Vinay, Bravo. There are a fair number of us who have refused to go along with endless non-scientific blather foisted by our putative peers -- none worse than the AAP as you have pointed out. Damage to anyone is horrible in health care; damage to children is unforgivable.
I am not much of a retribution guy, but there needs to be an accounting. The greatest loss is that by this dereliction of duty, primarily evidenced as standing by doing nothing when it was clear that the entire public health establishment, and much of the medical establishment, was outright lying, is a loss of trust between physicians and patients that will not be repaired during my lifetime, irrespective of the few of us that have worked hard to never lose it.
I have told my patients since the beginning that children are at no risk -- DO NOT VACCINATE THEM. Masks do not work -- DO NOT WEAR THEM. Lockdowns do not work -- DO NOT FOLLOW THEM. Some have listened -- most have just been cowed into fear. But none will forget how they were lied to.
The repercussions are now starting to come clear. Parents who will no longer give their children ANY vaccines -- even those of substantial benefit. Malignancies that have become untreatable while people put off going to see doctors they no longer trusted. And, as you have noted many times, profound developmental and, I expect over time biologic compromises for the children.
Much of this is lost in the "work/life balance"/It's all about me culture that has suffused most everything, but most horribly health care. When I went to school, health care was a profession where your primary duty was to your patients. Everything else was secondary to that. That is the duty you describe and I still believe it.
It is a tragedy that so many no longer do. I have watched your feelings about these people grow stronger and stronger over the course of this disaster and I am in complete agreement. The question will be what do we do about this as a society and can medicine be saved? Lots depends on the answer. Thanks for helping us inch toward one.
PLEASE KNOW that your efforts have not been wasted and have inspired many of us to be bolder in our interactions with colleagues and patients - likely changing minds and further propagating truth. The ripple effect of your sense of duty and strength is real - please don’t ever doubt it Vinay!
I’m seething here in Canada as my unvaxxed 13 yo still has 9 days of a quarantine to fulfill after travelling ONE hour by land across to the US border to visit a relative she hadn’t seen in 6 years, for two nights. She has to now miss nearly two weeks of school. The vaxxed people she travelled with can go about their lives, they didn’t have to covid test to come back home, and even with my daughter’s forced test showing NEGATIVE she still is only allowed on our balcony until June 7.
Where are the politicians with the DUTY to stand up to this bullshit?!!!!! The insanity is infuriating. They care about children? They care about health?!! They care about community and education and mental health? Bull Shit!!!
Thank you Vinay for doing your duty in all the ways. I appreciate this strongly worded piece. I wish more were like you. Too many are cowards. They can’t all be uninformed idiots. They’re cowards. Greedy, selfish cowards.
“I tweeted against the AAP when they said deranged things like there is no evidence that kids need to see faces.”
Thanks for standing up to this irreality.
My niece and nephew, 5 and 7 and vaxxed to the max, are wearing masks on their Hawaiian vacation right now. Evidence or lack thereof makes no difference — it’s akin to a cult.
Anyone interested in the cult-like quality of our Covid moment, check out CJ Hopkins new collection of essays. Strong recommend!
Well said! I have been outspoken about all these issues to my own personal & professional harm. I followed my duty as a parent coach & child development advocate. I lost friends and work. People spread lies about me and call me names. Nothing will ever stop me from speaking up for the well-being of children regardless of whatever virus happens to be in town.
The importance of "duty" is missing in the all important DoD as well. As I was leaving, we joked that it was becoming a powerpoint army. And here we are with Milley still in charge after the debacle of Afghan withdrawal. Pediatricians who failed to speak up at the lunacy of policies. NY subway posters with advice on "be empowered" for heroin addicts. And normalizing the use of heroin. Giving advice like "start with low amount" It's all BAT SHIT CRAZY. I don't know when we as a society went off the rails, but I fear for my children as they are about to embark on their adulthood. God help us.
I applaud your bravery and sense of duty. I know your passion for science and evidenced based practices is your motivation, but know that you shine a light that helps many of us to see.
You have gone above and beyond in this line of duty, and I can't thank you enough, and one day, society at large will come around to how right you have been!!
Thank you for writing this. I am lawyer with a science degree (Biochemistry and Microbiology) and in my own small way, I try to speak up for common sense with my friends and family and it doesn’t always make me popular. But if someone I know and loved got boosted, or vaxxed their kids, and I didn’t warn them, I couldn’t live with myself. At least I can say I tried. I’ve also written dozens of letters to politicians, scientists and journalists on these issues. Not one has replied with more than a form response. But again - at least I tried.
Vinay, Bravo. There are a fair number of us who have refused to go along with endless non-scientific blather foisted by our putative peers -- none worse than the AAP as you have pointed out. Damage to anyone is horrible in health care; damage to children is unforgivable.
