Great take, as usual. But to my memory, you have never mentioned covid vaccine injuries. Are you aware there are 15,000 deaths and one million adverse events in VAERS? Or that V-Safe showed 30% rate for adverse events?
Vinay, I have one issue with what you wrote about the 34; that they probably do yoga and meditate. I'm not vaxxed, I teach and have been directly and indirectly exposed to covid so many times from students to friends, was required to test weekly by the 2 schools at which I teach because I'm not vaxxed, and never once tested positive. I do yoga, meditate, calisthenics, cardio, and strength training. I try to eat a healthy diet and almost never eat out, don't drink soda, alcohol or caffeinated drinks, and since covid hit I began to take a few daily supplements. I don't fit the profile description you wrote about the 34. I'm definitely not a democrat by today's definition. I did not use any hand sanitizer throughout this whole covid situation, and wore my cloth mask as ridiculously and little as possible until restrictions were lifted then got rid of all my masks. I do believe in taking responsibility for your health, which is what I have done most of my life and clamped down even more at the commencement of covid hysteria. Yoga and meditation are very useful as part of a healthy lifestyle.
I don't know what's more depressing here: the bizarre science-free superstitions and rituals of the survey respondents, or the fact that with too many people these days, once you know their view on one issue you can confidently predict their stance on most other issues as well
I generally like Vinay's posts but have a problem in that he does not use the appropriate metric when discussing RCT's, ie, he should be looking at all cause mortality and morbidity and not just looking at the one dimension of covid mortality/morbidity. The initial trials of Pfizer and Moderna both showed higher all cause mortality in the placebo group than the vaccinated group. It is a mistake to not look at all cause mortality/morbidity when looking at RCT results. What say Vinay?
All well and good Dr. Prasad - but your insistence that those over 65 get vaxxed and perhaps boosted is itself not supported by the data. Contrary to your assertion that only the vax protects first-time cases against bad outcomes, Paxlovid actually does a much better job of it - BUT ONLY FOR THE UNVAXXED. Just ask Fauci, Biden, and 5-times-jabbed Rochelle Wolensky what happens to the vaxxed - it's called Paxlovid rebound. Today - when you add Paxlovid to the overall Covid equation - you're better off not being vaxxed, period. And that's not even taking into account the not-inconsiderable risks of the jab.
Your best post ever. It is raw and emotional. But, please point me to the well-designed RCT that supports this statement "Adults who have not have COVID should get between 1 and 3 doses, depending on age and risk factors, and resume normal life." And not the one where they eliminated the control group at 12 weeks making any long term safety or efficacy follow up impossible. And not one with the critical statistical flaw of counting treated individuals as untreated for two weeks.
Is it me or is Vinay getting angrier with every comment? Take a breath,V
I’m an oncologist just like him and could not agree more with everything he says. It’s painfully embarrassing that supposedly smart, educated, rational people would think and act this way. They are deluded. I choose to let them be; there have been morons as long as humans have been around.
I'm on a few dating apps. It's sad to see people including their vaccination status in profiles. It's even sadder to see people saying "swipe left" if un-jabbed.
Bravo for continuing to call out the religious irrationality of the same experts who locked up the world. Hopefully our politicians never listen to them again.
But I have one question - should we really view covid as binary when assessing lifetime risks? Specifically, having covid once in one's lifetime might have fewer expected adverse health effects than having covid dozens of times. If nothing else, it's inconvenient to catch covid, same as the flu or colds.
In this case, effective, low-cost, voluntary mitigations might make sense for some people.
While I agree it's impossible to prevent ever contract covid short of going into indefinite solitary confinement (which some of these STAT "experts" might actually enjoy, so long as they can still post on Twitter), and while I agree that people who didn't wear masks and monitors before 2020 to prevent flu/RSV/colds are totally inconsistent to wear them now - it doesn't follow that contracting covid more vs fewer times across a lifetime has no impact.
I agree with everything except the efficacy of the vaccines. Even if there were no side effects and even if a person thought they worked, they only work for a few months. And then I’ve read over and over that after that you’re actually more susceptible to getting Covid...
One book from ~70 years ago is still very relevant to this kind of behavior, "How to Lie with Statistics". Example from the book: The restaurant advertising the 60 cent rabbitburger, the owner admitting it's really only 50% rabbit, being made of the meat from one rabbit and one horse.
I have had this problem for the past 25 years in my career. I have been chastised, ridiculed, threatened, ousted because of the way I interact with people. I'm from NY and moved to GA. I have been "trained" to wrap almost anything I say, but especially negative or bad news in fluff. When I hear myself and others rattle on with news wrapped so tightly in fluff so as not to offend or hurt anyone's feelings, the meaning/news is lost. I have found that going back to my roots of being a New Yorker, and telling it how it is with blunt information stated in an easy to understand language people are more often grateful than they are angry. Thank you for just laying all the cards on the table face up!
So good! I love it when you just go off on the absurdities! I’m flying from Boston to Bozeman tomorrow, I can’t wait to see the crazies at Logan all masked up, oh except for when they eat or drink.
Great take, as usual. But to my memory, you have never mentioned covid vaccine injuries. Are you aware there are 15,000 deaths and one million adverse events in VAERS? Or that V-Safe showed 30% rate for adverse events?
If so, have you discussed it?
How can you continue to recommend the vaccines?
