Republican’s Deliberately Dangerous Vaccine Messaging

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Florida’s Surgeon General Is Sending a Dangerous Message | MedPage Today, Thresia B. Gambon, MD, MBA, MPH March 15, 2022

There is a lot of unclear and purposeful misleading messages coming from politicians, pundits, and the internet. Doctors are also not clear in explaining Covid prevention. The result being the public not understanding whether to be vaccinated or not. Get the shots, the jabs, the boosts, whatever you may call it. It will not prevent Omicron; but, the vaccines effectivity can minimize severity.

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“At the end of a roundtable discussion last week, Florida’s new surgeon general, Joseph Ladapo, MD, PhD, announced COVID-19 vaccines are not recommended for ‘healthy children.’ This came as a complete shock to the scientific community, including pediatricians across the country.” 

Florida’s Surgeon General Is Sending a Dangerous Message | MedPage Today

The rational for this ?

“The new Florida surgeon general said the risks of vaccination are higher than the risks of infection.”

Florida’s Surgeon General Is Sending a Dangerous Message | MedPage Today

This article spawned over 250 comments mostly coming from medical practitioners. One commenter in particular, Samuel Chase had a lot to say in support of Covid vaccination regardless of whether it prevented the latest Omicron Covid virus or not.

There is quite a bit of confusion amongst the general public. The Pfizer and Moderna had sufficient efficacy to prevent a person from catching the earlier Covid viruses. However with the Omicron virus, both of these vaccines lack efficacy preventing infection by Omicron. A second “however” being, while the Moderna and Pfizer mRNA vaccines will not prevent Omicron Covid, both vaccines are effective in lessening the impact of Omicron. By that I mean, a person will not become as ill as those who are unvaccinated.

This message is not getting to the general public. It is being kept from the public or hidden for political reasons.

The author of the article Thresia B. Gambon, MD answered Florida’s new surgeon general, Joseph Ladapo, MD comment of “the risks of vaccination being higher than the risks of infection.”

“This is false.”

Florida’s Surgeon General Is Sending a Dangerous Message | MedPage Today

I posed a question to someone having greater knowledge than mine on vaccines and the impact of them. I questioned the arguments of mRNA having no impact on Omicron. Agreeing to the argument, it can not prevent but it will impact severity. And from that we should still inoculate. 

“There’s a lot of dishonesty out there. But among those who are acting in good faith, there is confusion about what the vaccines do. For a few months, vaccines protect by raising a high titer of antibody specific to the spike protein. But antibody titers wane, which means more virus can get into cells and replicate. However, the other thing vaccines do is create pools of memory T and B cells that respond rapidly to a new infection with a burst of new antibodies and cell-based immune response. The vaccines prime us for a rapid response so that even if we experience an infection, we don’t end up in the hospital or in the morgue with anything like the frequency of the unvaccinated. IOW, reduced severity.”

There is another argument being posed by the medical and nonmedical anti-vaccinators. I am assuming Florida’s new surgeon general, Joseph Ladapo is claiming the vaccines cause “multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children, or MIS-C.”

Again as Pediatrician Thresia B. Gambon said, this is false. I had to do some digging to get to the basis of this. As said in one finding When vaccine adverse event reporting generates hope, not fear – The Lancet Child & Adolescent Health

“Children have not been spared from the significant morbidity of the COVID-19 pandemic. As of Jan 22, 2022, in the USA alone, there have been 94 COVID-19-associated hospitalizations per 100 000 children (aged <18 years), 883 childhood deaths (aged <19 years) due to COVID-19, and 6431 reported cases of multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children (MIS-C), of which 55 resulted in death.”

When vaccine adverse event reporting generates hope, not fear – The Lancet Child & Adolescent Health

The danger is not only in death. It is also in long term care issues after contracting Covid19 and potentially leading to MIS-C. To continue, two questions arise about contracting MIS-C;

1. Is vaccination associated with development of MIS-C? or
2. Can vaccination prevent MIS-C?

The answer to the first question being recent findings do not point to Covid vaccinations causing MIS-C. In other findings, a vaccination of one dose can prevent MIS-C. The chances of a child incurring MIS-C increases if not vaccinated.  

Recent findings.

“Dr. Anna R. Yousaf and colleagues identified 21 individuals (median age 16 years, range 12–20) with MIS-C after COVID-19 vaccination. Their findings overall are quite reassuring. Reports of MIS-C after COVID-19 vaccination occurred in only 1 per million individuals aged 12–20 years who received one or more doses of a COVID-19 vaccine, and 15 (71%) of 21 individuals with MIS-C had laboratory evidence of antecedent SARS-CoV-2 infection, casting doubt about attribution. This timely report is of special interest to health-care providers, scientists, and policy makers given ongoing, widespread transmission of the omicron (B.1.1.529) variant.”

When vaccine adverse event reporting generates hope, not fear (thelancet.com)

A quick review of where we are with Covid vaccinations today:

• The present vaccines will not prevent Omicron; however, they will lessen the impact of Omicron.

• Getting booster vaccinations are important too.

• Vaccinated people have a lower rate of infection, hospitalization, and death than unvaccinated people.

• Thousands of vaccinated people *have* died from COVID. Most of them are over 65 and/or have co-morbidities.

• As the antibodies from vaccination wane, the body still maintains memory of the initial infection to recreate antibodies . . . just not of the same strength.

• Even today, maintaining distance from others and masking are still important effective measures.

The language of viral epidemiology is the language of risk and probability. Most people do not under-stand these topics as they are innumerate. Some go as far as to refuse to accept the results. People such as Dr. Joseph Ladapo, who should know better, purposely mislead people by misquoting the science. There is a definite risk of death and lifelong disability if we are negligent. Our negligent behavior also increases the risk of hosting the next variant that could evade vaccines.

I am not sure what point Florida’s new surgeon general, Joseph Ladapo, MD, PhD is making. Lapado is stating “COVID-19 vaccines are unnecessary for ‘healthy children.” He offers no additional information leading to his conclusion.  By his statement, he is endangering children. Today and judging by who he is working for, his comment is political theater having no basis.

Some References:

“When vaccine adverse event reporting generates hope, not fear” – The Lancet Child & Adolescent Health

“Reported cases of multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children aged 12–20 years in the USA who received a COVID-19 vaccine, December, 2020, through August, 2021: a surveillance investigation” – The Lancet Child & Adolescent Health

“When vaccine adverse event reporting generates hope, not fear” (the lancet.com)

“SARS-CoV-2 triggers similar inflammatory syndromes in children and adults” (healio.com)

“MIS-C risk after COVID-19 vaccination falls to one in a million, study finds” (healio.com)