I found this post by Alex Berenson a bit distressing. Here’s the gist:
Last month, three scientists pointed out flu shots barely work and couldn’t be approved based on the standards used for vaccines like measles:
“After more than 60 years of experience with influenza vaccines, very little improvement in vaccine prevention of infection has been noted… our best approved influenza vaccines would be inadequate for licensure for most other vaccine-preventable diseases.†[emphasis added]
True. Several rigorous papers have proven that flu shots are placebos masquerading as public policy.
But the same scientists then compared our beloved and groundbreaking Covid vaccines to those pointless flu jabs:
As variant SARS-CoV-2 strains have emerged, deficiencies in these [Covid] vaccines reminiscent of influenza vaccines have become apparent.
Just who are these vicious anti-vax rebels?
Three researchers at the National Institutes for Health. Including one whose name may ring a bell: the now-retired Dr. Anthony S. Fauci.
Yet the Covid/flu shot comparison is only one of the article’s bombshells.
At its core, the piece raises the question of whether any vaccines can ever work well enough to matter against bugs like common coronaviruses, influenza, and RSV.
And that question hides an even more troubling one, one the authors do not ask: have our efforts to beat Sars-Cov-2 by driving our immune response in ways it was not designed to go caused dangers we are only beginning to understand?
I chose to be vaccinated—two primary courses and two boosters. I weighed the risks and benefits and decided it was the best choice for me. I don’t regret my choice but part of the reason for that may be that I did my homework and made my choice based on that. I have not gotten the additional booster because, once again, I evaluated the risks and benefits and decided that was the best course of action. I know several physicians around my age (not as healthy as I) who are doing the same thing.
Given that it appears to be the case that Sars-CoV-2 mutates sufficiently rapidly that we will never achieve “herd immunity” it seems to me that the risks and benefits are quite different from something like smallpox, polio, or measles. Additionally, at this point the long term risks of mRNA vaccines are unknown. We’ll know in due course.
I don’t believe the analogy with the flu vaccine is particularly good but even if it is, the effectiveness of the flu vaccine is extremely variable from year to year.
In some seasons (2010-2011) it was pretty effective. In others (2014-2015) it wasn’t very effective at all. I also find it worrisome that the trend in its efficacy appears to be going down. Is that because the efficacy of the vaccines is declining, our ability to find the right cocktail is declining, or just dumb luck?
Annual immunizations is a relatively recent phenomenon. It may be that it isn’t a particularly good practice. We’ll see.
It’s not surprising to see this change – indeed it seems many predicted that eventually, Covid would become yet another one of the commonly circulating respiratory viruses.
I got the original shot and I think a total of two or three boosters, I forget. The most recent was the bivalent one that came out last fall.
Heh. All politics, very little science. Notice Fauci is aligning himself with this view now. “He always knew,” you see.
The analogy with flu is fundamental. Respiratory virus characteristics vs other viruses.
As usual, he is wrong, but being wrong keeps him well paid. As you noted in your numbers the flu vaccine helps. Its not 100% effective and it is better some years than others, but they are not placebos. Many years of data on this. Lots of science.
Remember that when the vaccine first came out against the initial variants it was close to 90% effective in stopping spread of disease. That is now down to below 50%, however, it is still strongly preventive against serious disease.
Query- If you are going to cite people like Berenson are you also going to start citing people on the left with the same amount of credibility, like Micheal Moore? I hope not.
Steve
Pfizer and the FDA, as some might remember, wanted the clinical trials kept under wraps for decades – some 70 years. It was only under a court order that much of it has been slowly released and, par for the course, the legacy media and establishment medical heads say nothing.
What a group of professionals and lawyers have discovered, though, tediously combing through the data, is how tainted and covered up the Pfizer trials were. There were at least 500 safety signals in the trials that went unreported. And, because the placebo group was swiftly unblinded and given the vaccine there was very little data to contrast the side effects of the vaccinated group vs the unvaccinated volunteers in the study.
In the meantime people who have been vaccine-injured are intimidated to stay quiet, or discredited and told their unexplained disabilities had nothing to do with taking the vaccine. Doctors, scientists, epidemiologists who come forward, warning people about the hazards hidden in these experimental vaccines, are threatened by medical boards and hospitals, having hospital privileges suspended and licenses subject to being taken away for spreading “misinformation.â€
In the meantime SADS (sudden adult death syndrome) is growing, young people, especially those involved in athletics are dying in greater numbers, and insurance companies are seeing a huge spike in deaths among the working adult demographic. Autopsies done in the last few years have also produced not-before-seen type of blood clotting – stringy and unnatural looking. Cancers, long in remission, have roared back as stage 4. Despite all these health incongruities vaccines continue to be pushed and are now part of the vaccine schedule for school children.
https://twitter.com/Baklava_USA/status/1624203591627182080
The initial benefit of the COVID vaccine was very high, because COVID was a novel coronavirus, meaning the human body had no experience with the strain. That meant it took some time for the body to build an immune response, often resulting in severe disease as the virus replicated uncontrollably. As the disease evolves, the virus will tend to mutate so that existing antibodies are less effective, but the immune memory cells can respond quickly, meaning the virus is quickly cleared.
Jan: Pfizer and the FDA, as some might remember, wanted the clinical trials kept under wraps for decades – some 70 years.
The clinical trials were released at the time they were completed. What was at issue was the individualized data, which is normally not released. To release the individualized data requires a complex process of anonymization, which can take significant time and resources.
