Does viewership of a heavily edited video make it true? I have seen the famed Project Veritas video numerous times and know it’s been viewed millions of times. There is a constant swirl of noise around the video’s authenticity, the virus’s origin, gain of function (GOF) research and the speed of development of varied Covid vaccines. We will need to address the media credibility challenge more and more as technologies enable rapid evaluation of pathogen threats and the ability for innovators to respond speedily. Especially as packs of vigilante journalists are running wild and unchecked.

Wild, Unverified News is Nothing New

Wild, unverified news is nothing new. However, the speed at which it travels, thanks to technology, is the fodder for conspiracy theorists to create societal chaos. Remember, browsing magazines and papers at the supermarket check-out. The National Enquirer, the entertaining American tabloid newspaper with the wildest headlines, was a welcomed way to pass the time as the long line closed in on the cashier’s conveyor belt.

As leading daily business newspapers increasingly compete for readers and advertising dollars, they have forged ahead with digital access alternatives — often accessible only behind a paywall. Truth — verified information — suddenly comes at a (monthly subscription) cost. In most communities, gone is the young teen on their bicycle riding by and throwing your daily news onto a stoop. Yet, newspapers — the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, and all major newspapers always required you to pay a subscription. You tipped the paper delivery — but you paid for the truth.

Even Major Media Can Wander into the Swamp

All media can succumb to the temptation to follow some well-known “titled” pundit with an axe to grind. Remember the swamp created some years ago by a noted Midwestern physician who questioned a Food and Drug Administration-approved for-market cholesterol drug with a baseless theory causing countless people to go off their medications? His words and honed soundbites were covered by most top-tier newspapers and magazines and were amplified by headlines such as “Do Cholesterol Drugs Do Any Good?” Thankfully his pet-peeve theories were soon proven without merit. But how about the countless patients who listened, read and suffered? At what cost — some, their lives. This deadly chaos is still happening thanks to supposed investigational groups that seek to rally the mob.

We expect societal salvation at warp speed. We want life-saving solutions from pharma, policies that prop up the economy from the White House, and public health direction from CDC. When do we want it? We want it now! However, these wild, unchecked and verified videos and news sources — sometimes the voices of individuals with either no first-hand knowledge or with a desire for 15 minutes of fame — add to the pandemic of public health confusion. It is time that we awoke to the reality that conspiracy theorists are allies to the deadly virus that has taken more than six million lives worldwide.

Speed and Sensationalism

Sadly, the rapid popularity of this video is endemic to a society that thirsts for sensationalism and, at the same time, will require immediate medical solutions to future public health threats. It opens the door to these sorts of news grabbers. Media also relies on speed and speculation to attract audiences. However, as it did this time, it must now rally to reject the urge to “cover speculative and dirty news.” This specific video — its yet unproven comments — is woven into the public health risk we now face. The perfect storm of the desire for immediacy and not stopping to ask a critical question of what we see and hear: “Is it true?”

If you don’t pay, perhaps you don’t care. Or you don’t worry if the grabbing headlines that make extraordinary claims are verified or “Veritas.” For science, public health professionals, health communicators and innovators, that is a significant, life-threatening problem. At this point, “I heard it on the news” or “I saw it posted on Twitter” is akin to historical fact. Even if one person says something — a stretch of the imagination without validation — we’re inclined to believe it as “fact.”

Medicine has always been about risk/risk and risk/benefit. The risk of possible side effects alongside the risk of a deadly disease. The benefit of not dying alongside the risk of the unknown. We seem to forget what the world looked like during the COVID lockdown — mental anguish, a collapsing world economy, and ERs straining under the weight of dying patients. We celebrated clinical solutions that reduced the steady death count globally. Now, we look to poke holes in the heroes who saved lives. Enough.

Enough with (Non) Entertaining Lies

The societal desire for “I want it now” invites these sensational moments. But the ability of conspiracy theorists to rally millions of followers or readers to do more than question — to attack science and scientists — has been weaponized to make unverified video footage into the material that political leaders use for self-agenda soapbox speeches and grandstanding TV celebrities to attract viewers as if they don’t have a self-serving agenda. Project Veritas is just the newest digital version of the supermarket tabloid. Based on its track record of lies and more lies, it’s amusing. Not as the Latin translation suggests – truth.

Urgency is a double-edged sword for drug developers, pharma manufacturers, regulators and reporters. Tribal thirst for sensationalism — at all costs and speed — must never be allowed to crush the spirits of scientists who toil at lab benches trying to save lives. That would be too terrible a toil for all.

Yes, cost and speed are framing what some jump to believe as the truth. If so, without letting dedicated journalists and scientists do their jobs, people’s lives will be placed at risk again and again.

The post Covid, Conspiracies and Chaos — Media and Medicine Take Note appeared first on Medika Life.

Like an annoying foot fungus that just refuses to die, these quacks, armchair experts, so-called health gurus, and, yes, even doctors (interject a sad sigh at this point) have continued to issue dire warnings about the end of humanity.

