Rather than a triumph, one can easily argue that the Covid-19 vaccines have been an utter failure. At this point there is a mountain of data, not to mention a significant number of highly credentialed voices, pointing out their significant flaws. It is generally recognized that this vaccine did not prevent either infection or transmission – which is not exactly the expectation for a successful vaccine – and clearly blows up the rationale for lockdowns, social distancing, and the “no gathering” edicts. Even worse, the Cleveland Clinic study of over 50,000 health workers concluded that the more shots you get, the more likely you are to contract Covid-19, to cite just one of many studies contrary to the author's assertion. There is also ample evidence to suggest that these vaccines are not only not safe, but demonstrably dangerous.
It is unfortunate that dispassionate scientific examination of these issues has been clouded by politics and a near fanatical need to censor any dissenting voices. If any issue called for a “Flipping the Line” article commissioned by our intrepid Line editors, this is it.
There's a clear and indisputable impact of COVID vaccination on death rate and severe illness from COVID. The vaccines have been a tremendous public health victory. Everything else seems to be defensive sniffling and quibbling from people who were on the wrong side of the argument over vaccination.
The only clear impact of Covid vaccines on death rates is the indisputable fact that excess death rates skyrocketed after every vaccine and booster. In the US its also clear that disability insurance claims did likewise. As for any positive impact on severe illness, I'd like to see the data. Like I said, its about time to get past the invective and have a clear examination of the evidence.
One might think that categorizing a person who received the intervention less than 14 days prior to a positive test as not having received the intervention at all renders the conclusions questionable, at least.
Thanks Tim for your comment, and while I acknowledge that there are studies purporting to back up the effectiveness of Covid vaccines, you must understand that any scientist, no matter how credentialed, that wished to publish a study or article that questioned the prevailing view was quickly attacked and censored. Articles that made it to pre-print were dropped or withdrawn. Sources of funding for these journals were threatened. Editorial members were threatened with loss of credentials or sources of income. In short, debate of Covid-19 vaccine safety or effectiveness was not allowed. How is true science supposed to function in that environment?
In an article today in Castanet, former BC Attorney General Susan Anton, in discussing an arbitrator's decision to throw out vaccine mandates at Purolator Canada and award compensation to affected employees, noted the arbitrator's statement that evidence presented to him showing the vaccines to be largely ineffective was “overwhelming and persuasive”. He further stated that Dr. Bonnie Henry's statements to the contrary were “an outlier” and “wholly inconsistent with the preponderance of material I have been presented with”.
We must be careful not to swallow the easily available material backing the government's vaccine position. My point is that a substantial amount of contrary evidence exists, and must be examined before accepting the position of authorities, much of which can only be described as one-sided propaganda.
I would like to point out the two different phases of COVID vaccination. From what I saw and read, 2020-2021 vaccines were a huge success, saved lives and allowed us to get back to a relatively normal life quite rapidly. On the other hand, actual vaccination, booster shots and public health guidelines are based on very weak scientific evidence and are hugely influenced by politics (especially in the US).
At this moment, I think that many proponents of COVID vaccination rely on 2021 data (success), while opponents focus on newer studies (mainly failures and worrying vaccines side effects like myocarditis).
I'm not sure how that conclusion can be reached. Three things: First, Pfizer itself conducted a large trial from Dec 1/20 to Feb 28/21, where they recorded over 1,200 deaths and 42,000 adverse reactions. So not good. Second, the VAERS system in the US, run by the CDC as their "early warning system", was giving safety signals from the first month of the vaccine rollout, all of which were ignored by the CDC, which then said that VAERS suddenly wasn't important to them (VAERS now records 36,000 Covid vaccine deaths, 212,000 Covid vaccine hospitalizations, and 1.6 million adverse reactions). Third, group life insurers saw an explosion of 40% in excess deaths among policyholders in the 3rd and 4th quarters of 2021, which was described as "unfathomable" by OneAmerica CEO Scott Davison. I can't see how this data suggests that the hugely ineffective Covid vaccines "saved lives". That's just not a reasonable interpretation of the data.
