The Lie goes twice around the world before Truth gets its boots on

 Early this week I posted a considered piece, I thought, on Covid.

The blog pointed out the risks from contracting Covid, the long term health complications of Covid, sought to undo the unscientific garbage being posted by anti-vaccers about the development of the Pfizer and Oxford vaccines and in general point out the whole process was not part of Bill Gate's plans to take over the world and force us all to use Windows 10.

Thankfully, most folk were grateful for the information as part of helping them make an informed choice. A medical researcher kindly explained how both of the vaccines work, the the risk of any adverse reaction to the Pfizer vaccine and showed the maths (the risk is around 0.00073% of an adverse reaction vs the risk of dying from Covid which is 7% according to current WHO figures).

The anti-vaccers were, in the majority, the only ones who posted.

Take "Jo" who asked how can the vaccine have been developed this fast, according to his History of Vaccines the fastest development was of a new Mumps vaccine in 1967 and that took 4 years.

Dear Jo:

In 1967 the only way to work out the shape and form of a protein molecule was radio crystalography, the same technique which confirmed the double helix of DNA, and took a skilled user two days to turn around an 60% probability answer. Computers available to medical research in 1967 filled whole basements of research departments and had the computing power of a "Fitbit" watch. There have been a number of improvements over the last 60 years in the identification of protein structures and computing capacity. On top of this things like scientific advancement have been going on which means our understanding of cell biology and chemistry has moved along a bit as has the understanding of virus and our body's response to them.

In the 1960's the only way to grow virus was inside fertilized hens eggs kept in incubators, now a days you do not need the virus once you know its structure, then you can test out potential vaccine structures in a computer simulation which mimics the effect on human cell biology and the virus, all before you even begin animal testing and human clinical trials. Thus years of old style and time consuming 60's style research is not required.

Unsurprisingly "Jo" was not impressed and asked how could I prove it was not some Big Pharma scam funded by folk like Bill Gates who had poisoned 1000's of children in Africa with "his" polio vaccine.

Dear Jo; 

The polio scandal was in India not Africa. It was caused by unscrupulous Indian drug middle men taking a skim and purchasing "polio vaccine" from unregistered and unlicensed producers while packaging the vaccine in correctly printed packaging. Yes Bill Gates has given millions of dollars to the WHO / Rotary International Polio Plus campaign which seeks to send polio the same way as smallpox, ending it as a scourge in developing and developed nations (Spain has only recently been declared polio free by the WHO) 

The actual Polio Plus program is run by Rotary International in each country, under WHO supervision and has nothing to do with Mr Gates. Mr Gates merely helps fund it. The majority of the funding for the program has come from Rotary International's own volunteer members worldwide and whose lobbying of "Big Pharma" reduced the costs per dose considerably.

Next up; Jo claimed I was seeking to bully them into taking the Covid vaccine and had not answered their questions.

Dear Jo,

You just made that up, I have never said anyone has to take the Covid vaccine and I believe I have answered your questions as fully and as accurately as I can, if that is bullying then I am guilty. It will be peer pressure rather than compulsion on which you will base your own decision.

Maybe you just do not like the answers I have given you?

My personal problem with the anti-vaccer / conspiracy theory of vaccine is simple. I can remember when mass public health vaccinations were in their infancy. Primary school friends suddenly disappeared, some did not return (TB) while others did wearing calipers due to polio or unable to play because of "weak lungs" from Scarlet fever. In my own life time I have seen diseases that were killers and disablers of young people become mild and inconsequential "childhood diseases". Imagine the uproar if an 18 month baby died of chicken pox or a three year old was left permanently deaf due to measles in the 21st Century?

In the mid 1980's when anti-vaccer scare stories first started doing the rounds of internet chat rooms a sizable number of Mums in big cities like London and Manchester decided not to have the Pertussis vaccination to prevent Scarlet fever given to their children. Within 12 months young children were dying from Scarlet fever in numbers not seen since the late 1950's with many more left to carry lung damage for the rest of their lives. There has been no reduction in uptake of the pertussis vaccine since.

The doctor whose 'study' led to the scare was subsequently found to have been highly selective in the data he used, independent research could not replicate his claims and findings, The Lancet made a fulsome apology for printing the paper without proper peer review and eventually the General Medical Council removed him from the National Register of Doctors, not because of the paper but because he was a danger to patients and the public as he would not admit, in spite of all the evidence, he had rigged the results. Sadly this gave the UK anti-vaccers their first "martyr" while they ignored all the children his "study" had killed or damaged.

As a coda, may I point out, in the UK, by law and legislation, all drugs and vaccines are deemed poisons (yes, even aspirin) which is why they must be prescribed or authorised by professional practitioners trained in their use such as Pharmacists, Doctors, Dentists and prescribing Nurses. It is a duty of care the healthcare world in the UK takes seriously, based on the best scientific information we have and after consideration of the risks versus the benefits of any drug or vaccine.