Below is a summary of “The Narrative” vs an alternative view. I will be publishing data around each of the points in the coming days. Enjoy.
| The Narrative | A Data-Driven Alternative |
|---|---|
| The health authorities have your best interests at heart. Just listen to the experts. | There are three major red-flags which suggest that our leaders are inept or worse: 1) their total lack of interest in finding cheap treatments for covid-19 and their apparent obsession that "vaccines are the only answer"; 2) the suppression and demonization of dissenting views (e.g. regarding early outpatient treatment and the potential for re-purposing existing, and cheap, drugs to combat Covid-19); 3) their denial that immunity for people who have recovered from Covid-19 should be considered (vaccinate anyway!). |
| • Covid-19 is a novel and deadly pathogen and we are in a massive global pandemic. | • Covid-19 is a new pathogen and it can be deadly, but its risks and impact have been enormously overhyped by governments and the media. |
| • We should be very afraid. | • We are in a pandemic of fear rather than disease. Most people vastly over-estimate the risks for themselves and those around them. |
| • Everybody is at risk for Covid-19 – old, young - everyone. | • The risks are vastly higher for the elderly and those with comorbidities, vs for younger people. (People over 70 have more than a 1000-fold higher risk of dying than people under 20). |
| • Lockdowns, masks, restrictions were needed to control the spread and they have worked. | • Lockdowns have been the biggest public health mistake ever made, with disastrous consequences particularly for the poor and the young. |
| • Masks are great and help control the spread (and it's OK to mask the kids, even 2 year olds). | • Not all masks are equal (e.g. cloth masks vs N95), and there is limited evidence of their efficacy. There is no strong evidence that mask mandates and use helped curb the spread of Covid-19 - they seem to have had no impact. The evidence for masking kids is extra-ordinarily weak and a policy not followed in most of Europe. |
| • Covid-19 is THE overwhelming medical priority, and societal priority: all other medical issues can wait, and the loss of schooling, jobs etc don't really matter. | • There should have been ongoing cost/benefit assessments and a recognition that many measures, especially lockdowns, had enormous costs that were simply ignored. |
| • The Swedes, who did not have hard lockdowns and who kept most kids in schools, are lunatics and are showing the world how not to do it. | • Sweden got it largely right - they have been vindicated. |
| • There are no treatments for Covid-19. | • There have been credible treatment options available since mid/late 2020 - with evidence strong enough to at least warrant rigorous investigation. The CDC/FDA's lack of curiosity about early treatment options, their active suppression of information about them and failure to encourage trials early in 2020 is ....... odd. |
| • PCR Tests are the gold standard for identifying cases. | • PCR tests, as used, are unreliable and create a misleading picture. The clinical relevance of a PCR test result depends on the cycle threshold being used, and for 2020 and most of 2021, tests were run using a cycle threshold that was too high, leading to an over-diagnosis of "cases". |
| • Vaccines are the only way out of this. | • Safe and effective vaccines are likely to a part of the solution, but treatments (especially early outpatient treatments) and ways to protect the vulnerable should have had AT LEAST as much attention. |
| • The clinical trials for the vaccines were robust and the vaccines are "safe and effective". | • The clinical trials were accelerated and both the short and long term safety profiles of the new mRNA technology were not established before Emergency Authorization was granted. |
| • Vaccines: are 90-95% effective against acquiring Covid-19 and will protect you from hospitalization and death | • The vaccine efficacy data is NOT clear cut. They were not studied in the populations most at risk. The clinical trials do not show benefit vs transmission, hospitalization or death (these benefits were inferred from observational studies). Efficacy against infection and transmission wanes after a couple of months (hence the need for boosters). The data on vaccines is complicated and evolving..... |
| • The vaccines are safe (some say the safest ever..). | • Significant adverse events are now recognized (e.g. myocarditis) and vary by age and sex. • Risk/benefit needs to be assessed taking into account age, comorbidities and other factors. The vaccines may have a good risk/benefit profile for some groups but not for all. |
| • If you are vaccinated you can't transmit the infection. | • There is clear evidence that vaccinated people can acquire and transmit Covid-19, and suggestions that they may pose a significant transmission risk since they are less likely to have symptoms (and therefore stay home). |
| • Everyone must get vaccinated, even those who have recovered from Covid-19 since vaccines are better than "natural immunity". | • There are numerous studies that show that immunity for people who have recovered from Covid-19 is stronger and more long-lasting than vaccination. Also, since vaccines to NOT prevent infection or transmission, there is limited public benefit from widespread vaccination. |
| • We must have vaccine passports and force everyone be vaccinated. | • Vaccine passports for Covid-19 are unscientific and unethical. They have no place in a liberal democracy. |
| PS We're following the science. Anyone who disagrees is a moron. | The only science being reliably followed is Political Science. |
| PPS There is no way this could have come from a lab. | A lab leak is a very plausible hypothesis and now considered by many as the most likely scenario. |
| PPS Anthony Fauci is "the science" | I wouldn't trust Anthony Fauci with my dog, let alone my kids. |