Two Steps Forward...

 It's amazing to get so far in our scientific advances, only to have it tossed aside by misinformation. 

A Daily Mail article explained the conclusion of a study that,

"They confirmed that the shots made by Pfizer, Moderna, and AstraZeneca are linked to significantly higher risk of five medical conditions - including a nerve-wasting condition that leaves people struggling to walk or think."

And anti-vaxxers are spreading the news far and wide.  

The article also says, 

"13 billion doses of vaccines have been administered and there have only been 2,000 cases of all conditions [or 1 in 6.5 million]. . . . They can save millions of lives, and there can be a small number of people who've been adversely affected. Covid vaccines are estimated to have averted more than 19 million deaths worldwide, including three million in the US alone," 

But that part didn't get as much traction online.

Employing one of the best uses of Twitter, Debunk the Funk called on the study's author for help on one of the threads: 

"Hey @ander_hviid, is this an accurate portrayal of your study?'

Anders Hviid responded,

"The myocarditis/pericarditis associations have been described already. The association between the first Moderna dose an ADEM, if causal, corresponds to 1 case in 1.75 million vaccinated. Extremely rare and only possible to detect because of the huge size of the study. . . . The few serious side effects observed in this and other studies have been rare."

Why does it matter when so few people are getting vaccinated for Covid anyway, and there are no mandates for it anywhere as far as I know?? 

Because that same rhetoric has dramatically affected vaccination rates for measles too. It started before Covid, but it's gotten worse. The measles vax is so different from the Covid vax in that it actually can eliminate the virus if enough people get it, but the misinformation has taken its toll. At least we have the ability to call on scientists to help, but I'm not beyond some means to stop misinformation on social media. 

And from tern, 

"You see, they've hamstrung themselves. They've painted themselves into a corner. They can't mount a strong, appropriate, and adequate response to Measles, because they've ruled it out for Covid. If they acknowledge that Measles is airborne, they have to acknowledge that Covid is airborne. If they acknowledge that respirators work for Measles, they have to acknowledge it for Covid. If they acknowledge isolation works for Measles, they have to do it for Covid. The main defence against Measles in the community is vaccination. But they've been telling everyone that kids need to catch up with their infections, and enough people have believed them to cause a massive problem. They never said which infections you should and shouldn't get. They've actively told parents that kids will get immunity by catching covid, and they're now afraid to say "no! it's not the same for measles!".  If they say "no, it's better to stay off school than to catch measles", then they acknowledge that health is more important than attendance, and you know they've been telling you to send your kids sick to school for nearly two years now. If they start referencing the long term effects of Measles, then questions will be asked about the long term effects of Covid. 

I told you this years ago. It was part of the inevitable progression when you let political appointees put extremely thick people in charge of public health. And Measles may get very messy, but it's not going to be the last highly infectious and damaging pathogen to spread. We're entering an age of unreason."

It's the age of political health instead of public health.