35 New overrated vaccines
Immunity comes from antibodies and from T cells
I have written about how vaccines trigger 2 types of immune responses. The 1st is an antibody response, and it gets all of the headlines. In response to a virus in the bloodstream, a type of white blood cell called a B lymphocyte manufactures proteins called antibodies. These cells release the antibodies into the bloodstream and attach to the virus. This prevents the virus from entering cells, reproducing, and then destroying the cell.
If a person already has enough protective antibodies when he gets the virus, there will no cell damage. And there are no symptoms, which means that the patient is immune and he will not get sick.
If he had no antibodies and then gets sick, and his body produces enough antibodies after getting sick, there will be no further cell damage. Healthy cells will replace the damaged cells and the patient will recover.
T cells might be more important as antibodies
There is a 2nd type of white blood cell that vaccine scientists discuss, but it is largely ignored by the media. These are T cells, and they might be even more important than B cells. We don’t know yet.
T cells do not make antibodies, but they can still prevent or cure an infection. There are 3 varieties of T cells and they either attack the virus in the bloodstream or destroy infected cells. The bottom line is that they can eliminate the infection.
Like B cells, T cells have memory, but their memory might last much longer. If a person recovers from a viral infection, but sometime later gets exposed again, these T cells will quickly reproduce and either prevent a 2nd illness or make it milder.
When a researcher does a clinical trial of a vaccine, he measures T cells as well as antibodies. This is because the vaccine might create a strong T cell response that might actually give a more lasting and more effective protection than the antibody response. We do not yet know.
We have all had coronavirus infections
I have said a few times that all of us have had coronavirus infections at some point. This is because all of us have had colds, and one of the 4 common viruses that cause the common cold is a coronavirus. About 20% of our colds were caused by coronaviruses. The other 3 types are Rhinovirus, parainfluenza virus, and the RSV (Respiratory Syncytial Virus). About a quarter of common colds are caused by other unidentified viruses.
This is important because everyone knows that some people get very sick from Covid-19 and others have very few symptoms. Scientists wonder if those who do not get sick have T cell immunity from a prior coronavirus infection, like a cold.
Other researchers have found that blood samples from several years ago have a T cell response to SARS-CoV-2, which is the virus that causes Covid-19. This is true even though the virus did not infect anyone until late in 2019. Others have made a similar observation. Therefore some people might have enough crossover immunity from a prior coronavirus infection, like a cold, to prevent a Covid-19 infection or to make the infection be mild.
T cell immunity might turn out to be more important than antibodies. We should know within a year.
Antibody drug
Regeneron created what they call an antibody-drug combination. They genetically modified mice to have a human immune system. They took Covid-19 antibodies from these mice and from patients who have recovered to create their REGN-COV2 drug. Their website does not clearly explain how they are producing the drug:
Regeneron scientists evaluated thousands of fully-human antibodies produced by the company’s proprietary VelocImmune® mice, which have been genetically-modified to have a human immune system, as well as antibodies isolated from humans who have recovered from COVID-19. They selected the two most potent, non-competing and virus-neutralizing antibodies to create REGN-COV2 and have scaled up this dual-antibody cocktail for clinical use with the company’s in-house VelociMab® and manufacturing capabilities.
REGN-COV2’s two antibodies bind non-competitively to the critical receptor binding domain of the virus’s spike protein, which diminishes the ability of mutant viruses to escape treatment and protects against spike variants that have arisen in the human population, as detailed in recent Science publications. More recent research also demonstrates coverage against the now prevalent D614G variant.
They claim that their research in monkeys shows that the drug prevents the Covid-19 virus from infecting the monkeys. Furthermore, they say that it is an effective treatment after monkeys get infected.
This is not a peer-reviewed study and therefore it is too early to assess its value. However, it is evidence of what I have been saying for awhile. Scientists might not be able to create a safe, effective vaccine that gives immunity that lasts a year or more. While there has been so much news about vaccines, treatments might become more important in the long run, like with HIV infections.
Your immune system overcomes a Covid-19 infection with B cells producing antibodies and T cells attacking the virus and infected cells.
Instead of having your body make antibodies in response to an infection or a vaccine, Regeneron is making those antibodies in a lab for you. Their plan presumably is to give them to you through an IV if you get infected. If this is successful, it will be particularly helpful for elderly or other immune-compromised patients who cannot make enough antibodies to kill the coronavirus.
FDA lowers vaccine effectiveness requirement to just 50%
Because the country is desperate for anything that will increase our safety, the FDA is eager to get vaccines approved. In June, the FDA lowered its requirement for effectiveness for a Covid-19 vaccine to 50%.
But what does 50% effective mean? You can read the article, but it is arcane. The FDA does not mean that 50% of vaccinated people will avoid any symptoms. Instead, it means that in the clinical trials, at least 50% of the vaccinated volunteers did better than those receiving a placebo.