Jan: In the meantime . . .
There is no data to support significant numbers of deaths due to the vaccine.
The Pfizer Reports book contains 50 reports written by the highly-credentialed War Room/DailyClout Pfizer Documents Analysis Project volunteers between March and December 2022. The reports are based on information in the primary source Pfizer documents released under court order by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, as well as on other key medical studies and literature that relate to Pfizer’s experimental gene therapy mRNA COVID vaccine. These important documents have been ignored by the mainstream media; however, to date, no one has challenged the accuracy of what they report. Now, for the first time, the 2022 Pfizer Reports are available in book format.
The ebook kindle edition is @ Amazon.
The release of clinical trials was not as Zach described. The bulk of their trials, including the early unblinding of the control group, their handling and ghosting of pregnant volunteers, and the total obfuscation of the many side effects experienced so that informed consent was never possible when distributing this vaccine, is at issue here.
There were also Pfizer whistleblowers coming forth, early on, detailing how corrupted the trials were, but the press and medical associations ignored their information. What can be whited-out, evidence ignored is a lie difficult to prove.
https://goodsciencing.com/covid/athletes-suffer-cardiac-arrest-die-after-covid-shot/
When you put names, ages and professions to all who have “died suddenly†the vaccines toxicity become more questionable.
https://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2023/02/lets_pay_attention_to_the_experts_who_challenged_the_covid_narrative.html
Jan: The ebook kindle edition is @ Amazon.
For $10. Have they published their results in scientific journals?
Jan: the early unblinding of the control group
That was public. They did so because the results were decidedly positive, and they couldn’t ethically continue to refuse the vaccine to those who had been given placebos.
In order to address your other claims, they would have be made more specific.
Jan, your comment must have been stuck in moderation.
Jan: When you put names, ages and professions to all who have “died suddenly†the vaccines toxicity become more questionable.
The first thing that sticks out: The denominator for comparison, from the Maron study. is young athletes, defined as 19±6 years of age current athletes. The numerator includes Uche Nwaneri, near middle age former athlete. That is a clear apples and oranges comparison, meaning the conclusion that rates of sudden death have increased is unfounded.
https://www.abc4.com/news/digital-exclusives/everyone-has-to-speak-in-code-utahns-with-reported-covid-vaccine-injuries-say-theyre-being-silenced-on-social-media/
There is no rationale for hurriedly unblinding a controversial genetic vaccine whose only previous animal study on rats resulted in all of them
dying. People are routinely being injured and dying (suddenly) since these vaccines have been universally given. The latest public figure, Nancy Mace, attributed her disabilities to the vaccine. However, getting past the roadblocks put up by powerful pharmaceuticals, a complicit press and medical establishment have been difficult if not impossible.
I was going to respond again but I forgot. I blame the vaccine.
Steve
Jan: There is no rationale for hurriedly unblinding a controversial genetic vaccine
You were provided the reason above. Because once the efficacy of the vaccine was proven, it would be unethical to continue to withhold vaccination from the placebo group.
Jan: whose only previous animal study on rats resulted in all of them dying.
To what are you referring?
Jan: The latest public figure, Nancy Mace, attributed her disabilities to the vaccine.
Serious adverse effects can occur, but are rare, much rarer than serious adverse effects from naïve infection.
Covid-19 vaccine did not kill every animal it was tested on
The capture of fact-checkers is a growing “fact.â€
More data, not “fact-checking†sampling, regarding the impact of the COVID shots on the health of pilots in the military:
https://www.military.com/daily-news/2023/02/09/military-pilots-reported-1700-more-medical-incidents-during-pandemic-pentagon-says-they-just-had.html
https://www.military.com/daily-news/2023/02/09/military-pilots-reported-1700-more-medical-incidents-during-pandemic-pentagon-says-they-just-had.html
When an injection produces so many controversial side effects, deaths, and whose efficacy has been shown to be falsely hyped and labeled, as with the Pfizer/Madurna roll-outs, historically they are pulled from the market by the manufacturer for safety reasons. That is an ethical move, the right thing to do, rather than one who obfuscates the safety signals shown in Pfizer’s very own clinical trial data. According to the VAERS report in 12/2022, 906,544 adverse reactions and 15,584 deaths have been attributed to the vaccine. These numbers, although the highest in three decades of reporting, are considered low as VAERS is a complicated voluntary system that many hospitals discourage their personnel from participating in. In fact it is common knowledge among many that it really represents a mere fraction, 10%, of the actual adverse reactions and deaths that have occurred after the onset of mass vaccinations.
Also, the death of lab rats has been a highly reported result following the testing of the vaccine. As for those “fact checkers,†it is also becoming known they have been captured, and their fact checking has become more political than reliable and sound.
Jan: Military Pilots Reported 1,700% More Medical Incidents During the Pandemic. The Pentagon Says They Just Had COVID
Yeah. There was a pandemic.
Jan: When an injection produces so many controversial side effects, deaths, and whose efficacy has been shown to be falsely hyped and labeled
You keep making claims. When we point out why they are wrong, you just make a somewhat different claim.
Jan: According to the VAERS report in 12/2022, 906,544 adverse reactions and 15,584 deaths have been attributed to the vaccine.
There is no such thing as “according to the VAERS report.” VAERS states, “VAERS reports may contain information that is incomplete, inaccurate, coincidental, or unverifiable.”
Jan: Also, the death of lab rats has been a highly reported result following the testing of the vaccine.
Please provide a primary source for the claim.