But what can any study tells about a novel virus with a limited track at best? It is still educated guesses. And what we sure have no ****ing clue about is where covid is going next. We have guesses but not certainty.
The debatable aspect here is between people over inflating the risks of clot infection vs communicating the existence of the possible side effects. I definitely want to know if 1 in 10,000,000 people get blood clots as a direct result of vaccines, but I'm fine if YT/FB/etc takes down videos claiming their neighbor and 2nd cousin's friend's milkman were "perfectly fine" then got blood clots from their vax, and leaves the strong impression that all vaccines are unproven "cash grabs" or some other unverified conspiracy/scheme. The latter spreads ambiguous FUD that skews against any vaccine taking, while the former is pretty much those long sheets of paper that comes along with any pill you're prescribed with. Some libs think all speech should be preserved, but amplified rumor mongering has a direct impact on reasonable and responsible discourse of our nation. It's a very nebulous and grey line because we all have our own perceptions on what the greater threat against society is at the moment. I don't think the "Chicken Littles" are entirely wrong with us passing 1 million covid deaths in America and who knows what other surrounding casualties as a result of our healthcare system running on fumes. The "other side" tends to step over those lives in their binary push to look or appear right.
Yeah I lot of my post was sour grapes. I expected to be better protected. I think vax got us out of the delta mess and yes it had to go fast. It's not political IMO. it was developed under Trump and distributed under Biden. How can you blame one party? I do believe it HAD it's purpose. But what I was trying to say, minus the sour grapes, is the vax was built for Delta, We knew the vax was less effective against Omicron. And like any good virus, it kept mutating until I believe my vax was completely (or nearly) ineffective against the latest - giving the false sense of protection. And before I'm labelled as a right winged crackpot, I do believe in mask for protection against others. I know it also offers some protection for myself but mainly its for others. Why would a surgeon wear a mask in surgery pre-covid? I took another test this AM hoping it would be negative so I could attend my daughter Masters graduation (proud dad plug). I would have worn a mask at all times (yeah eastern TN I'm sure I'd get some comments and looks but I'm old enough IDC) - this is for you stoop. But alas my morning test was positive so I stayed home with the dogs. But I also do question scientist. My 1st IT job was at UTHSC. I've been published in JAMA twice (my big claim to fame - Along with building Chemical's 1st DW and snooping on certain baseball would have been HOFer - we couldn't figure out where his massive cash withdraws were going - fast forward a decade or so...ahh you can't pay your "vitamin" man with a cc). We did a lot of interesting studies at UTHSC. One of which was premature babies would go blind. It was caused by blood vessels in the eye growing out of control. We did a study by pinpoint applying liquid nitrogen to the baby's eye - about 125 points in a circle. What that did was stop the blood vessels from growing over the retina causing blindness. What it also did was caused permanent tunnel vision. Everyone thought the risk was worth the reward - and it was if that was your only option. Years later I heard that some Dr said hey maybe if we just simulate the baby being in the womb - so they put a blindfold over the baby until it got past the 6 month mark - some of these babies were crazy premature - sad really to read the reports when researching data issues because they became more than just numbers on scattergrams. They had a mom and a dad, a twin that had already died. 40 years later I still tear up. ANYWAY - the real solution was just put a blindfold on them. It was simple, no tunnel vision, no risk of surgery. That Dr didn't go with the flow. He thought of a deeper cause and effect - then applied a simple solution. I think the vax had a purpose. I think the mutation made the vax ineffective against the new strain. I think they just need to focus on cures and treatments because there is no way we can design, distribute fast enough for the prevention for all future strains. Just a warning to older folks like myself to not walk around invincible thinking I'm 3x or 4x vaxed. Pretend you're not because IMO the new strain doesn't care so much.
We knew that in about a month of hindsight ... although we could have predicted that the virus would mutate to allow infections again. I think another prediction beside becoming more infectious was that the virus would become less fatal. Delta disproved that. Omicron did become less fatal but about as fatal as Alpha ... back to square one. Predicting what will happen next with covid is guess work at best.
Yes, people shouldn’t let their guard down with Covid. Especially people like me who are over the age of 60. I haven’t had the virus yet, and I don’t want it. I’m the primary care giver for both of my parents, who are both over 90, and I’m constantly in fear that I might accidentally give it to them. I will continue to use caution when out in public. Last week I had my annual physical. My doctor told me his father had died from Covid. It’s hard to believe that more than a million Americans have died from Covid. That’s a lot of pain and loss for a lot of people. So, I will continue to get the boosters, continue to mask up and to social distance. It’s encouraging that they are coming up with new treatments, but it’s still dangerous out there for people in my age group.
Yes, Paxlovid appears like a good option for many people testing positive. Unfortunately, there are some dangerous drug interactions for people who take blood thinners or who are being treated for heart arrhythmias. So, my parents probably wouldn’t be good candidates. But, I would certainly consider it for myself.
Nah it didnt take a month. People were saying this back when Delta first came out because the vaccines were designed for alpha. Coronaviruses mutate so why would a vaccine designed for one have the same effect several mutations down the line? But again they were censored and called conspiracy theorists. Many cases like this the past two years. It has gotten real old.
Disclaimer: Not what I believe, but I chuckled. There is also some truth to it. Even people like Birx and Fauci seemed to imply in the beginning that the vaccines stop the spread, which is clearly not true, and policy was (and even still is) made on that basis.
First, I don't think our opinions are that far apart. The message "vaccines were designed for alpha so we are not sure it will be efficacious versus delta" was not not censored, since both you and I heard it I think censorship was around how the message got warped. Some of this message warping issue is because of science challenged Americans (which includes all 24 hour new readers at CNN, Fox et al) The message "vaccines were reduce the spread of covid and significantly reduce hospitalizations and deaths" got warped into "vaccines will prevent infections and are the cure". Thus when the news reports a covid infection post-vaccine, the message "see the vaccines don't work; we were lied to" likely got censored. Obviously the people who got censored were pissed but they did not understand the original message (or at worst they purposely warped the message to fit a political narrative). There were covid message that got censored like * Bill Gates is putting microchips in the vaccines yall * horse dewormers are better than vaccines and Big Pharma is making CDC suppress The Great News * covid is a coverup for child sex trafficking etc These are conspiracy theories that made the QAnon rounds and should have been censored. The same people who lack the critical thinking skills to understand CD messaging on covid and vaccines are also the one who have conflated that all of the censored messages as being the same. The "vaccines are not the cure" message and conspiracy theory "Bill Gates is putting microchips in the vaccines" messages are not the same. We can talk reasonably and possible re-educate about the "vaccines are not the cure" message. But the people who believe the batshit conspiracy theories are lost causes.
The short list you mentioned was BS psyops that got thrown in by outside forces to discredit the REAL questioning of the vaccines made by credentialed doctors and scientists. And about the message, initially it was alluded that the vaccines would STOP you from getting covid. Then slowly they started to trickle out percentages that started with it being "98% effective" and dropping to the high 30s last I checked. The goal posts just kept getting moved just like the definition of vaccine keeps getting changed. I really don't like this revisionist history I'm seeing going on. There was censorship of real credible info. Social media was little putting fact check labels on the blood clot issue that we all "now" know is true.