For example, give the vaccine to 1,000 people and a placebo shot to another 1,000 other people. Then, after a few months, find out how many in each group got sick. If 10 of the placebo patients get Covid-19, but only 5 vaccinated people got sick, the vaccine prevented 50% of the infections. Researchers therefore say it 50% effective.
But the FDA guidelines appear to let a drug maker claim 50% effective if 5 got clearly got sick and 5 more had minimum symptoms. They might have had shorter hospital stays or they might have become symptom free a few days earlier. Those 5 would could be said to have benefited from the vaccine, and the drug maker could claim that the vaccine was effective in those 5.
In this instance, both the vaccine and placebo groups had 10 sick people, but 5 of the vaccine people were not as sick as the placebo group. Most Americans would say that the drug company is cheating, but this result appears to meet the FDA guidelines.
All that matters is that there is a statistically significant improvement among the treatment group. There are mathematicians who specialize in making this determination based on the data from the research. However, if you get stung by 10 wasps one day and then only 7 a month later, that is better but you are still going to suffer. In these studies, a little better is the minimum that the researchers need.
Only 42% plan to get vaccinated
Yahoo News/YouGov poll, conducted July 28 – 30 found that only 42%of Americans plan to get vaccinated. Once there is a safe and effective vaccine, that number will go up, but I doubt it will get above 60 – 70% of the population. Many Americans are afraid of vaccines, and this one is being rushed. That makes people less trustful.
If the vaccine is only 50% effective at preventing or reducing the severity of Covid-19 and only 42% get vaccinated, then there might only be about 20% of the population who are no longer carriers. Because each infected person infects 1.5 to 2.5 other people, herd immunity requires about 70% of the population to be immune. We need herd immunity for the total number of infections to gradually shrink and end the pandemic.
No one knows for certain if we need 70%. It might be less than 60%, but 70% is a reasonable bet based on the current death rate.
Dr. Fauci says the US has the world’s worst outbreak
Dr. Fauci is in a difficult position because he has to be careful about what he says because he wants to keep his job. He made comments that speak for themselves this week in a Harvard School of Public Health interview.
Here are some of his quotes:
“[When asked if the US had the worst outbreak in the world] Yeah, it is quantitatively if you look at it, it is. I mean the numbers don’t lie.”
“I mean when you look at the number of infections and the number of deaths, it really is quite concerning.”
“We can do much better, and we can do much better without locking down, and I think that strange binary approach, either you lock down or you let it all fly, there’s some place in the middle when we can open the economy and still avoid these kind of surges that we’re seeing.”
“Any demographic group that’s not seriously trying to get to the endgame of suppressing this, it will continue to smolder and smolder and smolder.”
“The unseemingly things that crises bring out in the world, it brings out the best of people and the worst of people, and getting death threats to my family and harassing my daughters to the point where I have to get security. It’s amazing.”
“I wouldn’t have imagined in my wildest dreams that people who object to things that are pure public health principles are so set against it and don’t like what you and I say, namely in the world of science, that they actually threaten you. I mean, that to me is just strange.”
“There is a degree of anti-science feeling in this country.”
“I think it’s not just related to science, it’s almost related to authority, and a mistrust in authority that spills over, because in some respects, scientists, because they’re trying to present data, may be looked at as being an authoritative figure.”
He was also interviewed by Bloomberg’s Balance of Power this week and he a more sober assessment of his expectations for a vaccine. There are currently 35 vaccines in clinical trials. From what Dr. Fauci is saying, the politicians and media are far too optimistic. It appears that all of the vaccines are overrated and will disappoint most Americans. I assume these are his actual expectations, which are far worse than what the public has been led to believe:
“A 50 – 60% effective vaccine is totally value added if you complement it with public health measures. I’d love to have a 90% effective, but if we get a 50 – 60% effective, I will feel good about that.”
“If you get a vaccine, you will have at least several months protection to get you through a season… If it turns out you need to boost someone, that’s okay too.”
The American people are becoming comfortable with the thought that the disease might be around for a long time. I saw an interview with a guy on the street, and the reported asked him why he wasn’t wearing a mask. He said, “Why bother? We’re all going to get it.”
How to achieve herd immunity?
To reach 70% and herd immunity, if 40% get vaccinated, we need some combination of the 3 following possibilities. Remember, half of the vaccinated people are immune so they contribute 20% of the 70%.
First, 50% of the population has to get infected, which means 160 million infections in the US. But if the death rate is even only 0.5%, then 800,000 Americans will die. Deaths are not going to suddenly stop once there is a vaccine since so many people will not get vaccinated.
Second, a much higher percentage of Americans needs to be vaccinated. That will happen over time once people see that the vaccine is not killing lots of Americans.
Finally, the effectiveness of vaccines must be significantly greater than 50%. Remember, “effective” means either not getting sick, or getting sick but not as sick as non-vaccinated Covid-19 patients. We need 50% of vaccinated people to not get sick at all. That would require an effectiveness of 70% or more because effectiveness includes both people not getting sick and people getting sick, but less sick than non-vaccinated people.
