I write on the interrelationships of the political, economic, and social spheres. So why do I write so much about COVID-19? It has to do with the effect this illness—and the response to it—have had on our freedoms, our economy, and our social interactions.
I’m interested in treatments—and I wonder why they aren’t more widely known. And I’d really like to know why they have been so often censored.
And I’m interested in mandates. Especially when the things being mandated go against science and everything we’ve known about treating disease for over a century. This seems to me to be very much related to our freedoms and threatens to affect them even more. The very idea of a vaccine mandate—knowing what we know about this one—troubles me greatly. I’m in a category of should-hesitate-to-get-the-vaccine, according to the WHO. So does that mean I should be prevented from travel and entering certain places or doing certain things, like I’m a pariah? I’m a supposed danger to society because I have a preexisting health condition that puts me at greater personal risk but no added risk to society?
The more I look at this pandemic—as it becomes endemic—the more questions I have.
Dr. Peter McCullough answered questions recently, updating
us on current COVID-19 treatments. He made three main points:
· The virus does not transmit asymptomatically.
(Since June, no more asymptomatic testing.)
· The Delta variant is not stopped by the vaccine.
· Early treatment is needed.
Let’s cover the relatively good news first, combining early
treatment news and lack of asymptomatic transmission.
TREATMENTS
Dr. McCullough offers some general suggestions. He says you
should evaluate yourself and your children when you get up in the morning. It
used to be that we’d go to work or school with what we thought was “just a
cold.” Don’t do that now. Stay home. If you isolate yourself as soon as you have
symptoms, that is much more effective at stopping the spread than either masks
or lockdowns. If you haven’t yet experienced symptoms, you’re not going to spread
the virus.
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| Dr. Peter McCullough in interview with Dr. Al Johnson screenshot from here |
Children are generally safe and don’t need treatment
(drugs). If they’re healthy to begin with, they’re likely to experience no more
than general cold symptoms for a few days. Last year, worldwide, there were 300
child deaths reported as COVID-19; only one had been considered a healthy
child.
However, if there’s a persistent fever, they could use a
child-adjusted dose of aspirin for a few days (yes, aspirin, as you would for
acute rheumatic fever). Also, if the child has asthma, budesonide is the
COVID-19 treatment of choice. Or they may need an oral prednisone, or maybe a Z-pak
(azithromycin, an antibiotic).
Because healthy children risk only a couple of days of
cold-like symptoms, there is nothing to gain from vaccination. There is much
greater risk to children from a vaccine than from the virus.
Nutraceuticals are helpful for everybody: zinc, Vitamin D,
Vitamin C. Also, “there’s a polyphenol supplement called quercetin,” about 500
mg daily. Those are good for everybody.
The Delta variant is the mildest so far. (New fears are out
now about the Mu variant; if it has gone as others, it is milder but more
contagious. However, there’s also fear it may be more vaccine resistant. He didn't comment on this.)
When you notice symptoms, he suggests getting a Sofia test. It’s not as sensitive as the PCR test,
which means, when it shows up positive, the virus is really there. No false
positives, which have been a persistent problem.
And there are a couple of surprising suggestions. He has learned
from oral hygienists, who have long known how to prevent the spread of viruses,
you can brush your teeth with yellow Listerine, and rinse your mouth with it. You
could also use a dilute human-safe hydrogen peroxide, or an ozone nasal
spray.
A nasal saline irrigation helps a couple of times a day too.
That’s a neti pot. (Use distilled water, not just purified water; the minerals in non-distilled
water sting. But once you’ve dissolved in the little packet of saline to
distilled water, it doesn’t sting anymore. Personal experience.) It not only
rinses out allergens, but also viruses and other pathogens.
He didn’t go into great detail, but there’s a solution you
can use (I’m not certain how) of 1 teaspoon bleach in dilution with 500cc water.
So, a nutraceutical bundle and nasal and oral hygiene make a
difference in prevention.
