As COVID-19 cases begin to rise in parts of the U.S., joining growing numbers across much of Europe, I think the country, and its elected officials, have to face up to the fact that the vaccines are not working as well as they led us to believe. Here are some examples:
- In Connecticut, 89 people living or working in a nursing have had COVID-19 since Sept 30. All but two were fully vaccinated.
- The Ottawa Senators hockey team, is 100 percent vaccinated, but more than 40 percent of the team has COVID-19.
- Vermont, the state with the highest level of immunization in the country, now has one of the highest rates of infection in the country and is in the midst of a surge.
- According to the New York Times, U.S. cases have increased 23 percent in the past 14 days to a daily average of 88,140. The daily number of new cases this week is about twice last year, before the vaccines were developed.
The government will argue that having the vaccine makes less likely to get sick, but if you get a “breakthrough case,” you are less likely to die. When they push the vaccine, they rarely talk about breakthrough cases, which are when someone who is vaccinated gets sick. How do they explain that most of the deaths from COVID-19 in the UK and Sweden last month were people who had been fully vaccinated?
Then there is the question of what is not being said. No one in authority seems to want to discuss myocarditis and pericarditis, potential side effects of the vaccine.
Two Perspectives
How you approach the vaccine boils down to two perspectives:
Perspective One: While the COVID-19 vaccine is not as effective as I would like, getting it is probably the best way to ensure COVID-19 does not kill you.
Perspective Two: I would rather face the risk of getting COVID-19 than injecting into my body (or the body of my children) a mRNA vaccine that has not been studied for long-term side effects, that has some known side effects, and that seems to have a great deal of anecdotal evidence against it.
As I have said before: I don’t care whether or not you get the shot. I think that is both your business and your decision. I don’t think government mandates are necessary, appropriate, or legal.
One has to wonder if by slowing the spread of virus the vaccine contributed to the creation of mutations, lengthened the duration of the disease and the time in which have to deal with the virus, and delayed the onset of herd immunity. I also wonder if lockdowns, social distancing, and similar restrictions are just making things worse? For example, Australia has endured very strict lockdowns and is aggressively enforcing their vaccine mandate. At some point, however, restrictions will have to be relaxed. It’s quite possible that their actions are simply delaying the inevitable infections, and by not letting nature take its course, the final results will be worse.
What will History Say?
It’s quite possible that history will say we have over reacted. This is a disease that has killed only 1.6 percent of the people who contracted it in the U.S. (and the number of deaths may be exaggerated). Many of them were old, infirm, and/or had serious comorbidities. To that extent, it may not be all that much different from traditional pneumonia, which takes a toll in elder care facilities every winter.
This is the first time a country has responded to a virus by locking up healthy people and shutting down businesses. When you think about it, we all followed in the footsteps of Communist China, which shut down its cities, welded people into their apartments, and lied about the number of dead. Maybe we would have been better off letting the disease run its course.
History will judge us, but for now we are all living with the many unintended and unexpected side effects of the lockdown, which includes things like an increase of heart disease; an increase in child abuse, an uptick in alcoholism and drug use; a “lost generation” of kids who were pulled from school, interrupting their social and educational development; and giant stimulus programs that have given use inflation.
As we head into what appears to be yet another wave of rising COVID-19 cases, use your own judgement. In my opinion, it is not the government’s responsibility to save you. They may give you the tools and a path to fight COVID-19, but you should decide whether to take it. Get the vaccine or the booster if you want. Or don’t. Go about your life normally if you so desire. If you prefer to stay home and limit your contacts, then do so. You’re adults. Educate yourself and do what works for you.