While reading this brilliant and important essay, I too had reflected that warp-speeding vaccine development was one of the few things the Trumpster got right. Good on him for that, but we don’t need to repeat that experience elsewise.
I recall getting the polio vaccine and look forward to this new malaria regime, which sounds so much better than the hallucination-inducing mefloquine that was a factor in the Canadian Army tragedy in Somalia.
It's an undeniable success, although I'd tend to downplay Trump's role other than that it happened under his administration and he didn't interfere with it. One of the perverse things about the Trump administration is that the extent of its success in any area was inversely proportional to Trump's personal interest and involvement in the policy. In the case of vaccine development, he said "OK" to the proposal and left it to a task force led by his VP to implement while he focused on daily briefings hyping things like hydroxycholorquine.
Really great way to start 2004 with a positive and encouraging message. I really love the reference/invention to/of the term “vetocracy” to describe the regulatory process that seems endemic to western governments.
As an aside, readers taking a break from reading their translation of “Malleus Maleficarum” might want to reflect on the fact it was a certain orange headed president who pushed the acceleration of Covid vaccine development and FDA approval
saving an estimated two years over normal processes and who know how many thousands (millions?) of lives.
Great article, Andrew. May I just add that yesterday's news from the U.K. talks about the discovery of an entirely new class of antibiotic that is showing effectiveness against gram-negative bacteria? It's been used successfully in animal trials and human trials are now beginning...gram-negative organisms are notoriously difficult to treat and demonstrate multiple drug resistance, so this is stupendous news. Patients on ventilators in ICU often succumb to their gram-negative infections, so this is specifically hopeful news for all those COVID patients.
I am quite shocked to read this fluff piece on Covid vaccines. Hey, guess what. The auto industry can make a lovely car and it can also make garbage. Both can be true. You all need to stop invoking other vaccines as support that the Covid vaccine was great. it wasnt. And as long as you keep ignoring the absolute mountains of data that make it pretty clear that vaccine was a lemon, you will keep taking the heat for it. It is not conspiracy to admit that it didnt work very well, still doesnt work very well, and in fact has been a net negative for us. We have primary sourced documents showing lies from the makers, suppression of legitimate information, etc etc. The side effect numbers are at a level that would have Health Canada pull any other mediation from the shelf. Hell, they tossed away the AZ vaccine in 2021 over a tiny number of blood clot issues yet they keep tripling down on the MRNA. Come on, stop hanging you hat on this thing. Its ok to say "hey, we blew it, lets do better" than to keep doubling and tripling down on this product.. This is why the covid era destroyed media credibility; because regular well intended people were not understanding why headlines were being written a certain why or why blatantly obvious problems with the vaccines were being outright ignored.
The success of a public vaccination campaign is directly related to the urgency of the situation.
We can read post cards mailed in WW1 from enlisted soldiers who received shots before heading overseas, musing over whether they “took” or not. I can’t imagine that there was much open rebellion against taking the vaccine. Roll your sleeves up or you are discharged.
There are people in my community who have life long disability from polio. My parents and their peers saw the cruelty of this and recognized the preventative advantages of a new vaccine and made darn sure that young children were protected.
With that foundation and personal history of preventative medicine through vaccines, I made a choice to get a Covid vaccine and a booster. Some people in my community didn’t, citing the regulatory corners that were cut for approval and that the licensing issued was temporary. That’s a valid reason to refuse a Covid vaccine. I suspect that some others have a genuine fear of needles. That’s ok too. Stand around a blood donor clinic for a while and see how people can wilt over a needle.
As I look back at the public pressure for everyone to line up and get Covid vaccinated, weaponization of the vaccines for political purposes was dangerous and unnecessary. In fact as time went on, the propaganda began to show significant flaws. Remember “herd immunity”? Early in the pandemic, medical experts mused that if 60-70% of the population was exposed to Covid that a herd immunity could be obtained. Going forward, the goal posts kept moving upward but it was never good enough for the fear mongers. 80% of Canadians received a first Covid shot but suddenly jobs were at stake for the unvaccinated. Why was that?
