A Covid-19 Vaccine Fractured Fairy Tale

The following is a news analysis and commentary. It was first published on Sept. 9, 2021.

Any similarities to people living or dead is purely coincidental. However, the facts provided by “Other scientists” are accurate.

Our Fractured Fairy Tale begins in Spring of 2020.

(Public Health Officials Drs. Propa and Ganda):

There won’t be a vaccine for Covid-19 for years, even as a best case scenario.

(A few weeks later…)

(Public Health Officials Drs. Propa and Ganda):

Great news! Multiple vaccines are on the horizon that are highly-effective at preventing Covid-19! The end of this pandemic is near!

(Other scientists, Drs. Indy and Pendent):

Let’s be cautious. We all want successful vaccines, but history shows us that RNA vaccines don't last very long and don’t work very well; that’s why we’ve never had one approved, even after trying to develop one for AIDS for 40 years.

(Public Health Officials Drs. Propa and Ganda):

The vaccines are here! They’re nearly 100% effective at preventing Covid-19! It’s a modern miracle of science! Come one, come all-- except for children, of course, who have a statistical zero chance of serious illness from Covid. 

(Other scientists, Drs. Indy and Pendent): 

Let’s be circumspect. The Covid-19 vaccines will likely only be effective for about six months, variants will enter the picture, as with all viruses; and we have to watch for the possibility of Antibody Dependent Enhancement, a dangerous phenomenon in which vaccination puts the vaccinated patient at higher risk of getting a more dangerous form of the disease after the first wave.

(Public Health Officials Drs. Propa and Ganda):

Conspiracy theorist! (Blocks them from social media, controversializes the scientists as “kooks.”) If you don’t get vaccinated to prevent Covid, you’re akin to a terrorist. A national security threat! Unless, of course you’re a child, because children are at such low risk of serious illness. So they're the exception.

(Other scientists, Drs. Indy and Pendent): 

Let’s be realistic: Many vaccinated people are testing positive for Covid after vaccination. The Covid-19 vaccines don’t prevent people from getting Covid-19, after all.

(Public Health Officials Drs. Propa and Ganda): 

Everyone knows that’s just because those people weren’t fully vaccinated with both doses. Or maybe they didn’t wait the right amount of time between doses. Or maybe they got Covid after the second dose, but before the immunity fully kicked in. 

(Other scientists, Drs. Indy and Pendent): 

No, I’m sorry, I don’t like it either, we all want effective vaccines. But vaccinated people are getting Covid-19 outside those specific scenarios.

(Public Health Officials Drs. Propa and Ganda):

Doesn’t matter! Who said vaccines should prevent the disease? Certainly not me. The Covid-19 vaccines prevent almost all symptomatic cases. Symptoms, you hear? The vaccines are a huge success story! Exceeding all expectations!

(Other scientists, Drs. Indy and Pendent): 

Let’s be factual. We're all for safe, effective vaccines. But we have to acknowledge the Covid-19 vaccines aren't preventing all symptomatic cases, especially as time wears on. Remember, we always knew they would only work for around six months. Also, recall, scientific experience tells us RNA vaccines in general don’t work very well and don’t last very long.

(Public Health Officials Drs. Propa and Ganda):

Kook! Are you still here? (Generates “fact checks” that call the information “debunked” and “dangerous.”) And I sure hope you’re getting your children vaccinated!

(Other scientists, Drs. Indy and Pendent): 

I thought you said children don’t need to be vaccinated because their risk of serious illness from Covid is so tiny.

(Public Health Officials Drs. Propa and Ganda):

What?!? Liar! We never said any such thing. Well, maybe we did, but we didn’t know then what we know now. Haven’t you been watching the news? Kids are dying all over the place from Covid!

(Other scientists, Drs. Indy and Pendent):

That’s factually untrue.

(Public Health Officials Drs. Propa and Ganda):

Oh yeah? The pediatric death rate is, like, double what it was just a few months ago.

(Other scientists, Drs. Indy and Pendent):

Let’s not be hasty with this whole medical experiment. Double a very small number is still very, very tiny. More kids died of flu last year, in a very light flu season, than of Covid in the midst of the pandemic.

