Advanced Mediterranean Diet

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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Moderna’s original clinical trial that led to Emergency Use Authorization enrolled ~30,000 participants, half of whom got a placebo injection instead of the vaccine. I tried, unsuccessfully, to find the six-month clinical data from this trial. Mostly what I found was press releases touting ongoing high “effectiveness” (93%), without defining effectiveness. From an article at Reuters Aug 5:

The six-month data also suggests that Moderna’s vaccine still provides 98% protection against severe disease and was 100% effective at preventing death caused by COVID-19. There were three deaths in the placebo arm of the trial.

I need more data. What caused the three deaths in the placebo group? Were there any deaths in the vaccinees? Pfizer’s clinical trial at six months reported 16 deaths in their 22,000 vaccinees. What if the vaccines replace COVID-19 deaths with heart attack and stroke deaths?

I need more data. Moderna has it. It’s suspicious that they’re not sharing.

Steve Parker, M.D.

PS: The formal name of the pertinent Moderna clinical trial is Phase 3 COVE Study of mRNA-1273.

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A few of you are old enough to remember cigarette ads from the 1950s in which physicians touted the health benefits of cigarettes. Several recent international studies suggest that current tobacco smokers are half as likely to get COVID-19. Whether related to nicotine, one or more of hundreds of other chemicals in smoke, or some other factor is unclear.

If you wanna go down this rabbit hole, click through to this article at American Council on Science and Health. Dig deeper by reading the comments there and read the links in the article. You’ll learn about the scientific process and conflicts of interest.

If that’s TL;DR for you. Here’s an excerpt from Cameron English’s post at ACSH:

“No one should take up smoking for fear of COVID-19, and nothing in tobacco has been shown to prevent or treat SARS-COV-2 infection. The point is that we don’t have enough evidence to determine if this protective effect is real or, if so, what causes it. Anyone who says otherwise, whether they’re trying to confirm or debunk it, is overstepping the research. We need (and should want) better data to find out what’s going on.”

Steve Parker, M.D.

PS: I’m not a smoker.

h/t Adam Piggott

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From The Hill:

At least 233 staffers at a pair of San Francisco hospitals have tested positive for COVID-19, the majority of whom were fully vaccinated but became infected with the delta variant.

Fifty-five cases were discovered among staff members at Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital as of July 31, Cristina Padilla, a public relations officer at the hospital, told The Hill. Of those who tested positive, roughly 75 to 80 percent were fully vaccinated, according to The New York Times. More than 7,000 staff members reportedly work at the facility. [I question the 7,000 staffers since they only have 386 beds.]

The University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) Medical Center, said 183 staff members had tested positive as of Friday, 153 of whom were fully vaccinated, the Times reported.

Most of the infections were reportedly from the highly infectious delta variant, which has taken hold in the U.S. as the dominant COVID-19 strain.

Two of the infected staff members from UCSF Medical Center were hospitalized, according to the Times.

Padilla told The Hill that none of those who tested positive at San Francisco General required hospitalization. Most of the infections caused mild to moderate symptoms, according to the Times.

The article said that UCSF’s chief medical officer, Lukejohn Day, indicated that “cases would be far worse if staff members were not vaccinated.” Ivor Cummins would disagree with that. Either the delta variant generally is not very dangerous or they know how to treat it much better in the UK.

Steve Parker, M.D.

PS: Thank you, WordPress, for not censoring and/or de-platforming bloggers who post material not 100% in line with the official narrative.

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ThePatriotNurse hasn’t been banned from YouTube yet. Just a matter of time? Here’s her video asking nurses to prayerfully consider whether to take the vax or not.

From the Association of American Physicians and Surgeons:

“Due to the Joint Statement by various organizations that all “health care and long-term care employers” should impose a requirement to receive “the COVID-19 vaccine” on all their workers, the Association of American Physicians and Surgeons (AAPS) declares that all human beings have the right to liberty, which they do not forfeit when they serve the sick or the disabled. The ethical commitment to protect others does not require workers to surrender their bodily integrity and self-determination and accept “the” intervention dictated by a governmental or quasi-governmental authority.

“As around half the population has received injections permitted under an Emergency Use Authorization (EUA), which by federal law cannot be coerced, variant strains of SARS-CoV-2 have been proliferating, and hospitalizations and deaths are increasing, not diminishing as one would expect in an effective vaccination campaign. Both vaccinated and unvaccinated persons are succumbing. Reports of post-injection death or long-term disability to the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS) are reaching unprecedented levels.

“Medical interventions are rarely completely safe or effective, and risks and benefits differ in individual patients and differing circumstances. Achieving a premature stamp of approval from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA)—premature because studies are not scheduled to be complete until the end of 2022—does not confer safety or effectiveness. FDA-approved products have frequently been withdrawn in the past.

“The Joint Statement recognizes only a medical exemption, and omits mention of a religious exemption though many workers object to receiving these products based on their religious beliefs….”

RTWT.