We aren’t going to all perish from Covid of course (they will all tell you it actually doesn’t exist) but from the vaccines and evil Orwellian plots hatched by mad scientists and power-hungry politicians hell-bent on re-ordering the world. It is mass genocide or at best genetic re-engineering of the species, according to their siren song.

Clearly pissed that their Netflix subscriptions have lapsed, these individuals have taken it on themselves to weave their own tales of fantasy and fiction. Each new ‘series’ has its own plotline, villains, and heroes, and of course, is set in their version of a dystopian world. The same place most of us currently consider home.

The pitfall of calling tomorrow

If you’re trying to establish yourself as a seer of the future, you’re best suited to picking your predictions for a time that postdates your demise. The turn of the century, remember the impending global meltdown, and 2012 with those pesky Mayans and their calenders, just two classics that spring to mind.

Unless you’re onto a sure thing, outliving your predictions generally tends to be awkward and it’s been no different for our intrepid group of Covid naysayers and end-of-world scriptwriters. One by one, their predictions have come to naught. Nada. Nothing. Their predictions have exposed them for the true fraudsters and charlatans they really are.

Hindsight really is a bitch and in this instance, a highly effective antifungal. Rember the foot fungus analogy?

So just how have these con artists been proven wanting by the passage of time? We investigated a few of our older friends that we fact-checked months ago. It’s interesting to note how in many instances the original claims (ain’t digital history a bitch) made by many of these individuals have been subtly refined over time to accommodate for that annoying little thing called being horribly wrong.

Geert Van Den Bossche

You can read our original article on Van den Bossche here. In a simplified nutshell, Van Den Bossche’s pitch was based on selling us his version of a vaccine (the grift) after convincing us that mainstream vaccines (the competition) were going to cause a mutated virus that would end humanity. So, nearly a year later, or eighteen months on, in the case of trial candidates, where are we?

Aside from racking up an impressive amount of internet traffic from gullible and trusting souls seeking an explanation for their pandemic-induced misery, Van Den Bossche’s theory has so far proven completely unfounded. Despite having half the human population (that’s how many are now vaccinated) as incubators, Van Den Bosch’s killer virus appears to have gone golfing.

Perhaps he’d be better placed if he joined it.

Reiner Fuellmich

The punchline to possibly the worst legal joke ever constructed, Fuellmich propelled himself into popular conspiracy culture in early 2021. His rise was meteoric and his fanbase legion. We called bullshit early and have paid the price ever since, receiving literally thousands of comments and emails wishing us well (not really).

Fuellmich wanted, and we assume still does until the next best thing comes along, to sue the world for the SARS-CoV2 virus, claiming it didn’t really exist, Covid, according to Fuellmich wasn’t dangerous and lockdowns and mask had somehow managed to elevate themselves from effective countermeasures against a viral pandemic to crimes against humanity.

Not even the unfortunate Geneva Convention could escape Fuellmichs manic ambitions as he invoked ludicrously inappropriate responses to what he claimed were atrocities against humanity. You can see, of course, how people would lap this stuff up and why he’s developed such a devout following. People want a scapegoat to pin their misery on and who better than the large faceless behemoth we call modern society and all its appendages.

Eight months later and our intrepid attorney has made zero forward progress, mired as he is in the conspiracy circuit, his followers proving that the worshippers really do define the cult. Associate yourself with the chaff and the swine will feed.

Time has already eroded this deluded German’s fairytale and the lasting legacy of Fuellmich will undoubtedly be as the world’s most audacious and ambitious legal fraudster of all time. He really has raised the bar (pun intended).

America’s Frontline Doctors

I’ve included these grifters as a simple example of training wheels. They are by no means in the class of Fuellmich or Van Den Bossche, as their motives and narrative are simplistic and as transparent as daylight, but it doesn’t make them any less dangerous and as doctors, sworn to uphold the best interest of their patients, their actions are reprehensible.

Essentially, the group is a collection of morally bankrupt doctors who have clubbed together to fleece the public during the pandemic by selling them unproven treatments.

They aren’t alone and there are other similar groups that operate, but this group is perhaps most prominent on social media, thanks to its more than dubious membership, which includes the January 6 revolutionary, Dr. Simone Gold, currently under FBI investigation.

Their claims are simplistic – Buy Hydroxychloroquine or Ivermectin from us online. It works to cure Covid and the government and the media don’t want you to know about it. They have partnered with an equally unethical pharmaceutical supplier called Ravkoo Pharmacy and the two parties grift their merry way through the pandemic, fleecing gullible and vulnerable patients online.

Sadly, many bought into their lies, but time has exposed just how dodgy their business model is, false claims aside. You can read the reviews here from dissatisfied customers who lose their money and never receive anything.

In terms of their actual claims about these drugs treating Covid we now know beyond a reasonable doubt, they don’t help. Here’s the latest on Ivermectin and how we’ve been fooled into thinking the drug has benefits against Covid.

How have vaccine fairy tales faired?

Elon Musk is advertising for vaccinated astronauts with cellphones to man his Mars mission. Apparently, the vaccines boost reception.