Masks could save 65,000 Americans by Christmas
There was a study in June that showed that masks might reduce infections by 65%. Obviously, N95 masks provide more protection and a single layer of cloth, like a bandanna, provides less.
One sad thought is that the half of the country not wearing masks could save 65,000 lives by the end of the year if they wore masks.
How did I come to that conclusion? Remember, an infected person infects others, and at some point, there is a death. There are models that show that there will be 300,000 American deaths by the end of the year. That is about 140,000 more than today, and it is based on about half of the country wearing masks.
Of that 140,000, about two-thirds will be cause by non-mask wears. If they wore masks, their share of 100,000 would fall to 35,000. That means if they all wore masks, they would save more people in 6 months that what we lost in the Vietnam War.
Shouldn’t everyone want to be a part of saving 65,000 lives in 5 months?What a great accomplishment that would be! This should outweigh any reason to not wear a mask. But it is too theoretical for most people to consider. Also, it would require leadership, which we do not have. Easier to just let them die.
Currently, antivax is not a bad option
I am a physician and I think getting vaccinated is the right choice. The anti-vaxxers are pretty much opposed to all vaccines for a variety of reasons. In the case of the Covid-19 vaccine, the math is currently not much better for the vaccine crowd. But it will get better as the vaccines improve.
We will not have herd immunity until about 70% of the population is immune. They can get their immunity either by recovering from Covid-19 or by getting vaccinated.
There is a 3rd theoretical possibility, but even if it turns out to be possible, the number of people getting it would be too small to factor into this discussion. I mentioned above that some drug companies are working on manufacturing antibodies. Theoretically, a person could become immune for a couple months or more if he received these antibodies through an IV injection.
How bad is the risk of not getting vaccinated?
We need 70% of the population to be immune for the pandemic to begin to slowly disappear. More and more people will keep getting infected until 70% of the population is immune. Then, each infected person on average will infected less than one other person because most of the people whom they encounter will be immune. That will result in the pandemic eventually disappearing.
One of the worst pandemics in history was smallpox in the colonial Americas. It might have killed 90% of native Mexicans. However, we know from past pandemics that probably less than 70% of the population will get infected with Covid-19. It could be only 30 – 50%.
Let’s look at the worst case for vaccines. Assume that only 40% of Americans get vaccinated and that the vaccine prevents the infection in only half of those. That means that 20% of the population could be immune through vaccination. It also means that the remaining 80% of the population would remain at risk of getting infected.
Remember, we need 70% of the population to be immune. Therefore, the other 50% would come from people getting infected. Some of that 50% will be from vaccinated people since only half of them will be immune.
Risk of infection might still be high after vaccination
While this math is not precise, a person not getting vaccinated will have about a 50% chance of getting infected. Of the vaccinated people, half will not be adequately immune and will get infected at about the same rate as non-vaccinated people. Since the population in general has a 50% chance of getting infected and a vaccinated person has a 50% chance of having the same risk as a non-vaccinated person, the risk of infection among all vaccinated people will be 25% (50% of 50%).
While that is twice as good as a non-vaccinated person, is it enough to persuade people to assume unknown risks from the vaccine? I believe those unknown serious risks will occur in fewer than 1% of cases, but since they are unknown, an anti-vaccine person can argue that they are much more common.
As a physician looking at the math, I will get vaccinated
In any case, as a physician who makes decisions on math and data from controlled clinical trials, the math for the anti-vaxxers is not bad here. About half of them will get infected compared to about a quarter of vaccinated people. That difference is not great enough for me to forcefully argue that everyone should get vaccinated.
But if better vaccines come along that completely prevent infection in 70% or more of vaccinated people, and if the risk of serious complications is less than 1 in 1,000, then the arguments in favor of getting vaccinated will have a much stronger mathematical basis. I believe we will get there within a couple years, but by then, the pandemic should be over.
However, the virus might become endemic instead of pandemic. It might just hang around for a decade or more. Remember, our immunity might only protect us for 6 months or so. Maybe a year or two. I suspect that by next year, we will begin to see people who recovered this year from a bad case of Covid-19 get another very bad case of Covid-19. We might need vaccinations every 6 – 12 months for many years.
American obesity is a problem with any disease
The US has more obese people than most countries. The CDC says that 42% of Americans are obese. That is shocking. But at least 20% of the citizens of most developed countries are obese, which also is a depressing thought. Japan is an outlier with an obesity rate of only 4.3%.
Incidentally, 9% of Americans are morbidly obese, which means a BMI of 40 or more and 100 pounds overweight. In case you are wondering if I am downplaying obesity because I might be a fat American, I have only 13% body fat, which is far less than even the average Japanese citizen.
Several people have commented after my Covid-19 reports that obesity is part of the reason why the US is doing so much worse that other countries. Several years from now, epidemiologists will analyze all of the data and determine the significance of each factor contributing to the disastrous pandemic in the US.
