Omicron variants, and even though I have two co-morbidities that are indicators for hospitalization and death (diabetes and obesity), my SPO2 was never below 94%.  Does that mean that the vaccine helped me, or did nothing?  Who knows.  I suspect it made my case less severe, but it might have done nothing.  Unless I could go back and replicate the experiment with me not being vaccinated and seeing what happened.

     

    • #41
  12. David C. Broussard Coolidge
    David C. Broussard
    @Dbroussa

    mRNA vaccines are an amazing development that few people understand, but they have been around for a long time.  The issue has always been getting the human body to accept the mRNA so that they can produce antibodies.  The technology has been in use for a very long time in other life forms.  In fact, its essentially the same technology that has allowed the production of human insulin in mass quantities so that it can be sold for about $1/day.  RNA is inserted into E. Coli bacteria which then produce human insulin.  Prior to that, you had to either use cadaver insulin or porcine insulin.  The tech has made diabetes much less of a death sentence than it used to be.  The BioNTech/Pfizer vaccine was developed in about 48 hours from the publication of the SARSCOV2 genome in January of 2020.  The rest of the time was going through testing (very accelerated….Warp Speed even), and then production.  Its not exactly like the movies where they find a patient that doesn’t get sick and then some brave doctor in Atlanta injects themselves with a trial vaccine and almost dies and then the music swells and the credits roll and everyone is saved.  @jameslileks even wrote a bit in NR Magazine long ago that mocked our Hollywood fed belief that the CDC could order in the choppers to shut down a city and stop the spread of the virus and then from discovery of a cure to widespread distribution was a short scene full of dramatic tension.

    There have been a ton of claims that the vaccines are dangerous and even claims that close to 30K have died in the US from the vaccine.  If this were true, that is a rate of 1 per 100,000 which is far above what has been verified.  

    • Anaphylaxis has been reported in 5 cases per 1M doses
    • TTS has been reported in 4 cases per 1M doses
    • The J&J vaccine has increased occurrence of Guillain-Barre Syndrome but not in Moderna or BioNTech/Pfizer
    • Myocarditis is appearing at rates ranging from 52 cases/Million in 18-24 year old patients to 70.7 in 12-15 and a peak of 106/Million in 16-17 year old patients.  These aren’t fatalities, but just cases of myocarditis.  The raw numbers for these were 5-11: 22 cases, 12-15: 346 cases, and 16-17: 299 cases for a total of  667 cases out of 58Million doses.  That is a 0.0011% of incidence of myocarditis.  
    • To date 9 deaths have been causally linked to the J&J vaccine.  Overall there have been 15K reports to VAERS, but each one has to be reviewed to determine if it was a vaccine or not.

    For comparison, the MMR vaccine has been given for a LONG time and it has its own host of side-effects, some are serious and can kill you.  M-M-R II Side Effects: Common, Severe, Long Term – Drugs.com

    • #42
  13. Old Bathos Member
    Old Bathos
    @OldBathos

    MiMac (View Comment):

    MarciN (View Comment):

    Old Bathos (View Comment):
    If Obamacare had delivered the one thing I wanted it to do–secure uniform medical record-keeping to allow for broad, virtually instantaneous research of trends and causal links–this kind of question would be easily resolved.

    I have thought this a million times.

    You thought Obama had patients and practitioners in mind? Oh my.
    It only secured a guaranteed market for a few medical software vending companies- they are making billions. The truth is so far, the software has had a net negative effect as far as most practitioners are concerned. But bean counters & administrative types love this sort of stuff. The other major effect of the mandating of electronic medical records is the collapse of private medical practices- the typical small practice cannot afford the IT overhead. The administrative state doesn’t like a decentralized system with many providers- too hard to monitor and control. Additionally, Congressional Democrats seem hell bent on bankrupting the medical system so that the Feds will have to take it over to “save” it.

    addendum- to give you a flavor of the cost of the Obama IT mandates (typically known as EHR- electronic health records or EMR- electronic medical records) I will supply some stats. For a private practice I am aware of, IT rental fees are $100K/ practitioner/year. For a hospital system with ~600 beds the cost of adopting a new EHR was ~ $100 Million the 1st year. At that time every hospital system that adopted the new EHR saw a significant drop in revenue the 1st several months.