I am not much of a retribution guy, but there needs to be an accounting. The greatest loss is that by this dereliction of duty, primarily evidenced as standing by doing nothing when it was clear that the entire public health establishment, and much of the medical establishment, was outright lying, is a loss of trust between physicians and patients that will not be repaired during my lifetime, irrespective of the few of us that have worked hard to never lose it.
I have told my patients since the beginning that children are at no risk -- DO NOT VACCINATE THEM. Masks do not work -- DO NOT WEAR THEM. Lockdowns do not work -- DO NOT FOLLOW THEM. Some have listened -- most have just been cowed into fear. But none will forget how they were lied to.
The repercussions are now starting to come clear. Parents who will no longer give their children ANY vaccines -- even those of substantial benefit. Malignancies that have become untreatable while people put off going to see doctors they no longer trusted. And, as you have noted many times, profound developmental and, I expect over time biologic compromises for the children.
Much of this is lost in the "work/life balance"/It's all about me culture that has suffused most everything, but most horribly health care. When I went to school, health care was a profession where your primary duty was to your patients. Everything else was secondary to that. That is the duty you describe and I still believe it.
It is a tragedy that so many no longer do. I have watched your feelings about these people grow stronger and stronger over the course of this disaster and I am in complete agreement. The question will be what do we do about this as a society and can medicine be saved? Lots depends on the answer. Thanks for helping us inch toward one.
Im printing this one. Along with the Democracy piece....this is the next most important essay by you I have read and I have read them all. Thank you.
Some have asked: Yes, in the last 3 paragraphs, I am also talking about other recent events
PLEASE KNOW that your efforts have not been wasted and have inspired many of us to be bolder in our interactions with colleagues and patients - likely changing minds and further propagating truth. The ripple effect of your sense of duty and strength is real - please don’t ever doubt it Vinay!
I’m seething here in Canada as my unvaxxed 13 yo still has 9 days of a quarantine to fulfill after travelling ONE hour by land across to the US border to visit a relative she hadn’t seen in 6 years, for two nights. She has to now miss nearly two weeks of school. The vaxxed people she travelled with can go about their lives, they didn’t have to covid test to come back home, and even with my daughter’s forced test showing NEGATIVE she still is only allowed on our balcony until June 7.
Where are the politicians with the DUTY to stand up to this bullshit?!!!!! The insanity is infuriating. They care about children? They care about health?!! They care about community and education and mental health? Bull Shit!!!
Thank you Vinay for doing your duty in all the ways. I appreciate this strongly worded piece. I wish more were like you. Too many are cowards. They can’t all be uninformed idiots. They’re cowards. Greedy, selfish cowards.
“I tweeted against the AAP when they said deranged things like there is no evidence that kids need to see faces.”
Thanks for standing up to this irreality.
My niece and nephew, 5 and 7 and vaxxed to the max, are wearing masks on their Hawaiian vacation right now. Evidence or lack thereof makes no difference — it’s akin to a cult.
Anyone interested in the cult-like quality of our Covid moment, check out CJ Hopkins new collection of essays. Strong recommend!
Well said! I have been outspoken about all these issues to my own personal & professional harm. I followed my duty as a parent coach & child development advocate. I lost friends and work. People spread lies about me and call me names. Nothing will ever stop me from speaking up for the well-being of children regardless of whatever virus happens to be in town.
The importance of "duty" is missing in the all important DoD as well. As I was leaving, we joked that it was becoming a powerpoint army. And here we are with Milley still in charge after the debacle of Afghan withdrawal. Pediatricians who failed to speak up at the lunacy of policies. NY subway posters with advice on "be empowered" for heroin addicts. And normalizing the use of heroin. Giving advice like "start with low amount" It's all BAT SHIT CRAZY. I don't know when we as a society went off the rails, but I fear for my children as they are about to embark on their adulthood. God help us.
Thank God for you. Everyone in the USA needs to read this.
I applaud your bravery and sense of duty. I know your passion for science and evidenced based practices is your motivation, but know that you shine a light that helps many of us to see.
What a fulfilling life one has with a guiding sense of duty and the agency that goes with it.
You have gone above and beyond in this line of duty, and I can't thank you enough, and one day, society at large will come around to how right you have been!!
Spineless virtue signaling cowards - the lot of them. Cowardice has become the rule.
Standing ovation!!!!
AMEN!
This message also goes to the cowards who did nothing at that Texas school
You are spot on- we have a MORAL/ CULTURAL/ POLITICAL problem. Yes, sense of duty is one of the most lacking in the institutions we need most
Outstanding !!!
Thank you !
Keep up the good fight. We each bear personal responsibility to fight stupid wherever we encounter it …
Thank you for writing this. I am lawyer with a science degree (Biochemistry and Microbiology) and in my own small way, I try to speak up for common sense with my friends and family and it doesn’t always make me popular. But if someone I know and loved got boosted, or vaxxed their kids, and I didn’t warn them, I couldn’t live with myself. At least I can say I tried. I’ve also written dozens of letters to politicians, scientists and journalists on these issues. Not one has replied with more than a form response. But again - at least I tried.