Obesity is part of the problem, but lack of leadership is the major factor
Obesity is an important contributing factor in the hospitalizations and deaths in all countries. If we had fewer obese people, we would have fewer deaths.
Our obesity rate is about 50% more than that in the majority of other developed countries. If it was the main factor behind all of our deaths , we might have 50% more deaths. So with 4% of the world’s population, maybe obesity would get us to 6% of the world’s deaths. However, we are at 25%. Therefore obesity accounts for only a small part of the US disaster.
Our lack of leadership from both political parties is by far the most important factor in the number of US infections and deaths. It is the reason why we have had 25% of the world’s deaths with only 4% of the world’s population.
Obese people are more likely to have high blood pressure, diabetes, heart disease, and many other diseases as well. They have less overall reserve, and a stress like a serious infection can be more than they can handle.
I want to share a comment that I sometimes heard in the 1970’s while in medical school at the University of Chicago. It annoyed me at the time and it still does. But it makes the point that obesity is a problem for all diseases. The older residents sometimes explained to me why an obese patient was not doing well by saying that the patient had a case of PPP, which meant Piss Poor Protoplasm.
Although this was dehumanizing and they did not quote any scientific studies to back up their claim, what they were saying is that they strongly believed that obese people with just about any serious disease did worse than non-obese people. Since that time, many studies have validated their crude observation.
American obesity is a problem with any vaccine
In addition to obese people getting sicker from Covid-19, they will probably have a problem with the vaccines as well. Vaccines for the flu, tetanus, rabies, and hepatitis B work less well in obese people, and this will likely be a problem with Covid-19 vaccines.
One obvious reason is that vaccines work best when they are injected into muscle. If a person is very obese, the technician giving the vaccine might have a difficult time knowing whether the needle is in muscle or fat. Consequently, some patients might simply not be vaccinated properly.
Beyond that, obesity affects the immune response. For example, the level of antibodies falls more rapidly in obese people. Also, vaccinated obese people can have less protection from a vaccine. A study of a flu vaccine from the University of North Carolina found that obese vaccinated people were more likely to get the flu. This is true even though they had protective levels of antibodies. Therefore, obesity might also be affecting the T cell component of immunity.
Operation Warp Speed
Operation Warp Speed (OWS) is our government’s attempt to have 300 million doses of Covid-19 vaccine available in January 2021. It also is trying to accelerate the development of other countermeasures, including treatments and diagnostics.
This is a summary of the Operation Warp Speed (OWS) partnership:
OWS is a partnership among components of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), including the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the National Institutes of Health (NIH), and the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA), and the Department of Defense (DoD). OWS engages with private firms and other federal agencies, including the Department of Agriculture, the Department of Energy, and the Department of Veterans Affairs. It will coordinate existing HHS-wide efforts, including the NIH’s Accelerating COVID-19 Therapeutic Interventions and Vaccines (ACTIV) partnership, NIH’s Rapid Acceleration of Diagnostics (RADx) initiative, and work by BARDA.
As of July 31, the federal government has reached deals to rapidly develop a vaccine with the following 6 companies: AstraZeneca, Johnson & Johnson, Moderna, Novavax, Pfizer, and Sanofi and GlaxoSmithKline.
A vaccine will probably not be the end of the pandemic
To listen to the politicians, all we need is a vaccine. That is rubbish. If the vaccine is as effective as the measles vaccine, then that is true. The measles vaccine is 97% effective at totally preventing the disease, and you do not need booster shots every year. But there has never been a vaccine against any coronavirus that is that effective.
Remember, the FDA will approve vaccines that are only 50% effective. They do not require them to protect for a year and they do not require them to completely prevent symptoms.
Dr. Fauci said he would be happy with vaccine that prevents Covid-19 in only 50% of vaccinated people and creates immunity that lasts only a few months. He is telling us what we should realistically expect. Therefore, I doubt that a vaccine will work as well as those for measles, polio, chicken pox, and many other diseases. It probably will not eradicate the virus.
Consequently, treatment will be very important. I have been saying that it will be more important than a vaccine if the vaccine does not work well, especially in the people who need a vaccine the most. Those are the elderly and others with a limited immune response. Treatment will get a lot more coverage once the vaccines start to come out and everyone becomes disappointed that they did not live up to the hype from the politicians.
Huge profit potential for drug makers
Why are so many companies working on vaccines and treatments?
Do you believe that over a hundred companies are working on a vaccine or a treatment because they want to help humanity? I know you don’t. No for-profit company has that for its business model. They want to make a fortune for their shareholders, and many of the biggest shareholders are the people who run the company.
With so many companies spending so much, what do you have to conclude? That there is a huge fortune to be made for all of them.
Why did so many get started so early? Because they are in the business. Their medical experts understood in January that billions of people would likely get infected. These experts told the leaders of the companies. These leaders trusted the medical experts and acted immediately and aggressively to the virus. Because of their action, the companies will make a fortune.