    I had a software copyright case back in the day of clunky pre-PC computers and I was stunned at what doctors’ office paid for systems just to process claims back then.

    When Nixon set up the LEAA to give cops computers, there was resistance because better record-keeping always had the effect of making crime rates appear to go up.  Then the problem across government is that more data just means that management wants more and more reports and control which means exponentially more input and reporting down below. 

    The level of detailed reporting in medical matters seems even worse.  I had always thought that the equivalent of a tablet at the foot of every hospital bed and the right software would allow stuff to be entered without paper and transcribing and coding.  But it seems like the task is instead about manual entry in multiple systems.

    Maybe when AI takes over and docs only note the occasion when they disagree and override HAL (assuming that’s allowed) the data burden will be relieved.

    • #43
  14. Old Bathos Member
    Old Bathos
    @OldBathos

    Jerry Giordano (Arizona Patrio… (View Comment):

    Old Bathos (View Comment):

    Jerry Giordano (Arizona Patrio… (View Comment):

    Old Bathos (View Comment):

    Jerry Giordano (Arizona Patrio… (View Comment):

    RushBabe49: All of the above were fully vaccinated and had two booster shots. What does that tell anyone with a working brain? It tells us that the so-called vaccines do not work. We have already been told that yeah, you can still get sick, transmit the virus, and end up in the hospital even after being jabbed four times.

    I don’t think that this is correct.

    The fact that some vaccinated people get Covid tells us that the vaccines are not 100% effective. I don’t think that anyone paying attention thought that they were 100% effective.

    A small number — or even a large number — of vaccinated people being infected doesn’t even tell us how effective the vaccines may be. This can only be determined by comparing infection rates among the vaccinated and unvaccinated, which can be complex, as doing so properly requires adjusting for any demographic differences between the two groups.

    There are also several levels of effectiveness for the Covid vaccines — effectiveness against any infection; against symptomatic infection; against hospitalization; against death. As I recall, the data in the first year or so indicated that the effectiveness of the vaccines was higher for the more serious outcomes.

    This isn’t too complicated, is it?

    An example might help to illustrate the point. There is a great deal of data indicating that wearing a seat belt reduces the risk of serious injury or death in an auto crash. There are occasions, of course, when a belted person is nevertheless seriously injured or killed in such a crash. The existence of such examples does not prove that seat belts do not work. It only proves that they are not 100% effective.

    Vaccination reduces the severity of symptoms for at least 3-6 months. Vaccination does not prevent infection or re-infection and thus also does not reduce spread. Given that the initial promise/selling point (and the basis for mandatory vaccination) was the reduction/elimination of spread it would not be wrong to say that the vaccines are ineffective with respect to their stated purpose.

    Proponents of seat belts never promised they would reduce the incidence of collisions, only that the likelihood and degree of injury would be lessened in the event of a collision. Vaccines were not promoted with the same level of candor and factual basis.

    I haven’t seen information about the effectiveness of the vaccines in the past 6-12 months. Do you have a source of data for this?

    Your statement that “Vaccination does not prevent infection or re-infection and thus also does not reduce spread” is not correct, as a logical matter. If vaccination reduces the rate of infection or re-infection, then it might also reduce spread. I don’t know whether the vaccines do so or not, at present, though I did see quite a bit of data a year or so ago that indicated that the vaccines were effective at that time.

    I disagree with your assertion about the “level of candor” used for vaccine promotion. I recall good, effective communication about this. I do also recall sound-bites, mere statements like “the vaccines are safe and effective,” which didn’t provide as much detail. If you looked for the detail at the time, you could find it. Many people seem to have such short attention spans that I don’t blame those who provide the sound-bites. I seem to recall Trump being one of those, because if you only have 15 or 20 seconds to make your point, you can’t provide much detail.

    My point stands, I think. The claim in the OP that the vaccines are ineffective is not supported by the data provided. No one is providing any more data. Rather than arguing about perceptions, it might be more helpful for someone to do the work of finding us a good source for the effectiveness of the vaccines at present.

