Not my work, but spectacular work!!!
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By Bill
Sardi
Emerging Science Is Slowly Talking Modern Medicine Out Of
Lockdowns, Mask Wearing And A Vaccine
Herd immunity not allowed
The primary
thrust of public health directives has been to keep the population fearful and
therefore compliant and vulnerable to infection and in desperate need of a
vaccine. In the absence of a vaccine people need to be exposed and infected to
activate sufficient antibodies to produce long-term immunity That is what is
called herd immunity.
But by
socially distancing and wearing masks, any herd immunity would theoretically be
slowed, or delayed indefinitely. Health authorities are talking out of two
sides of their mouth. It is possible there will never be a safe and effective
coronavirus vaccine. Herd immunity is plan B, but lockdowns and face-masks run
counter to the development of herd immunity.
Lockdowns aren't intended to save lives
Johan Giesecke, professor emeritus at the Karolinska
Institute in Stockholm says a lockdown only pushes severe cases and deaths into the future,
it will not prevent them.
Vaccine efficacy
Even should
a vaccine be licensed, if a vaccine is to have efficacy (ability to protect
against infection and symptoms of fever, shortness of breath, dry cough, or
prevent hospitalization and death) - - at least 70% of
a population has to be vaccinated to prevent an emerging epidemic and an 80%
immunization rate achieved to extinguish an ongoing epidemic (complete
return to normal)
The Food
& Drug Administration has set the bar low for licensure of a vaccine. A
vaccine will only need to prevent or decrease severity of the COVID-19 coronavirus by at
least 50 percent, said the FDA before a Senate Health, Education, Labor and
Pensions committee. No mention of saving lives.
The chart
below displays the (in)effectiveness of flu vaccines over recent years Efficacy
ranges from 10% to 60% depending on the year. Will any COVID-19 vaccine fare
better?
U.S Flu Vaccine Effectieness by Flu Year (October - February)
Source: Wikipedia
|
|
Year
|
Effective
|
Year
|
Effective
|
Year
|
Effective
|
|
2004
|
10%
|
2009
|
56%
|
2014
|
19%
|
|
2005
|
21%
|
2010
|
60%
|
2015
|
48%
|
|
2006
|
52%
|
2011
|
47%
|
2016
|
40%
|
|
2007
|
37%
|
2012
|
49%
|
2017
|
38%
|
|
2008
|
41%
|
2013
|
52%
|
2018
|
29%
|
But that
performance mark should be confined to 70% to 80% of high-risk individuals, not
the masses of healthy people.
Did Sweden "Fail Completely?"
Sweden is a
country whose approach to protect the public from COVID-19 was to concentrate
preventive measures among the most vulnerable nursing home patients and rely on
herd immunity to protect remaining Swedes.
Critics in
Germany say Swedish health authorities "failed completely"
because the COVID-19 death rate was 1072-times greater in Sweden (2679
deaths/ 10 million inhabitants) compared to Taiwan (just 6 deaths per 24
million inhabitants) that enforced strict measures to prevent the spread of the
disease.
But as Dr.
Giesecke instructs, strict prevention measures are not intended to do anything but keep hospital intensive care
units from being over-run with patients (flatten the curve), not save
lives. There must be some other hidden factors involved to explain the widely
different death rates between Sweden and Taiwan.
Taiwan has inexplicable low COVID-19 death rate
Taiwan is
81 miles off the coast of mainland China and was expected to have the second highest number of cases of
coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) due to its proximity to and number of
flights between China. The country has 23 million citizens of which 850,000
reside in and 404,000 work in China. In 2019, 2.71 million visitors from the
mainland traveled to Taiwan. Taiwan would be expected to have a high infection
and mortality rate given its proximity to China where the COVID-19 pandemic
began.
A financial
factor goes unmentioned. Taiwan does not reimburse hospitals more for a
COVID-19 diagnosis as do other countries.
Another
Asian country, Thailand, also reports a very low COVID-19 death rate.
As of
September 14, 2020 only 58 COVID-19 related deaths have been reported in Thailand
out of a population of 69 million. There have only been 3000 cases reported and all new cases initially came
from overseas. There were actually more (2551) deaths from suicide as a result of livelihoods that
were destroyed in Thailand.
Economist
Martin Armstrong reports Thailand, like Taiwan, is a country that does not pay hospitals
if the patient tests positive for COVID-19.
SARS outbreak of 2003
SARS
(severe acute respiratory syndrome) produced a small epidemic throughout Asia
in 2003. This may explain why Taiwan and Thailand have such low COVID-19 death
rates.
The 2003
outbreak of SARS-CoV (severe acute respiratory syndrome) that attacked Taiwan
resulted in 150,000 being quarantined but only 24 cases were laboratory confirmed.
Another
report states Taiwan had 154 reported cases and 31 SARS deaths in 2003.
There was
also a very low reported transmission rate for SARS in Thailand.
By March of 2003 there were only five suspected cases of SARS in Thailand, all from
infection acquired outside the country.
However,
SARS must have spread far beyond those reported numbers. There must have been
many non-laboratory-confirmed cases that didn't require doctoring or
hospitalization and therefore never got on the COVID-19 counts.