Incidentally, our medical experts also knew this in January and told our political leaders, but our leaders refused to believe them. Because of their inaction, we will have hundreds of thousands of dead Americans.
The drug companies also knew that immunity to coronaviruses typically lasts only months. Therefore, Covid-19 would be here for many years and possibly decades. That means vaccines and treatments will be needed for decades. Billions of customers, and many will likely need many vaccinations and/or treatments. This is a once in a lifetime opportunity for them to make unimaginable profit.
The drug companies are betting on repeat customers
But if they can prevent the infection with a vaccine or cure it with a treatment, doesn’t their profit end in a year once they have eradicated the disease? It would, if that was true. But it cannot be true or else there would not be so many companies spending so much on this.
They are telling you what Dr. Fauci implied this week and what makes sense to me as a physician. This virus ain’t going away for many years. These companies are expecting lots of repeat business and not a one and done sale.
The vaccine companies likely believe that each customer might buy as many as 10 or more vaccinations over the next decade. If a billion people do this and each company makes only $10 per injection, that is $100 billion dollars in sales over the next decade.
Also, a huge number of people cannot produce enough antibodies to prevent the infection. This is especially common in the elderly and people with other medical problems. They will get sick with Covid-19 and need treatment. And the treatment will be very expensive. If a person needs to receive manufactured antibodies, he would get them through an IV. The drug company might make over $1,000 per treatment. And, there might be lots of repeat customers who catch Covid-19 every few years.
A depressing but realistic outcome
After an infection or a vaccination, a person should have enough immunity to prevent a 2nd infection. But for how long? If it turns out that the immunity to this coronavirus is like that to other coronaviruses, we may end up needing 2 or 3 vaccinations a year forever.
But there’s a hitch. We all are getting old, and older people have less ability to produce antibodies after infections or vaccinations. Therefore, what might happen is that once we are in our 70’s or 80’s, it could become standard to check our blood level of antibodies 6 months after our last immunization. If the level falls below what the CDC has determined is needed to prevent an infection, then what? Then getting further vaccines might be useless.
Many of these people will get Covid-19 one or more times after they stop getting the vaccines. But if there is a good treatment, like with IV antibodies, hopefully most will not get very sick and will quickly recover. This is especially true if they are diagnosed early, before they are very sick.
I find this depressing, but unless the vaccines turn out to be much more effective and durable (provide immunity for a year or more) than what appears currently likely, this might be our future for the next decade. Vaccines until we are 80, then a Covid-19 infection every year or two, requiring several days in the hospital and IV antibody treatment. Or, if we are really lucky, maybe they will develop a pill or a shot that cures the disease.
Dr. Brooks’s earlier special reports on the Covid-19 pandemic:
- Covid-19: Heart disease, Russian vaccine, and the end of the hydroxychloroquine hoax
- Many Covid vaccines and treatments, and less flu
- The coronavirus pandemic: Biggest worldwide event of our lifetimes
- Covid-19 pandemic vaccine and its euphoric market impact
Consider this: The average age of deaths by Covid-19 (either from or contributing to) is 78. The average life expectancy in the USA is 78.
5700 people 65+ die each day, most by disease. This is before Covid. Are these 1000/day death tolls we are experiencing now in addition to these 5700 or will they just be part of the normal death toll of seniors by this time next year?
I suspect more people, especially seniors, will get flu shots now and be more vigilant with hygiene measures and such that when all is said and done, it will be a statistical wash.
The answer to your question is a statistic called excess deaths. It is published by the CDC and to fully assess the impact of COVID-19 it will be necessary to use numbers for a full year. That will show if the virus killed people who would have died within the year anyway or would have lived longer.
Thank you Al for your insight and your reports on Covid. Although it is very depressing, I look forward to your updates as they are always so clearheaded and full of common sense. Thanks.
Al, I want to sincerely thank you for your weekly pandemic updates. I appreciate your efforts to help keep us informed. I know speaking up on topics society deems as controversial is never a comfortable thing to do, and that there is no monetary incentive for you to keep on updating your trading community. Thanks again!
Here is some sobering information:
ACSH.org: Deaths Are an Incomplete Measure of Covid-19’s Impact
Al, you are the best! Thank you for your insight as always.
I have spent the past 6 months in Seam Reap in Cambodia. Seam Reap and some other Cambodian cities were receiving large numbers of international visitors until late february. Cambodia has a popn of 16M and has zero published coronavirus deaths.
There is no lockdown (there was a minor one at one stage). I eat out at restaurants twice daily and speak to at least a dozen people each day – 90% of us don’t wear masks. I estimate 10% of locals wear masks in public.
Neither I, nor anyone I have spoken to, has seen or heard of a coronavirus infected person or death in Cambodia (except for a small number of tourists reported to have been infected in March).
Neighbouring countries Thailand and Vietnam also have negligible death rates. So does Japan. They all have sizable populations.
I ask every person I meet (local and expat) whether they have heard of anyone in their community being infected – all answer “no”.