    Rather than wade through data about declining effectiveness against Omicron, relative infection rates etc let’s start with something simple in what may be the most vaccinated country in Europe:

    It is simply not possible to claim effectiveness against infection when vaccination rates are this high and cases are also high. We can pick the flysh*t out of the pepper and try to claim lessening risk of limited duration (can I get a harrumph ?) but trying to twist that into a prevention narrative consistent with our understanding of the word “vaccine” is simply silly. The vaccines are more like a prophylactic dose of Theraflu–not a prevention of cure but may help keep symptoms down–for a while.

    We were expressly told that vaccination would “give us our lives back”, eliminate the need for masks and end the spread. Absolutely nobody told us during the rollout that the vaccines would be largely ineffective against infection nd only reduce symptoms. We used the term “breakthrough infection” as if a vaccinated person being COVID positive was going to be some kind of rare event rather than the norm for future cases.

    This is better data, but still not very good.

    Here’s a link to a fairly recent paper evaluating the effectiveness of the vaccines, during the Omicron period. As usual, it’s complicated, as the results differ by age and differ based on the criterion for measuring effectiveness (e.g., infection vs. hospitalization).

    If I’m following the technical lingo of this particular paper correctly, vaccine effectiveness against emergency room and urgent care encounters — a criterion somewhere between symptomatic infection and hospitalization — for adults aged 50 and older, during the recent period when Omicron was the dominant variant, was:

    • 32%, 120 or more days after a third dose, rising to
    • 66%, 7 or more days after a fourth dose

    For the same population but measuring effectiveness against hospitalization, the result was:

    • 55%, 120 or more days after a third dose, rising to
    • 80%, 7 or more days after a fourth dose

    This is pretty strong evidence of effectiveness, particularly of the boosters, and specifically for older people (like us) who have been the highest risk group throughout the pandemic.

    Personally, I received the original Pfizer vaccine, one of the options that involved two doses. I have not yet received a third dose.

    Jerry Giordano (Arizona Patrio… (View Comment):

    Old Bathos (View Comment):

    Jerry Giordano (Arizona Patrio… (View Comment):

    Old Bathos (View Comment):

    Jerry Giordano (Arizona Patrio… (View Comment):

    RushBabe49: All of the above were fully vaccinated and had two booster shots. What does that tell anyone with a working brain? It tells us that the so-called vaccines do not work. We have already been told that yeah, you can still get sick, transmit the virus, and end up in the hospital even after being jabbed four times.

    I don’t think that this is correct.

    The fact that some vaccinated people get Covid tells us that the vaccines are not 100% effective. I don’t think that anyone paying attention thought that they were 100% effective.

    A small number — or even a large number — of vaccinated people being infected doesn’t even tell us how effective the vaccines may be. This can only be determined by comparing infection rates among the vaccinated and unvaccinated, which can be complex, as doing so properly requires adjusting for any demographic differences between the two groups.

    There are also several levels of effectiveness for the Covid vaccines — effectiveness against any infection; against symptomatic infection; against hospitalization; against death. As I recall, the data in the first year or so indicated that the effectiveness of the vaccines was higher for the more serious outcomes.

    This isn’t too complicated, is it?

    An example might help to illustrate the point. There is a great deal of data indicating that wearing a seat belt reduces the risk of serious injury or death in an auto crash. There are occasions, of course, when a belted person is nevertheless seriously injured or killed in such a crash. The existence of such examples does not prove that seat belts do not work. It only proves that they are not 100% effective.

    Vaccination reduces the severity of symptoms for at least 3-6 months. Vaccination does not prevent infection or re-infection and thus also does not reduce spread. Given that the initial promise/selling point (and the basis for mandatory vaccination) was the reduction/elimination of spread it would not be wrong to say that the vaccines are ineffective with respect to their stated purpose.

    Proponents of seat belts never promised they would reduce the incidence of collisions, only that the likelihood and degree of injury would be lessened in the event of a collision. Vaccines were not promoted with the same level of candor and factual basis.