A more
extensive "spreading" study found a single SARS-infected patient in Taiwan exposed more than 10,000
people to this infectious disease. So obviously, many millions were exposed
and infected.
Dr. Johan
Giesecke says:
"Everyone
will be exposed to COVID-19 coronavirus and most people will become infected.
COVID-19 is spreading like wildfire in all countries, but we do not see it – it
almost always spreads from younger people with no or weak symptoms to other
people who will have mild symptoms… there is very little we can do to prevent
this spread… I expect the number of deaths from COVID-19 will be similar
regardless of measures taken… it is not certain vaccines will be very
effective."
Financial incentives skew death rate
Financial
incentive may be a reason for up-coding hospital insurance billings for
pneumonia or tuberculosis to COVID-19 that result in falsely high pandemic
numbers.
Meanwhile,
back in the good old US-of-A hospitals oppose a new ruling that a positive
COVID-19 blood test be required for Medicare funding of care. US hospitals say
the requirement unfairly deprives them of relief money established by Congress.
Legislation
in March of 2020 provided US hospitals a 20% boost to the standard federal
Medicare reimbursement for each patient admitted for COVID-19 coronavirus.
But the
Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) added a requirement, which
took effect Sept. 1. For hospitals to receive the funding, each patient must
have a documented positive Covid-19 lab test.
The Centers
for Medicare & Medicaid Services is concerned that without a lab test
showing someone has Covid-19, hospitals may code hospital admissions for lung
infections incorrectly as having the virus and erroneously receive the 20%
add-on.
Now let's
see what happens to the extraordinary COVID-19 death rates being reported in
the US compared to other developed countries .
Ireland: another case of deception
Health Services Ireland reports, as of Feb. 9, 2020, in a
population of 4.9 million, there have been 1,777 deaths, with 1677 of these
deaths having co-morbid conditions, and only 94 cases admitted to ICU with
median age 84, which is two years beyond the average life expectancy. That only
leaves 100 deaths solely attributed to COVID-19 alone over a period of six
months.
Basically,
COVID-19 kills people who are already on their deathbed. Despite no new deaths
over a 2-week period, Ireland's health authorities were considering another
lockdown.
The antibody deception
Herd immunity is said to require 60-70% of a population to be
immune, either via vaccination or naturally acquired immunity from viral
spread in the community.
The standard
way of determining herd immunity has been to assess antibody levels Based on
antibody studies just 17% of people in London and Sweden were infected and recovered. That is a long way from
achieving herd immunity.
That leaves
83% who would potentially benefit from immunization. Vaccine advocates claim:
"This is how vaccines can be effective without 100% vaccination
coverage."
The virus failed to cooperate
But then
events unfolded and as summer approached, lockdowns were relaxed and something
unexpected happened. The reopening of countries in Europe was met with a steep decline
in the number of new laboratory-confirmed cases.
These
re-openings occurred as the earth reached its summer solstice in the northern
hemisphere and populations had greater skin exposure to the sun as temperatures
rose. Rising sunshine vitamin D levels may have played a role in this
unexpected decline. Coronaviruses have a cycle on the calendar, arising in
December and ending in April in the northern hemisphere.
Unexposed populations had prior infection and immunity
Furthermore,
it was discovered that coronavirus-killing T-cells were evidenced in 40-60% of
populations that were not priorly exposed to COVID-19 How could this be?
So many
millions of people with prior exposure to "common cold" coronaviruses
were already immune to COVID-19. The need to intensely enforce social
distancing is reduced by 50% if a third of the population is already immune.
Don't tell the overly compliant masses or derelict health authorities.
With flu
pandemics, herd immunity is usually attained after two-to-three epidemic waves.
Normally it would take a long time to achieve herd immunity and vaccination
would be welcome.
Despite
contrary data presented in this report, researchers dogmatically conclude
"an effective vaccine presents the safest way to reach herd
immunity."
However, more than 90% of human populations are already positive for at
least three of the "common cold" coronaviruses. Prior coronavirus
infections confer protection for COVID-19.
If 90% have
been previously infected and are now presumably immune, why is everybody taught
to hold their breath for a vaccine?
Infection underestimated
Researchers
unexpectedly report in the British Medical Journal that virologists could be vastly
underestimating infection rates. At fault is the failure to test for different
type of antibodies. Even entirely asymptomatic cases often mount a significant
antibody response. Initially these antibodies were thought to last only a few
months
However
while it was initially believed antibodies against COVID-19 were fleeting,
it was found that a second infection may offer more lasting protection, at
least 4 months.
More
recently there are reports of much longer lasting immunity. Of particular
interest is a small study showing 21 of 23 patients infected with SARS (a
related but more severe coronavirus) exhibited antibodies and 14 of these 23
patients had memory-T-cells that afford long-term immunity six years post
infection. So, prior coronavirus infections can result in long-term COVID-19
immunity.
Everyone gets COVID
But wait.
Yet another startling discovery published in the journal CELL states: "everyone who gets COVID-19, even people with mild or
asymptomatic cases, develop zinc-dependent T cells that can hunt down the
coronavirus if they get exposed again years later."