Complete nonsense of course, but believed by many. People have, over the course of the pandemic proven themselves more than capable of believing in pretty much anything, no matter how ‘out there’ it sounds, and much of what floats about in the conspiracy ecosphere really is ‘out there’. Way out. The fact that much of this nonsense has been amplified by seemingly sane medical professionals doesn’t help.

In no particular order, here are some of the insane theories that have proven to be completely unfounded over time. Keep in mind we’ve just vaccinated half the world’s population.

• the vaccines will magnetize your body (this actually sounds useful)
• the vaccines contain trackers that allow the government to monitor your movement
• The vaccines interact with 5G cell towers
• We are all going to turn into genetically modified lizards
• The vaccine will render all women sterile (arguably not a bad thing if you consider the stupidity above)

My most recent favorite comes from a doctor, Ben Marble, whose license to practice was revoked in one state in 2012 and he has now resumed his less than illustrious career in Florida (where else).

Where to start. Aside from the fact Twitter clearly isn’t policing anti-vax posts aggressively enough, a simple observation. “All Americans” would, I assume include almost every race-based classification of humanity that exists on the planet. Ergo, everyone will die. It’s this kind of stupidity that almost beggars belief. Who would set about wiping out the entire human species? Doesnt really leave you with anyone to exploit, does it?

Does Marble think the virus does a nationality check first, weighs its intended victim, and then checks for skin color? Do you hear that knocking at the door doctor? It’s the men with the white coats and they’ve got a cozy, padded 3 x 3 waiting just for you.

Not one, in other words, NONE of the ridiculous claims made over the vaccines have come to fruition, despite them being administered in billions, and yet, people still choose to believe they pose a risk to us. People still choose to believe the virus does not pose a threat.

I’ll leave you with a very succinct line I saw recently on a Twitter profile.

𝚈𝚘𝚞 𝚌𝚊𝚗’𝚝 𝚛𝚎𝚊𝚜𝚘𝚗 𝚜𝚘𝚖𝚎𝚘𝚗𝚎 𝚘𝚞𝚝 𝚘𝚏 𝚊 𝚙𝚘𝚜𝚒𝚝𝚒𝚘𝚗 𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚢 𝚍𝚒𝚍𝚗’𝚝 𝚛𝚎𝚊𝚜𝚘𝚗 𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚖𝚜𝚎𝚕𝚟𝚎𝚜 𝚒𝚗𝚝𝚘…

Apparently, hindsight is equally useless.

The post Calling Tomorrow. Has Time Proven Covid Quacks and Conspiracy Theorists Right or Wrong? appeared first on Medika Life.

If you don’t have your hand raised at this point, you need to get out more. The incidence of the aforementioned individual is high, so much so that we’ve coined a collective term for them, CovIdiots. Not only is the term disingenuous, but it is also very misleading. Intelligence is not prophylaxis for gullibility, in fact, quite the opposite.

Buy the lie

Bernie Madoff would be the first to tell you that intelligent people are often the easiest to convince of something, for a number of reasons.

Vanity, a tendency to trust, and a mistaken belief in their own abilities to filter truth from bullshit, leave intelligent people wide open for exploitative individuals. Financial cons are most often exacted on wealthy, well-educated individuals who are always, with hindsight, blamed for not having known better.

Lower intellect is usually linked to lower-income and nothing ferments distrust like poverty. Grow up knowing the whole world is out to screw you and you are, by default, suspicious of everything. Poor individuals are more susceptible to the “establishment or world-order” types of conspiracy misinformation.

Surely not the doctors too?

Doctors are just regular people that have spent an insane amount of time studying up how the body works. That’s regular doctors. Specialists and surgeons require double the amount of studying. Very very specific studying, particular to their chosen specialty, as the field of medicine is huge.

Take virology, epidemiology, and pharmacology. Three very distinct branches of medicine and ones which the average doctor will only glance at for a few weeks during their training. Their knowledge of these topics, broadly speaking, is only marginally better than that of the general public.

The published word

Presented with a preprint for a large clinical trial on Ivermectin, published in a scientific journal, most doctors would take the information contained in the trial at face value. Doctors are not forensic data analysts and are therefore unable to properly validate the data provided without considerable time and effort. They rely on experts (peers) to do the fact-checking for them.

This dependence is riddled with problems, mostly stemming from a lack of peer review, Open Access models, and the predatory pay to publish platforms preferred by many publications. Often little or no review is applied to published papers and a stringent code of ethics applicable to preprints is largely ignored.

Simply put, much of what is published today within the scientific community, can not be taken at face value.

If the scientific publication industry was akin to a cancer patient, doctors would be urgently calling for chemo to attempt to save an almost terminal case.

Many doctors, along with broad swathes of the public, do not recognize this trend, are not aware of it, or simply turn a blind eye.

The fire and smoke logic trap

Can’t have a fire starting without a little smoke and in pandemic central 2021, that smoke represents misinformation. Our world is filled with it. This flawed logic is mistakenly applied to justify the ‘genuineness’ of claims made relating to vaccines and so-called Covid treatments.

The truth is there can be smoke without the presence of fire, particularly when that smoke has been intentionally created to suggest the presence of non-existent flames. In fact, con artists are all too aware of this human flaw we use to justify something and use it against us with spectacular success.