    I haven’t seen information about the effectiveness of the vaccines in the past 6-12 months. Do you have a source of data for this?

    Your statement that “Vaccination does not prevent infection or re-infection and thus also does not reduce spread” is not correct, as a logical matter. If vaccination reduces the rate of infection or re-infection, then it might also reduce spread. I don’t know whether the vaccines do so or not, at present, though I did see quite a bit of data a year or so ago that indicated that the vaccines were effective at that time.

    I disagree with your assertion about the “level of candor” used for vaccine promotion. I recall good, effective communication about this. I do also recall sound-bites, mere statements like “the vaccines are safe and effective,” which didn’t provide as much detail. If you looked for the detail at the time, you could find it. Many people seem to have such short attention spans that I don’t blame those who provide the sound-bites. I seem to recall Trump being one of those, because if you only have 15 or 20 seconds to make your point, you can’t provide much detail.

    My point stands, I think. The claim in the OP that the vaccines are ineffective is not supported by the data provided. No one is providing any more data. Rather than arguing about perceptions, it might be more helpful for someone to do the work of finding us a good source for the effectiveness of the vaccines at present.

    Rather than wade through data about declining effectiveness against Omicron, relative infection rates etc let’s start with something simple in what may be the most vaccinated country in Europe:

    It is simply not possible to claim effectiveness against infection when vaccination rates are this high and cases are also high. We can pick the flysh*t out of the pepper and try to claim lessening risk of limited duration (can I get a harrumph ?) but trying to twist that into a prevention narrative consistent with our understanding of the word “vaccine” is simply silly. The vaccines are more like a prophylactic dose of Theraflu–not a prevention of cure but may help keep symptoms down–for a while.

    We were expressly told that vaccination would “give us our lives back”, eliminate the need for masks and end the spread. Absolutely nobody told us during the rollout that the vaccines would be largely ineffective against infection nd only reduce symptoms. We used the term “breakthrough infection” as if a vaccinated person being COVID positive was going to be some kind of rare event rather than the norm for future cases.

    This is better data, but still not very good.

    Here’s a link to a fairly recent paper evaluating the effectiveness of the vaccines, during the Omicron period. As usual, it’s complicated, as the results differ by age and differ based on the criterion for measuring effectiveness (e.g., infection vs. hospitalization).

    If I’m following the technical lingo of this particular paper correctly, vaccine effectiveness against emergency room and urgent care encounters — a criterion somewhere between symptomatic infection and hospitalization — for adults aged 50 and older, during the recent period when Omicron was the dominant variant, was:

    • 32%, 120 or more days after a third dose, rising to
    • 66%, 7 or more days after a fourth dose

    For the same population but measuring effectiveness against hospitalization, the result was:

    • 55%, 120 or more days after a third dose, rising to
    • 80%, 7 or more days after a fourth dose

    This is pretty strong evidence of effectiveness, particularly of the boosters, and specifically for older people (like us) who have been the highest risk group throughout the pandemic.

    Personally, I received the original Pfizer vaccine, one of the options that involved two doses. I have not yet received a third dose.

    “Effectiveness against emergency room encounters” is another way of referring to symptom reduction.  There is variability in findings about the degree and duration of symptom reduction but nobody (including me) claims that particular outcome is never the case. 

    The point you keep sliding past is that the”effectiveness” of the vaccines was initially touted as doing what other vaccines do–preventing the infection from taking place.  Polio and smallpox vaccines don’t merely allow for a less severe illness when those infections occur anyway.  The COVID vaccines are not “effective” qua vaccines.

    And that is important because the logic of vaccine mandates hinged on the commonsense meaning of “effectiveness.”

    And the additional issue that arises is that if the vaccines merely reduce symptoms, then the risks of side-effects weigh more heavily in the calculus of personal choice.

    As I have said before, Theraflu significantly reduces respiratory flu symptoms but that does not make it a vaccine.

    • #44
  15. Charlotte Member
    Charlotte
    @Charlotte

    Old Bathos (View Comment):
    The point you keep sliding past is that the”effectiveness” of the vaccines was initially touted as doing what other vaccines do–preventing the infection from taking place.  Polio and smallpox vaccines don’t merely allow for a less severe illness when those infections occur anyway.  The COVID vaccines are not “effective” qua vaccines.

