Stick A Fork In The "Experts", They're Done

New Vaccine Study Shows They Are Greatly Oversold

This final week of 2021 has seen the complete collapse of the pandemic panic narrative that has been a media staple since early 2020. Every time I begin planning articles moving on to other topics (for the world is much larger than COVID-19), something drops in my inbox highlighting yet another fact failing of that narrative.

This latest gem comes courtesy of Alex Berenson and his “Unreported Truths” newsletter. A new study on the COVID-19 vaccines and their efficacy among immunocompromised patients contains a number of data points which eviscerate the talking points used to claim the vaccines are supremely effective at preventing severe symptoms.

With so many of the talking points espoused by the “experts” already discredited and in disarray, it is time to stick the proverbial fork in those “experts", for they are well and truly done.

“Unreported Truths” Recap

I highly recommend people read Alex' dissection of the study. He brings a solid “real world” perspective to the clinical data. However, one part of his analysis warrants particular attention here:

But by far the most interesting figures in the study are contained in a single small table in an appendix.

It compares the outcomes of the roughly 18,000 vaccinated and infected people seem at the medical centers with a much larger group of Covid patients - about 2.5 million people - who were not vaccinated and visited the same centers at any point during the epidemic.

About 84 percent of the vaccinated patients were seen as outpatients, while 16 percent required hospitalization.

In comparison, about 77 percent of unvaccinated patients were seen as outpatients, while 23 percent were hospitalized.

Almost 1 percent of the vaccinated patients had serious outcomes, including death, compared to just over 2 percent of the unvaccinated patients.

For reference, here is the table Alex cites.

If 2% of ununvaccinated patients end up in hospital vs 1% of vaccinated patients, the practical impact of the vaccines on hospitalizations is generously characterized as “not much”.

That crashing sound you hear is the talking point that vaccines are necessary to avoid hospitalizations crumbling and collapsing.

Vaccine Efficacy Greatly Reduced By Delta

Another interesting data point revealed by the study was a more than threefold increase in “breakthrough” infections for the Delta variant.

Breakthrough infection rates were substantially higher after June 20, 2021, when the Delta variant became the dominant strain (IR before vs after June 20, 2021, 2.2 [95% CI, 2.2-2.2] vs 7.3 [95% CI, 7.3-7.4] per 1000 person-months; AIRR, 3.46; 95% CI, 3.23-3.72)

This is for all vaccinated in the study, not just those who are immunocompromised.

Such an increase is difficult to reconcile with the grandiose claims of high efficacy against Delta that have appeared elsewhere.

Another talking point gets shot down in flames.

Natural Immunity Still Wins

The study also found that natural immunity is highly impactful even among vaccinated patients.

Individuals with vs without prevaccination COVID-19 diagnosis had a 56% reduced risk for a breakthrough infection (AIRR, 0.44; 95% CI, 0.40-0.48).

While study authors gloss over this with their “academicspeak” verbiage, a “prevaccination COVID-19 diagnosis” only arises from prior infection, leading to natural immunity.

This finding directly contradicts the CDC study from earlier this year which CDC Director Rochelle Walensky argued showed natural immunity was not as good as vaccination:

“If you have had COVID-19 before, please still get vaccinated,” said CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky. “This study shows you are twice as likely to get infected again if you are unvaccinated. Getting the vaccine is the best way to protect yourself and others around you, especially as the more contagious Delta variant spreads around the country.”

On the contrary, prior infection and natural immunity is the best assurance against a breakthrough infection postvaccination, according to this latest study.

The CDC's talking point is exactly backwards.

Vaccines Work Best In Healthy Individuals

Another fascinating statement in the study is the acknowledgement that healthier individuals have better outcomes from vaccination.

Although risk for a breakthrough infection increased with greater number of comorbidities, this risk was associated with and notably attenuated by immune dysfunction status.

While such a correlation is on its face unsurprising, we should remember that the healthy patient population is already at the lowest risk from COVID-19. Vaccines which are effective only for healthy individuals are of questionable practical utility, given that less healthy individuals are the ones at greatest risk and in need of the most protection.

Another implication of this correlation is that comorbidities weaken the immune system and are themselves an indicator of a level of immune system dysfunction. The greater the dysfunction the less effective the vaccines.

No Return To Normal

As I have argued previously, despite the claims of vaccine advocates, the vaccines offer no path to a “return to normal”. The argument I made using epidemiological case data across multiple countries is confirmed clinically by this study.

The findings of this study suggest that nuanced guidance for COVID-19 prevention and control is needed for patients with immune dysfunction. Clinicians and patients should consider continuing nonpharmaceutical interventions even after vaccination, including mask wearing, social distancing, and avoiding densely crowded settings (especially indoors) as much as possible.

Given that comorbidities are essentially an indicator of immune dysfunction, that “nuanced guidance” in practical terms amounts to “don't trust the vaccines”. The implications of this study are that only the healthiest individuals have any level of “robust” protection from the vaccines, and everyone else needs to adopt varying levels of caution based on their overall health.

For vaccines that were initially billed as the miracle drugs that would “crush" the virus, that is quite the climbdown.

Are there any talking points left intact?

This Is Not About Medical Efficacy

I want to reiterate a point I have made before about the vaccines. This analysis is not an argument against their medical efficacy, or a suggestion that people should not get vaccinated. That assessment can and should only be made by the individual patient and his or her doctor.

Rather, this is a refutation of the blanket advocacy for COVID-19 vaccination to the exclusion of all other prevention and precautions which has characterized the commentary on vaccination by public health officials and healthcare professionals. The vaccines are not a “one size fits all” treatment, and they never have been. They are one disease management option among many, and need to be regarded as such. This study demonstrates that in spades.

The “experts”, by virtue of their claimed expertise, should have known this and said this all along, instead of relying on their now discredited talking points. Those “experts" who have not deserve no special consideration or deference. Their pretensions of authority and endless repetition of ultimately unscientific talking points will always fall flat before the facts.

Which is why I say “all facts matter”. The facts are all that ever matter.