COVID AND THE VACCINE - TRUTH, LIES, AND MISCONCEPTIONS REVEALED, page-75023

10 myths told by COVIDexperts — and now debunked (from New York Post)

By Marty MakaryFebruary 27, 2023 9:50pm

Inthe past few weeks, a series of analyses published by highly respectedresearchers have exposed a truth about public health officials during COVID:

Muchof the time, they were wrong.

Tobe clear, public health officials were not wrong for making recommendationsbased on what was known at the time.

That’sunderstandable. You go with the data you have.

No,they were wrong becausethey refused to change their directives in the face of new evidence.

Whena study did not support their policies, they dismissed it and censored opposingopinions.

At the same time, the Centersfor Disease Control and Prevention weaponized research itself by putting outits own flawed studies in its own non-peer-reviewed medical journal, MMWR.

Inthe final analysis, public health officials actively propagated misinformationthat ruined lives and forever damaged public trust in the medical profession.

Hereare 10 ways they misled Americans:

Misinformation #1: Natural immunity offerslittle protection compared to vaccinated immunity

ALancet study looked at 65 major studies in 19 countries on natural immunity.The researchers concluded that natural immunity was at least as effective as the primary COVID vaccine series.

Infact, the scientific data was there all along — from 160 studies, despite thefindings of these studies violating Facebook’s “misinformation” policy.

Sincethe Athenian plague of 430 BC, it has been observed that those who recoveredafter infection were protected against severe disease if reinfected.

Thatwas also the observation of nearly every practicing physician during the first18 months of the COVID pandemic.

MostAmericans who were fired for not having the COVID vaccine already hadantibodies that effectively neutralized the virus, but they were antibodiesthat the government did not recognize.

Misinformation #2: Masks prevent COVID transmission

CochranReviews are considered the most authoritative and independent assessment of theevidence in medicine.

Andone published last month by a highly respected Oxford research team foundthat masks had no significant impact on COVID transmission.

Whenasked about this definitive review, CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walenskydownplayed it, arguing that it was flawed because it focused on randomizedcontrolled studies.

Butthat was the greatest strength of the review! Randomized studies are consideredthe gold standard of medical evidence.

Ifall the energy used by public health officials to mask toddlers could have been channeled to reduce child obesity by encouraging outdoor activities, we would be better off.

Misinformation #3: School closures reduce COVIDtransmission

TheCDC ignored the European experience of keeping schools open, most without mask mandates.

Transmissionrates were no different, evidenced by studies conducted in Spain and Sweden.

Misinformation #4: Myocarditis from thevaccine is less common than from the infection

Publichealth officials downplayed concerns about vaccine-induced myocarditis — or inflammation of the heart muscle.

Theycited poorly designed studies that under-captured complication rates.

Aflurry of well-designed studies said the opposite.

We now know that myocarditisis six to 28 times more common after the COVID vaccine than after the infectionamong 16- to 24-year-old males.

Tensof thousands of children likely got myocarditis, mostly subclinical, from a COVID vaccine they did not need because they were entirely healthy or because they already had COVID.

Misinformation #5: Young people benefit from avaccine booster

Boostersreduced hospitalizations in older, high-risk Americans.

But the evidence was neverthere that they lower COVID mortality in young, healthy people.

That’s probably why the CDCchose not to publish its data on hospitalization rates among boosted Americansunder 50, when it published the same rates for those over50.

Ultimately,White House pressure to recommend boosters for all was so intense that the FDA’s two top vaccine experts left the agency in protest, writing scathing articles on how the data did not support boosters for young people.

Misinformation #6: Vaccine mandates increasedvaccination rates

PresidentBiden and other officials demanded that unvaccinated workers, regardless oftheir risk or natural immunity, be fired.

Theydemanded that soldiers be dishonorably discharged and nurses be laid off in themiddle of a staffing crisis.

The mandate was based on the theory that vaccination reduced transmission rates — a notion later proven to be false.

But after the broadrecognition that vaccination does not reduce transmission, the mandatespersisted, and still do to this day.

Arecent study from George Mason University details how vaccine mandates in ninemajor US cities had no impact on vaccination rates.

Theyalso had no impact on COVID transmission rates.

Misinformation #7: COVID originating from the Wuhanlab is a conspiracy theory

Googleadmitted to suppressing searches of “lab leak” during the pandemic.

Dr.Francis Collins, head of the National Institutes of Health, claimed (and stilldoes) he didn’t believe the virus came from a lab.

Ultimately,overwhelming circumstantial evidence points to a lab leak origin — the sameorigin suggested to Dr. Anthony Fauci by two very prominent virologists in aJanuary 2020 meeting he assembled at the beginning of the pandemic.

Accordingto documents obtained by Bret Baier of Fox News, they told Fauci and Collins that the virus may have been manipulated and originated in the lab, butthen suddenly changed their tune in public comments days after meeting with the NIH officials.

Thevirologists were later awarded nearly $9 million from Fauci’s agency.

Misinformation #8: It was important to get thesecond vaccine dose three or four weeks after the first dose

Datawere clear in the spring of 2021, just months after the vaccine rollout, that spacing the vaccine out by three months reduces complication rates and increases immunity.

Spacingout vaccines would have also saved more lives when Americans were rationing alimited vaccine supply at the height of the epidemic.

Misinformation #9: Data on the bivalent vaccine is‘crystal clear’

Dr.Ashish Jha famously said this, despite the bivalent vaccine being approved using data from eightmice.

To date, there has never beena randomized controlled trial of the bivalent vaccine.

Inmy opinion, the data are crystal clear that young people should not get thebivalent vaccine.

Itwould have also spared many children myocarditis.

Misinformation #10: One in five people get longCOVID

TheCenters for Disease Control and Prevention claims that 20% of COVID infectionscan result in long COVID.

Buta UK study found that only3% of COVID patients had residual symptoms lasting 12 weeks. What explains the disparity?

It’soften normal to experience mild fatigue or weakness for weeks after being sick and inactive and not eating well.

Callingthese cases long COVID is the medicalization of ordinary life.

What’smost amazing about all the misinformation conveyed by CDC and public healthofficials is that there have been no apologies for holding on to their recommendations for so long after the data became apparent that they were dead wrong.

Publichealth officials said “you must” when the correct answer should have been“we’re not sure.”

Earlyon, in the absence of good data, public health officials chose a path of sternpaternalism.

Today,they are in denial of a mountain of strong studies showing that they werewrong.

At minimum, the CDC shouldcome clean and the FDA should add a warning label to COVID vaccines, clearlystating what is now known.

A mea culpa by those who ledus astray would be a first step to rebuilding trust.

MartyMakary MD, MPH is a professor at the Johns Hopkins University School ofMedicine and author of “The Price We Pay.”