Appreciate this may be an incendiary topic, but I am sincerely interested to know the opinions of others.
On my Google feed this morning was this article
www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cx2ed29v415o regarding a new vaccine which has been developed and is now available on the NHS with the intention of it being offered to pregnant women and those ages 75-79 to protect against respiratory syncytial virus (RSV).
Some basic internet searching reveals RSV is attributed to circa 83 deaths per year in children and 8000 deaths per year among the 'elderly'
(no definition of what elderly is specifically) in the UK. Some context - that is roughly 0.012% of the national population.
The *** on offer has been developed by Pfizer and is said to "reduces the risk of severe RSV lung infection by around 70 per cent in the first six months of life" and "around 80 per cent protection for older adults against more severe forms of RSV over two years." (no detail on what is categorised as
severe) it is also "expected to prevent many cases of the virus each year, and even prevent
some deaths".
RSV's common symptoms are:
- a runny or blocked nose
- a cough
- sneezing
- tiredness
- a high temperature – signs include your back or chest feeling hotter than usual, sweatiness and shivering (chills)
Mortality rates for the 'elderly' are between 38% for those who are hospitalised and 3% for those who remain in the community.
So my initial thoughts which I would encourage others opinion on are as follows
1) This seems to be a relatively low yield 'win' from a medical standpoint. Not to say that any death isn't inherently sad particularly to those close to the deceased.
2) We (humans) appear to be creating a new 'vaccine' that is offered out to various sections of the population in a time period that I cannot logically believe is sufficient to know the long term implications of them.
3) Given 2) If an illness presents as mild symptoms in the majority of cases and has a relatively low rate of severity in even the venerable populations, is mass vaccination the most effective and ethical treatment or should the medical community and society in general be looking at others?
4) The cynic in me worries this is opportunistic pharmaceutical companies riding the PR campaign of Covid and bringing drugs to market with the primary focus of profit rather than public health, I assume this is a new drug under patent but prior to its approval RSV was being treated by some other (cheaper?) means.
I would point out that I have never considered myself 'antivax'. Indeed my children all received their recommended vaccinations and I have always received mine. However, I do feel the term vaccination has changed particularly during and since the pandemic when after having one dose yielded limited results the goal posts started to move and terms like '
fully vaccinated' started appearing in the lexicon. And I do have to concede this perceived change in the terminology and seeming desire to depend on vaccines as a solution to all illnesses has increased my distrust of the medical establishment.
I appreciate by posting this I am likely to be derided as an antivax sporter of a tinfoil hat, but I'm posting as I am interested in the opinion of others as I do not hold mine so dear that I am not willing to entertain differing ones.
PS. To the moderators - If Mr Biden has been putting pressure on you to remove certain content from your platform as it doesn't support the agreed narrative supported by the powers that be, I apologise and will not hold it against you if you delete my post encouraging discourse.