My company offers the same amount.
I saw the sentiment that we aren’t being given all of the information about potential side effects expressed a few times in this comment thread and I don’t think its true. There may have been some media reports that claimed vaccines are perfectly safe and shouldn’t be questioned (I haven’t seen them), but that isn’t the message that I have seen from the CDC or the state and local health authorities. A complete accounting of reported side effects for each vaccine is trivially easy to find on CDCs website (for instance: Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 Vaccine Reactions & Adverse Events | CDC) and before I got a shot I had to sign a waver (required by DHSS) that listed the common side effects, stated that uncommon side effects could be life threatening and warned that no vaccine is completely effective. The pharmacist who injected me spent much longer explaining the likely side effect than the actual injection took, and it was made clear that acute anaphylaxis events do occur so make sure and remain for monitoring after the injection.
Further, when reports of the rare blood clotting problems became known, I saw several media reports (like this one: The AstraZeneca Vaccine Blood-Clot Issue Won't Go Away - The Atlantic) that took it very seriously.
I may be exposed to completely different media environments than all of you, but I haven’t seen much downplaying of side-effects/complications. There are plenty of places to criticize the CDCs handling of the COVID response, I don’t think this is one of them.
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I agree with you that the information is out there.
For many, there has not been due diligence in researching the risks. The trust in these vaccines/gene therapy continues to mystify me.
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Actually, I worked for the Arizona State Public Health Director in the Licensing Division as a health and safety inspector. I was one of the odd balls that didn’t come into the position from a public health background, but I worked in public service for 15 years and half of the time in public health. Even speaking about the potentiality of valid complaint against the the safety of even normal vaccines was considered verboten. I didn’t stick around long enough to hear the mantras about the covid vaccine, but since that agency was so negligent in health and safety, resulting in numerous deaths within my program, I have no doubt they are pushing vaccines very heavily.
Also my sister in law is an executive for the largest hospital system in Arizona. While we are both appalled by the health director’s lack of leadership, once the vaccines came out, it was like “and you aren’t taking the vaccine why?” Like I’m somehow abusing my children. Meanwhile, she’s got all her shots and wear masks everywhere and I’m thinking, yeah I’m gonna wait a little longer.
Just this week someone on my work team died, and they won’t tell us why. To be honest, unless someone comes back and says it’s suspected foul play, I see no other likely option than COVID or COVID vaccine. And I’ve been hearing more reports about people randomly dying within weeks of getting vaccinated. I’m not trying to be fearful or discourage anyone from weighing the risks, but you probably don’t know that no one can file a claim against any vaccine manufacturer without being sworn to silence about the claim and the outcome of the claim. So no, it’s not exactly transparent.
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Great article. Really makes sense of observed Covid responses. I tried to understand this virus when it “came out.” But it was hard to grasp, for me at least. The understanding that it hurts people via 2 different pathways makes sense. Its a very weird virus. I dont think its a stretch to suspect it was engineered in a lab.
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I’m not competent to comment on the article except to say that the occurrence of clotting in relation to mRNA vaccines (Moderna and Pfizer) is much lower than that of viral vectored vaccines (AstraZeneca and Johnson & Johnson). The YouTube channel, Biblical Genetics, has provided excellent coverage of related issues. RNA Vaccines Pros and Cons is a good overview of the science behind mRNA vaccines. Fetal Tissue Research is an ongoing series about the ethical and moral concerns with practices such as using aborted fetus cell lines for vaccine research and manufacturing.
Just because someone dies after receiving the vaccine does not mean the vaccine caused the death. The VAERS database allows anyone to post any bad side effect or experience from a vaccine, without verification or follow up. Far from a chilling effect, it seems as if we are up to our eyeballs in hyper-cautiousness driven by the precautionary principle.
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Frieda,
I don’t want to sound too harsh, but that is an incredibly tendentious article. It would take too long to run down all of the problems, but it is a stew of fear mongering, bad faith argument, misrepresenting sources, and just flat out false statements.
A few of the issues:
- In the section “Clotting Following Vaccination - A Surprise?” the author tries to convince the reader that clots should have been expected because “It was known in 2007 that the same vector used for many of the Covid vaccines consistently caused thrombocytopenia.” It may well be true that adenovirus vectors were known to cause thrombocytopenia, but that has nothing to do with clotting! Other drugs that are known to cause thrombocytopenia include acetaminophen (Tylenol), aspirin, penicillin and statins. In other words, many of the most common pharmaceuticals. He doesn’t even try to show that adenovirus vaccines were linked to clotting (which is the opposite of thrombocytopenia!) but expects his fancy terminology to confuse the reader.
- He supports his position by referencing a number of papers that show that COVID infections cause blood clots. It doesn’t follow that if the uncontrolled reproduction of COVID viruses in your body then a small dose of spike proteins will do the same. Dose matters - a teaspoon of beer won’t get your drunk. It is good to be reminded that COVID infections often cause serious blood clots.
- He pins the clot formation on spike proteins. But this doesn’t pass the smell test. Over 200 million doses of mRNA vaccines (which cause the body to produce spike proteins!) have been given in the US alone, and not one case of TTS has been linked to them. He doesn’t even address mRNA vaccines, or base rates (except in a dismissive sentence about underreporting of adverse effects).
- He states “Well, those pushing that narrative failed to take into account that to make that risk/reward calculation, the risk in the Oxford paper has to be multiplied by the risk of actually being (officially) diagnosed with Covid. Once that is done, the risk is much higher for those vaccinated.” He provides no support for this statement, which is just as well because the statement is inane!
