COVID-19: FDA Approves the Pfizer Jab, Does this Change Anything from a Medical Standpoint?

2021-08-25 • SEND FEEDBACK |
Related: ethics in medicine, gear, gears of the machine, Medical Industrial Complex, natural immunity, SARS-CoV-2 aka COVID-19 aka Coronavirus, vaccination

re: COVID-19
re: Long-Haul COVID

Real science is never settled, and anyone who has certainty on such things is not qualified to discuss it.

Now that the FDA has formally approved the Pfizer vaccine jab thus taking it off “experimental” status, what has changed? Nothing in a medical sense, except rocket fuel for the ruling class to extract punitive measures against those refusing the vaccine. Because formal approval changes absolutely nothing with regard to the science—it’s a bureaucratic stamp of approval in which no dissenting viewpoints are tolerated, and with powerful financial interests at stake.

You have to judge for yourself whether the risk of COVID or Long-Haul COVID exceeds the risk of the Trump vaccines for your own personal situation. This is what the government and “experts” demand you abandon—your personal judgment for your personal situation. Yet no doctor can make any guarantees about an individual other than statistics-based guesses. And statistics applied to an individual are a logical fallacy.

If things go 'south' for you with vaccination, you’re on your own—neither your doctor nor your government will take any responsibility whatsoever. Imagine you get vaccinated and then develop a neurological problem or auto-immune damage or disabling arthritis—“coincidences”. But you must also imagine getting COVID or Long-Haul COVID and be comfortable with your decision.

Since it is basically impossible to know either way, what it comes down to is a psychological decision. The psychological comfort with getting vaxxed or not is every bit as valid as other considerations, and no one should force anyone—it’s contemptibly unethical on so many levels.

Those considerations understood, I deem the risk of the vaccine(s) lower than that of the real thing for many people, certainly for obese or older people, those with diabetes or pulmonary issues, etc. Because credible data do show that severe outcomes are much lower among the vaccinated.

My wife and one daughter are vaccinated, but two daughters are not, for specific reasons. Nor am I, since (a) I believe I have natural immunity, and (b) I fear vaccination because I remain in severely weakened condition. A big  “f*ck you” to anyone who thinks they can demand we get vaccinated.

The unspoken truths no one in government will talk about

There is a lot of nuance that applies to at least tens of millions:

• An estimated 120 million Americans now have natural immunity from having already had COVID (which might be 13X better protection than vaccination). For this cohort, the risks of vaccine reactions are higher and the benefits nil or nearly so. At the least, there is no credible science that vaccinating those with natural immunity outweighs the risks. Yet the government is demanding that these people take this greater risk for no benefit. This is bad science, bad medicine and fascist in nature.
• The amount of dubious data out there is outrageous. In particular, hospitalization “with COVID” vs “from COVID”. Poor data and worse data analysis, including highly selective disclosure are all part and parcel of the narrative. I find it very hard to trust the data given the shenanigans.
• If you are young and healthy (particularly teens), it’s not at all clear that the benefits outweigh the risks. It’s so outrageously unfounded that I deem it medical malpractice and child abuse.
• If you are among the unlucky ones to see death or permanent disability from the vaccines (20K people or so) or even arthritic problems, the government doesn’t give a damn—you’re on your own and SOL.
• Notice that the narrative has no interest in aggressively investigating treatments but focuses solely on demanding vaccination? Notice that the FDA and CDC have no random sampling for natural immunity and other outcomes? It’s stupefyingly incompetent at every level. Follow the money. It’s about compliance, not about seeking out the best possible solutions.
• It is inherently vicious to demand that someone else takes risks for your statistical benefit. What should not be surprising is that with half the country in favor of socialism, self-immolation with no compensation is deemed a virtue.

Since Pfizer and Moderna have broken disclosure on its control group, we cannot even track vaccine side effects against a control group. Maybe this is the only fair thing to do for those people, but lacking a control group we will never have objective data on the vaccine side effects.

In spite of all this, I will repeat: I deem the Trump vaccines the odds-on favorite for many people.

See also: Matt Taibbi: NPR Trashes Free Speech. A Brief Response.

Restoring credibility

These are the bare minimum to restore confidence and that’s the real government-created problem here—being lied to all this time. Sadly, the probability of these happening hover somewhere close to zero.

• Those with proven natural immunity should have a vaccine exemption and be treated equally with vaccinated people.
• The data have to be collected in credible ways, and with full and fair analysis.
• At least a million dollars of compensation for those seriously harmed by the vaccine, and without jumping through massive bureaucratic hoops.
• Vaccine side effects need aggressive tracking for short and medium/long term effects.