Should you get the Corona virus vaccine?

This is the big question for the New Year!  And it is not up to me to tell you whether or not you should take this vaccine, but I thought we should start a discussion on the pros and cons of this vaccine.  I think most folks do not have the time to dig into the data but I think it needs to be uncovered.  I will try to give you as much data and evidence as to what is known about this vaccine and then you can make up your own mind.  At the end of this article I will tell you my choice.

Pandemics are bad and Covid-19 is a bad virus and that is without question.  It spreads amazingly fast. And it has killed many people.  However, doctors now have many great ways to treat it and there are great things YOU can do to avoid it (or lesson the intensity if you get it).  More on this at end of this post.  Most people who get the virus are just fine after a few days of cough, fever, aches, pains and tiredness.  The vast majority of people who have died of covid-19 were elderly with at least two other underlying conditions OR had a very poor nutritional status (particularly low vitamin D blood levels) at the time of infection.  These at-risk folks need to be protected from the virus, without question.  But the rest of us should go about our daily lives without too much worry.

Many people are getting tested for Covid-19 whether they have symptoms or not.  Some are testing positive even though they have no symptoms.  This is being called “asymptomatic cases”.  Personally I do not believe there is such a thing as an “asymptomatic” disease.  If you have a disease you will have symptoms!  That is the way Mother Nature works.  If you had a positive test for corona virus and you have no symptoms, it likely means you had a false positive.  These are common with the RT-PCR test as this test will amplify any DNA/RNA picked up by the swab in the back of your throat.  If the swab picks up an old dead virus or your own cell material it will amplify it and call it “positive”.  This is misleading.  The developer of the PCR test (Kary Mullis) has said the test identifies substances qualitatively but not quantitatively. It cannot tell you if you have enough virus to make you sick or even if the virus is “dead” or “alive”. 

Let’s talk about the vaccine.  When Pfizer, Moderna or AstraZeneca say their vaccine is at least 90% effective, most folks think “wow, I will not get Covid-19” after I get the vaccine.  That is wrong, the pharmaceutical companies define “effective” as “limiting moderate symptoms”.  You may still get Covid-19.   This shocked me when I first learned this.  You mean the vaccine won’t stop Covid-19?  No, it will not.  “Effective” does not mean that it stops you from getting Covid-19.  Effective only means that the vaccine “prevents moderate symptoms”.

• “Measuring differences amongst only those infected by SARS-CoV-2 underscores the implicit conclusion that the vaccines are not expected to prevent infection, only modify symptoms of those infected.”  (More here).
• “Three of the vaccine protocols — Moderna, Pfizer, and AstraZeneca — do not require that their vaccines prevent serious disease only that they prevent moderate symptoms which may be as mild as cough, or headache.”

This is shocking!  The vaccine has much less value if all it does is lesson symptoms.  Granted this might be good for someone who might succumb to fever, cough and lung issues but there are plenty of other therapeutics that address these things.

Here is what you REALLY NEED TO KNOW about the vaccine:  There has never been a successful vaccine that stops a corona virus.  There are many types of corona viruses besides the Covid-19.  (A cold is a corona virus also).  In other words, there are no vaccines for the common cold.  If it were possible, it would have been done a long time ago.  People have tried to invent vaccines for corona viruses but all have failed and failed badly.  Here are three examples you should consider before deciding to get this vaccine: 

Why did this happen? It appears that corona virus vaccines produce two kinds of antibody responses in the test animal or human but only one antibody response is desirable. The two responses are called neutralizing & binding.   In the above cases, the vaccines produced the wrong antibody (binding) and this led to an extreme immune response in the patients.   Scientists are only just now figuring this out.  Here is an excellent article by doctor Mercola on the extreme antibody responses.  Hence, you will hear that some researchers are now advising against getting the coronavirus vaccine if you have any kind of autoimmune disorder as this may prompt an extreme response in your body. 

Another reaction to an infection by the virus, and potentially a reaction after receiving the vaccine is the cytokine storm.   In severe and fatal SARS and MERS infections the dominance of the inflammatory response gave rise to the concept that cellular damage was due to a “cytokine storm”. Cytokines are a good response to an infection but not if they spin out of control.  Go here and here for definition of cytokines.  Go here for Journal of Infectious Disease article on should we fear post vaccine response?

Even the FDA makes a statement in its Briefing Document (page 51 of 54 pages) that leaves the door open for future immune trouble-  “…risk of vaccine-enhanced disease over time, potentially associated with waning immunity, remains unknown and needs to be evaluated further in ongoing clinical trials and in observational studies that could be conducted following authorization and/or licensure.“  AND, a former Chief Science Officer named Michael Yeadon of the pharmaceutical giant Pfizer, has concerns about the vaccine’s effect on woman and the placenta.  He has started a petition to the European Medicine Agency to halt the vaccine until further testing can confirm safety for pregnant women.

All of this doesn’t mean you will get sick or die from this vaccine but it should give you pause about the speed with which this vaccine was rolled out and the lack of time to flush out any long-term side effects.

GUINEA PIGS

Many health care workers are starting to refuse the vaccination.  The Ohio governor says about 60% of nurses in the state are refusing the shot.  “Up to half of health care workers in one California county and a Texas hospital say they will not get the shot…”  “I don’t want to be a guinea pig,” Sheena Bumpas, a certified nursing assistant at a home in Duncan, Okla., told The New York Times last month.  Go here for articles.

Dr. Gilbert Berdine, associate professor of medicine at Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center, writes in an article here, that he has yet to find a medical colleague who is willing to be among the first to take the experimental vaccine. Most say they want to review the safety data after a year or so of use before they’ll consider getting it.  “These colleagues are concerned about possible autoimmune side effects that may not appear for months after vaccination.” It also has to be mentioned that the testing of this vaccine has been done on HEALTHY, relatively young people. The elderly with medical conditions are not included. And yet, governments are pushing that the one group for which we have little data is being encouraged to take the vaccine. That should give you pause.

What is my decision?  I will not take the vaccine, at least not now and maybe never.  Will you?  

Here are a few things you can do to prevent a bad outcome if you get the Covid-19 or to stop it from getting a foot-hold in your body:

• Vitamin D- get your blood lever up to at least 40 ng/ml by supplementation.  LINK
• Vitamin C- the ultimate antiviral-  LINK
• Zinc- take some every day as zinc LINK
• Eat good food, reduce stress, sleep plenty, exercise a bit, and you will be just fine.

Always talk to your health professional before starting anything new. I welcome your comments.