To suggest that we 'learn from our mistakes', means that you think that next time there is a worldwide pandemic that spreads by airborne transmission that we shouldn't get vaccinated and we shouldn't wear masks (I presume not wearing masks anywhere, including hospitals?).
100%. Not even a question. Allow me one gentle rant, not intending to debate anything but just to state my opinion and some facts, and I will shut up about this topic, I promise. I believe (especially as a physician) mandating any intervention for medical purposes is failure on a basic moral level, and I will die on this hill (you may have guessed with the mockery over this being my #1 issue). The vaccine was experimental by definition (no long term data) and from the very beginning a narrative was created to allow only it and the awful (but profitable) therapeutic remdesivir in conjunction with obviously unscientific lockdown (shutting down gyms and churches but not liquor/weed stores and political protests) and masking theatrics (wearing bandanas to restaurants) as solutions to this disease and to attack any other proposed solutions as dangerous conspiracy theories. The public was lied to with a nonsensical narrative that lockdowns and forced vaccinations were necessary to prevent others from catching it from healthy appearing people, which with the biology of this virus (extremely high R0) could only have been possible with total isolation indefinitely (China tried and failed) or true vaccine that had near 100% effectiveness in preventing asymptomatic transmission (which the public was told it was but ended up nowhere near this goal). The public was deliberately misled about who was at risk of death or severe disease (the very old, and the very obese) and emotionally manipulated with death counters on CNN that ticked up second by second (as if such real time data could ever exist). Studies showed that public perceptions of risk were off by orders of magnitude (From a Gallup poll, 41% of democrats and even 21% of republicans believed that unvaccinated people across the board had a >50% risk of hospitalization when the true odds were <1%).
The complete failure of all of the above is evidenced by simply looking at outcomes in
Sweden, a liberal progressive country that did none of the above and simply isolated those at the highest risk, which they were honest about. They did not do measurably worse than the US or other countries. And if you really want to get into the weeds, you can look at the data from Africa and wonder why that continent was so disproportionately unaffected by this.
What did all this get us?
- Out of control inflation and a rapidly growing wealth divide between those who owned stocks and real estate pre-pandemic vs. those who did not.
- No improved outcomes
- A burgenoning debt crisis
- Massive increase in overdose deaths, drug and alcohol abuse, and mental health issues and suicide of our young healthy people (Swedens excess death rate was the lowest in all of Europe). Lockdowns and social isolation have severe collateral consequences no one had the political fortitude to consider.
- A distrust in the health system leading to poor health outcomes from avoiding preventative care.
- An educationally and socially stunted group of children and adolescents who were not at serious risk but kept out of school for over a year in many cases anyway.
- Vaccine injuries and even deaths in otherwise young healthy people, who again were not at serious risk (in Europe the vaccine is not recommended for these groups, but it was mandated for many here).
- Breaking apart of families and friendships from people who agree with literally anything I wrote above as evil selfish murderers who don't care about killing grandma.
This is why it's my #1 issue. I will never forget what they did. Bobby Kennedy may have a few wacky ideas, but he's a smart man, not the flat-earther he is demonized to be. He is not motivated to seek office for personal gain like virtually everyone else (when your family has a track record of being literally assassinated for trying to do the right thing). Read his book and listen to him speak. (unclear if just mentioning his name is what got me in the dog house or not, guess we will find out). Lots of people are politically homeless like ESE alluded to above these days as the left has adopted the most fringe ideas in tiny corners of universities 20 years ago as their current mainstream positions and the right has factioned off into circus-like performative feuds. Also, if you haven't listened to his VP pick yet, give her a chance. I'm baffled at how anyone could look at the other 2 options and say yeah, Bobby K is
definitely the crazy one here.
Thank you.
www.thefp.com