It's
possible robust memory T-cell responses are maintained in the absence of
detectable antibodies against COVID-19. Even 28% of unexposed patients
exhibited T-cell responses against COVID-19! The importance of zinc to produce T-cells cannot be
overemphasized.
Overlooked herd immunity threshold
Conventional
estimates are when 60-70% of population is immune, herd immunity is in play. A
multi-national team of infectious disease investigators posits that once as few as 10-20% of individuals are immune, herd immunity
may be in play depending on susceptibility and exposure of the population.
The most susceptible individuals become ill, some die, and fewer individuals
remain who are not infected.
Achievement
of herd or natural immunity may be more urgent than initially realized. There may never be a safe and effective COVID-19 vaccine.
Lowering the threshold for herd immunity may be more a more practical and
expedient approach. But what to do with all those billions of dollars of
vaccines the US and other countries have already purchased from vaccine makers?
Universal
supplementation with zinc capsules or lozenges (particularly when ill) to boost memory T-cells
and vitamin D to increase white blood cell activity (neutrophils) and an increased exposure to the virus
(reverse-lockdown) may accelerate herd immunity.
It would be
entirely possible to achieve herd immunity with as little as 10-20%
infection/immunity rate and avert the need for a vaccine for which there will
never be 100% vaccination rate nor 100% efficacy.
But
remember, very low death rates were achieved in Taiwan, Thailand and Ireland
not by any intervention but simply by counting real COVID-19-only deaths, not
improperly coding deaths due to other complicating lung diseases or symptoms,
to collect greater insurance reimbursement.
Prior coronavirus epidemic produced lasting immunity
A major
problem only belatedly realized is that any prior "common-cold"
coronavirus infection is picked up and mistakenly considered active COVID-19 infection.
This has led to a lot of false positives and thrown the whole idea of testing
into a turmoil.
Mischaracterization of infected individuals
A confusing
factor is how the news media and medical authorities characterize those who
test positive for COVID-19. For example, it is reported twice as many New Yorkers tested positive for
antibodies in poor neighborhoods. People in the Bronx were 33.1% positive
for antibodies versus 10% for wealthier Manhattan. But don't pity the poor in
the Bronx. Presumably only 66% in the Bronx need to be vaccinated vs. 90% in
Manhattan.
They test positive but don't shed enough virus to spread it to
others
Then we
have the revelation 90% of people diagnosed with laboratory confirmed COVID-19
coronavirus may not be carrying enough of it to infect anyone else.
The reverse
transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) test is how COVID-19
coronavirus infections are diagnosed.
The test
puts living viruses through doubling cycles to amplify how much virus is
produced.
Cycle
thresholds are the times that the amplifying test has to be repeated to get a
positive result. The higher the viral concentration the fewer amplification
cycles are necessary to confirm the virus.
RT-PCR uses
an enzyme called reverse transcriptase to change a specific piece of RNA into a
matching piece of DNA. The PCR test then amplifies the DNA exponentially, by
doubling the number of molecules time and again.
The Center
For Evidenced Based Medicine offers an online description of the PCR test.
Up to 90%
of people diagnosed with COVID-19 barely carry any traces of the virus Why is
everybody advised to take such draconian measures for this single cold virus
when lung infections like tuberculosis are far deadlier?
Draconian measures unjustified
The
lockdowns and social distancing and mask wearing measures are categorically
ineffective. It's not easy for modern medicine to concede that.
In fact,
lockdowns just resulted in forty percent (40%) of elderly patients are getting sick from
family members in the same apartments.
CDC
recommends people who have had close contact (within 6 feet of an infected
person for at least 15 minutes) with someone with confirmed COVID-19 should undergo testing
for COVID-19.
Most people
will not come into prolonged proximity with others outside the home. The
glove/mask wearing and hand washing measures become superfluous stress
relievers, that is all.
No need for vaccine
Taiwan,
Thailand and Ireland don't need a vaccine. Maybe even the US would realize it
will not significantly benefit from vaccination if its death count was real
rather than inflated by categorizing normal seasonal pneumonia as COVID-19.
Thailand is
not issuing a purchase order for a vaccine from major pharmaceutical
manufacturers as other countries are. Thailand plans to develop their own homegrown vaccine. But
Thai people don't need to be vaccinated. An estimated 68,999,942 Thailanders
would have to be vaccinated to save one life (~8 in 10 million).
If modern
medicine were a science-based profession, it would heed these new findings in
infectious disease. But we know it isn't a science-based industry. Given the
fact an estimated 65,000 additional lives have been lost in the US each
month due to the lockdown, not the coronavirus, there is urgency to lift
needless lockdown and other measures be classified as optional. Dr. Scott Atlas
says the COVID-19 lockdown "will go down as the most heinous misapplication of public
policy in modern America"
[–] 25687949? ago
Ever heard of plausible deniability? She didn't technically say it, but she didn't keep the number to 16 in the example for a reason.
And yes we need to be honest with ourselves and each other and avoid believing self serving lies.