Posted onAugust 7, 2021|Comments Off on Moderna and Pfizer COVID-19 Vaccines: Ronald B Brown on Absolute versus Relative Risk Reduction
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.
Posted onAugust 6, 2021|Comments Off on Where’s the Beef: Six-Month Clinical Data from the Moderna Vaccine EUA Trial
Two years of Moderna stock performance as of Aug 5, 2021.
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.
Posted onAugust 5, 2021|Comments Off on Wasteful Spending on Heathcare in the U.S.: $1,800 to $5,700 per person per year
From a December 2020 article in the American Journal of Public Health:
Landmark reports from reputable sources have concluded that the United States wastes hundreds of billions of dollars every year on medical care that does not improve health outcomes. While there is widespread agreement over how wasteful medical care spending is defined, there is no consensus on its magnitude or categories. A shared understanding of the magnitude and components of the issue may aid in systematically reducing wasteful spending and creating opportunities for these funds to improve public health.
To this end, we performed a review and crosswalk analysis of the literature to retrieve comprehensive estimates of wasteful medical care spending. We abstracted each source’s definitions, categories of waste, and associated dollar amounts. We synthesized and reclassified waste into 6 categories: clinical inefficiencies, missed prevention opportunities, overuse, administrative waste, excessive prices, and fraud and abuse.
Aggregate estimates of waste varied from $600 billion to more than $1.9 trillion per year, or roughly $1800 to $5700 per person per year. Wider recognition by public health stakeholders of the human and economic costs of medical waste has the potential to catalyze health system transformation.
Posted onAugust 4, 2021|Comments Off on Does Smoking Prevent COVID-19?
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.”
Posted onAugust 3, 2021|Comments Off on COVID-19: A West Coast Outbreak of Delta Variant Among the Vaccinated
“Didn’t Dr Fauci say we’d get back to normal after our vaccinations? If the masks work, why the six feet? If the six feet work, why the masks? If distancing and masks work, why the lockdowns? If those three measures work, why the vaccines? If the vaccines are safe, why the “no liability” clause?
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.
Posted onJuly 31, 2021|Comments Off on ThePatriotNurse Speaks to Nurses on Taking the Vax or Not
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.
“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….”
The scientific name for this particular vaccine is BNT162b2.
Remember that Big Pharma and the CDC have been telling us since November 2020 that the COVID-19 vaccines are highly effective (~90% or better) in preventing severe disease and death.
The study at hand looked at 22,000 folks who got two doses of the vaccine and another 22,000 who got a saline placebo. There were 16 deaths in the vaccine group, 15 in placebo.
Thirty-one participants met the CDC’s definition of severe COVID-19; 30 of these were in the placebo group. So the odds of developing severe COVID-19 over six months if not vaccinated were 0.136%. Or one in 735. (Tell me if my math is wrong.) I fully expect the odds are higher if elderly, lower if young.
Among the vaccinated, 77 developed COVID-19. The placebo group had 850 cases. The report doesn’t state a definition of a “COVID-19 case.” I presume a positive PCR nasal swab and one or more of the usual symptoms. Maddeningly, when the mainstream media mentions a case count, the number may include folks with a positive PCR swab but no symptoms.
Most participants were enrolled between August and October 2020. The U.S. had a major spike in cases in January 2021. The data cut-off date for this study was March 31, 2021, so many of the participants had significant exposure. Median age for both groups was 51. 76% of participants were in the U.S.
The authors note that the risk of developing COVID-19 in the vaccinated tended to rise over time. Vaccine effectiveness declined about 6% every two months. A booster vaccination might be recommended at some point. Pfizer’s CEO revealed this a couple months ago.
For all I know, the linked-to pre-print article above is a hoax. These data are not going to help Pfizer sell more vaccine! If the pre-print is legit, I assume Pfizer was somehow compelled to publish the results.
This preprint reports new research that has not been certified by peer review and should not be used to guide clinical practice.
Posted onJuly 31, 2021|Comments Off on Happy National Avocado Day!
Allison Carter, Communication Manager at Trees.com, informs me that today (July 31, 2021) is National Avocado Day. In my childhood days growing up in Oklahoma and Texas, I don’t recall eating avocados at all. I’m not sure if that’s a reflection on my parents, or if avocados weren’t readily and cheaply available then. I love them now. This graphic is from Allison:
By June 2021, North Carolina residents had National Guard soldiers in full uniform show up at their homes. To my knowledge, Smithfield, North Carolina, is the first region within the United States to perform such measures. You can see video proof here.
Josie Hines was one of many Americans faced with such measures. She had a health official with a clipboard show up at her front door. And guess who was standing behind that health official—threeuniformed National Guard soldiers.
Advanced Mediterranean Diet 