The treatment protocols, he reminds us, can be found at
AAPSonline.org and Truth for Health Foundation, which publishes an updated list of treating physicians. Also, Dr. Al Johnson,
who interviewed Dr. McCullough, has a protocol for treating long haul COVID-19,
available at CovidRecoveryTreatment.com.
The very few telemed centers have been overtaxed lately. Dr.
McCullough says we need to push doctors to treat. They’ve been afraid to treat,
and may not be aware of the many treatment options, or changes in FDA approvals.
Give them the protocols, and insist on early treatment.
Treatment is probably not necessary for the healthy under-50—unless
and until their symptoms show severity. For the over 50 or those with co-morbidities, early treatment is
called for, as soon as the illness is identified.
Monoclonal antibodies, as are being done all over Florida,
are useful. Regeneron is a brand name. But Dr. McCullough suggests getting this
done as an outpatient. Call ahead to the ER and order it, so that you remain an
outpatient. And make sure the IV is administered slowly; it must take a full
hour. Too quick an infusion leads to a cytokine storm, the very thing you’re
trying to prevent.
Convalescent plasma is being phased out. The problem was,
they didn’t separate the vaccinated from the unvaccinated when collecting
blood; the vaccinated don’t have enough antibodies to be useful in the
production of this treatment.
NATURAL
IMMUNITY vs. VACCINATED IMMUNITY
Now for the questions that came up for me as I listened to
Dr. McCullough and others.
He cited Israel, Singapore, and Iceland, where, during the latest surge, more than 75% of COVID-19 cases and 65% of those hospitalized are fully vaccinated. He concludes from that, it’s clear the vaccines are failing against the Delta variant. He said it’s possible, but unproven, that the vaccine helps mitigate against virulence. But there are patients dying who have been fully vaccinated.
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| Chart found in Epoch Times article, here. |
Dr. McCullough notes the lack of attention for those who have had the illness and therefore have natural immunity. He says,
Once you’ve had it, you have full immunity. There’s never been a bona fide second case. Analysis by Murchu and colleagues in Ireland showed in 615,000 individuals, 11 studies, that even poorly defined cases that didn’t catch the original illness, if they had antibodies or some other indication that they’ve had it before, the chances of COVID-19 were way less than 1%. So, natural immunity is robust, complete, and durable. And it cannot be improved upon with vaccination.
I wondered about the “never been a bone fide second case” followed by the “way less than 1%.” While searching for the analysis by Eamon O. Murchu and colleagues, I came upon an article reprint, original by Daniel Horowitz for The Blaze, citing the Israel report in July. (And this week their report was verified by Bloomberg News. Incidentally, this fact check framed comparing getting immunity by getting ill or by getting the shots, and says getting ill is a riskier way of getting immunity. But that’s not the actual question. The real question is, for people who have natural immunity because they’ve already had the illness—219,017,517 globally as of today—is there any reason to also get the shots? And the answer is clearly no.)
Israel National News reported:
With a total of 835,792 Israelis known to have recovered from the virus, the 72 instances of reinfection amount to 0.0086% of people who were already infected with COVID.
By contrast, Israelis who were vaccinated were 6.72 times more likely to get infected after the shot than after natural infection, with over 3,000 of the 5,193,499, or 0.0578%, of Israelis who were vaccinated getting infected in the latest wave.
Recurring cases (those believed to be) are not zero; it’s
8.6 cases per 100,000. Almost none requiring hospitalization, and no deaths. Breakthrough
cases (cases after vaccination) are still considerably lower than those with neither
prior infection nor vaccination. But clearly the vaccine does not really
prevent infection. In fact, now they’re not calling for vaccination to prevent
infection; they’re calling for it to hopefully prevent serious infection.
(Which, of course you could do with the nutraceuticals and other
recommendations, just saying.)