So, why does the US have a coronavirus death rate (per 1M of population) 100 times the average of these countries?
Perhaps it is because of greater US obesity, hotter asian climate, lack of testing in Asia, corrupt media in all countries, corrupt data in all countries.
The point is, if some people really know what’s going on, it’s not clear to the rest of us at this stage.
It’s going to get everyone eventually. While every country appears to have a lot of visitors, many in fact do not have enough to cause a pandemic for a long time.
In March, many Americans thought NY had its pandemic because of the culture of NY. I suspect some in rural America believed NY got what it deserved.
Now, many rural states where the citizens thought they were somehow protected for whatever reason are having their own pandemics.
It will take a year to create huge problems in some places that have relatively fewer visitors, but, like rural America, it will find those places. There is no medical reason to think otherwise.
You specifically mentioned Vietnam and Japan. Both have governments that listened to their medical experts and they have been doing a great job at keeping the number of cases low. I do not know if the Cambodian leaders will be like the Vietnamese and protect the citizens, or like the US and just let people die.
There are effective protocols for safely improving the effectiveness of the immune system (including Natural Killer and Natural Killer T cells) in older individuals.
LifeExtension.com: Immune Senescence
After the article from Dr. Brooks last week attempted to send him information regarding his misinformation via email.
Although Dr. Brooks is versed in some areas of this virus he has totally missed many areas and doctors/studies which show importance of various protective agents and treatments which can be used to lessen impact if one is exposed to this virus much less treat the virus early to clear the body of it.
Vaccines could be one portion of this however none have been created for virus of this ilk in decades of trying and there are inherent issues with vaccines in general. Dr. Judy Minkovitz has explained how vaccines could be done safely but they currently are not.
Dr. Brooks has information on Obesity but has zero information on the use of Vitamins and also discounts HCQ being used of which there are about 63 positive studies he has ignored.
Actionable information from Drs who really understand this virus are available on YouTube and would recommend people go to Peak Prosperity, Dr. Been, George Webb (banned), Dr. Judy Minkovitz and many others rather than accept verbatim what is presented herein.
I am not a doctor but have been tracking this since January have read a lot on this subject.
The most important thing to do is improve immune system with Vitamin D and Zinc getting into your cells. This process can be done with various ionophores which include HCQ, quinine, quercetin, green-tea or green tea extract, and/or panax ginseng.
Encourage everyone to research this on their own but the focus on vaccines for this is a poor approach. This virus affects the entire body and can do much damage long term even if it does not kill you.
I talked about this before. There are millions of doctors around the world and many are out at the extremes of the Bell curve for any variable you might consider. The vast majority of doctors and researchers long ago got together to create institutions and standards, and they agreed on what constitutes science.
For something to be accepted as science, it has to meet certain standards. There are panels of experts who review articles for the major medical journals to determine the scientific worthiness of research. This is called peer review. I was a reviewer for a major eye journal long ago. If an article gets accepted, it will be widely regarded as scientific.
There are lots of scientific journals that are not peer reviewed. Many exist solely to collect money from advertisers.
Because of the Bell curve, with millions of doctors, there will be thousands who will have their own definition of science and they will enjoy reading these journals and even trying some of these ideas.
I and many other mainstream doctors like these journals because they are often the best source of ads for new drugs and medical equipment. For example, they often had full page displays of office furniture and equipment with prices. But the vast majority of doctors see the articles themselves as pseudoscience and would never rely on the research for the treatment of patients.
Many fringe doctors are highly regarded in their communities. The wear nice suits and have clean white lab coats, beautiful offices, and adoring patients. I worked in Beverly Hills as a young eye surgeon for a year long ago and met many of these doctors and several of their celebrity patients. I enjoyed eating lunch with these docs and talking to them. Really nice people and fun to be around. That does not mean I would let them take care of me or my family. I would not.
I see the principal purpose of being a doctor is to make the patient feel better. Sometimes I can cure a problem.
When I cannot, I am always going to try to understand the patient’s anxiety. The patient came to my office for a reason. I want to be sure to address his fears. Even if I tell him that I cannot cure his problem, I can still reduce his anxiety. That accomplishes the goal of making him feel better.
I tried my best, but I am certain that many doctors are far better at this than I was. And many of the most successful pseudoscientists are extremely good. That is why they have such loyal patients and they are respected in their communities.
Some are outright con-men, purely in it for the money. Some truly believe that their version of science is good for patients.
I spent 8 years working full-time at major university centers and I am a mainstream doc. I have published many articles in peer reviewed journals. I also published some preliminary work in journals that were not peer reviewed.
I believe that the research coming from non-peer reviewed sources is not reliable. Furthermore, I believe that if many of the treatments from these journals were subjected to a peer-reviewed study comparing the treatment to eating pizza, the data would show that it is not more beneficial than the pizza. If it was, it would be in peer-reviewed journals.