Let’s say, by way of example that a toothpaste manufacturer wanted to clear a large stock of an older brand of toothpaste from its catalog. An article, not so innocently released to a large gossip rag with an established social media presence would suggest the brand was out of stock in stores across the US. An unnamed company official would intonate that people were mistakenly using it to combat the SARS-CoV2 virus.

You can see the Twitter stream now, can’t you? Betty Blogger from Saskatchewan would be first up.

Our family has been using this toothpaste for years. None of us have caught Covid yet and it’s all over town. Now we know why.

A few days later, as the story spreads across social media, the company would release an official media statement, categorically denying their toothpaste has any effect on the virus. The rest is marketing history.

Think before you point that finger

You might not have fallen for the misinformation in the pandemic sphere. In this case, you’re vaccinated, you still wear your mask in public spaces and you respect your health and the safety of others. Well done, give yourself a pat on the back as you’re one of the lucky ones.

CovIdiots, and I do actually despise that term, haven’t been that fortunate.

There may be areas of your life that don’t relate to the virus, where you too, are guilty of being a XyzIdiot. There are very few of us that don’t harbor beliefs or thoughts based on misinformation. These don’t have to be virus-related but can apply to any part of your life and you may have bought the lie, hook, line, and sinker. Want a great place to start looking, think politics.

CovIdiots don’t deserve your ridicule or you’re holier than thou condescension. There, but for the grace of God, goes you. It has nothing to do with brain capacity or the lack thereof, being gullible or not. It is simply a question of buying into a story based on our politics, trust, education, and life experience.

Pretty certain we all do that, each day.

The post You Don’t Need to be an Idiot to be a CovIdiot appeared first on Medika Life.

Others do recognize the existence and the seriousness of Covid-19 but spread misinformation, blatant anti-science concepts, and some frankly conspiratorial theories about the virus’ origin, treatment, and why the vaccines are dangerous, at best. 

Here are just a few minor and, in a few cases, hilarious examples of misinformation followed by surveys of conspiracy theories and then the more serious and concerning anti-science and conspiracy concepts.

Breathing in steam or saltwater will kill the virus in your nose. Smelling sesame seeds cures COVID-19. Sea lettuce prevents COVID-19. Holding your breath for ten seconds is a good test to see if you are sick with COVID-19. One of the best stories is that Russian President Vladimir Putin released 500 lions onto the streets of Moscow to keep people indoors. Fortunately or unfortunately, none of these are true or correct.

Misinformation during a serious event is common, and conspiracy theories arise during times of stress. A few surveys are illustrative.

Investigators at the University of Basel in Switzerland surveyed 1,684 participants in July 2020 regarding conspiracy theories. The surveyors gave a list of presumed Covid-19 conspiracy theories such as “Big Pharma created coronavirus to profit from the vaccines.” Ten percent agreed strongly with at least one of the presented theories. Another twenty percent agreed sightly or moderately with at least one theory; seventy percent agreed with none. 

“Most popular were statements suggesting that the virus was man-made, or that the official explanation of the cause of the virus was questionable.” [The concept that the virus might have been released by accident from the Wuhan Virology Institute, once debunked by many scientists and the media, is being reconsidered intensively by the U.S. government as a legitimate possibility.] The ten percent tended to be younger, were more stressed, had more extreme political views, and had a lower educational level.

A Pew Research Foundation survey in June 2020 found that five percent of Americans believed then that the pandemic was created intentionally by powerful people, and another 20% believed this was likely true. Of those with a high school or less education, 48% thought it was definitely or probably true compared to 24% of college graduates and 18% with a graduate degree. Republicans were more likely to ascribe to this theory than Democrats, as were Blacks compared to whites and Hispanics.

A Cornell University study of media misinformation in late September 2020 examined the results from an analysis gleaned from 38 million English language Covid-19 articles between Jan1 and May 26, 2020. 1.1 million news articles (nearly 3% of all Covid-19 articles) “disseminated, amplified or repeated misinformation.” Only 16% indicated any evidence of “fact-checking” suggesting that “the majority of misinformation is conveyed by the media without question or correction.” The five most prevalent topics were “miracle cures,” “deep state,” a Democratic party hoax, the Wuhan laboratory as the source of an intentional bio-weapon thesis, and related to Bill Gates, such as implanting a chip with a vaccine shot.

Why do these beliefs develop? When big problems are leading to prolonged stress, we need big explanations. The concept that the pandemic originated from bats or the wet markets in Wuhan City, China is not psychologically satisfying. It is much more satisfying to believe that a person, a group, or a country created it with an underlying nefarious purpose — the “deep state.” [This, of course, is a different belief than that the virus was accidentally released.]

Over the summer and fall, friends asked me to look at two lengthy videos they had received, wondering if the information therein was accurate. Each was a talk given by an apparently respected physician. Each was an excellent presenter, seemed reasonable and expert, and both were very effective at sowing doubt about accepted science. 

One commented early in her presentation that Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the NIH Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, was “not an infectious disease doctor.” “He is an immunologist.” She also said that she fell asleep at a lecture he gave when she was an intern. Each of these was meant to undermine Dr. Fauci’s credibility. 

