Ghost of Viktor Bryzhin wrote:
What are the mathematical odds of this? People die of penicillin injections, would you rather have us go back to the 19th century and have people going blind with Scarlett fever, or dying of Measles induced pneumonia?
Without vaccines half of the children born would probably die before adulthood. Learn about history or your doomed to repeat it.
True, but a key point that seems to continually be missed is the technology involved in the vaccines you just alluded to and the still-stage-3 Covid vaccine.
You can call a Toyota Prius and a rocket ship both “vehicles” because they get you from point A to point B faster than you would be able to go on your own. But if you simply refer to both as “vehicles” without recognizing they are very different, you are either being shortsighted or disingenuous.
There was a good article in Nature just 2 years prior to Covid’s impacts in which mRNA vaccines were discussed at length. Prior to multi-billion dollar contracts in place between governments and vaccine manufacturers (to whom the FDA vaccine czar had ties, with whom the FDA commissioner got a job immediately after leaving the role, etc… classic, Trump-run, eyebrow raising, government moves if the hyper-critics would bother to look at the development and release of these vaccines). That article detailed need for long term studies on potential autoimmunity issues related to interferon responses, and severe blood and cardiovascular reactions. These are not even unique risks to the current suite of Covid vaccines. They are known risks associated with the technology behind them.
But yes, let’s just lump that in under the vaccine umbrella, lay aside any possible critique of even the possibility that a Trump-led initiative in an election year might have issues, and disregard the fact that more people have had issues with this particular vaccine than all of the ones you alluded to combined. Let’s ditch all of that and instead stick to the fact that it’s been decided that vaccines - and nothing else - are the only path out of this.
I swear, the Pharma industry has been the happy-recipient of the greatest 180 in public perception in the history of mankind. Before this pandemic started, the greed for financial gain of organizations charging hundreds for everything from Epipens to insulin had people so fed up with the money-loving “big Pharma” types. The second we were told vaccines that would require new, patented tech and be issued blank checks backed by taxpayer dollars were our only hope at a path out of this, suddenly this entire industry went from being the devils on our shoulder to saviors to whom we should demand allegiance.
The age old adage of “follow the money” seems appropriate. The organizations that began making billions under the Trump administration that was called into question at every other turn sure seem to be good candidates to at least thing critically about.