It’s probably just a matter of time before YouTube disappears this video since it is subversive to the MSM and political narrative. Don’t focus too much on Guillain-Barre Syndrome. The important points are misleading propaganda, the hasty roll-out of the swine flu vaccine, government malfeasance, and apparent lying by a former head of the CDC. Enjoy!
I thank WordPress for not censoring me. I hope it’s not because my readership is so minuscule that I’m not on their radar screen!
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Posted in Coronavirus
New Microbes and New Infections, volume 43, September 2021
The five authors conclude that ivermectin (IVM) is effective in both treatment and prevention of COVID-19. They write that it cuts mortality of the disease by somewhere between 20 and 67%. “Six of seven meta-analyses of IVM treatment RCTs reporting in 2021 found notable reductions in COVID-19 fatalities, with a mean 31% relative risk of mortality vs. controls.” The authors are not saying it’s a miracle cure for everyone.
Preventative doses reduce the incidence of symptomatic COVID-19 between 20% (150 microgram/kg weekly) and 50% (12 mg dose (~150 microgram/kg) given once for 42 days of coverage).
We have plenty FDA-approved drugs with similar efficacy numbers.
How does IVM work? “A likely biological mechanism has been indicated to be competitive binding with SARS-CoV-2 spike protein sites….”
A few excerpts:
Recently, Dr Satoshi Omura, the Nobel co-laureate for the discovery of IVM, and colleagues conducted a comprehensive review of IVM clinical activity against COVID-19, concluding that the preponderance of the evidence demonstrated major reductions in mortality and morbidity. Our review of that evidence, updated with consideration of several new studies, supports the same conclusion.
IVM has been used safely in 3.7 billion doses worldwide since 1987 and is well tolerated even at much greater doses than the standard single dose of 200 μg/kg. It has been used in randomized controlled trials for COVID-19 treatment at cumulative doses of 1500 μg/kg, 1600 μg/kg and 3000 μg/kg over 4 or 5 days with only small percentages of mild or transient adverse effects.
Why not RTWT? Note the Peruvian experience. Also see the post-post-postscript (PPPS) and post-post-post-postscripts (PPPPS) below if you want to be totally and uncomfortably mystified.
Steve Parker, M.D.
PS: One of the five authors (TJB) “is a principal in Topelia Therapeutics (Ventura, California), which seeks to commercialize cost-effective treatments for COVID-19, including IVM. All other authors report no conflicts of interest.” Some of you will also discount the reliability of this article because P.A. McCullough is one of the authors.
PPS: One thing I noticed while reading some of the references for the main article is that some investigators define COVID-19 infection as a positive PCR or a new positive antibody test, regardless of symptoms. Do you care much if you feel fine but one of those tests are positive? Most folks don’t. (I’ll admit those tests may have some clinical and public health research applications. Remember that if the cycle threshold on the PCR test is set too high (over 25-30?), the test is wildly inaccurate. Next time you get a COVID-19 PCR test, ask for the cycle threshold. You won’t get an answer.
PPPS: One of the pre-print articles cited by the authors was withdrawn by the publisher (Research Square) In July 2021 and is under investigation (by the publisher, I guess). Click for details at The Guardian.
PPPPS: From Cochrane July 28, 2021:
“Based on the current very low- to low-certainty evidence, we are uncertain about the efficacy and safety of ivermectin used to treat or prevent COVID-19. The completed studies are small and few are considered high quality. Several studies are underway that may produce clearer answers in review updates. Overall, the reliable evidence available does not support the use of ivermectin for treatment or prevention of COVID-19 outside of well-designed randomized trials.”
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From Science Daily:
A new study published in the journal Nature estimates that 103 million Americans, or 31 percent of the U.S. population, had been infected with SARS-CoV-2 by the end of 2020. Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health researchers modeled the spread of the coronavirus, finding that fewer than one-quarter of infections (22%) were accounted for in cases confirmed through public health reports based on testing.
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A hospital bed is worthless unless there are support staff to service that bed’s occupant. Hospitalized COVID-19 patients need nurses, PCTs (patient care technicians), respiratory therapists, physicians, pharmacists, and housekeeping. In this circumstance, nurses and respiratory therapists are more important than physicians.