Thanks for the wordy and whimsical reply. I sent you a chart showing deaths per million across the World with countries based on use of HCQ. This is actual facts and not based on biased peer reviewed articles such as the false studies in the Lancet recently that had to be retracted within two weeks.
Economics, healthcare and many other areas of life are fully polluted by entrenched interests. You skip talking about all the issues with vaccines. You also do not mention that Fauci directed at least $7.3MM in funds for Gain Of Function to Wuhan Labs. There are plenty of facts out there which can be ascertained.
Doctors are trained to be vehicles for big pharma these days and not on nutrition or natural ways to cure the body. The big money has influenced much going back to the Food Pyramid which is the basis of Obesity in this country (read Gary Taubes) but you can go back 100 years to Rockefeller Medicine changing everything to procedures and pills. They changed this by getting on the Board of Directors in all the Medical Universities and then excluding holistic methods of health over time.
By expecting that peer-reviewed is the truth you are assuming unbiased control over the entire industry. That is about as likely as expecting the truth from the Media these days.
I do not believe you addressed anything specific which was in my initial comment. If your readers want to take what you say as gospel is up to them.
No, lets not care if you use scientific methods. This guy proves my view on American intelligence. Lets listen to doctors BANNED on YouTube!
But, the odds are that you are overweighted and don’t use mask. Maybe this really is a blessing for Americans!
But, the odds are that you are overweighted and don’t use mask. Maybe this really is a blessing for Americans!
Al/Richard,
Why are you continuing to allow this “person” to post hate speech????
I alerted you to this person’s comment last week. You removed this comment, but didn’t ban the person, so again your readers are subjected to this person’s hate speech. Last week’s comment when they linked people in the U.S. dying to raising America’s average I.Q. was on him. This week, when he again wished death on someone is on YOU (Richard/Al). He should have been permanently banned from posting last week.
Richard/Al – can you ban Bud Fox for cherry picking comments for deletion that don’t satisfy his cognitive and political framework?
Darris Wine from last week or Jim Becker from this week? They’re both the same. Unfactual and politically slanted. Bud Fox likes Darris and Jim hateful comments but not the ones that don’t fit his persuasions.
Can you tell Bud Fox to stop taking up space, whining to you to delete everyone’s comments that hurt his feelings and counter his political persuasions?
Thank you!
Hi NFO, Bud, Per, and all,
Al was close to closing comments altogether on these posts last weekend as this is a trading site. Politics, conspiracies, unkind comments and similar have plenty of sites elsewhere for those wanting to discuss, whine, complain, whatever.
I support truth, free speech and such, but so difficult these days with political correctness and similar destroying intelligent discussion. So personally, I am Ok with letting anyone say their thing. But again, Al is not so happy so after he reads these comments, maybe we will shut it all down.
You were doing fine up to the last Para.
Thanks Patrick,
Yes, I am losing my self-control, going off-topic and contributing little with such statements. Have self-censored! 🙂
So just to clarify, you are ok with someone saying that it would be a good thing if someone got sick and died?
I quote: “But, the odds are that you are overweighted and don’t use mask. Maybe this really is a blessing for Americans!”
The same person posted a week earlier that if a segment of the U.S. population died, it would raise the average I.Q. in the U.S.
So just to clarify, you are ok with someone saying that it would be a good thing if someone got sick and died?
I quote: “But, the odds are that you are overweighted and don’t use mask. Maybe this really is a blessing for Americans!”
The same person posted a week earlier that if a segment of the U.S. population died, it would raise the average I.Q. in the U.S.
Reposted here since it’s more applicable to this comment.
For the record, I do appreciate Al posting these updates. It’s interesting reading his perspective and opinions. I hope he continues posting these, but disables posting comments. The comments (mine included) don’t add any value. The virus is too much of an emotional/political issue to try and have any constructive discourse via the comments.
Thanks again, Al. Stay safe!!
Generally I stopped posting in 1990 because of responses like yours. My information is all backed by science. I use N95 masks bought in February and one of my best friends is executive from 3M who was responsible for all Asian medical accounts before retiring for a few decades. We share plenty of information. The person mentioned as banned on YouTube is not a doctor and had a lot of great information on Covid. As you don’t even know that why are you posting? There are plenty of doctors who disagree even about masks although to me this is illogical. My concern is those who simply believe there is no merit in existing treatments much less boosting immune system. Vaccines much less using PCR tests are suspect.
I can’t see my post contain hate speech, maybe Google the expression?
I directly answered 2 people using arguments from people that is not using scientific methods. Even Flatearthers isn’t banned and using the same type of arguments (that is not even considered science from “real scientists”)
“scientific journals (that demand there is used scientific methods) is” biased” and dont publish some garbage because of “xxxxx”
(in Flatearthers case xxx is a strange conspiracy between church and science…)
This is what I respond too. I am sorry, I kinda have to point out non scientific publications found on Internet which no respectable scientist would touch.
This is not hate speak.
Pointing out odds for this guys general health is not hate speach.
