COVID-19 Pandemic And Vaccine Update

By Thomas T. Siler, M.D.

In February, I wrote an article for American Thinker discussing the new mRNA vaccines. Then, there was scant data about the vaccines except for the trials done to get emergency approval for their use for COVID-19. Now, since the first vaccine was given in the middle of December, there have been six months of use to analyze the vaccines again. It’s time to revisit the subject.

In the first article, I outlined the new vaccines and struck a cautious tone on calling them safe and effective, since there was not enough evidence to do so. Moreover, during the pandemic, it was clear there was a higher-risk group of older Americans who had co-existing conditions that raised their mortality. It seemed reasonable then that the high-risk group would surely benefit from a vaccine, but it was not clear if everyone else would also benefit from the vaccine. Six months later, the pandemic has already peaked and we’ve learned much more about the vaccine safety and side effects.

The pandemic is going away across America because we have reached herd immunity (and why does this not get mentioned anymore?). This is due to three things: (1) people already immune (due to cross-reactive immunity to other common Coronaviruses); (2) people who have had COVID-19 and are now immune, (3) people now vaccinated.

Note that cases already started decreasing in January, way before a significant number of people were vaccinated. Dr. Marty Makary made this call in April in a Wall Street Journal article saying we would be at herd immunity near the end of April... and he was correct. Former Pfizer executive, Michael Yeadon, also made this call and said there was no need to vaccinate people with a low risk of disease as we would reach herd immunity. He was also correct.

So, even without discussing the vaccine effectiveness or side effects, there is no need to vaccinate “everyone.” But still, there is a massive PR effort, media push, and CDC/Dr. Fauci disinformation campaign to get all vaccinated. One must ask why they’re pushing fear to force vaccines.

Initial vaccine side effects seemed to be limited to reactions at the time of injection and a handful of anaphylaxis reactions (life-threatening allergic reactions). Now, though, when one analyzes the VAERS data, which reports adverse vaccine reactions, we see many more side effects from the vaccines. Most understand that the CDC’s VAERS system is not the greatest system. Its underreporting of side effects is estimated to run from being 10 to 100 times off.

Obviously, a vaccine designed to protect a patient should not result in his/her death. To date, the VAERS system has recorded 6,000 deaths in close proximity (1-2 weeks) to getting vaccinated. This has never happened before in vaccine history.

Establishing the vaccine as the cause of death is difficult and it’s certain that not all the deaths were from the vaccine. Many of the older people who were vaccinated could have died of other causes. However, if death is a side effect and the VAERS system is underestimating the magnitude, shouldn’t this be a reason to pause our vaccination program until these deaths get investigated? Shouldn’t we know how many people may be dying from the vaccine? But instead, we get only a relentless push to vaccinate everyone while refusing to mention death as a possible complication. One must ask why this is.

VAERS data also includes 1,300 cases of anaphylaxis and 2,000 cases of Bell’s palsy (paralysis of muscles on one side of the face). The Astra Zeneca vaccine had to be temporarily halted due to a rare thrombosis in cerebral veins. The Pfizer and Moderna vaccines have listed clotting side effects as well: Deep venous thrombosis (1,370), pulmonary embolism (2,000), thrombosis (1,919), cerebrovascular accident (1,732). There have been 566 reported spontaneous abortions and over 3,000 women report heavy or irregular periods. Myocarditis, or cardiac inflammation, has also recently been documented as a side effect in teenagers.

Again, no one has yet proven causality but, if these serious side effects are under-reported, as is usually the case, shouldn’t this give us pause to investigate certain side effects further before giving to people of low disease risk? Why is the medical profession not drawing attention to these side effects? Remember that Hippocrates said, “first, do no harm.” And why are the media ignoring reporting on vaccine side effects that are more frequent than previously used vaccines? Currently, no one receiving the vaccines can give true informed consent,  

I am a recently retired physician and not against vaccines. I have taken and advised my patients to take other adult vaccines when indicated after they have been approved and tested in the usual fashion. However, mRNA technology is a brand new way to make a vaccine that has never been used in humans in any large scale until last December. I was cautious in calling mRNA vaccines “safe and effective” in February and now I would be even more cautious about giving these vaccines to certain patient groups.

Even in the short follow-up period (six months now), these vaccines have many serious side effects and long-term side effects are still not known. We are nearing or at herd immunity and can take a more cautious approach now. It is now proven that there are oral, outpatient regimens of drugs such as Hydroxychloroquine and/or Ivermectin, that can treat COVID-19 successfully. There will still be sporadic cases as the pandemic wanes but those too can be treated instead of taking a vaccine.

Recommendations moving forward:

1) Older patients with comorbidities that raise the risk of dying from COVID-19 can still take the vaccine, although I would prefer a moratorium on further vaccination for COVID-19 until more studies are done.

2) Younger patients without comorbidities and at low risk of dying from COVID-19 would be better served, in my opinion, by avoiding the now-known side effects and the still unknown long-term side effects of the vaccine. Instead, they should treat any infection with Hydroxychloroquine or Ivermectin.

3) Healthy children do not need to be vaccinated. The side effects of the vaccine are likely to be higher than any morbidity or mortality COVID-19 causes in children. (WHO agreed with me!) Mortality from COVID-19 in kids is extremely low (.003%), lower even than the flu. Also, kids do not spread the infection to adults.

4) Pregnant women (or women planning to be pregnant) should not take these vaccines. (They should never take an experimental vaccine.) There are too many reports of spontaneous abortion and menstrual irregularities that have not yet been investigated.

5) We have reached herd immunity. There will be sporadic cases going forward. Management from here should shift to safe treatments for outpatients. There is certainly no need “to vaccinate everyone” to get out of the pandemic.

6) Persons who have been infected with COVID-19 have a strong immune response and could choose to wait on the vaccine for at least a year.

7) Do not be afraid of the variants. Viruses mutate all the time in minor ways (97% homologous). Usually, the virus becomes more transmissible but less deadly and this is likely what will be proven with the new variants. The recommendations above are not likely to change due to new variants, so ignore the establishment’s perpetual fear machine.

8) At this juncture, the new technology of injecting mRNA to create a vaccine does not seem safer than our older ways of producing vaccines.