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Rolla Peace News September 14, 2021 |
Dear Friends:Editor's note: Please consider writing for our newsletter. It's always very exciting to be able to publish submissions from our readers.In this newsletter is: 1. NOON VIGIL FOR PEACE: THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 16, 2021 2. THE MISFIT MATHEMATICIAN (Tom's column, http://tomsager.org) a) COVID-19: Infection-Induced Immunity Stronger Than Vaccine-Induced Immunity b) How Effective Are Vaccines Against COVID-19? c) Covid Business Model: Lucrative but Deadly d) China, Cuba and the Coronavirus 1. NOON VIGIL FOR PEACE: THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 16, 2021 We vigil for peace in front of the Rolla Post Office, THIS THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 16, FROM NOON TO 1:00 PM (and most subsequent Thursdays until Peace is established). Please join us this Thursday in saying NO MORE WAR AGAINST AFGHANISTAN or any other country. The temperature is predicted to be around 80. If you do not feel comfortable standing with us in front of the Post Office, please consider driving by and showing your support for our message by honking your horn and flashing a peace sign. Note 1: Since there are so few of us, generally 2 or 3, no need to cancel; but let's maintain social distancing. Note 2: In case of inclement weather, vigils may be canceled or terminated early. 2. THE MISFIT MATHEMATICIAN (Tom's column, http://tomsager.org) a) COVID-19: Infection-Induced Immunity Stronger Than Vaccine-Induced Immunity b) How Effective Are Vaccines Against COVID-19? c) Covid Business Model: Lucrative but Deadly d) China, Cuba and the Coronavirus COVID-19: Infection-Induced Immunity Stronger Than Vaccine-Induced Immunity A new study in Israel, currently one of the most vaccinated countries on Earth, has found that those who have had COVID-19 are left with a stronger, longer-lasting immunity than those who have been vaccinated. I feel somewhat vindicated here, having floated a suggestion for attaining herd-immunity through infection-induced immunity a year ago, while vaccines were still in the trial phase. In this proposal, I stated, “Immunity derived from having recovered from a disease is the real McCoy — much more effective in general than vaccine-induced immunity.” After reading claim after claim from the “vaccine cheerleaders” about the wonders of vaccine-induced immunity, I began to doubt myself. But now that we are finding that vaccine-induced immunity wanes quickly and vaccines are less effective against the delta variant, infection-induced immunity appears far more robust. Incidentally, it also appears that a vaccine booster on top of infection-induced immunity, provides even better protection. With infections and hospitalizations sky high, this is the wrong time to implement this proposal. How Effective Are Vaccines Against COVID-19? A new report from the CDC claims to show that if you are fully vaccined, you are approximately 11.3 times less likely to die of COVID-19 than one who is not fully vaccinated. Personally, I don't believe it. If one reads the CDC article carefully, one notes that there are a number of caveats. “The findings in this report are subject to at least five limitations. ... causality could not be assessed (i.e., possible differences in testing or behaviors in vaccinated and unvaccinated persons).” That's a BIG caveat. I suspect their is a strong correlation between those who practice safe behaviors in general and those who get vaccinated (one of many safe behaviors). Let's ASSUME that those who practice safe behaviors in general are ten times less likely to die of COVID-19 than those who don't. Let's further ASSUME that only 5% of those who aren't fully vaccinated practice safe behaviors in general and 75% of those who are fully vaccinated practice safe behaviors in general. We find that even if vaccines are totally bogus (WHICH THEY ARE NOT), the vaccinated would be 2.9 times less likely to die of COVID-19 than the not fully vaccinated, just from the increased practice of safe behaviors. The CDC tooted 11.3 times less likely has to be reduced by a factor of 2.9, meaning the vaccine itself renders one only 3.9 times less likely to die of COVID-19. I believe that, in the absence of hard data, the above are reasonable assumptions for the United States where vaccines are readily available, but