Does anyone else sense there seems to be something peculiar or off with the COVID-19 vaccination? Approaching this from a viewpoint of risk, there are a number of things to consider. How any given individual evaluates the risks of receiving or refusing the offered vaccine should be their health choice. An intelligent person could very much want to get the vaccine, and should not be condemned or called foolish for that choice. But an equally intelligent person could decide to delay or refuse the vaccine, and they should also not be condemned or called foolish for the opposite choice. An important question we should be asking is Why has this choice become such a charged, divisive issue?
Here’s what has me perplexed. Lawyers sue doctors and pharmaceutical companies all the time when they screw up and injure people. Even if they do so negligently with the best of intentions, lawyers sue these health professionals.
As a result of the injuries caused while providing health care, the medical industry has chosen to shift the risk from themselves to those they treat through warnings. If you are warned, and you choose to proceed, then if there is an injury you assumed the risk. You can’t blame anyone for the injury you chose to accept.
As an example, I take Vitamin C every day. I noticed that it has a warning:
Ascorbic Acid (Vitamin C): You should not use ascorbic acid if you have ever had an allergic reaction to a vitamin C supplement. Ask a doctor or pharmacist about using ascorbic acid if you have: kidney disease or a history of kidney stones; hereditary iron overload disorder (hematochromatosis); or if you smoke (smoking can make ascorbic acid less effective). Your dose needs may be different during pregnancy or while you are breast-feeding a baby. Do not use ascorbic acid without your doctor’s advice in either case.
Look at warnings that you find on other common products like Asprin, and Benadryl.
And this one on Vitamin E: Ask a doctor or pharmacist if it is safe for you to use vitamin E if you have other medical conditions, especially: anemia (low red blood cells); a bleeding or blood clotting disorder such as hemophilia; liver disease; kidney disease; any allergies; an eye disorder called retinitis pigmentosa; a vitamin K deficiency; high cholesterol or triglycerides (a type of fat in the blood); diabetes; a history of cancer; a history of stroke or blood clot; or if you need surgery, or have recently had surgery. FDA pregnancy category C. It is not known whether vitamin E will harm an unborn baby… (and the warning goes on)
Here are the same kinds of warnings you get for childhood vaccines we may have all received:
Measles: Applies to measles virus vaccine: subcutaneous powder for injection. Local: Local side effects have included injection site burning/stinging, wheal and flare, erythema, swelling, and vesiculation. Hypersensitivity: Hypersensitivity reactions have included anaphylaxis, anaphylactoid reactions, angioneurotic edema (including peripheral or facial edema), and bronchial spasm. Cardiovascular: Cardiovascular side effects have included vasculitis. Dermatologic: Dermatologic side effects have included Stevens-Johnson Syndrome, erythema multiforme, urticaria, and rash. Gastrointestinal: Gastrointestinal side effects have included diarrhea. Hematologic: Hematologic side effects have included thrombocytopenia, purpura, regional lymphadenopathy, and leukocytosis. Musculoskeletal: Musculoskeletal side effects have included arthralgia and/or arthritis (usually transient and rarely chronic), polyneuritis, myalgia, paresthesia, and rarely chronic arthritis; these symptoms may also occur with natural rubella. Nervous system: Nervous system side effects have included measles inclusion body encephalitis (MIBE), encephalopathy, subacute sclerosing panencephalitis (SSPE), Guillain-Barré Syndrome (GBS), febrile convulsions, afebrile convulsions or seizures, ataxia, and ocular palsies. Significant central nervous system reactions such as encephalitis and encephalopathy have been very rarely temporally associated with measles vaccine (occurring within 30 days after vaccination); however, causality has not been determined in any case. A certain number of encephalitis cases unrelated to vaccines is expected to occur in a large childhood population; however, there is the possibility that some of these cases may have been caused by measles vaccine. The risk of measles vaccine-associated serious neurological disorders is much smaller than the risk for encephalitis and encephalopathy due to natural measles. Subacute sclerosing panencephalitis (SSPE) has been very rarely reported in children after measles vaccination. Some of these cases may have been due to unrecognized measles during the first year of life or possibly due to the measles vaccination. The results of a retrospective case-controlled study by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention suggest that measles vaccine has had the overall effect of protecting against SSPE by preventing measles with its greater risk of SSPE.
Mumps Vaccine also carries warnings about side effects that include risks of local injury, hypersensitivity, cardiovascular, dermatologic, endocrine, genitourinary, gastrointestinal, hematological, nervous system, ocular, and respiratory. (I’m omitting the details for each of these categories.)
Rubella Vaccine has similar potential side effects and warnings as measles and mumps, and also adds additional warnings about musculatoskeletal risks and and even deafness.
We know about the risks for these products because human trials allowed us to learn about the side effects through control groups (who do not receive the medication/vaccination) and those who are tested. Large samples over years of testing allow the risks to be identified. Not everyone is susceptible to each risk, and some people are more likely to suffer from specific side effects than others.
Unlike all other compounds, vitamins, medications and vaccines, this is what we are told about the COVID-19 vaccine (which has not undergone human trial testing-unless you consider what is happening at present to be that test): Covid-19 risks: COVID-19 vaccines are safe and effective. You may have side effects after vaccination, but these are normal.
How can that be? There is nothing yet documented to justify the claim it is safe, so why tell us that? What does it mean that something has “normal” side effects?
By taking the effort to post these questions, what I am hoping to do is inspire the logical question: “What the hell is going on?” (Rather than just trust the appeal to emotions, shaming, and social pressure used today to influence a health decision.) Think this through for yourself. And choose wisely. But if someone makes a different choice than you, refrain from using emotion, shame and social pressure to confront them. Let them go in peace. Every person has the right to choose to be vaccinated, and to choose against it. And every person has the right to then live with the consequences of their choice.
One last matter to consider: Because all these vaccinations were developed with emergency authorization, and normal FDA requirements were waived, the pharmaceutical companies are not liable for any injuries caused by the vaccines. Even if they tell you they are “safe and effective” and the vaccines later prove to be neither safe nor effective, you can’t sue the manufacturer.