Covid Booster Shot … Boosting What? By Brian Simpson
This is a report from the news service Reuters.com, about mainstream scientists beginning to question the Covid booster jabs. Nothing particularly new, but it is worth noting because of the mainstream source.
“The Biden administration's plan to provide COVID-19 vaccine boosters is based on concerns that a decrease in the vaccines' ability to protect against milder infections could also mean people will have less protection against severe illness, a premise that has yet to be proven, scientists said on Thursday.
U.S. officials, citing data showing waning protection against mild and moderate illness from the Pfizer-BioNTech (PFE.N), and Moderna (MRNA.O) vaccines more than six months after inoculation, on Wednesday said boosters will be made widely available starting on Sept. 20.
The additional dose will be offered to people who received their initial inoculation at least eight months earlier.
"Recent data makes clear that protection against mild and moderate disease has decreased over time. This is likely due to both waning immunity and the strength of the widespread Delta variant," U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy told reporters.
"We are concerned that this pattern of decline we are seeing will continue in the months ahead, which could lead to reduced protection against severe disease, hospitalization, and death."
Data on so-called "breakthrough" infections in vaccinated people shows that older Americans have so far been the most vulnerable to severe illness.
As of Aug. 9, almost 74% of the 8,054 vaccinated people that were hospitalized with COVID-19 were above the age of 65, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Almost 20% of those cases ended in deaths.
Based on available data on vaccine protection, it is not clear that younger, healthier people will be at risk.
"We don't know if that translates into a problem with the vaccine doing what is most important, which is protect against hospitalization, death, and serious disease. On that, the jury is still out," said Dr. Jesse Goodman, an infectious disease expert at Georgetown University in Washington and a former chief scientist at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
Several countries have decided to provide booster shots to older adults and people with weak immune systems. European Union officials said on Wednesday they do not yet see a need to give booster shots to the general population.
Other experts said the U.S. plan requires thorough vetting by the FDA and a panel of outside advisers to the CDC. A meeting of those advisers to discuss boosters set for Aug. 24 is being rescheduled, the CDC said on Thursday on its website.
The Department of Health and Human Services, which oversees the CDC and FDA, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.”
Some experts questioned the focus on booster shots when around 30% of eligible Americans have yet to get even a first vaccine dose, despite new COVID-19 cases and deaths surging across the country.
"The more important thing, I think, at this point than boosters is making sure we get the vaccine in any arm that hasn't had one as fast as we can," said Dr. Dan McQuillen, an infectious disease specialist in Burlington, Massachusetts, and the incoming president of the Infectious Diseases Society of America.
All experts interviewed by Reuters also emphasized the need to inoculate the vast number of people around the world who have yet to access COVID-19 vaccines.
"You could end up in situation where you are chasing your tail, giving more and more boosters in the U.S. and Western Europe, while more dangerous variants are coming from other places," said Dr. Isaac Weisfuse, epidemiologist and adjunct professor at Cornell University Public Health.
"In reality you should be vaccinating the rest of the world to avoid new variants."
https://www.naturalnews.com/2021-08-29-scientists-question-necessity-of-booster-shots.html
“The Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine has been granted full approval by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and more and more businesses and organizations are pushing for mandates for their employees to get inoculated, with a third booster shot being pushed aggressively by officials.
However, scientists have questions over the strength of the evidence to push with such protocols, as such decisions are “rash and based on weak evidence.”
There is little information regarding the safety of the booster shots, including potential side effects that people may face and for whom the additional dose will be beneficial.
Experts also noted that the guilt-ridden drive to line up for booster shots fuel more confusion. Dr. Paul Offit, director of the Vaccine Education Center at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia and an adviser to the National Institutes of Health and the Food and Drug Administration noted that what these booster shots are doing is scaring people. “We sent a terrible message. We just sent a message out there that people who consider themselves fully vaccinated were not fully vaccinated. And that’s the wrong message because you are protected against serious illness.”
It is also important to note that the government is not keeping track of the number of people getting breakthrough infections — they are only keeping track of those that end up in hospitalizations or death.
Overall, the hesitancy over getting shots isn’t as rare as the media wants people to believe — only about half of eligible Americans are fully inoculated, as per the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
In a recent interview, CDC Director Rochelle Walensky admitted that people who have had the shot could experience “worsening infections over time.” She did not offer any insight on whether this trend could be related to antibody-dependent enhancement (ADE), which happens when antibodies generated during an immune response recognize and bind to a pathogen, but cannot prevent infection.
Instead, officials have been using such worsening infections as a call for people to have their booster shots merely eight months after their second dose.
Yet, reports of adverse health reactions and deaths following the shots continue to roll in: the CDC noted that there had been over 595,700 adverse events reported to the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS) since December 14, 2020, including 13,068 deaths as of August 13, 2021.
Scientists question evidence behind booster shots.
Based on available data on vaccine protection, it is not clear whether younger, healthier individuals will find themselves at risk. “We don’t know if that translates into a problem with the vaccine doing what is most important, which is protect against hospitalization, death, and serious disease,” said Dr. Jesse Goodman, an infectious disease expert at Georgetown University in Washington and a former chief scientist at the FDA.
Some experts also questioned the focus on booster shots when many more eligible Americans are yet to get their first vaccine dose despite surging cases in the country.
Dr. Dan McQuillen, an infectious disease specialist in Burlington, Massachusetts said that more important than boosters are ensuring that everyone is vaccinated as fast as possible.
Experts emphasized the need to inoculate the vast number of people around the world who are yet to access any of the approved COVID-19 vaccines. Dr. Isaac Weisfuse, epidemiologist and adjunct professor at Cornell University Public Health, said: “You could end up in situation where you are chasing your tail, giving more and more boosters in the U.S. and Western Europe, while more dangerous variants are coming from other places. In reality you should be vaccinating the rest of the world to avoid new variants.”
As we have said, the mainstream response to Covid is likely to produce a viral arms race. But, long-term survival prepping has never been a strong point of our ruling elites. Life is just a short-term economy for them.
Comments