Corona...the Vaccine

One of the leading matters being discussed right now regarding the Corona Virus is the emergence of a Vaccine.  President Trump is predicting that a Vaccine should be available by the end of October or the beginning of November.  Dr. Fauci is also optimistic and he predicts that a Corona Virus Vaccine which will be, to use his exact words, ,,Safe and Effective'' would be available by the beginning of the year (2021).

The question which neither one of them, or anyone else is addressing is, what constitutes the definition of ,,Safe and Effective,'' to use, again, Dr. Fauci's words.

We were taught and generally it is accepted, that such words need to be quantified in some way or another.

For example, ,,Safe.'' how safe?  100% safe?  90% safe?  80% safe?  50% safe?  How does Dr. Fauci exactly describe safe, or, more precisely, how does he quantify it?  Many Vaccines are safe, but some are more safe than others.  Some Vaccines are considered by certain people, including medical professionals not to be safe.  Indeed, not very long ago, not very long ago at all, there was a raging debate in some States whether vaccination of children for certain types of flu can be compulsory.  Many parents were (and still are) opposed to having their children vaccinated against the flu.  Many adults are.  Many people intentionally avoid being vaccinated against the flu and/or other types of communicable diseases.  We are entitled to know from Dr. Fauci, not just Dr. Fauci, but anyone and everyone else who is involved in the development of these Vaccines as to how safe the Corona Vaccine would be, not in general, vague terms, but specifically, using numbers, using percentages.

Let's set aside safety aside for a moment.  How about effectiveness?  Dr. Fauci says that the Corona Virus will be ,,Effective.''  Again, the word ,,Effective'' is a vague concept.  How effective?  100% effective?  80% effective?  50% effective?  40% effective?  Again, nobody appears to want to come forward and answer these questions.  Are these questions important?  We would like each to consider the answer to that question for oneself, but here are the facts we know.  No Vaccine is 100% effective.  That fact is disputed by no one.  Some Vaccines, not many, not many at all, can be as high as 80% or 90% effective.  Such Vaccines are considered exceptionally good.  Many Vaccines are far less effective, some, as low as 40% or 30%.  Dr. Fauci himself stated that a Corona Virus Vaccine might be 50% effective.  That doesn't sound like a very impressive number, but even at 50%, it raises more questions than it answers.

Again, we would like to go to CDC numbers to which we had alluded earlier and which were published through 17 June 2020.  As we stated earlier, 80% of Corona Virus fatalities have been 65 years old or older through that period.  90% of Corona Virus fatalities were 55 years old or older.  Corona Virus fatalities for infants and children were statistically insignificant.

More importantly, the CDC figures further show that 94% of the Corona Virus fatalities succumbed with co-morbidities.  That, we find an awful statistic.  In analyzing that statistic, it further shows that at least through 17 June 2020, the total number of people who died in the United States of the Corona Virus under the age of 55 and who had no co-morbidities was less than 200.

So, to us, a logical question would be, what is the effectiveness of the Corona Virus Vaccine for people who are over 65, and/or over 55, or at any age, for that matter, who are suffering from another disease which would result in a co-morbidity, in the event that person contacts or is infected with the Corona Virus.  Dr. Fauci does not answer that question.  Nobody is answering that question.  And that would be a very, very, very important question, as the total number of deaths caused by the Corona Virus (and co-morbidities), is now approaching 200,000 in the United States alone.

All this is going on, without any serious concern, so far as we can discern, how much sanitary conditions in Rest Homes and Hospitals might have something to do with Corona Virus fatalities.

Also, given the severity of this epidemic, there is very little effort in the United States, one could almost say, token effort, towards ,,Therapeutics,'' in plain English, drugs, towards treating those who become infected with this horrendous disease, especially when it comes to elderly people and, more specifically, elderly people who are suffering from another threatening condition.

We have mentioned several of these ,,Therapeutics,'' a less fancy word for that would be drugs, which have been dismissed one after another, or, as is the case with Remdesivir, really, not given the importance that it would seem to deserve, given the dire situation concerning fatalities.  Equally, there has been no enthusiasm on embarking on progress made in other countries, through various methods, Favipiravir in Japan, now being used in numerous other countries, and containing methods such as Herd Immunity.  We may not know how effective those things may be, although we suspect that there is a great deal of information already out there, but to hang on to meaningless catchphrases, such as ,,Gold Standard'' in order to avoid scientific evaluation of everything and anything, seems to border on a certain level of irresponsibility.  Rome is burning, in this case, literally, some American cities are in flames and Dr. Fauci seems to be obsessed with rearranging the deckchairs on the Titanic.

With all of the consequences that the United States and the world have endured over the recent period of a little more than six months, economic, societal and quality of life consequences, we believe, it is not too much to ask, to expect better than that.