Dr. Fauci, however, is very well trained in infectious diseases and has been involved with them his entire career. Yes, his research uses immunologic techniques, but these are focused on understanding infectious diseases. As to her falling asleep, she was a surgical intern, and the lecture occurred early in the morning. 

My supposition — she was tired from being up much of the night, and probably a talk about infectious disease immunology was not of perceived great relevance to this particular surgical intern.

She suggested that the name of the virus was inappropriate. She said to call it “the Wuhan virus” or the “China virus.” She compared these names to “German” measles, “Middle East Respiratory-distress Syndrome” (MERS), and “Lyme” disease. Without saying it directly, she was implying that the virus was released from the laboratory.

 She did not say that most infections, e.g., polio, pneumococcal pneumonia, meningococcal meningitis, etc., do not use a place name for identification. The actual name assigned by the World Health Organization to this virus is Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome-related CoronaVirus-2 or SARS-CoV-2. The disease name, COVID-19, is from the words Corona Virus Infectious Disease 2019. 

For those who believe that China or a laboratory in China released the virus intentionally, it is understandable that they would like to see the terms “Wuhan virus” or “China virus” used.

Another claim was that masks do little to protect the acquisition of the virus. She presented apparently solid scientific evidence that masks do not entirely prevent the passage of viruses. It is undoubtedly true that masks are not perfect and that some, such as the N95 masks, are better than a simple mask of sheeting. 

Nevertheless, masks are the best method to prevent airborne spread, especially when both parties wear them. But the clear implication of her explanation was that masks are not effective and therefore not necessary.

Certainly not limited to these two speakers is the belief that hydroxychloroquine is safe and effective for treating Covid-19. There was a lot of initial enthusiasm for this drug due to a French study that showed a reduction in the concentration of virus in nasal swabs of infected patients when treated with hydroxychloroquine, with or without azithromycin, for five days. 

Hydroxychloroquine is inexpensive, is generally safe, and has been widely used for decades, so it was promptly hailed as a potentially beneficial drug to use for COVID-19, including by President Trump. 

The FDA gave emergency use authorization in March 2020. There were, however, no clinical trials at the time that had proven for or against its efficacy. Nevertheless, many physicians and some infectious disease associations recommended hydroxychloroquine at least until further information became available. 

Soon an article was published in the Lancet, a highly regarded medical journal based in the United Kingdom and authored by well-respected academic physicians. It reported data collected by an analytics firm from 96,032 patient records from 700 hospitals over six continents. The report stated that, based on this review, hydroxychloroquine was not only ineffective but was dangerous. This information shot across the world in no time. 

Not appreciated then, yet noted in retrospect, the analytic firm that conducted the analysis was relatively small with few employees, had a non-existent track record, and would not let the authors or anyone else view the underlying data. Yet, it had somehow obtained presumably reliable patient-level data when regulators in most countries prohibit access to such protected healthcare information. 

The authors who had used this material were roundly criticized for inadequate attention to these basics. They were contrite, and the paper was withdrawn. Unfortunately, mainly based on this article, the World Health Organization and others had already stopped ongoing scientific trials of hydroxychloroquine.

Despite the back and forth, eventually, multiple clinical trials were completed, some looking at treating hospitalized patients, some looking at treating patients who had very early symptoms, and some looking at preventing disease in high-risk populations. None showed much if any value and the FDA has rescinded its emergency use authorization. Nevertheless, some still claim its effectiveness.

Another drug, ivermectin, has been suggested by many as effective and safe for preventing or treating Covid-19. Ivermectin is an anti-parasitic drug that has been highly effective in treating river blindness in Africa and a diarrheal disease caused by strongyloidiasis. It is cheap, it is effective, and it is generally safe. It has been used for decades, and the World Health Organization classifies it as one of the twenty essential medications. So why consider it in COVID-19? Because in cell culture, it reduced virus counts by 99+%. But in clinical use, there has been minimal information. 

The most intriguing observation comes from India. Amid a rapid increase in infections, hospitalizations, and deaths across the country in April and early May 2021, yet with only a few percentage of individuals yet vaccinated, ivermectin was made generally available by the government to all at no cost. How many took it is unknown, but temporally the case counts began to fall precipitously. Whether this drop was related to the widespread use of ivermectin is unknown.

This presumed impact of ivermectin contrasts with a randomized clinical trial comparing placebo to ivermectin to treat mild Covid-19 (See graphic above.). Those who received ivermectin had resolution of symptoms, on average, by day ten compared to day 12 for placebo, not a statistically significant difference. 

The jury on ivermectin is still out, but the true believers have offered the India observations as solid evidence that ivermectin is effective. The Indian Health Ministry, as of June 7, 2021, has, however, reversed its recommendation for using ivermectin. I think the final answer is still pending.

Let us move on to vaccination. One of the frequent anti-vaxxer claims is that the mRNA vaccines are unsafe. Why? Because “it will mess with my DNA” or “it is used as a chip for tracking me.” In actual fact, the messenger RNA does not get into the cell nucleus where the DNA resides, so it is not possible for it to interfere with or to change a person’s DNA. And the concept of a chip is just, well, interesting. Since the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation is an active vaccine advocate and study funder, some conflate this with Microsoft and from there to an embedded chip. 

