~ The Covid-19 pandemic is over, and HHS will no longer waste billions of taxpayer dollars responding to a nonexistent pandemic that Americans moved on from years ago, said Andrew Nixon, a spokesperson for the Department of Health and Human Services in a prepared statement.
Though this quote was spoken with disdain and brimming with revisionism, the only word I really take offense with is waste. A pandemic is over when we declare it so, and Americans like everyone else must move on. But we don’t have to forget lessons learned, or stop looking and learning entirely. Consider that impartial merchants like insurance companies know that we are still experiencing excess mortality from Covid — to the tune of ~150,000 extra deaths in the U.S. each year.
Here in Covidlandia we retain the brain power and the intellectual courage to hold two competing truths in our heads at the same time: the world must keep moving on from tragedies, and we can still keep learning while protecting ourselves and others. All of this can be to varying personal degrees of freedom, choice, and risk tolerance.
The only waste around here is that being laid to our once world-leading health and science institutions, now in pieces, like shiny toys shattered by a child who needs help.
Your ability to get a Covid vaccine this fall (and for the foreseeable future) is in grave danger
How can we go from the modern day Wonder of the World that Covid vaccines represented, the Nobel Prizes for the discovery of mRNA vaccines, and The Lancet’s estimate that Covid vaccines saved 20 million lives worldwide just in their first year of use… how can we go from all that to this perverse revisionism, illogical skepticism, and anti-science agenda:
RFK Jr., sworn in as U.S. health secretary less than three months ago, is using his extensive powers to undermine Covid vaccines based on his long history of scientifically disproven claims. Helen Branswell of STAT News lays this out in excruciating detail. Among the most alarming developments is the unusual pause in Novavax's Covid vaccine approval despite FDA professional staff recommending approval. Political appointees under new FDA Commissioner Marty Makary are demanding an additional randomized controlled trial that experts say would be "costly and almost impossible to do" ethically.
Makary has suggested potentially overhauling the entire system for updating Covid shots, which could make it virtually impossible for manufacturers to bring updated vaccines to market in time for infection surges. As infectious disease expert Dr. Michael Osterholm noted, "by the time they could get a vaccine approved with early season studies, it would be too late... It makes no sense at all."
Moderna's next-generation Covid vaccine faces similar uncertainty with a May 31 decision deadline. RFK Jr is also making up his own “science” when it comes to cancelling single antigen vaccines in general, a step that would leave even more people sick and dead in its wake.
Meanwhile, Kennedy is also considering the unprecedented step of unilaterally removing Covid shots from the pediatric vaccine schedule without hearings or supporting data. This would create confusion among parents, make it harder for pediatricians to determine who should be vaccinated, and potentially force parents to pay out-of-pocket, further decreasing the already low 13% vaccination rate for children under 18. Read on for just this month’s evidence that Covid shots benefit kids, who can still get banged up quite significantly by Covid disease.
I wouldn’t doubt that Covid vaccine recommendations will also be yanked for adults under 65 years of age, creating a swell of unnecessary long Covid cases.
Other concerning developments include delays in selecting strains for next season's Covid shots, potentially leaving manufacturers like Novavax without sufficient production time, and uncertainty about a $600 million contract with Moderna for pandemic preparedness vaccines that the administration is "reevaluating" without explanation.
I’m faithfully recommending the spring Covid booster to my patients over 65 years old. Many of them are getting it now, which becomes even more important as who knows what will be available in the fall. Dr. Jenn Dowd agrees with getting boosted. I’m also looking at Canada and Mexico this fall. Will private clinics and pharmacies in these neighboring countries hook up Americans who want shots this fall if they are not available here?
RFK Jr even wants to throw out the entire mRNA vaccine technology based on his ridiculous misunderstandings about how vaccines work. Don't forget that mRNA vaccine technology holds promise beyond infectious diseases for treating cancer, autoimmune disorders, and genetic conditions through its ability to instruct cells to produce specific therapeutic proteins with unprecedented precision and adaptability. As a primary care doctor, someone who follows Covid more closely than most, who really cares about all my patients, especially the older ones — I’m F-ing furious.
You should be, too.
~
This is just an excerpt from the April edition of Covidlandia, a series I write about staying smart and up to date about Covid. You can read the entire post here.
In that post you will find expanded coverage of the following:
Current Covid Situation
-
Covid rates are currently manageable with approximately 1 in 170 people infectious
-
A mid-to-late summer wave is anticipated, following seasonal patterns
Vaccine Access Concerns
-
Current HHS leadership under RFK Jr. is implementing policies undermining Covid vaccine access
-
FDA approval processes are being altered with additional requirements that experts consider impractical, unnecessary, and unethical
-
Pediatric vaccine recommendations face potential removal from schedules despite evidence of benefits
Vaccine Effectiveness
-
Recent studies show the updated Pfizer vaccine offers about 68% effectiveness against hospitalizations
-
Moderna’s updated vaccine demonstrates 53% effectiveness against hospitalizations.
-
These vaccines were not studied head to head, so not fair to conclude one is better than the other. But 4 years of evidence have already proven benefits outweigh small risks
-
Despite proven effectiveness, vaccine uptake remains concerningly low at only 3.7% in some study populations
-
The percent of the population reporting receipt of the updated 2024─25 COVID-19 vaccine is 13.0% for children and 23.0% for adults age 18+, including 44.1% among adults age 65+.
Protective Measures
-
N95 masks remain the most effective readily available protection, filtering 97-98% of particles
-
Other masks provide varying degrees of filtration: KN95s/KF94s (~70%), surgical/cotton (~50-60%)
Covid Impacts on Children
-
Studies show children with Covid face increased risks for kidney disease, gastrointestinal disorders, and cardiovascular conditions
-
Unvaccinated children are up to 20 times more likely to develop Long Covid
-
Data shows 63.6% of children hospitalized with Covid had no pre-existing conditions
Covid’s Hidden Effects
-
Acute Covid infections associated with 25% increased risk of car crashes, similar to driving under the influence of alcohol
-
Studies show Covid negatively impacts sperm quality with lower counts and reduced motility
-
Paxlovid treatment reduces stroke risk by 15% and all-cause mortality by 32% in the 90 days following diagnosis
Political Impacts on Public Health
-
Proposed and completed budget cuts catastrophically reduce funding for NIH, CDC and other health agencies
-
Changes to vaccine approval processes potentially violate established ethical principles in clinical research, and are being carried out by antivax agendas that are radical and wrong for this country.
~
And even better yet, sign up for the newsletter I write to keep in touch as this disgraceful Covid revisionism and more keeps unfolding!