(Public Health Officials Drs. Propa and Ganda):

Why do you hate so much? Why do you insist on murdering children? Besides, kids spread Covid to their parents and grandparents. That's really why we have to get them vaccinated. To keep others safe. Don’t you love other people? How could you be so selfish!

(Other scientists, Drs. Indy and Pendent):

Certainly, the jury is out on the spread by children, but CDC acknowledges that vaccinated people carry about the same viral load as unvaccinated people, and that fully-vaccinated people are spreading Covid-19.

(Public Health Officials Drs. Propa and Ganda): 

ANTI-VAXXER! Denialist! Well, maybe vaccinated people sometimes get symptoms, but the symptoms are way, way milder than they would’ve otherwise been.

(Other scientists, Drs. Indy and Pendent): 

Not necessarily. When a vaccinated person gets Covid, it’s impossible to claim that he would have been sicker if not vaccinated. Remember, CDC says the vast of unvaccinated people who get Covid also have mild or no symptoms.

(Public Health Officials Drs. Propa and Ganda):

Okay, maybe vaccinated people can still get infected with Covid-19, after all. And maybe they can still get sick, after all. But at least vaccinated people can’t spread Covid-19. The CDC Director said so. And that’s the point. Not that vaccines prevent illness. We always knew they didn't do that. They prevent the spread. You nuts who are refusing to getting vaccinated are murdering me and my family!

(Other scientists, Drs. Indy and Pendent): 

Let’s be accurate. CDC retracted the Director's false statement on that topic, and eventually issued findings that said “viral load” in vaccinated and unvaccinated people is about the same. Vaccinated people are spreading Covid-19.

(Public Health Officials Drs. Propa and Ganda):

Well, maybe vaccinated people can get Covid. And maybe they can get symptoms. And maybe, okay, maybe they can spread Covid as easily as unvaccinated people. But the vaccines are almost 100% effective at preventing hospitalization and death. That’s the true mark of what makes the vaccines incredibly successful beyond anybody’s wildest dreams. It prevents serious illness. Nobody in the hospital with Covid has been vaccinated. Nobody! It’s a “pandemic of the unvaccinated!”

(Other scientists, Drs. Indy and Pendent): 

That’s untrue. Not only does CDC say vaccinated people are catching and spreading Covid, but also thousands of fully vaccinated patients have been hospitalized and/or died.

(Public Health Officials Drs. Propa and Ganda):

So what? Do you know how tiny that number is compared to all the people in the world?

(Other scientists, Drs. Indy and Pendent): 

Yes, as tiny as the percentage of healthy people who get seriously ill or die of Covid.

(Public Health Officials Drs. Propa and Ganda):

(Changes subject) Did you think we said the vaccines prevent hospitalization and death? Of course they can’t do that, silly. What we said was, fewer vaccinated people die or end up hospitalized.

(Other scientists, Drs. Indy and Pendent): 

Sometimes. There are some concerning exceptions. For example, more vaccinated people ended up hospitalized for a time in Israel, and four out of five patients hospitalized with Covid in CDC's Massachusetts study were fully vaccinated.

(Public Health Officials Drs. Propa and Ganda):

Dummy! When more vaccinated people end up hospitalized, it's because there are so many vaccinated people. And when more vaccinated people don't end up hospitalized it's because the vaccines work so well. In each case, it points to the wild success of the vaccines! Don’t you understand math? You're not too bright, are you? It’s all more proof the vaccines are an unimaginable success, and far more people should get them. In fact, we must require people to have vaccine passports to go about their daily lives. It’s a matter of life and death.

(Other scientists, Drs. Indy and Pendent): 

Vaccination may make sense for some people, but, surely, you understand by now that proof of vaccination is no assurance that person is immune, nor does it show he can’t spread Covid to others. Israel’s health ministry says effectiveness of the Pfizer Covid-19 vaccines appears to be down to 39% and falling. That’s far below the threshold needed to impact a pandemic. That’s happening in the U.S., too.

(Public Health Officials Drs. Propa and Ganda):

Delta variant! That's because of the Delta variant! Scary! Who could have known there would be these crazy variants in the picture, and that maybe the vaccines wouldn’t work so well against them?