Despite the science to the contrary, many do not trust it or the scientists. They feel, and present powerfully, that the mRNA vaccines are unsafe. The lead image of this article is of a person holding a sign which says, “this is a planned global power grab — the mRNA vaccine will kill millions more than CVI.” 

Individuals like this will not accept the carefully developed science as reviewed on this CDC link entitled “Science Brief: COVID-19 Vaccines and Vaccination.”

Many concerns have been raised for women of childbearing age. Are the vaccines safe during pregnancy? Can they cause infertility? The large, prospective randomized clinical trials from which the FDA decided to authorize them for emergency use did not include pregnant women. This is standard practice until a drug or vaccine is determined to be safe in the general population. 

However, it is also essential to be aware that pregnant women are at substantially higher risk for severe COVID-19, namely hospitalization, intensive care, or even death. In an article published in the New England Journal of Medicine on April 21, 2021, the CDC reports there have been no added risks reported to those pregnant individuals vaccinated since the new vaccines from Pfizer/BTN and Moderna became available. The Centers for Disease Control now recommends that pregnant women should be vaccinated.

Vaccines will likely be available for children as young as 2 years of age by September or soon thereafter. This will raise substantial anxiety among parents, especially mothers, who will be bombarded with anti-vax propaganda. Parents only want the best for their children but with the knowledge that kids usually do not get seriously infected and since the vaccines are new and testing will have only recently been completed, it is no wonder that anxiety will be high for many.

One of the more vocal anti-vaxxers, anti-masking, advocates for hydroxychloroquine and ivermectin is Dr. Simone Gold, an emergency medicine physician in the Los Angeles area. She started an organization called “America’s Frontline Doctors.” She gave a talk in Washington, D.C., which was videotaped and quickly went “viral.” Pun intended. Among her claims are that vaccines can produce infertility in normal women. That totally misrepresents facts. There is no evidence that vaccines can cause infertility, but it is out there, and many people are concerned as a result. 

Another one of her claims is that the vaccines are “experimental.” This is an interesting statement given that they were authorized by the FDA only after considerable data analysis, publishing the data on their website, a review by an outside group of experts, and then given emergency use authorization. She also said that since the FDA is collecting adverse event data that if you get vaccinated, then you are “participating in an experiment and don’t even realize it.” She is implying there must be some concern or why bother to collect this information. It is unfortunate because the FDA collects adverse event data on every vaccine and every drug continuously into the future. This data collection continually proves itself very useful. 

For example, this surveillance methodology, both by European regulators and the FDA, quickly detected the unusual blood clotting disorder with reduced platelet counts was detected with the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine and the Johnson & Johnson vaccine. These blood clots are very rare, but they are real and serious. As a result of their recognition, appropriate warnings have be given. 

Another example often touted as a reason not to be vaccinated is the later development of Bell’s Palsy or temporary paralysis of one of the facial muscles after vaccination. However, when evaluated over time in vast numbers of those who had been and those who had not been vaccinated, Bell’s Palsy does rarely occur, but no more frequently in the vaccinated than in the general population.

In Dr. Gold’s video, she gave recommendations for the vaccines and for therapy. She indicated that vaccines should be “prohibited” for those between the ages of 20–50. They should “probably be prohibited” for those between the ages of 50–70. For those over the age of 70, it would probably be better to take hydroxychloroquine or ivermectin. For nursing home residents, it should be a case-by-case decision. She firmly espoused the use of hydroxychloroquine and ivermectin. It is of interest that on January 6, 2021 videos of the United States Capitol insurrection showed Dr. Simone inside with a megaphone. She has since been arrested by the FBI and indicted by the Justice Department.

So-called “influencers” on social media with their large followings are sometimes the most effective purveyors of misinformation. A recent article on Medium by Mathew Remski discussed what he calls “Reverse Contagion Anxiety.” He writes that social media influencers are “turning the vaccine into a virus” and claiming that the vaccine sheds a virus or something that can harm others nearby.

What happens when these misrepresentations and misinformation create enough concern? Perhaps the most glaring is the possibility of losing one’s job if vaccinated! The Centner Academy in Miami which teaches grades K through eight is warning its teachers not to be vaccinated. In an article in Science magazine, April 26, 2021, “Florida private school threatens jobs of teachers who seek COVID-19 vaccines.” A letter was written by Leila Centner, co-founder of the academy, which was sent to teachers. “It is our policy, to the extent possible, not to employ anyone who has taken the experimental COVID-19 injection until further information is known…It is in the best interest of the children to protect them from the unknown implications of being in close proximity for the day with a teacher who has very recently taken the COVID-19 injection.” (My italics).

Ms. Centner wrote the following to explain the academy’s decision. “Tens of thousands of women all over the world have recently been reporting adverse reproductive issues simply from being in close proximity with those who have received any one of the COVID-19 injections, for example, irregular menses, bleeding, miscarriages, post-menopausal hemorrhaging, and amenorrhea (complete loss of menstruation).”

