The world is focused on COVID-19 vaccination and the increase in alleged COVID variants that are causing governments to feel they are in a race against time to vaccinate their populations before more variants can be created that may be unpredictable.
What Happened:
COVID cases in 13 US states are spiking, among these states are some of the most highly vaccinated states in the country. An Axios analysis found Michigan is leading in new cases as their 7 day average has spiked by around 53%. Michigan also happens to be above the average US vaccination rate at 13.9%.
Why It Matters:
As these numbers continue to be reported, we notice that cases is still the main focus. I was able to find a small uptick in hospitalizations reported in Michigan, but this did not seem concerning given the level of cases being reported. Most of the time throughout COVID in the US, cases have not been linked to a large spike in hospitalizations.
Many who have ventured outside mainstream media’s tight control on the COVID narrative have hypothesized that strictly focusing on cases does not tell a full picture of what’s going on. Simply testing a person who is found to have COVID isn’t necessarily a negative – in fact, asymptomatic infection may be exactly what the population needs to build herd immunity.
While cases are reported in mainstream media as a scary and negative data point, it’s actually part of the process of a virus moving through a population.
Given we are seeing a spike in COVID cases in the highest vaccinated areas, one might ask: is it possible that the vaccine is spreading the disease? That’s not easy to tell at this point. Virus shedding does occur with other vaccines, but we don’t have information on that for new COVID vaccines.
One might also ask, at what point will vaccination rates even have an effect? After all, those who are participating in vaccination aren’t really being rewarded. The states with high vaccine rates are no where close to a rate that would typically be considered herd immunity. Virtually every state is at 20% or less and what’s needed for herd immunity is a highly debated topic. According to Nature, 60 – 70% of the population would need a vaccine or have had the virus to be protected through herd immunity. This in contrast to Elizabeth Hertel, director of the state Department of Health and Human Services who has stated that the herd immunity threshold could be as high as 90% to 95% with the variants circulating.
That said, herd immunity is built into our natural biological processes as Nature points out. When humans contract a virus, we gain antibodies and herd immunity builds naturally. Natural herd immunity is responsible for major declines in almost all major infectious diseases throughout history.
Further, according to Shweta Bansal, a mathematical biologist at Georgetown University in Washington DC, there is no clear answer that the COVID-19 vaccines even stop transmission. Here is an excerpt from Nature discussing her statements:
“Herd immunity is only relevant if we have a transmission-blocking vaccine. If we don’t, then the only way to get herd immunity in the population is to give everyone the vaccine,” says Shweta Bansal, a mathematical biologist at Georgetown University in Washington DC. Vaccine effectiveness for halting transmission needs to be “pretty darn high” for herd immunity to matter, she says, and at the moment, the data aren’t conclusive. “The Moderna and Pfizer data look quite encouraging,” she says, but exactly how well these and other vaccines stop people from transmitting the virus will have big implications.
Martin Kulldorff, a medical professor at Harvard university and vaccine safety expert recently tweeted,
After having protecting themselves while working class were exposed to the virus, the vaccinated #Zoomers now want #VaccinePassports where immunity from prior infection does not count, despite stronger evidence for protection. One more assault on working people.
There are multiple studies hinting at the point the professor makes, that those who have been infected with covid may have have immunity for years, and possibly even decades. For example, according to a new study authored by respected scientists at leading labs, individuals who recovered from the coronavirus developed “robust” levels of B cells and T cells (necessary for fighting off the virus) and “these cells may persist in the body for a very, very long time.” This is just one of many examples. There are studies that suggest infection to prior coronaviruses, which prior to covid-19 circles the globe infecting hundreds of millions of people every single year, can also provide protection from covid-19.
Might we look at all the asymptomatic people who get tested positive for COVID and are told to be infected and say that technically those people wouldn’t require the vaccine because they have antibodies already? Are we even testing to see whether someone has antibodies before assuming the vaccine is necessary? Do we know how many people in the US have already been infected with COVID, don’t know it, and are immune?
The Takeaway:
With a rushed vaccine there are bound to be side effects in the short term, we are already seeing some of those reported through VAERS. But what about over the longer term? We can’t know what the long term effects of a vaccine are, especially a brand new vaccine technology like we’re seeing with many COVID vaccines. For this reason, should we be taking a different approach? Multiple studies have raised concerns about this. like this one, for example.
Given we know of many treatment options that are HIGHLY effective against COVID, would it not be better to focus on treating patients with cheap and effective alternatives like Ivermectin and letting natural herd immunity do its thing? What this would look like is let people live their lives, bring joy back to people, people who are at higher risk could be a bit more careful. If someone contracts COVID and is actually seriously ill and symptomatic, they could be treated with Ivermectin and potentially better in 3 to 7 days. Herd immunity builds and does its thing.
This as opposed to focusing on a rushed vaccine where we don’t understand the side effects and where billions in tax dollars have to be spent. Perhaps there is a significantly better use for these tax dollars that doesn’t end up in the pockets of pharmaceutical companies.
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