The enforced moral panic to become vaccinated fell apart once it was documented that the vaccine didn’t prevent getting infected, nor did it stop transmission from the vaccinated population to others. Even at that, draconian isolation measures and mobility restrictions went on for months and months.
I don’t regret getting vaccinated, I don’t bear ill will to those who didn’t and I would like a public inquiry to look into the efficacy of the covid vaccine program and how to improve public safety for another pandemic.
Many thanks go to WHO, Rotary International, CDC, UNICEF, and the Bill and Melina Gates Foundation for the hundreds of millions of dollars and volunteer hours given to beat polio. We are so close but, as we say, an outbreak is just a plane ride away, so, until there is not one single case of polio, the battle continues.
Hahaha! Covid. Hahaha!! Funny how the world can get shut down, certain people make billions of dollars, certain political agendas get pushed forward and then when the next opportunity to milk the general populace of billions more, such as Ukaraine, and whaa laa Covid is just another flu. Hahaha! Vaccine?? Pulease. Any that still believe Covid was a world catastrophe and the injection saved us all, is a part of the problem. 🤦♂️🤦♂️🤦♂️
I'm very thankful that no one I know were among the millions who died world wide or the millions who were sick enough to be hospitalized. The vaccines didn't 'save us all', but it did slow down transmission & reduced the severity of illness & the rate of hospitalization. Viruses mutate over time & that's what Covid has done - it's now less lethal, but more transmittable & yes it's NOW mutated into another flu-like respiratory illness.
Yup. 100% what happened. Covid mutated perfectly, at just the right time, to no longer be a threat. And the vaccine that did nothing, saved millions and millions. Yup. 100%.
COVID is still not 'no longer a threat'. Some people are still becoming seriously ill & dying from it., albeit in much smaller numbers. Whether you want to believe it or not, the vaccines did slow down the spread of COVID & reduced the severity for those who still contracted it. Your assertion that the vaccine 'did nothing' is not correct.
Soooo, like the flu?? You know. The flu that has been deadly to those with pre existing conditions, the infirm and in some cases, the young?? You know, for like every single year since humans have been on the planet. That flu?? Right. Your Covid story is nothing but ongoing history. But you keep believing what CBC and probably Trudeau, feeds you. I’ll stick to science. The real science. Not the trotted out for some money science.
Reads like an echo chamber fluff piece. Disappointed. Here is some reading you may want to consider before writing anything else on this topic--general vaccine science--that you don't seem to be as well versed in as you believe. ... https://a.co/d/0oN6XSH. Regarding covid vaccines: the data that is used to support the general narrative appears to be flawed simply because of the definitions used.
The fascinating thing about the mRNA vaccine technology is the potential range of applications, including individualized therapies for cancer. There's a lot of work to be done before that potential is realized, but one of the challenges is going to be figuring out how to navigate or adapt the current vaccine approval regime. It's going to be too burdensome to realize the value of the technology in niche applications. The process has been laborious for a disease like malaria that affects millions - how could it be justified for a rare condition affecting a few hundred or even a few thousand cases? It's going to take a lot of work to overcome bureaucratic inertia and change an approach that hasn't resulted in another failure like thalidomide. It may be overkill and inhibit innovation, but it tends to be safer for bureaucracies to embrace inefficiency that avoids problems than attempt change that can lead to problems.
mRNA vaccines were submitted for approval to health authorities in multiple countries for a variety of niche applications prior to 2020. Not one of them could pass the approval process. That approval process was abandoned for the Covid mRNA vaccines, and what we got was a gigantic failure. What makes you think this unstable, perhaps unworkable, technology will now suddenly find success in other applications? Granted, Big Pharma smells the money, and they basically own the governmental authorities that are supposed to regulate them. But I'd certainly be hesitant.
Shutting down comments on this one. They went sadly in the predictable direction.