    Thank you. Yes. Well-said.

    I got both shots with a booster later. I was delighted to do so but feel gaslighted by the initial messaging on the vaccines because the very widespread, colloquial understanding/effect of a vaccine, as you say, is that it stops you from getting diseases.

    • #45
  16. Old Bathos Member
    Old Bathos
    @OldBathos

    Charlotte (View Comment):

    Old Bathos (View Comment):
    The point you keep sliding past is that the”effectiveness” of the vaccines was initially touted as doing what other vaccines do–preventing the infection from taking place. Polio and smallpox vaccines don’t merely allow for a less severe illness when those infections occur anyway. The COVID vaccines are not “effective” qua vaccines.

    Thank you. Yes. Well-said.

    I got both shots with a booster later. I was delighted to do so but feel gaslighted by the initial messaging on the vaccines because the very widespread, colloquial understanding/effect of a vaccine, as you say, is that it stops you from getting diseases.

    I got the two Moderna shots. I got a booster in late December 2021, then noticed I had lost my sense of smell about 10 days later (it has not come back).  No COVID symptoms other than a runny nose (My GP said no need to test because it was already too late to quarantine and the anosmia was diagnostic).  My daughter and son-in-law each got moderately sick two weeks after the same shot–each tested COVID postive.  My parents-in-law each died 7-10 days after the shot–COD: general old people circulatory and cardiac issues.

    The aggregate stats don’t point to reasons for these bad outcomes but don’t try to tell anybody in my family that the vaccines work and are risk-free.

    • #46
  17. MarciN Member
    MarciN
    @MarciN

    I think it’s important to know who made false claims about the vaccine. I don’t which politicians said what, but I followed the companies a little bit, and I did not see the companies misrepresent their hope for the vaccine, which was an amelioration of symptoms for nearly everyone who got the vaccine and a prevention of any symptoms at all for some lucky ones. I think they’ve always seen it as being like the flu vaccine

    The flu vaccine has never been a perfect protection against hospitalization:

    In total 45 (46%) of the patients were female, and 52 (54%) were male. The mean age was 67 ± 12 years. The primary diagnoses were lung disorders (n = 77, 79%), cardiac disorders (n = 16, 17%), and neuromuscular disorders (n = 5, 4%). In total 72 (74%) patients had chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) with primary lung disorders. All patients were hospitalized due to acute respiratory failure. The main reason for acute respiratory failure was infection in 40 patients (42%). The overall influenza and pneumococcal vaccination rates were 26% and 15%, respectively; for patients with COPD it was 30% and 17%, respectively. 

    With an idea of a vaccine at least as effective as the flu vaccine has been, the vaccine developers were aiming at one measure of efficacy: the production of antibodies–any at all. Their vaccine achieved that in the clinical trials. 

    It was the exact level of antibodies that would guarantee protection that proved elusive for those scientists. They could not aim at ever knowing for sure how many infections the vaccine prevented. That’s simply unknowable because of the Diamond Princess 80/20 (Pareto :) ) innate-immunity numbers. 

    Only 20 percent of people exposed to the virus in the cruise ship (Petri dish) Diamond Princess, to the best of our analytical powers and knowledge at the time, ever developed symptoms. The other 80 percent never did. I don’t know if they ran antibody tests on those passengers. If they did, it was much later and after the fact because the test hadn’t been developed yet, and by the time they had a test, there was way to know where the passengers’ exposure came from. So it was useless. But that’s acquired immunity.

    When the Moderna and Pfizer first introduced the vaccine in the early clinical trials, it was a single dose, and it made people sick with the symptoms the vaccine was trying to prevent. The CEO of Pfizer would have been concerned about this because he is a veterinarian, and he would know the history of the vaccine experiments for Lyme disease. The reason we don’t have a vaccine for Lyme is because the vaccine produces the same symptoms as the disease and the developers did not (do not) think the public would tolerate it. But that’s why the original dose was broken into two doses.

    Viruses that mutate often are a tough nut to crack. 