The Corona Virus. Scientists and Virologists

We recently wrote a few comments and expressed some opinions regarding Dr. Fauci.  Lately, Dr. Fauci has been gasping for oxygen in the room, as nobody is paying much attention to what he has been saying.  Once again, the Corona Virus epidemic is real, there have been many other real epidemics.  One of the things, we would argue, the major thing that makes the Corona Virus different, are the consequences which it has caused, starting with the now famous or infamous ,,Shutdown'' in the United States and numerous other countries as well.  Despite several ,,easings'' in various forms in different States and various countries around the world, the ,,Shutdsown'' remains real.  There are various consequences which can be directly and indirectly attributed to this ,,Shutdown.''  Unemployment, economic collapse or disruption, unrest, rioting and worse in the streets, not only in the United States but in other countries as well.  In the meantime, there is talk about ,,The New Normal'' whatever that is supposed to mean.

A little over six months ago, we had no idea who Dr. Fauci was.  Nor did we care.  We doubt that very many other people knew of him and that he would catapult to the pinnacle and be able such enormous and nearly absolute power in such a short time.

To be clear, Dr. Fauci did not start this.  The entire panic was started in great part by the now (in)famous Dr. Ferguson, in England, who predicted an apocalypse.  Dr. Ferguson was one of the first to brandish a new, or perhaps not so new style of elitism, where he promulgated rules regarding social distancing, masks and, of course, the infamous ,,Shutdown,'' while at the same time, flagrantly flaunting such rules.  He wore no mask in public, he had sexual relations for several days with his mistress, who is a married woman with children.  Dr. Ferguson was fired from his job, but it was too late.  The damage had already been done and Dr. Fauci picked up the ball from there and valiantly, some would say mercilessly carried it forward.

One of the things we heard from Dr. Fauci and hear continuously from others, is this business regarding listening to the ,,Scientists.''  However, anyone should know, ,,Scientists'' are not a monolithic group.  And then, it comes down to which Science.  And it further comes down to which Science over which Science.  Things are not so clear cut as Dr. Fauci and many others would have us believe.

One can look at statistics for guidance.  Of course, statistics themselves can be manipulated and they often are, but let us look for a moment at the American Government statistics.  These are for Corona Virus fatalities through 16 June 2020.  More recent figures should be and most likely are available; we do not think they would be that much different either for the United States or for other countries, for that matter.

Corona Virus Deaths

Classified by age, 80% of the Corona Virus fatalities have been people over the age of 65.  90% of the Corona Virus fatalities have been over the age of 55.  For infants or children, the numbers are extremely low, statistically almost insignificant.

Of course, every death matters, be it one of an elderly person and this writer is elderly himself, or that of a child or infant.  But one can at least keep in mind that most elderly people do not work, they do not teach schools and have less contact with the population than those who are engaged in daily active life.

But to put this into perspective, restricting social and economic interaction between people who are very unlikely to contact the Corona Virus and, if they are, would incur only minor symptoms...that should have been and still should be, and is, a matter which one should take into consideration.  ,,Touchless'' and ,,Contactless'' interactions seems to be practices which one should call into question.

But it gets worse.

Of all of the Corona Virus fatalities, 94% suffered from co-morbidities, meaning, theses people died due to a usually chronic and morbid disease which they had to begin with and the Corona Virus accelerated and, let us say, ,,sealed'' their fate.

Here, we must say, that drugs which are already available and which perhaps do not meet the ,,Gold Standard'' which Dr. Fauci desires, but maybe they meet the ,,Silver Standard'' or the ,,Bronze Standard'' have been frowned upon by individuals like Dr. Fauci and doctors (who, unlike Dr. Fauci, use a stethoscope every day) have often been reluctant to use them regularly, let alone aggressively.  We have mentioned some of these drugs in the previous post and they are well known and widely available; well, not all, those used in Japan nobody in the United States, at least, wants to even hear about.

But to postulate, as Dr. Fauci and others do, that a vaccine which is likely to be 50% effective, maybe even less effective, is going to make much, if any difference, in a disease in which 94% of the inflicted died from co-morbidities, that is a bit far fetched and we wonder, how ,,scientific.''

One can make a further calculation.  Currently, less than 200.000 people (and that is a lot, we know) out of population of more than 300 million succumbed to the Corona Virus.  That is something around 0,7% which may or may not be a lot.  But out of that 0,7%, 94% died because they had co-morbidities...that is something that we do not hear Dr. Fauci or anyone else talk about.

At the same time, regrettably, very, very regrettably, no one is talking anymore about how many people succumb daily from circulatory diseases, cancer and who knows how many other horrible diseases each and every day, month and year.

There is an anecdote, a proverb which one used to hear around Law School, intended to disparage bad lawyers and which went something like, ,,Before we start anything, let's shoot all the lawyers.''

Maybe one should consider the proposition, before really we do anything further in order to bring under control this Corona Virus, let's ,,lock down'' all the Virologists.