That Americans maaayyyybeee will change their diet, and start listening to experts is not hate speach.
(as they don’t regarding vaccination and suddenly there are outbreak of diseases we were sure was exterminated (and would be if people actually listen to medical experts instead of some C celebrity..)
Writing several pages of misinformation after a very good article with good sources is putting peoples life at risk. (Hence the elderly married people that almost died when the guy Jim Baker voted for said hydroxxxxx were a “cure”. It seems like even the dumbest people understood that injecting bleach were dumb. (Well one guy did think it probably were very smart to say in a press conference…)
But no problem. I were accused of supporting terrorism when I tried to explain that 9/11 actually were not so surprising regarding how US foreign policy was looked at around the world.
(I ofcourse were devastated as everyone else, just I didn’t have to ask “Why this meaningless attack??” So I tried to explain that US were not loved all over the world, and I became a supporter of terrorism (in the eyes of “Jim Beckers” in that discussion. They are everywhere on message boards..)
I see it was easier then (and now) to claim untrue stuff of me and not touching the arguments.
But, even if I am educated a teacher with extra subjects so it basically is a master degree, I think trying to educate people that belive the earth is flat and Trump do a excellent job, is a waste of my time.
But I have never used hate speak in any normal meaning of the word. Unless dumb people is somehow a protected in some fashion, as you have a human right to be dumb. Actually I support that. Trying to recruit others to this group by spreading misinformation is not OK.
Saying that it would be good thing if some people die is the epitome of hate speech.
Please quote where I say that. You lie!
I even made an explanation of what you refer too in the post you reply too? I am sure you would be protected regarding the people I don’t think are protected. Regarding “good thing if someone die”:
That Americans maaayyyybeee will change their diet, and start listening to experts is not hate speach.
I tried to spoonfed you a step for step of my post you hate so much. No help. I can see why you don’t really belive Americans will learn something of this crises. When I read your answer I don’t either. So I understand you don’t understand the difference of hatespeach and someone disagreeing with you, as it have to be, why would someone disagree with your made up facts and misinformation. In case your a Russian bot. I don’t vote in American election.
Hi Al! I really, really want to respond to certain bullies in this thread who will remain nameless. Concerned about the potential for further harrasment and negativity, I posted my response to “nameless, well-connected, masked, healthy-man” for you to read because it should give you a chuckle. Remember there are so many people like me who owe you an enormous debt of gratitude for all you have done. So, here it is:
Dear “Nameless,” why in the world would you try to argue with Al? It is ridiculous! HE is a highly-trained physician with an incredible intellect and uses his own personal time to try to help others understand the complexities of the pandemic. If you want to push your opinions, go develop your own website and do so. Spreading your negativity here is a waste of time and nothing will take away from the enormous respect everyone here has for Al as a physician, investment specialist and incredibly kind, charming person. The good thing is that I am sure he finds it entertaining, rather than depressing, when people who “just don’t get it” come around looking for attention. Al does not owe it to you, or anyone else, to talk about YOUR views/opinions/delusions on his own website. And, furthermore, do you not realize how rare it is to find a person with integrity and intelligence that goes out of his way to help people he doesn’t even know? You owe us all an apology for introducing the negativity into this great trading community. I am sure you will have alot to say in your considered, thoughtful response to me — don’t waste your time because no one will read it. No one likes a bully. But, as you can tell, I like standing up to them, just as I have stood up to you.
If I was suffering from COVID-19 the treatment I would want first is convalescent plasma so I hope the Regeneron effort works out.
Al, Thanks for shining more light on this subject, yet again.
The earlier topic on this was closed before I came to the party, so my comments span both. However, I am not sure this will see the light-of-day:
Problems with any study stem from the agendas of those conducting and paying for the studies.
I don’t consider the matter of hydroxychloroquine properly used in combination with other elements like azithromycin and zinc to have been properly vetted before this whole approach became condemned and anybody still looking for proper vetting being attacked ad hominem.
ScienceTime.com: Hydroxychloroquine, Azithromycin, and Zinc Triple-Combo Proved to be Effective in Coronavirus Patients, Study Says
Maybe we can take a tip from PAT and (1) look at this from a higher level (like a weekly or monthly timeframe in trading) and (2) follow the money/price-action.
Ethically, those who think “true science” is a denial of everything Biblical and that Darwinian Evolution in accordance with Darwin’s seminal work, “On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, or the Preservation of Favored Races in the Struggle for Life” should reconsider their advocacy for the crippling isolation measures and against herd immunity. The herd immunity approach comports very nicely with “survival of the fittest”.
Who will pay for a major medical study to truly and properly determine if a low-cost, readily available treatment is effective against CV19?
Conversely, who is gullible enough to think that Big Pharma has the virtuosity to give a fair test to an alternative that would deprive them of probably the biggest multibillion-dollar score in history?
Who thinks they can stand in the path of the B-Ph freight train?
Thanks again Al!