many suffer from vaccinophobia. Now let's ASSUME that 95% of those who are fully vaccinated practice safe behaviors in general. We get the fully vaccinated are 6.6 times less likely to die of COVID-19 than the not fully vaccinated just from the general practice of safe behaviors. The CDC tooted 11.3 times less likely has to be reduced by a factor of 6.6, meaning the vaccine itself renders one only 1.7 times less likely to die of COVID-19. I believe that this assumption is not unreasonable. As Mark Twain put it: “There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies, and statistics.” My analysis is posted here, along with a few notes. Anyone out there in readerland with a background in biostatistics (which I don't have) care to comment? As Abraham Lincoln once said: “You can fool all the people some of the time and some of the people all the time, but you cannot fool all the people all the time.” It is way past time for the so-called “experts” to stop trying to fool us “deplorables.” Covid Business Model: Lucrative but Deadly Pfizer and Moderna are making a killing — literally. Pfizer stock has increased by 25% over the first eight months of 2021, Moderna Stock increased by a whopping 261%. By contrast, the S&P 500 index has gone up by 20%. Here's the model: Create a vaccine with technology developed with public money. Sell it to wealthy countries at a huge profit. Claiming “intellectual property,” prevent poor countries from accessing your vaccine. As viruses go wild and mutate among the poor and then spread to the wealthy, create vaccines and boosters for the new mutations and sell to wealthy countries at a huge profit. Repeat until folks figure out this racket, and put a stop to it. Lucrative, yes, but deadly. an estimated 2.6 million people have died of COVID-19 over the first eight months of 2021 to feed the greed of big pharma. China, Cuba and the Coronavirus China has been very successful in containing COVID-19 outbreaks. Their method: at the first sign of an outbreak, shut it down, quarantine and test everybody until the potential outbreak is squelched. Most recently they shut down an entire terminal at the Ningbo port for two weeks after one person tested positive for COVID-19. In March 2020, as China began to recover from the original COVID-19 outbreak in Wuhan, they suggested that if the world took the pandemic seriously and did as they did, the pandemic would be over by June. The world couldn't or wouldn't. Worldwide, over 4 million have died a COVID-associated death since June 2020. Over this period, China has lost only 2 to the pandemic. China is relying on their vaccines and social control of stay virtually COVID-free. Their lack of natural infection-induced immunity may come back to haunt them in the future. Meanwhile, amid a severe outbreak of COVID-19, Cuba is going all out to vaccinate its entire population as soon as possible with homegrown vaccines, Abdala and Soberana-2, both with over 90% efficacy. 38% of Cubans have been fully vaccinated to date and 62% at least partially vaccinated. By contrast, 64% of Estadounidenses have been at least partially vaccinated with 54% fully vaccinated. Cuban vaccines appear to be working well against the delta variant. Besides having developed two of the world's five COVID-19 vaccines with over 90% efficacy, Cuba is the first country to begin vaccinating children as young as two. Cuba and China are working together and have begun a regimen of two shots of China's Sinopharm vaccine followed by a shot of Cuba's Soberana Plus vaccine in Cuba's Cienfuegos Province. It is hoped that the third shot will boost the efficacy of Sinopharm from 79% to a level comparable to the world's best vaccines. Dr. Dagmar Garcia of the Finlay Vaccine Institute stresses that, “This is not a clinical trial, it is an immunization strategy that seeks to maximize efficacy, based on a combination of vaccines.” Cuba and China are both planning to export vaccines to the world's poorest nations. This will likely spell an end to Pfizer and Moderna's racket of selling vaccines to the rich for high prices while leaving the poor to sicken, die and breed more deadly viruses. Rolla Peace News is distributed by email once a week on Tuesday evenings (except on rare occasions) and is posted on the web at http://tomsager.org (click on Rollaites for Peace: near the top of rightmost column).Wage peace, Tom yushasager (at) yahoo.com |