From Cinncinati.com:
Pushback against area hospital systems’ mandates for employees to be vaccinated against COVID-19 continues with the latest coming from more than 100 nurses who say they’d quit before complying.
A number of UC Medical Center nurses, responding to a union survey, indicated they would leave their jobs if the hospital system’s vaccine mandate is finalized.
The Ohio Nurses Association survey was conducted immediately after UC Health and other area hospital systems announced they would mandate the COVID-19 vaccine for their employees. The survey, done Aug. 5-12, was made public Wednesday. Results show that 136 of 456 nurses who responded – balked at the mandate. The medical center has more than 1,500 nurses.
https://www.cincinnati.com/story/news/2021/09/01/survey-shows-nurses-quit-over-uc-health-covid-19-vaccine-mandate/5680714001/
Steve Parker, M.D.
PS: To avoid the hospital, you need to stay as healthy as possible, which includes regular exercise and weight management. At least change your weight category from obese to overweight. I can help.
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In Israel, 78% of the population over age 12 is fully vaccinated against COVID-19, with the Pfizer/BioNTech product. Nevertheless, the country his seeing a major surge in cases, particularly the delta variant. This variant is also the dominant one in the U.S. this summer.
Viruses cannot replicate without a living host to provide the cellular hardware for reproduction. With “herd immunity,” the virus can’t find enough hosts within which to replicate. Dr Fauci and other “authorities” are still telling us that once 70-75% of the population is vaccinated, we’ll have herd immunity and the virus will peter out.
Wrong….once again.
Plenty of vaccinated folks in Israel are getting infected (aka breakthrough cases) and spreading the virus to others.
From ScienceMag.org:
What is clear is that “breakthrough” cases are not the rare events the term implies. As of 15 August, 514 Israelis were hospitalized with severe or critical COVID-19, a 31% increase from just 4 days earlier. Of the 514, 59% were fully vaccinated. Of the vaccinated, 87% were 60 or older. “There are so many breakthrough infections that they dominate and most of the hospitalized patients are actually vaccinated,” says Uri Shalit, a bioinformatician at the Israel Institute of Technology (Technion) who has consulted on COVID-19 for the government. “One of the big stories from Israel [is]: ‘Vaccines work, but not well enough.’”
A problem with the Pfizer vaccine is that its protection against severe disease wanes over time. What about vaccine protection against death? Time will tell.
Israel politicians cut a supply deal with Pfizer early-on, and the population jumped on the vaccination bandwagon enthusiastically. At this point many of the vaccinees are over six months out from their original jabs. Pfizer admits that protection drops over time, hence the recommendation for booster shots periodically
Recent data from Israel’s health ministry suggests Pfizer’s Covid-19 vaccine is far less effective at preventing infection and symptomatic illness with the Delta variant than with previous strains of coronavirus, a finding that conflicts with other research indicating high levels of protection against the contagious variant as countries around the world struggle to contain new waves of infection.
A full course of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine was just 39% effective at preventing infections and 41% effective at preventing symptomatic infections caused by the Delta Covid-19 variant, according to Israel’s health ministry, down from early estimates of 64% two weeks ago.
The figures, based on data from an unspecified number of people between June 20 and July 17, are significantly lower than previous estimates of the vaccine’s efficacy against other variants, which initial clinical trials found to be 95%.
I haven’t read much yet about the breakthrough infection rate in those who took the non-Pfizer vaccines, such as Moderna, J&J, and AstraZeneca. I think the latter is not available in the U.S. In Arizona where I live, Pfizer and Moderna dominate the market.
Does natural immunity from infection provide better protection than the vaccines? I’m not sure, but I bet it does. For what it’s worth, I don’t recall seeing a patient with a second COVID-19 infection after having it once. But I’ve treated several patients who failed to be protected by the vaccines.
It’s time to face the possibility that we’ll never have great vaccines against COVID-19, just like we don’t have great vaccines against the common cold and the flu. At least the flu vaccines seem to be much safer than the COVID-19 vaccines. COVID-19 may become endemic rather than pandemic, with luck mutating to less virulent variants.