In the article Horowitz offers Dr. McCullough’s more
complete explanation of zero cases:
Despite the endless search by the media to find cases of
severe reinfection, they have failed to find it. Dr. Peter McCullough,
cardiologist and vice chief of medicine at Baylor University Medical Center in
Dallas, Texas, told me in an interview that “there has never been a confirmed
second infection beyond 90 days with similar or worse cardinal symptoms and
confirmed PCR/Antigen/Sequencing test” in a case where the patient already had
a well-documented case with acute illness. He notes that most database studies
that attempt to quantify reinfection “are not sufficiently reliable to declare
recurrent cases” and usually contain a false positive PCR on one or more
occasions.
When I looked up the study and a couple of associated
articles (such as this one),
the explanation is that it’s difficult to differentiate between a new infection
and persistent viral carriage (a sort of semi-dormant condition with occasional
flare-ups, as is common in Epstein-Barr virus, for example). There would need
to be a comparison between the genome sequencing of a banked sample from early
in the illness and another sample at the time of what appears to be reinfection.
That banking is almost never done, nor is the genome sequencing, because there
is no reason other than to answer the question of whether it’s actually a
reinfection or not in the rare instance when these cases turn up. In many
“reinfection” cases, it’s often hard to determine whether the original infection
was actually COVID-19, or a false positive test or misdiagnosis (or failure to
accurately diagnose).
I’ve known of a number of people who say they have gotten it more than once. I know they believe so. But my question is, did they really?
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| I came upon this comment in a Facebook group. Not someone I know. |
Horowitz provides an explanation about the power of natural
immunity from Idaho physician/researcher Dr. Ryan Cole:
Dr. Ryan Cole, a Mayo Clinic-trained pathologist who runs the
largest independent laboratory in Idaho, explained to me how infection-induced
immunity is much deeper and broader. “A natural infection induces hundreds upon
hundreds of antibodies against all proteins of the virus, including the
envelope, the membrane, the nucleocapsid, and the spike,” said Dr. Cole, who
has spent the past 16 months examining and culturing SARS-CoV-2 specimens.
“Dozens upon dozens of these antibodies neutralize the virus when encountered
again. Additionally, because of the immune system exposure to these numerous
proteins (epitomes), our T cells mount a robust memory, as well. Our T cells
are the ‘marines’ of the immune system and the first line of defense against
pathogens. T cell memory to those infected with SARSCOV1 is at 17 years and running
still.”
However, in vaccine-induced immunity, according to Cole, “we
mount an antibody response to only the spike and its constituent proteins.” He
explains how this produces much fewer neutralizing antibodies, and “as the
virus preferentially mutates at the spike, these proteins are shaped
differently and antibodies can no longer ‘lock and key’ bind to these new
shapes.”
Further down in the article he adds this additional
explanation from Dr. Cole:
The media has focused incessantly on antibody levels and the
observation that they often drop months after the infection; however, as with
other viruses, that does not indicate waning immunity. “Yes, our antibody
levels drop over time; however, scientifically, the memory B cells that make
antibodies have been proven to be present in our lymph nodes and bone marrow,”
explained Dr. Cole. “They are primed and ready to produce a broad array of
antibodies upon viral pre-exposure. It would be physiologically, energetically
impossible to maintain high antibody levels to all the pathogens we are
constantly exposed to, and we would look like the ‘swollen Stay-Puft
marshmallow man’ of lymph nodes, constantly, if the immune system were required
to do that.”
This coincides with an explanation I heard from Dr. Mobeen Syed. He was looking at this article and this study it related to. He adds helpful little cartoon drawings to illustrate.
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| Dr. Mobeen Syed explains about bone marrow plasma cells (BMPC) and long-term antibodies. screenshot from here |
So, what we know is that natural immunity gained from
getting the virus and recovering is both long-lasting and robust. Immunity
gained from the vaccines is somewhat helpful for a time, but less so to
variants. And natural immunity is several times more powerful than vaccine
immunity.
What did Israel do upon finding the vaccine was failing
against the Delta virus? Decided to require more boosters, including for the
previously infected. I’m baffled.
