Dawn Picken is a regular contributor to the Bay of Plenty Times and her columns are often worth a read, when she writes about family and everyday things.
However, this week’s effort, Embrace science fact over science fiction, set my teeth on edge. The reason: she ran headlong into the bought-and-paid-for COVID-19/Vaccination media message from the team of $55 million.
I got my first dose of Covid-19 vaccine this week. ….
…. I wish everyone were on board with this. I have lost patience with people who shun science fact in favour of science fiction.
Someone in a private chat with her had responded:
“I’m not convinced about getting vaccinated,” they said. “I’ve done my reading. It’s a personal choice.”
I countered with a couple of points, that A: I’m a pretty good reader but struggle to digest data from medical journal articles; B: Their choice affects me, too.
So, A: Dawn admits that she struggles with understanding data from medical journals but, curiously, goes on to lecture us and B: states an absolute falsehood as we know that vaccinated people can get the virus and can pass it on.
I’m still not sure how to navigate scientific debate with other non-scientists. But it’s clear what the vast majority of practising physicians, scientists and public health experts say about people who “do their research” and exercise poor personal choices regarding Covid vaccines.
Let’s start with research. If your reading leads you to believe Ivermectin, a livestock dewormer, is a substitute for getting vaccinated, it’s time to back away from your device.
After admitting she is a non-scientist, she appeals to authority and consensus: an absolutely unscientific approach in an article imploring us to embrace science. Hmmm…
Then she follows with a false equivalence: Just because Ivermectin (with some added chemicals) can be used by vets for treating livestock does not mean one should not read about the amazing success of Ivermectin in reducing the effects of COVID in Uttar Pradesh and other places where the human (not veterinary) version has been prescribed.
There is no scientific evidence the drug is effective at preventing or treating Covid. The medicine has not been studied nearly as much as Covid vaccines.
Then two absolute lies. Dawn, try an Internet search. Ivermectin has been studied for years and there are many scientific studies regarding Ivermectin and COVID. But let’s not let truth get in the way of a $55 million payout.
Taking Ivermectin is like getting chemotherapy at a feed store, according to the state health officer in Mississippi, where a man was hospitalised after ingesting the drug.
Oh, for pity’s sake, Dawn. What absolute tosh. We will return to the Mississippi man later.
In places like America, where roughly half of people are fully vaccinated, Covid-19 has become an epidemic of the unvaccinated.
But no mention of the soaring rates of infection in Israel which had very high vaccination rates.
A doctor wrote in the New York Times one of his patients had tried multiple, unproven treatments before landing in the ICU with Covid-19, including Ivermectin and monoclonal antibodies.
The one thing the patient failed to do was get vaccinated. By the time he reached the hospital, it was too late and he died.
He is just one data point in a sea of numbers that show the Covid-19 vaccination, even while not 100 per cent effective at preventing the disease, is hugely successful in preventing hospitalisations and deaths.
That is not what the study from UK Public Health said. But let’s gloss over that and carry on shall we, Dawn?
By contrast, the anecdote about someone’s aunty’s cousin’s partner who died after getting a shot has likely not been linked scientifically to the Covid vaccine.
No vaccine can make you immortal. Correlation is not causation. At least, that’s what scientists say.
Hang on a minute, Dawn. Where was the rider about correlation is not causation when you mentioned the Mississippi man?
Your exhale, sneeze or laugh could kill another unvaccinated person.
Wow! Let’s really wind up the hype and fear!
Believing in pseudoscience and being comfortable with not getting vaccinated runs counter to taking a stand for freedom.
People who choose this path will prolong the cycle of sickness, lockdowns and closed borders.
Oh my! Everything Dawn, the self-confessed non-scientist, does not agree with is ‘pseudoscience’. And “how dare you” people believe in “my body, my choice”!
Who do you trust for medical information? Epidemiologists, virologists, immunologists? Scientists and researchers respected by peers?
Surprise, surprise, Dawn; there are epidemiologists, virologists, immunologists, scientists and researchers respected by peers who do not worship at the feet of Big Pharma and who very credibly provide facts that the team of $55 million here in New Zealand actively suppress.
Or do you seek advice from non-practising, former health providers gone rogue and snake oil salesmen who prey on fear? I know who I choose.
Bay of Plenty Times
Or do you read ill-informed columns by someone who confesses that they struggle with medical research papers and is provided with a platform by the MSM to prey on fear?
- “Your exhale, sneeze or laugh could kill another unvaccinated person.”
- “People who choose this path will prolong the cycle of sickness, lockdowns and closed borders.”
- “where a man was hospitalised after ingesting the drug.”
- “The one thing the patient failed to do was get vaccinated. By the time he reached the hospital, it was too late and he died.”
- “Ivermectin, a livestock dewormer,”
Delta Dawn, what's that bias you have on? Could it be a faded prose from days gone by? And did I hear you say, "Approved messages here must stay." To keep you to the story from 'on high'?
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