(Other scientists, Drs. Indy and Pendent): 

Every professionally-trained virologist on the planet.

(Public Health Officials Drs. Propa and Ganda):

Well, those are “breakthrough infections.” They’re Super Duper rare! And besides, they are less serious infections than if the people hadn't gotten vaccinated. Are you stupid?

(Other scientists, Drs. Indy and Pendent): 

Actually, they’re not very rare, and there’s no way to know if a “breakthrough” infection was “less serious” than it otherwise might have been.

(Public Health Officials Drs. Propa and Ganda):

Well… (Thinks…) The vaccines are still better than nothing! You’re an unhinged science-denier not to recognize the miracle of these vaccines!

(Other scientists, Drs. Indy and Pendent): 

In the interest of accuracy, the vaccines aren’t necessarily “better than nothing” for everybody. They may be worse for some people. And, unfortunately, there’s new study modeling implying Antibody Dependent Enhancement (ADE) could be in play. We all hope that's not the case. It would mean people who got the Covid-19 vaccine could be susceptible to a more dangerous form of the virus.

(Public Health Officials Drs. Propa and Ganda):

Maybe. But how could we have known?

(Other scientists, Drs. Indy and Pendent): 

Because we told you about it in the very beginning. The ADE phenomenon is well documented, has occurred in the past after vaccination, and is something we should be mindful of— like it or not.

(Public Health Officials Drs. Propa and Ganda):

Study, schmudy! Clearly that’s junk science! We’ll get that retracted before you know it.  (Mutters under breath) Where are the censors when we need them the most?

(Other scientists, Drs. Indy and Pendent):

Also, the biggest study of its kind, out of Israel, confirms what the other studies have shown: natural immunity is far superior to vaccination in preventing Covid-19. Those who were fully-vaccinated with Pfizer’s vaccine were 13 times more likely to get infected with Covid compared to those who had COVID-19 during the same time period. The vaccinated were also far more likely to be hospitalized. 

(Public Health Officials Drs. Propa and Ganda):

Oh yeah? Are you stupid? Do you really want to take the chance of DYING OF COVID to get natural immunity?

(Other scientists, Drs. Indy and Pendent): 

That’s not the tradeoff for anybody. Nobody is suggesting people intentionally get Covid-19. The fact is, well over 120 million Americans have gotten it and survived, according to CDC, and the fatality rate of Covid-19 is statistically very, very small. So widespread natural immunity, which is better protection than vaccination, should be factored into discussions about policies to mandate vaccination in order for people to earn a living, get educated, attend events, shop, etc.

(Public Health Officials Drs. Propa and Ganda):

Fake news! No evidence! Stupid! You’re clearly just an anti-vaccine nut case! I'm reporting you to the authorities. You'll be sorry. You should be arrested. Terrorist! Sure, Covid-19 vaccines don't prevent the virus or long-lasting immunity or stop the spread or prevent hospitalization and death. But all we need to do is give boosters. See? Also, space out the first two shots. We gave them too close together. That was a mistake, but we can fix that. We'll get it right next time for sure. Then, vaccines will be better than natural immunity, I’m sure of it. You’ll see. That’s how vaccines work. Everybody knows it. You have to keep giving boosters. Forever, maybe. It buys time to formulate the next version of the vaccine, and then, you give that to people, too.

So, as you can see, we've clearly made the case that the Covid vaccine story is one of the biggest success stories on the planet! If you’re too blind to see that, I just can’t help you. Period. Settled science. Case closed.

(Other scientists, Drs. Indy and Pendent): 

Remember when you claimed the vaccines were nearly 100% effective at preventing Covid-19?

The End.

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All studies and documentation can be found at the links below:

• Covid-19 Natural Immunity: The Definitive Summary
• Covid-19 Vaccine: 80 of the Most Common Adverse Events
• Covid-19 Vaccine Concerns Summary
• Covid-19 Vaccine Analysis: Common Adverse Events
• Covid-19 Origins: Separating Rumor from Fact (WATCH)
• Report a Possible Vaccine Adverse Event