The truth about coronavirus (COVID-19) and its vaccines.

There are many false and questionable claims about COVID-19 and the vaccines against it. The following post stands against false claims and in favor of true knowledge by refuting a few myths. First, there is the “experimental” designation that is given to new vaccines.

The vaccines (and here we are talking specifically about the Pfizer- vaccine) begin their wide use with an “Emergency Use Authorization” or “EUA”– this doesn’t occur until after tens of thousands of volunteers are safely vaccinated with the new product. EUA continues until the FDA decides that it meets all the standards for unrestricted use; this is known as “fully FDA licensed” and signifies free use by all medical professionals. The FDA is known to take its time when granting approval to a drug or vaccine, but is in this case aware that it is urgent that we have a decision– if it is good, we should be able to use it right away.

The Pfizer vaccine has not been considered for a vaccine mandate until it is “fully FDA licensed.” No-one is being forced to use it until it has been fully evaluated. Once the vaccine is licensed, a mandate is completely legal. A very old Supreme Court precedent from an early smallpox epidemic, 1905’s Jacobson v. Massachusetts, holds that inoculating against smallpox (similar to vaccination) can be required of an entire population if there is an epidemic going on. Epidemics are less serious than pandemics, so it is safe to assume that the Supreme Court gives government the authority to require its citizens to be vaccinated at the present time.

There is no religion that has a prohibition against the use of vaccines. They contain no products of aborted fetuses or other malicious material. The idea of a religious exemption to vaccination is absurd, and some state vaccine mandates do not have a religious exemption– only a medical exemption in rare cases.

The idea that vaccines are a violation of the Nuremberg Laws completely misunderstands the nature of these laws. Treatment of people to prevent or cure illness is governed by completely different laws. Medical treatment proceeds with the assumption that treatment will heal or at least relieve suffering in the patients. The Nuremberg Laws apply to those who perform experiments on people, who may or may not directly benefit from the experiment. These Laws are necessarily extremely restrictive to protect the interests of the person who is experimented upon.

Claims that there are tens of thousands of fatalities and serious injuries from the vaccines fundamentally misunderstands the source of these numbers: the Vaccine Adverse Events Recording System (VAERS), which compiles records of all complaints of adverse events that occur around the time of vaccination, whether or not they have any causative relationship. When compared with a control group, there is no sign in those vaccinated of increased morbidity or mortality. VAERS merely records randomly coincidental events associated with vaccines and has no relationship with actual causality.

Comparison of vaccinators with Nazi doctors like Mengele is particularly offensive. Mengele’s experiments were always to the detriment of those who were experimented upon. He explored unscientific ideas and sadistic surgeries too monstrous to discuss. There is no comparison to modern scientists who follow rigorous scientific ethics in searching for things that will save or improve people’s lives using documented, scientific hypotheses and sensible logical humane testing in that search.

The use of masks, especially well-fitting masks made with appropriate fabrics, has been proven to dramatically reduce a person’s risk of catching COVID-19 during exposures typical of a school, office, or bar. Numerous adaptations such as the plexiglass shields between cashier and customer have also been shown to be protective. The most risky type of social encounter has been found to occur in restaurants, where people are eating together and can’t wear masks.

The new variant, called omicron, is now thought to be more contagious than any previous variant. So far, it appears to cause mild infections, mostly in people who are double or triple vaccinated. Double vaccination (two shots, three weeks apart) gives weak protection against omicron, but taking a third shot as a booster gives good protection. Vaccine researchers are working on a new vaccine that will match the omicron variant and give strong protection– it may be two months before early samples of the new vaccine are available to test.

That’s about all she wrote. Anything else anyone tells you is false until proven otherwise.

photo courtesy of “Meine Reise geht hier leider zu Ende. Märchen beginnen mit” and pixabay