Rather than a triumph, one can easily argue that the Covid-19 vaccines have been an utter failure. At this point there is a mountain of data, not to mention a significant number of highly credentialed voices, pointing out their significant flaws. It is generally recognized that this vaccine did not prevent either infection or transmission – which is not exactly the expectation for a successful vaccine – and clearly blows up the rationale for lockdowns, social distancing, and the “no gathering” edicts. Even worse, the Cleveland Clinic study of over 50,000 health workers concluded that the more shots you get, the more likely you are to contract Covid-19, to cite just one of many studies contrary to the author's assertion. There is also ample evidence to suggest that these vaccines are not only not safe, but demonstrably dangerous.
It is unfortunate that dispassionate scientific examination of these issues has been clouded by politics and a near fanatical need to censor any dissenting voices. If any issue called for a “Flipping the Line” article commissioned by our intrepid Line editors, this is it.
There's a clear and indisputable impact of COVID vaccination on death rate and severe illness from COVID. The vaccines have been a tremendous public health victory. Everything else seems to be defensive sniffling and quibbling from people who were on the wrong side of the argument over vaccination.
The only clear impact of Covid vaccines on death rates is the indisputable fact that excess death rates skyrocketed after every vaccine and booster. In the US its also clear that disability insurance claims did likewise. As for any positive impact on severe illness, I'd like to see the data. Like I said, its about time to get past the invective and have a clear examination of the evidence.
There's lots of evidence out there establishing a significant impact of vaccination status on hospitalization rate if you want to look for it. For example, https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamainternalmedicine/fullarticle/2796235
One might think that categorizing a person who received the intervention less than 14 days prior to a positive test as not having received the intervention at all renders the conclusions questionable, at least.
There's a bit of data here and leads to more if you've got time for some reading:
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1201971221008572
Here's a link to the journal's home page if you have concerns about it
https://www.ijidonline.com/
Thanks Tim for your comment, and while I acknowledge that there are studies purporting to back up the effectiveness of Covid vaccines, you must understand that any scientist, no matter how credentialed, that wished to publish a study or article that questioned the prevailing view was quickly attacked and censored. Articles that made it to pre-print were dropped or withdrawn. Sources of funding for these journals were threatened. Editorial members were threatened with loss of credentials or sources of income. In short, debate of Covid-19 vaccine safety or effectiveness was not allowed. How is true science supposed to function in that environment?
In an article today in Castanet, former BC Attorney General Susan Anton, in discussing an arbitrator's decision to throw out vaccine mandates at Purolator Canada and award compensation to affected employees, noted the arbitrator's statement that evidence presented to him showing the vaccines to be largely ineffective was “overwhelming and persuasive”. He further stated that Dr. Bonnie Henry's statements to the contrary were “an outlier” and “wholly inconsistent with the preponderance of material I have been presented with”.
We must be careful not to swallow the easily available material backing the government's vaccine position. My point is that a substantial amount of contrary evidence exists, and must be examined before accepting the position of authorities, much of which can only be described as one-sided propaganda.
I would like to point out the two different phases of COVID vaccination. From what I saw and read, 2020-2021 vaccines were a huge success, saved lives and allowed us to get back to a relatively normal life quite rapidly. On the other hand, actual vaccination, booster shots and public health guidelines are based on very weak scientific evidence and are hugely influenced by politics (especially in the US).
At this moment, I think that many proponents of COVID vaccination rely on 2021 data (success), while opponents focus on newer studies (mainly failures and worrying vaccines side effects like myocarditis).
I'm not sure how that conclusion can be reached. Three things: First, Pfizer itself conducted a large trial from Dec 1/20 to Feb 28/21, where they recorded over 1,200 deaths and 42,000 adverse reactions. So not good. Second, the VAERS system in the US, run by the CDC as their "early warning system", was giving safety signals from the first month of the vaccine rollout, all of which were ignored by the CDC, which then said that VAERS suddenly wasn't important to them (VAERS now records 36,000 Covid vaccine deaths, 212,000 Covid vaccine hospitalizations, and 1.6 million adverse reactions). Third, group life insurers saw an explosion of 40% in excess deaths among policyholders in the 3rd and 4th quarters of 2021, which was described as "unfathomable" by OneAmerica CEO Scott Davison. I can't see how this data suggests that the hugely ineffective Covid vaccines "saved lives". That's just not a reasonable interpretation of the data.