    • #47
  18. MarciN Member
    MarciN
    @MarciN

    Vaccines stimulate an antibody response, as do antibiotics. That’s really all the word means. There’s no lifelong protection implied in the word’s meaning. I have to get a Tetanus vaccine every ten years, and I had to get whooping cough booster when my grandson was born ten years ago. 

    How long vaccines would last was always something my pediatrician would tell me when my kids got them. “This will last X long.” Or “This should do it for life.” :-) The timing varied from vaccine to vaccine. 

    • #48
  19. David C. Broussard Coolidge
    David C. Broussard
    @Dbroussa

    Charlotte (View Comment):

    Old Bathos (View Comment):
    The point you keep sliding past is that the”effectiveness” of the vaccines was initially touted as doing what other vaccines do–preventing the infection from taking place. Polio and smallpox vaccines don’t merely allow for a less severe illness when those infections occur anyway. The COVID vaccines are not “effective” qua vaccines.

    Thank you. Yes. Well-said.

    I got both shots with a booster later. I was delighted to do so but feel gaslighted by the initial messaging on the vaccines because the very widespread, colloquial understanding/effect of a vaccine, as you say, is that it stops you from getting diseases.

    From the get go, this type of virus is something that a human based vaccine had never been created.  Doing so this time was always going to be more similar to the flu shot where the vaccine was effective against variants. With the rapid mutation rate of coronaviruses, a vaccine like one for Polio and smallpox, which do NOT mutate rapidly and thus vaccines against are quite effective, was never highly likely.

    That isn’t to say that the messaging was bad.  It was and it should have been better, but unfortunately the entire issue got politicized.  Once that happens, getting good information became almost impossible, and even if you got it, people’s jersey color dictated if it would be accepted.  Look at Kamala Harris saying that she wouldn’t take the vaccine before the election, and then being one of the first vaccinated after the election.

    • #49
  20. Old Bathos Member
    Old Bathos
    @OldBathos

    MarciN (View Comment):
    I think it’s important to know who made false claims about the vaccine. I don’t which politicians said what, but I followed the companies a little bit, and I did not see the companies misrepresent their hope for the vaccine, which was an amelioration of symptoms for nearly everyone who got the vaccine and a prevention of any symptoms at all for some lucky ones. I think they’ve always seen it as being like the flu vaccine

    But notice that nobody has ever called flu shots “flu vaccines” because that would seem misleading. 

    COVID-19 was a Great Crisis and the vaccines were The Solution.  I challenge anybody to find on any CDC, FDA or other government website a statement to the effect that the shots are no guarantee against infection but will greatly reduce symptoms which statement was posted at any time from the first rollout in Dec 2020 through the first six months of vaccine availability.

    In October and November, 2021 journals were still using the adjective “rare” to refer to “breakthrough” infections.  If you get the flu despite a flu shot, does your GP tell you you have a “rare breakthrough” infection?

    • #50
  21. David C. Broussard Coolidge
    David C. Broussard
    @Dbroussa

    Old Bathos (View Comment):
    If you get the flu despite a flu shot, does your GP tell you you have a “rare breakthrough” infection?

    Nope, one usually assumes that you caught a variant of the flu that wasn’t in the vaccine.  Flu vaccines are good against the strains that are expected to be popular in 6-9 months, but other variants are around and you can catch them.  I suppose its a “breakthrough” infection, but in reality it’s just another variant (most likely).  

    • #51
  22. Flicker Coolidge
    Flicker
    @Flicker

    MarciN (View Comment):
    I think it’s important to know who made false claims about the vaccine. I don’t which politicians said what

    Video of world leaders saying or strongly implying that the covid inoculations will keep you from getting covid:

    • #52
  23. MarciN Member
    MarciN
    @MarciN

    Old Bathos (View Comment):

    MarciN (View Comment):
    I think it’s important to know who made false claims about the vaccine. I don’t which politicians said what, but I followed the companies a little bit, and I did not see the companies misrepresent their hope for the vaccine, which was an amelioration of symptoms for nearly everyone who got the vaccine and a prevention of any symptoms at all for some lucky ones. I think they’ve always seen it as being like the flu vaccine.

