The Vaccine Insanity

 I haven't said anything about this because I don't really understand what the hell is going on.

There has been significant resistance to taking the Covid vaccines. That's changing a little bit now that the FDA has officially approved the Pfizer vaccine but not a lot.

I've been sort of looking about and I've done some talking with folks. There is clearly a lot of misinformation and misunderstanding. I have heard a number of reasons. I'm going to ignore the "I don't trust (pick one or more: the government, the CDC, the WHO, doctors, pharmaceutical companies)" excuse because that's always around.

Reason #1 - I'm young and healthy so it's not necessary. Well, even if that may be true for you personally you're acting as a human petri dish and potentially allowing the virus to mutate and spread.

Reason #2 - The vaccines are ineffective. I've head this especially with respect to the Delta variant. Evidence I've heard supporting this position are either anecdotal (everyone I know even those who have been vaccinated has gotten sick) to the increasing reports about breakthrough cases. Massachusetts recently reported that 75% of new cases were of vaccinated individuals.

The Massachusetts thing is under investigation but it sounds like it might be based upon special circumstances. First of all about 70% of people in Massachusetts are vaccinated so it's not surprising a large number of the new cases are among vaccinated people. The majority of the cases are also among young people, typically under 40. How that figures in I don't know so I suppose I will wait and see.

Reason #3 - The vaccines are dangerous. The CDC has a database called the Vaccines Adverse Effect Reporting System (VAERS). Health facilities are required to report adverse effects and anyone can file a report.

The number of adverse effects in the database, especially deaths, is frighteningly high and and several websites have been reporting these numbers as evidence that the vaccines are dangerous. The problem is that this is non-validated raw data. The website warns against using these numbers until they have been investigated. Correlation is not causation and the overwhelming majority of these reports usually turn out to have nothing to do with the vaccine.

Reason #4 - Politics. Somehow this has become a political issue. At CPAC they cheered the fact that the vaccination goals had not been achieved. This is by far the dumbest reason.

Reason #5 - Opposition to vaccines in general. There are some people that take this position and if they're not willing to take vaccines that have been around for a while they sure as hell aren't going to take the Covid vaccines.

None of these reasons strike me as valid. People won't get vaccinated but they'll take Ivermectin instead.

Does Ivermectin work? They seem to think so in India and are using it both as a treatment and as a prophylactic. WHO and the European Medicines Agency have warned against using it. The FDA has said it doesn't have any evidence one way or the other. Merck, one of the manufacturers of Ivermectin, says that it has no Covid-19 benefit.

There are human dosage levels of Ivermectin used to combat parasites. If you take those it may not help but it may not hurt. But people are taking horse and cow level dosages and poisoning themselves.

I don't get it. People won't take a vaccine touted as safe and effective by medical authorities but will take a parasite drug based upon what some asshole on the internet says. We really are a nation of morons.

I'm vaccinated. The side effects were minor and I will get the booster if and when it's recommended. The risk-benefit balance is heavily in favor of that course of action.