Vinay you made my day ! The smile on my face will last for hours and I will be a happier person .
Vinay, I have one issue with what you wrote about the 34; that they probably do yoga and meditate. I'm not vaxxed, I teach and have been directly and indirectly exposed to covid so many times from students to friends, was required to test weekly by the 2 schools at which I teach because I'm not vaxxed, and never once tested positive. I do yoga, meditate, calisthenics, cardio, and strength training. I try to eat a healthy diet and almost never eat out, don't drink soda, alcohol or caffeinated drinks, and since covid hit I began to take a few daily supplements. I don't fit the profile description you wrote about the 34. I'm definitely not a democrat by today's definition. I did not use any hand sanitizer throughout this whole covid situation, and wore my cloth mask as ridiculously and little as possible until restrictions were lifted then got rid of all my masks. I do believe in taking responsibility for your health, which is what I have done most of my life and clamped down even more at the commencement of covid hysteria. Yoga and meditation are very useful as part of a healthy lifestyle.
I don't know what's more depressing here: the bizarre science-free superstitions and rituals of the survey respondents, or the fact that with too many people these days, once you know their view on one issue you can confidently predict their stance on most other issues as well
I generally like Vinay's posts but have a problem in that he does not use the appropriate metric when discussing RCT's, ie, he should be looking at all cause mortality and morbidity and not just looking at the one dimension of covid mortality/morbidity. The initial trials of Pfizer and Moderna both showed higher all cause mortality in the placebo group than the vaccinated group. It is a mistake to not look at all cause mortality/morbidity when looking at RCT results. What say Vinay?
All well and good Dr. Prasad - but your insistence that those over 65 get vaxxed and perhaps boosted is itself not supported by the data. Contrary to your assertion that only the vax protects first-time cases against bad outcomes, Paxlovid actually does a much better job of it - BUT ONLY FOR THE UNVAXXED. Just ask Fauci, Biden, and 5-times-jabbed Rochelle Wolensky what happens to the vaxxed - it's called Paxlovid rebound. Today - when you add Paxlovid to the overall Covid equation - you're better off not being vaxxed, period. And that's not even taking into account the not-inconsiderable risks of the jab.
Your best post ever. It is raw and emotional. But, please point me to the well-designed RCT that supports this statement "Adults who have not have COVID should get between 1 and 3 doses, depending on age and risk factors, and resume normal life." And not the one where they eliminated the control group at 12 weeks making any long term safety or efficacy follow up impossible. And not one with the critical statistical flaw of counting treated individuals as untreated for two weeks.
Is it me or is Vinay getting angrier with every comment? Take a breath,V
I’m an oncologist just like him and could not agree more with everything he says. It’s painfully embarrassing that supposedly smart, educated, rational people would think and act this way. They are deluded. I choose to let them be; there have been morons as long as humans have been around.
I'm on a few dating apps. It's sad to see people including their vaccination status in profiles. It's even sadder to see people saying "swipe left" if un-jabbed.
Great piece...
Except: "The only thing proven to lower that risk is vaccination."
Considering the risk of bad outcome is heavily correlated with Obesity, wouldn't getting to the gym and eating healthier match or surpass vaccination?
And that being told to "Netflix and Chill" was a horrible public health strategy?
Bravo for continuing to call out the religious irrationality of the same experts who locked up the world. Hopefully our politicians never listen to them again.
But I have one question - should we really view covid as binary when assessing lifetime risks? Specifically, having covid once in one's lifetime might have fewer expected adverse health effects than having covid dozens of times. If nothing else, it's inconvenient to catch covid, same as the flu or colds.
In this case, effective, low-cost, voluntary mitigations might make sense for some people.
While I agree it's impossible to prevent ever contract covid short of going into indefinite solitary confinement (which some of these STAT "experts" might actually enjoy, so long as they can still post on Twitter), and while I agree that people who didn't wear masks and monitors before 2020 to prevent flu/RSV/colds are totally inconsistent to wear them now - it doesn't follow that contracting covid more vs fewer times across a lifetime has no impact.
I agree with everything except the efficacy of the vaccines. Even if there were no side effects and even if a person thought they worked, they only work for a few months. And then I’ve read over and over that after that you’re actually more susceptible to getting Covid...
One book from ~70 years ago is still very relevant to this kind of behavior, "How to Lie with Statistics". Example from the book: The restaurant advertising the 60 cent rabbitburger, the owner admitting it's really only 50% rabbit, being made of the meat from one rabbit and one horse.
I have had this problem for the past 25 years in my career. I have been chastised, ridiculed, threatened, ousted because of the way I interact with people. I'm from NY and moved to GA. I have been "trained" to wrap almost anything I say, but especially negative or bad news in fluff. When I hear myself and others rattle on with news wrapped so tightly in fluff so as not to offend or hurt anyone's feelings, the meaning/news is lost. I have found that going back to my roots of being a New Yorker, and telling it how it is with blunt information stated in an easy to understand language people are more often grateful than they are angry. Thank you for just laying all the cards on the table face up!
Recalling culture of Thanksgiving two years ago it seems we have come a long way, baby. Fun read.
So good! I love it when you just go off on the absurdities! I’m flying from Boston to Bozeman tomorrow, I can’t wait to see the crazies at Logan all masked up, oh except for when they eat or drink.