The reasons could be a difference in interpretation of the studies.
Or it could be ignoring the studies for some other reason.
WHAT I
WANT TO KNOW
I’ve been writing about treatments for COVID-19 since March
2020. While a lot of this information was censored for a long time, the truth
has a way of seeping to the surface. It’s surprising to me that the standard
treatment is still, “Stay home and rest until you’re sick enough for the
hospital.” That makes no sense.
I’ve put a fair amount of faith in the treatments I’ve
learned about. So, I’d like to know if they’re being used and people are still
being hospitalized, or are these hospitalized patients still being deprived of
early treatment?
We’ve just gone through our third surge, now waning I
believe. By now I have known a number of people who’ve had the illness. Except
for a couple overseas, I haven’t been closely acquainted enough to anyone
hospitalized to ask the questions I want to know. I feel like I would be
intruding into their privacy to ask these questions.
I’m not an investigative journalist. And I’m certainly not a
medical researcher. But I have to wonder why someone doesn’t ask and get
answers to the questions I have about treatments, about vaccine efficacy, and
about natural immunity.
If I had the power to do it, I would ask the following
questions of people hospitalized for COVID-19 (if the patient died or is a
child, then a spouse, parent, or loved one could answer these questions for
them):
THE SURVEY
1. What
was your experience when you first noticed symptoms?
a. What
were the symptoms you noticed?
b. Did
you get tested? On which day of symptoms? And on which day of symptoms did you
get results? What type of test was it?
2. Did
you receive at-home treatment instructions when you got your test and/or
results?
a. What
were you instructed to do?
b. Were
you prescribed or recommended to take any medications and/or supplements?
3. Were
there preventative steps you took prior to your illness (other than
vaccination, which is asked below)? What were they? (Possibilities might
include healthy diet and exercise, supplementing with Vitamin D, zinc, and/or
Vitamin C; under a doctor’s care these might include a prophylactic dose of a
drug such as hydroxychloroquine or ivermectin. Or you may have tried something
not listed here.)
4. Do
you know where you were exposed to the illness? (by a particular person, in a
particular setting, at work for example, or at an event?)
a. Did
anyone else in your household get the illness? Were their symptoms mild or
required hospitalization? List the various persons and the severity of their
illness (ex: spouse—hospitalized, teenage son—mild).
5. On
what day of symptoms did your situation worsen enough to require
hospitalization?
a. Describe
the worsened/new symptoms.
6. What
was your sequence of treatments and their results in the hospital?
7. How
long were you hospitalized?
8. How
long until you were considered over the illness—no longer contagious, and no
longer in danger of succumbing to symptoms?
9. Did
you have symptoms that persisted after your apparent recovery? Such as
shortness of breath, heart palpitations, brain fog, fatigue.
a. What
symptoms continued and for how long (so far, if they are still present)?
b. Did
you have symptoms that began after you thought you had fully recovered? What
were they? (For example, some healthy fit patients go back to full activity and
then find themselves relapsing or having the varied symptoms of long-haul
COVID-19.)
c. What
treatment did you receive for long-haul COVID-19 (persistent symptoms)?
10. What
was your vaccination status?
a. Unvaccinated?
b. One
shot but not second?
c. Two
shots, but not more than 2 weeks before onset of symptoms?
d. Two
shots from 2 weeks to 6 months or longer (how much longer?) prior to onset of
symptoms?
e. Two
shots plus a booster shot?
11. Had
you been diagnosed with COVID-19 before?
a. If
yes, go through the above questions for that infection as well.
i. Do you have certainty—based on symptoms and/or
testing and doctor’s care—that what you had previously was definitely COVID-19?
ii. When did you have the previous illness (months,
weeks, and/or days before your current illness)?
12. What
is your age?
13. Do
you have any co-morbidities? (Common ones are obesity, diabetes, active cancer,
atrial fibrillation, COPD, dementia, heart disease, hypertension, chronic liver
disease, chronic renal failure, stroke.)
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