It looks like we’re never getting to herd immunity via the current vaccines. I hope I’m wrong.
Steve Parker, M.D.
PS: Can we skip our flu vaccines this Fall since flu has disappeared?
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Not my creation. If this is yours and you don’t want it disseminated, let me know.
Posted in Coronavirus
Gibralter is pandemic-famous for being the first nation to vaccinate its entire adult population. The effort only took nine weeks and was completed in March 2021. Gibralter has only 34,000 inhabitants in its 2.6 square miles.
So Gibralter should be wide open an back to normal life now, right?
Guess again.
A couple weeks ago, the CDC added Gibralter to its “very high COVID-19 risk” list. CDC recommends not traveling to countries on the list. The linked article at WDSU.com notes that:
Destinations that fall into the “very high” risk category have had more than 500 cases per 100,000 residents in the past 28 days, according to CDC parameters.
These vaccines are increasingly looking like a pig in a poke.
Steve Parker, M.D.
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Posted in Coronavirus
From News.com.au on August 10, 2021:
Some 96 per cent of all Icelandic women over 16 have received at least one vaccine dose. The figure for men is about 90 per cent.
In total, 86 per cent of the population has been fully vaccinated.
It is an outstanding result – so much so, the Reykjavík government felt they had this pandemic beaten.
In June, they rolled back social distancing, mask and travel restrictions.
But those restrictions have been reimposed as a Covid-19 Delta outbreak has sent case numbers soaring.
And even with a significantly reduced rate of severe illness, the explosive outbreak is seriously straining the tiny nation’s health system.
I was vaccinated against tetanus, polio, rubella, whooping cough, and measles: and I never came down with any of those infections. Not even mild forms of them.
It’s starting to look like the COVID-19 vaccines aren’t all they were promised to be.
Steve Parker, M.D.
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The experts said we’d get back to normal when enough of us got vaccinated. They promised we could start socializing again, stop wearing the masks. Well, it hasn’t turned out that way for Israel, which has one of the highest fully vaccinated rates in the world at 62% fully vaccinated. The predominant (only?) vaccine there is Pfizer/BioNTech’s.
According to CNN on Aug 5, 2021:
“Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett is warning that Israelis over 60 are at risk unless they go get their third booster shot immediately.
“In a recorded audio message meant to be forwarded to friends and family, Bennett said that in the next two to three weeks anyone who is over the age of 60 and has not yet received their third vaccine is six times more likely to become seriously ill from the coronavirus, compared to those who are five days past their third shot.
“Bennett warned that all those over the age of 60 take extreme caution until they get their third dose, including not being in crowded places, and only seeing their grandchildren outside and masked.
“Israel is facing a new wave of infections, with 3,430 testing positive on Wednesday according to the Israeli Ministry of Health, while 250 people are listed as in serious condition. Two weeks ago, that figure stood at 62.”
The article also mentions that if you’re traveling to Israel from the U.S., you have to quarantine upon arrival, even if you’re vaccinated. Gee, that makes me think they don’t have much faith in the vaccine. I’m guessing the quarantine is for 10-14 days.
I wonder if U.S. businesses and governments requiring COVID-19 vaccination for employees (and customers) will change course with all the recent news about disappointing effectiveness.
Nah…their bloated egos will not allow.
Steve Parker, M.D.
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Ronald B Brown has criticized the initial clinical trials (three months long?) of Pfizer and Moderna vaccines for not reporting the absolute risk reduction of COVID-19 infection by the vaccines. What’s been reported is the relative risk reduction, aka efficacy or effectiveness. The absolute risk reductions were 0.7% (Pfizer) and 1.1% (Moderna), compared to relative risk reductions of 95% or so. Brown says the much higher figures for effectiveness (relative risk reduction) tend to convince the general public and many healthcare providers that the vaccines are much more beneficial than in reality. Ignorance of the “absolute versus relative risk reduction” issue is how many physicians get tricked into prescribing drugs that provide very little, if any, benefit to the average individual patient.
See Brown’s article in Medicina.
Steve Parker, M.D.
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Advanced Mediterranean Diet 