While reading this brilliant and important essay, I too had reflected that warp-speeding vaccine development was one of the few things the Trumpster got right. Good on him for that, but we don’t need to repeat that experience elsewise.
I recall getting the polio vaccine and look forward to this new malaria regime, which sounds so much better than the hallucination-inducing mefloquine that was a factor in the Canadian Army tragedy in Somalia.
It's an undeniable success, although I'd tend to downplay Trump's role other than that it happened under his administration and he didn't interfere with it. One of the perverse things about the Trump administration is that the extent of its success in any area was inversely proportional to Trump's personal interest and involvement in the policy. In the case of vaccine development, he said "OK" to the proposal and left it to a task force led by his VP to implement while he focused on daily briefings hyping things like hydroxycholorquine.
Really great way to start 2004 with a positive and encouraging message. I really love the reference/invention to/of the term “vetocracy” to describe the regulatory process that seems endemic to western governments.
As an aside, readers taking a break from reading their translation of “Malleus Maleficarum” might want to reflect on the fact it was a certain orange headed president who pushed the acceleration of Covid vaccine development and FDA approval
saving an estimated two years over normal processes and who know how many thousands (millions?) of lives.
Great article, Andrew. May I just add that yesterday's news from the U.K. talks about the discovery of an entirely new class of antibiotic that is showing effectiveness against gram-negative bacteria? It's been used successfully in animal trials and human trials are now beginning...gram-negative organisms are notoriously difficult to treat and demonstrate multiple drug resistance, so this is stupendous news. Patients on ventilators in ICU often succumb to their gram-negative infections, so this is specifically hopeful news for all those COVID patients.
I am quite shocked to read this fluff piece on Covid vaccines. Hey, guess what. The auto industry can make a lovely car and it can also make garbage. Both can be true. You all need to stop invoking other vaccines as support that the Covid vaccine was great. it wasnt. And as long as you keep ignoring the absolute mountains of data that make it pretty clear that vaccine was a lemon, you will keep taking the heat for it. It is not conspiracy to admit that it didnt work very well, still doesnt work very well, and in fact has been a net negative for us. We have primary sourced documents showing lies from the makers, suppression of legitimate information, etc etc. The side effect numbers are at a level that would have Health Canada pull any other mediation from the shelf. Hell, they tossed away the AZ vaccine in 2021 over a tiny number of blood clot issues yet they keep tripling down on the MRNA. Come on, stop hanging you hat on this thing. Its ok to say "hey, we blew it, lets do better" than to keep doubling and tripling down on this product.. This is why the covid era destroyed media credibility; because regular well intended people were not understanding why headlines were being written a certain why or why blatantly obvious problems with the vaccines were being outright ignored.
The success of a public vaccination campaign is directly related to the urgency of the situation.
We can read post cards mailed in WW1 from enlisted soldiers who received shots before heading overseas, musing over whether they “took” or not. I can’t imagine that there was much open rebellion against taking the vaccine. Roll your sleeves up or you are discharged.
There are people in my community who have life long disability from polio. My parents and their peers saw the cruelty of this and recognized the preventative advantages of a new vaccine and made darn sure that young children were protected.
With that foundation and personal history of preventative medicine through vaccines, I made a choice to get a Covid vaccine and a booster. Some people in my community didn’t, citing the regulatory corners that were cut for approval and that the licensing issued was temporary. That’s a valid reason to refuse a Covid vaccine. I suspect that some others have a genuine fear of needles. That’s ok too. Stand around a blood donor clinic for a while and see how people can wilt over a needle.