    But notice that nobody has ever called flu shots “flu vaccines” because that would seem misleading.

    COVID-19 was a Great Crisis and the vaccines were The Solution. I challenge anybody to find on any CDC, FDA or other government website a statement to the effect that the shots are no guarantee against infection but will greatly reduce symptoms which statement was posted at any time from the first rollout in Dec 2020 through the first six months of vaccine availability.

    In October and November, 2021 journals were still using the adjective “rare” to refer to “breakthrough” infections. If you get the flu despite a flu shot, does your GP tell you you have a “rare breakthrough” infection?

    I don’t mean to be a pain in the neck, but I am staring right at the drug information sheet I got on October 16, 2011, and it says “Inactivated influenza vaccine 2011-2012, What You Need to Know.” That was the year I started getting them annually because my spleen burst and was removed. :-) All the rest of my records from flu shots say something similar.

    Just speaking from my own line of work, we have a language crisis in this country. :-) I don’t know what people thought they were getting when they got their annual flu “shot,” but it was a vaccine that would last only a year. That’s partly because it is reformulated every year to match whatever is going around South America the winter before it gets here. However, that said, there are only four influenza viruses out there, and I don’t know why we never seem to build up lasting immunity to it. Or perhaps we do. It lasts for some people but not for others. I have no idea what’s up with it.

    • #53
  24. MiMac Thatcher
    MiMac
    @MiMac

    David C. Broussard (View Comment):

    Old Bathos (View Comment):
    If you get the flu despite a flu shot, does your GP tell you you have a “rare breakthrough” infection?

    Nope, one usually assumes that you caught a variant of the flu that wasn’t in the vaccine. Flu vaccines are good against the strains that are expected to be popular in 6-9 months, but other variants are around and you can catch them. I suppose its a “breakthrough” infection, but in reality it’s just another variant (most likely).

    So omicron isn’t a variant, say different from delta?

    • #54
  25. MarciN Member
    MarciN
    @MarciN

    Flicker (View Comment):
    Video of world leaders saying or strongly implying that the covid inoculations will keep you from getting covid:

    But that lie is on them, not on the vaccine developers. 

    Granted, the developers should have entered the fray and stopped the misrepresentations made by the CDC and politicians. But they stayed out of it, for whatever reasons I can’t imagine. That business decision may ultimately destroy people’s faith in vaccines. I believe they should have come out swinging against the misrepresentations. 

    However, to my knowledge, neither Moderna nor Pfizer ever claimed their product would prevent disease for everyone exposed to the virus. 

    • #55
  26. Doctor Robert Member
    Doctor Robert
    @DoctorRobert

    Old Bathos (View Comment):
    My parents-in-law each died 7-10 days after the shot–COD: general old people circulatory and cardiac issues.

    Sorry for your loss, Bathos.

    You don’t see this as suspicious?  They Both died?   BOTH of them? From “circulatory and cardiac issues”, ie, inflammation of their vessels, myocarditis?

    Maybe those were vaccine-induced deaths. 

    • #56
  27. David C. Broussard Coolidge
    David C. Broussard
    @Dbroussa

    MiMac (View Comment):

    David C. Broussard (View Comment):

    Old Bathos (View Comment):
    If you get the flu despite a flu shot, does your GP tell you you have a “rare breakthrough” infection?

    Nope, one usually assumes that you caught a variant of the flu that wasn’t in the vaccine. Flu vaccines are good against the strains that are expected to be popular in 6-9 months, but other variants are around and you can catch them. I suppose its a “breakthrough” infection, but in reality it’s just another variant (most likely).

    So omicron isn’t a variant, say different from delta?

    It is, and the original vaccine was developed from the Alpha variant.  As each variant evolved, they deviated from the original vaccine.  The nice aspect of the mRNA vaccines is that developing a new one is a matter of hours as opposed to months or years.  My understanding now is that they are looking at new mRNA vaccines that are designed for the later variants and updates annually or bianually.