This is a telling example of what can happen when the anti-vaxxers create enough concern to sway otherwise intelligent people that the vaccines are unsafe. The National Institutes of Health has stated that “there is no evidence that individuals vaccinated for COVID-19 can transmit the viruses to others or that vaccination of one person can have negative health effects on others.” The CDC has a detailed review entitled “Myths and Facts Regarding Covid-19 Vaccines,” but unfortunately, this and the NIH statement will not be enough to convince those genuinely concerned. The Centner Academy has not altered its vaccine approach.

What is needed? These types of misinformation, anti-science theories, and conspiracy theories have become extremely common at a time of great crisis, stress, and frustration for everyone. In that setting, people can be led into thinking that at least some of this misinformation is valid. 

What we all need is to learn to think critically using tools such as careful analysis, open-mindedness, and problem-solving. Schools need to teach critical thinking at all levels, and the media needs to utilize it in reporting and support it. 

Another key is for reporters and their editors to insist upon primary data before accepting some statement as fact. All too often, when a claim is made, the reference is to a speech or an article that in turn is based on someone else’s paper or statement, etc. but following it back leads nowhere. 

As readers, listeners, or viewers of the media, we need to be able to assume the reporter did his or her job of finding the actual primary source and its credibility. Unfortunately, that is commonly not the case.

The post COVID-19 Misinformation, Anti-Science, and Conspiracies Theories appeared first on Medika Life.

I’ve linked to the video below as we are going to address his fairy tale piece by piece, so you’ll need to refer to the video from time to time for context. It’s an interview conducted with Fuellmich by Marta Gameiro Branco on the 11th of April 2021. The actual interview is in English.

Fact-Checking Reiner Fuellmich for profit

Fuellmich claims that people are out to discredit him for profit, that it’s all a glorious hatchet job, orchestrated by Davos members and big business. For an attorney, his apparent inability to grasp just how messed up we are from an organizational stance, as evidenced by our haphazard pandemic responses, is concerning. We’re just disorganized Reiner, get over yourself, no one is really that bothered with you.

Contrary to what you and your supporters would like the world to believe, not everyone seeking to call out your fairy tale is actually in the employ of, or financially incentivized by big pharma and/or other nameless corporations. Medika Life and its authors/owners/publishers and related associates can assure you we are not expecting Ferrari’s parked in our driveways in the morning. Pfizer, if you’re listening, I’m leaning towards black, rather than red.

Our services are provided for free for the simple purpose of protecting the public against misinformation. It’s called providing a community service without the expectation of remuneration, it’s altruistic and it’s liberating, you should try it. What this means, in effect, Mr. Fuellmich is that we call out your bullshit for free, How annoying is that!

Reiner Fuellmich Fails in Canada

The Canadians arent having any of it either. Despite claims on social media by Fuellmich supporters to the contrary, Canada’s top court is not hearing the case about Covid-19 ‘crimes’. 

“Canadian Supreme Court has accepted the case for Crimes Against Humanity presented by Dr. Reiner Fuellmich, R.F. Kennedy Jnr, & Dalores Cahill,” reads the title of a May 5, 2021 article published on a website called Philosophers Stone. It was shared more than 1,500 times on Facebook, according to the social media monitoring tool CrowdTangle.

According to the AFP Fact-Checking article, this statement of claim clearly indicates that it was filed in Ontario’s Superior Court, a provincial judicial body, which is not Canada’s Supreme Court. Contacted by the AFP, the Supreme Court of Canada confirmed there is no such case before it.

“ After conducting some verifications, I can confirm that this file does not exist at the Supreme Court of Canada and that the Court has not issued any decision in this regard,” a spokesperson for the Ottawa-based judicial body told AFP.

The Ontario Superior Court confirmed to AFP that the case had been dismissed under Rule 2.1 of the Rules of Civil Procedure, which states that “the court may, on its own initiative, stay or dismiss a proceeding if the proceeding appears on its face to be frivolous or vexatious or otherwise an abuse of the process of the court.” Lies, misinformation, and more lies.

Score: Common Sense 1 — Reiner Fuellmich 0

PCR Tests. Really? Again?

At the risk of putting everyone to sleep with this very tired part of Fuellich’s pandemic conspiracy, we have to address it as Fuellmich states publicly in the video that their whole argument is based on the PCR tests not working. It is, in his own words, the foundation stone in the precariously balanced pile of nonsense he’s built up. Proving PCR doesn’t work, proves his argument. 

By the same logic, showing PCR does work will make him go away, as his whole argument, as acknowledged by him, pivots on the efficacy of the PCR test. So let’s make him disappear as magically as he appeared. I’ll examine the statements made in the video, one at a time. The figure in brackets preceding each transcript is a time reference for the segment to save you having to endure the whole video. 

Fuellmich has constructed his own logic chain and constructed an event sequence from an unconnected series of facts and misrepresentations. It’s devious and ingenious at the same time. You cannot disprove his story because it doesn’t conform to established scientific facts, rather it subsists on the legal glue he’s used to cobble together nonrelational information, so we aren’t going to play his game. 