As I look back at the public pressure for everyone to line up and get Covid vaccinated, weaponization of the vaccines for political purposes was dangerous and unnecessary. In fact as time went on, the propaganda began to show significant flaws. Remember “herd immunity”? Early in the pandemic, medical experts mused that if 60-70% of the population was exposed to Covid that a herd immunity could be obtained. Going forward, the goal posts kept moving upward but it was never good enough for the fear mongers. 80% of Canadians received a first Covid shot but suddenly jobs were at stake for the unvaccinated. Why was that?
The enforced moral panic to become vaccinated fell apart once it was documented that the vaccine didn’t prevent getting infected, nor did it stop transmission from the vaccinated population to others. Even at that, draconian isolation measures and mobility restrictions went on for months and months.
I don’t regret getting vaccinated, I don’t bear ill will to those who didn’t and I would like a public inquiry to look into the efficacy of the covid vaccine program and how to improve public safety for another pandemic.
Many thanks go to WHO, Rotary International, CDC, UNICEF, and the Bill and Melina Gates Foundation for the hundreds of millions of dollars and volunteer hours given to beat polio. We are so close but, as we say, an outbreak is just a plane ride away, so, until there is not one single case of polio, the battle continues.
Hahaha! Covid. Hahaha!! Funny how the world can get shut down, certain people make billions of dollars, certain political agendas get pushed forward and then when the next opportunity to milk the general populace of billions more, such as Ukaraine, and whaa laa Covid is just another flu. Hahaha! Vaccine?? Pulease. Any that still believe Covid was a world catastrophe and the injection saved us all, is a part of the problem. 🤦♂️🤦♂️🤦♂️
I'm very thankful that no one I know were among the millions who died world wide or the millions who were sick enough to be hospitalized. The vaccines didn't 'save us all', but it did slow down transmission & reduced the severity of illness & the rate of hospitalization. Viruses mutate over time & that's what Covid has done - it's now less lethal, but more transmittable & yes it's NOW mutated into another flu-like respiratory illness.
Yup. 100% what happened. Covid mutated perfectly, at just the right time, to no longer be a threat. And the vaccine that did nothing, saved millions and millions. Yup. 100%.
COVID is still not 'no longer a threat'. Some people are still becoming seriously ill & dying from it., albeit in much smaller numbers. Whether you want to believe it or not, the vaccines did slow down the spread of COVID & reduced the severity for those who still contracted it. Your assertion that the vaccine 'did nothing' is not correct.
Soooo, like the flu?? You know. The flu that has been deadly to those with pre existing conditions, the infirm and in some cases, the young?? You know, for like every single year since humans have been on the planet. That flu?? Right. Your Covid story is nothing but ongoing history. But you keep believing what CBC and probably Trudeau, feeds you. I’ll stick to science. The real science. Not the trotted out for some money science.
Reads like an echo chamber fluff piece. Disappointed. Here is some reading you may want to consider before writing anything else on this topic--general vaccine science--that you don't seem to be as well versed in as you believe. ... https://a.co/d/0oN6XSH. Regarding covid vaccines: the data that is used to support the general narrative appears to be flawed simply because of the definitions used.
The fascinating thing about the mRNA vaccine technology is the potential range of applications, including individualized therapies for cancer. There's a lot of work to be done before that potential is realized, but one of the challenges is going to be figuring out how to navigate or adapt the current vaccine approval regime. It's going to be too burdensome to realize the value of the technology in niche applications. The process has been laborious for a disease like malaria that affects millions - how could it be justified for a rare condition affecting a few hundred or even a few thousand cases? It's going to take a lot of work to overcome bureaucratic inertia and change an approach that hasn't resulted in another failure like thalidomide. It may be overkill and inhibit innovation, but it tends to be safer for bureaucracies to embrace inefficiency that avoids problems than attempt change that can lead to problems.
mRNA vaccines were submitted for approval to health authorities in multiple countries for a variety of niche applications prior to 2020. Not one of them could pass the approval process. That approval process was abandoned for the Covid mRNA vaccines, and what we got was a gigantic failure. What makes you think this unstable, perhaps unworkable, technology will now suddenly find success in other applications? Granted, Big Pharma smells the money, and they basically own the governmental authorities that are supposed to regulate them. But I'd certainly be hesitant.