My critique is cursory, but this piece is not to be trusted. I would urge anyone reading this to be wary of “Dr. Mike Williams,” he is clearly not arguing in good faith.
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There are governments who are erring on the side of caution.
The Danish Health Authority said in a statement it had concluded “the benefits of using the COVID-19 vaccine from J&J do not outweigh the risk of causing the possible adverse effect in those who receive the vaccine.”
That’s par for the course for the Europeans. They ban helpful genetically modified organisms for the same reason. It’s one thing to deprive your own wealthy and privileged nation of life saving innovation. What’s worse is when they tell Third Worlders to adopt their delusions.
Sanity is not Europe’s strong suit. Thank God for Brexit. May many more follow.
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How about this doctor? Parents, please take note.
Freida,
This is much better/more reasonable than the other one. Dr. Whelan doesn’t provide any evidence of microvascular injury from vaccines, and as far as I know none has been collected, but I agree that spike proteins may be capable of causing injury.
However, the thing that should be at the top in big flashing letters is that if spike proteins from vaccines can cause injury than an actual COVID infection (which is creating an uncontrolled number of spike proteins) is much more dangerous. Most people who I know who are concerned about vaccines are opposed to COVID restrictions or aren’t taking them very seriously.
Full disclosure - I haven’t gotten my kids vaccinated and I don’t have any particular plans to. I think the risk to them from a vaccine or a COVID infection is far too low to rationally worry about. We let them travel in vehicles on the highway several times a week, which is thousands of times more dangerous. I also don’t think there is compelling evidence that asymptomatic infections in children are a cause of a significant amount of transmission to vulnerable people. But if I was as worried as you seem to be about spike proteins causing injury to my kids I would get them vaccinated tomorrow!
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Would you say there is compelling evidence that asymptomatic transmission in adults is a particular danger to vulnerable people?
Take this with a big grain of salt - because I’m just a guy you don’t know on a message board!
I don’t think there is compelling evidence that asymptomatic cases are a major source of transmission. However, many “asymptomatic” cases are actually presymptomatic meaning people have an infection, they are shedding virus, but they haven’t started experiencing symptoms yet. Those people seem to fairly infectious.
This meta-analysis is pretty good. It suggests that only about 20% of infections remain asymptomatic. It also suggests that both asymptomatics and presymptomatics are somewhat transmissive - presymptomatics about twice as much as asymptomatics: Occurrence and transmission potential of asymptomatic and presymptomatic SARS-CoV-2 infections: A living systematic review and meta-analysis
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I guess my question is: for someone not in an at-risk category, is the risk of a or pre symptomatic transmission to those who are vulnerable significant enough to warrant getting a vaccine (when it’s not strictly speaking necessary for the individual)?
I’m 33, so I’m not specially at risk. I got vaccinated simply because the risk of death or serious complications from the vaccine is orders of magnitude smaller, even for someone like me, than the risk of death or serious complications from the virus itself (which is also very small). That’s laying aside the asymptomatic transmission issue you are asking about. The risk/benefit of the vaccine vs the virus is a statistical easy call.
Also, the vaccine is free and it takes just a few minutes to get it. The cost/benefit is easy too.
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Aaron,
I would have to know what the trade-offs you have in mind before I could answer your question. Even as a person in a very low risk category (me), the risk from COVID is much higher than the risk from the vaccine. I am in a community with a lot of vaccine hesitancy, and I know a lot of people who have had COVID, so I think/thought it was prudent for me to get vaccinated both to protect myself and to protect elderly loved ones (even if they are vaccinated it is not 100% effective, and the effectiveness is lower in elderly people with poor immune systems and they are obviously most at risk if infected). If you are concerned about how ethical the vaccines are, or have some other concern, then the calculus would be more complicated and more personal.
If the tradeoff is just the inconvenience of setting up an appointment and the potential side effects, then I think it is worth it to get vaccinated. The risk of you either getting a severe infection or infecting someone and causing a severe illness is probably greater than the risk that you will have a severe side effect, but that would be pretty hard to calculate, and it would rely on a lot of obscure variables - like how social you are, who you spend your time with, how many acquaintances are vaccinated, etc. There is certainly a common good argument to be made for everyone getting vaccinated ASAP to protect as many people as possible.
As part of this discussion I don’t think we should lose sight of how bad COVID has been in the aggregate.
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What @CWD said.
It’s seems pretty clear that COVID is mostly transmitted by people who don’t know that they are sick (at least yet). My wife and I will be going to get our second doses this Friday, and I will have my kids vaccinated when that becomes a possibility. I’m not concerned about that my kids will get sick from COVID, but we have elderly family members who have been told by their doctor that they will likely die if they get COVID. Since vaccination is not 100% sure to provide protection, it’s safer if younger family members get vaccinated to reduce the chance of transmission. Plus I am also concerned about the health of elderly members at church since we will be spending a couple hours together in the same room.
Could there be bad outcomes from these vaccinations? Could it be the case that the mainstream authorities are downplaying the risks? Sure. But the dangers of COVID to a substantial fraction of the population are quite obvious, and the risks of vaccination would have to be quite high to outweigh that. Moreover, the people who are expressing the most concern about bad outcomes from the COVID vaccine would carry more credibility with me if they didn’t seem to be against vaccines in general.
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Others calling out the CDC for its lack of science.
Studying the adenovirus
vaccines:
Of course, the savvy professor doesn’t want to risk his reputation and career and ends with the expected,
“Covid-19 is much, much, much more dangerous than this extremely rare condition,” Prof. Greinacher said.