Covid dilemmas, 2

So why not just trust the messages coming from governments and mainstream media?

The answer is that I would love to be able to do that, and I used to. 

These days I see too much corporate influence in institutions that I 

used to trust and too much censorship and bias in the media. 

As far as I understand, the reasoning behind the relentless drumbeat that “vaccines are safe and effective” is that we have to keep it simple for the sake of public health. Supposedly we the great unwashed are too dumb to handle the slightest hint of complexity. 

Yes, says the mainstream, there are some vaccine injuries, but they are extremely rare. When faced with a pandemic authorities have to focus on the big picture. If dissenting voices are being denied access to mainstream publication channels, that is for the sake of the greater good.

The censorship seems to have the reverse effect.

Instead of keeping the messaging simple it makes us wonder what ‘they’ are hiding. It encourages conspiracy thinkers.

“Follow the science”, they say.

That sentence goes against the very spirit of the scientific mindset.

This is a new disease. Both health professionals and for  policy makers are learning about it as we go, and should not be accused of  flipflopping if they change their mind on the basis of new evidence. Science thrives on open discussion. 

As a reasonably intelligent lay person trying to make sense of it all, how do I decide who is to be trusted? 

Before we go on here, let me make it clear that I do not accuse everyone working for a large corporation, pharmaceutical or other, of being evil.

The Solshenitsyn principle applies. The line between good and evil runs through everyone and everything, individual or collective. It doesn’t run exactly through the middle, but that is another topic.

Back to who I feel I can trust.

First off, I pay no attention to anyone who denies the reality of the disease. No, this is not ‘just another bad flu.’ 

This is one mean illness, not to be taken lightly.

But then, neither is it smallpox or the black plague.

 

Measures taken to minimise spread of the disease have to be balanced with damage done to people by those measures. There are conversations to be had about the trade offs. We are not allowed to have them. We have not been given access to the data on which to base an informed opinion.

Overall, it is beginning to look as if, for whatever reason, the severity of the disease has been over reported.  Did people die of Covid, or just with it? 

What is the average age of the victims? We are a mortal species.

I am 78. I enjoy my life and would love another decade, but if I don’t get it I will not whine. My generation has been fortunate. I do not want to see us protected at the expense of the young.

Meanwhile the damage done by ‘vaccines’ and lockdowns has been downplayed. Some of the dissident medical professionals based their stance on seeing too many adverse effects in their own practice.

We still have to take the disease seriously, but is it serious enough to justify the increasing authoritarianism?

The second group I pay no attention to is those who reject early treatment options and describe Ivermectin as “horse dewormer.”

This drug has a forty year long history of safe use in humans. Yes, its main use has been as an anti-parasitic. So what? Off label use is common in medical practice, think aspirin as blood thinner. Ivermectin has one big problem. The patent has run out and it is dirt cheap to make.

Remember the mantra about vaccines: safe and effective. 

According to the official benchmark of science, the randomised double blinded study, IVM’s efficacy has not been proven. Proponents of its use point to clinical, more anecdotal evidence. Let us leave that question open.

But safe? Among all the question marks that surrounds this new situation, the safety record of Ivermectin stands out as rock solid. 

Forty years. Billions of doses. A better safety record than common over the counter drugs like Aspirin or Tylenol.  Certainly a better safety record than the new experimental ‘vaccines’.

So why in Gaia’s name are the Powers That Be removing this drug from the hands of qualified doctors, top in their field, who want to use it as part of their toolkit? Even Ivermectin’s  most ardent proponents are not saying that it alone can end the pandemic.

The war on Ivermectin and other early treatments makes no sense, unless we remember that the  emergency authorisation for the vaccines depended on no treatment being available. It makes me so cynical about anything else the mainstream is putting out.

So who is left?

From the beginning I have frequently tuned in to dr John Campbell PhD from the UK. He is not a medical doctor, but a retired nurse and educator of nursing. 

For nearly two years he has been reporting almost daily on the situation as it develops across the world, as far as one can tell without fear or prejudice.  Links to whatever studies the talk of the day are based on are always provided in the show notes.

He has consistently recommended people get vaccinated, but he has also interviewed Ivermectin proponents and people damaged by the vaccines.

When John Campbell begged people to get their second shot, because the Delta variant was worse, I set aside my hesitation and went for it.

John is vaxxed and boosted.

The FLCCC doctors. Front Line Covid Critical Care. 

In the beginning of the pandemic these experienced mainstream professionals did what doctors have always done: they looked at the patient in front of them, observed, and dug into the medical toolkit to see if something in there might be helpful in that moment. They originated the use of  steroids in the second, inflammatory phase. It was eventually adopted as standard. In vitro studies had suggested that some  existing drugs might show promise in in the first stage of viral replication. Their safety was established, let’s see if they help. 

The hosts of the Dark Horse podcast, which I love, have been urging caution about mRNA therapy from the beginning, mainly because “We don’t know what we don’t know.” They always repeat their support for traditional vaccines. If they are wrong about something they will put a correction on the front page, in a manner of speaking.

They also consistently stress the fact that science is an ongoing inquiry, a method. 

Youtube warned them repeatedly to cease and desist critical coverage of the ‘vaccine’ rollout. They persisted in speaking out, and YouTube demonetised their channel. At the time that was half their income. 

They remain unvaxxed and recently overcame the illness, variation omicron, with minor discomfort and the help of early treatment by one of the FLCCC doctors.. Even if one disagrees with their information, one cannot deny their integrity.

Another channel I like is that of dr. Mobeen Syed, http://drbeen.com

Like John Campbell dr.Been MD had been a medical educator for some time. He is a proponent of both vaccines and early treatment, reports on complications from  vaccines and is himself  vaccinated. 

Dr.Zubin Damiana MD better known as zdoggmd. This doctor/educator is more pro vaccine and cynical about early treatment options. 

I like the way he addresses the public as grownups who can handle complexity. He is not afraid to tackle the thorny issue of risk/benefit analysis. He urges adults to get boosted, but thinks the risk/benefit analysis is different for children.

That is about it for now. 

The situation keeps changing, with new developments in the fields of medicine, politics and in media coverage. 

Sadly, it is NOT a simple situation. But we will have to cover that another time.