    • #57
  28. MiMac Thatcher
    MiMac
    @MiMac

    David C. Broussard (View Comment):

    MiMac (View Comment):

    David C. Broussard (View Comment):

    Old Bathos (View Comment):
    If you get the flu despite a flu shot, does your GP tell you you have a “rare breakthrough” infection?

    Nope, one usually assumes that you caught a variant of the flu that wasn’t in the vaccine. Flu vaccines are good against the strains that are expected to be popular in 6-9 months, but other variants are around and you can catch them. I suppose its a “breakthrough” infection, but in reality it’s just another variant (most likely).

    So omicron isn’t a variant, say different from delta?

    It is, and the original vaccine was developed from the Alpha variant. As each variant evolved, they deviated from the original vaccine. The nice aspect of the mRNA vaccines is that developing a new one is a matter of hours as opposed to months or years. My understanding now is that they are looking at new mRNA vaccines that are designed for the later variants and updates annually or bianually.

    My reply was TIC- the situation with COVID variants is similar to the flu vax. But anti-vaxxers can’t make the connection. We will likely have a combination flu vax-COVID vax every year. Flu kills 35K/year in the US, longterm COVID has been estimated to probably cause 1/2-twice as many deaths/yr. It will be a significant uptick in cost to our world and the flu/COVID season will cause us to have problems every Jan-March with hospitals getting full. The flu costs us well over $100B/yr and COVID easily will add to it- thank you China.

    • #58
  29. Flicker Coolidge
    Flicker
    @Flicker

    MarciN (View Comment):

    Old Bathos (View Comment):

    MarciN (View Comment):
    I think it’s important to know who made false claims about the vaccine. I don’t which politicians said what, but I followed the companies a little bit, and I did not see the companies misrepresent their hope for the vaccine, which was an amelioration of symptoms for nearly everyone who got the vaccine and a prevention of any symptoms at all for some lucky ones. I think they’ve always seen it as being like the flu vaccine.

    But notice that nobody has ever called flu shots “flu vaccines” because that would seem misleading.

    COVID-19 was a Great Crisis and the vaccines were The Solution. I challenge anybody to find on any CDC, FDA or other government website a statement to the effect that the shots are no guarantee against infection but will greatly reduce symptoms which statement was posted at any time from the first rollout in Dec 2020 through the first six months of vaccine availability.

    In October and November, 2021 journals were still using the adjective “rare” to refer to “breakthrough” infections. If you get the flu despite a flu shot, does your GP tell you you have a “rare breakthrough” infection?

    I don’t mean to be a pain in the neck, but I am staring right at the drug information sheet I got on October 16, 2011, and it says “Inactivated influenza vaccine 2011-2012, What You Need to Know.” That was the year I started getting them annually because my spleen burst and was removed. :-) All the rest of my records from flu shots say something similar.

    Just speaking from my own line of work, we have a language crisis in this country. :-) I don’t know what people thought they were getting when they got their annual flu “shot,” but it was a vaccine that would last only a year. That’s partly because it is reformulated every year to match whatever is going around South America the winter before it gets here. However, that said, there are only four influenza viruses out there, and I don’t know why we never seem to build up lasting immunity to it. Or perhaps we do. It lasts for some people but not for others. I have no idea what’s up with it.

    I’ve never ever considered a flu shot to be a vaccine.  If I do refer to it as a vaccine, I consider it to be a poor, ineffectual, vaccine, because it only works on one virus, and usually for one season, and even all too often it works on strains that are not prevalent.

    • #59
  30. Miffed White Male Member
    Miffed White Male
    @MiffedWhiteMale

    MiMac (View Comment):

     

    C) “The amount of people dying is off the charts”-really? Where are they burying them all? Where is the giant pit they are thrown into? How are they explaining their deaths to their families?

    I personally am aware of only three people who died of Covid – One who died of “the flu” in early February 2020, before Covid was a thing, one in India in summer of 2020, and one in the US that fall.  

    My employer (with in excess of 2000 employees) spent most of 2020 and 2021 sharing weekly statistics of reported case counts by division.  By the time they stopped doing so, they had reported more than 400 positive cases, no deaths, and all but 2 or 3 of those 400-plus cases had returned to work.

    • #60
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