We will simply point out his lack of understanding of some key and basic issues and the flaws in his individual statements.

[4:15] It (the PCR test) cannot be relied upon as it cannot distinguish between live and dead matter, meaning whatever tests positive to could very well be the fragments or remnants of your bodies own immune systems fight against the common flu or the cold and it cannot tell whether a virus, and you need a whole virus, not just a fragment, whether a virus has entered your cells and is replicating because that’s the only way for you to become contagious. 

There’s a whole lot going on here. Fuellmich isn’t a doctor or virologist or epidemiologist and it shows. The first and most obvious flaw in his statement above is this. You can spread the virus till the cows come home simply by having it in your nostrils. You don’t, Mr. Fuellmich, require active replication in your cells to be a vector for spreading a virus. 

Whether the matter detected by the PCR tests is either alive or dead has no relevance to the test’s ability to detect the material in the first place. In fact, this statement would seem counterintuitive on his behalf. If he’s suggesting the tests don’t work, why is he then complaining about the condition of the material they identify? You cant have it both ways Mr. Fuellmich.

Another key issue here is that the purpose of widespread testing was not to determine how infectious everyone was, but rather to ascertain the prevalence of the virus among general populations. It’s the only way we have to actively gauge how many people are or were infected and gives us a reasonable indicator of the virus’s spread and capability for transmission, particularly where patients are asymptomatic.

It may also be worth mentioning at this point that every single laboratory that does work on coronavirus strains — the so-called gain of function experimentation, where shrews or ferrets are given the human ACE2 receptor and then exposed to the coronavirus — do tests on the animals to see if they have been infected. Anyone care to hazard a guess as to which test they use? PCR. Why would they use this test if it’s so useless, Mr. Fuellmich? 

You’re welcome to leave a reply in the comments or are you going to plead the 5th. 

[5:38]…you have to put this into a machine and then magnify it. This is called cycles of amplification, 2, 4, 8, 16, 32 and everyone agrees in the meantime that anything beyond 24 is unscientific. Apart from the fact, these tests cannot tell you anything about infection because they can’t distinguish between live and dead matter, but, if, if you go beyond 24 cycles, if you go for example to 34 cycles of application then you end up with at least 97% false positives, that’s what Mike Yeadon, former vice president of Pfizer told us.

Let’s deal with Mike first, should we? Mike Yeadon is exactly the sort of person you’d be expecting Fuellmich to quote and his representation of Yeadon is horribly misleading. Yeadon did work for Pfizer. He was vice president and chief scientific officer for Pfizer’s United Kingdom-based allergy and respiratory unit until that unit shut down in 2011, not Pfizer’s actual VP as Fuellmich insinuates. 

The very fact that Fuellmich is consorting with Yeadon and regards his opinion as valuable is in my honest opinion enough reason to immediately discredit anything else Fuellmich has to say, but we’ll persist, should we?

For a more detailed dissection of the life and decline of Mike Yeadon, I highly recommend this enlightening piece from Kelly Hawes in the Herald Bulletin.

On to the cycling issue. Yet more conspiracy and misinformation. Amplification cycles vary from manufacturer to manufacturer, a fact Fuellmich conveniently omits to mention. He assures us he’s read the packaging insert, so he must have stopped short of the actual instructions. Depending on the sensitivity of the test and what is being tested, laboratory technicians need to adhere to the relevant test manufactures instructions. 

There is no such thing as a standard number of cycles as each test differs. Yes, it is true that if you don’t adhere to the prescribed number of cycles, you’ll ruin a particular test, but that’s human error and not a conspiracy. I would assume, given the assurances he continuously offers on the depth of his knowledge regarding PCR testing that he is all too well aware of this fact and has chosen to omit it as it doesn’t play to his storyline. The following explanation will help you understand the process in simpler terms.

The cycle threshold (Ct) value is the actual number of cycles it takes for the PCR test to detect the virus. It indicates an estimate of how much virus was likely in the sample to start with — not the actual amount. If the virus is found in a low number of cycles (Ct value under 30), it means that the virus was easier to find in the sample and that the sample started out with a large amount of the virus. 

Think about it like the zoom button on your computer, if you only have to zoom in a little (zoom at 110% — fewer cycles), it means that item was big to start with. If you have to zoom a lot (zoom at 180% — more cycles), it means that the item was small to start with.

Public Health Ontario has this to offer on the PCR test they use. You’ll note Mr. Fuellmich that your golden number of 24 is never mentioned here.

We have developed a PCR test in our lab, with positive and negative cutoff points. The cutoff point for a positive result for PHO’s developed lab test is 38 cycles. This means that if the virus is found at or before 38 cycles are completed, then the test is considered positive. The cutoff point for a negative result is 40 cycles. If the virus is detected between 38 and 40 cycles, we call this an indeterminate or inconclusive result. 

We’ll move on now, but if you prefer a more scientific explanation of the points raised above, we’ve provided one right here

Vienna and Fuellmich’s big game-changer

Following a complaint lodged by the FPÖ (Austrian populist party), the administrative tribunal of Vienna ruled on 24 March that PCR tests could not be considered as a reliable way of diagnosing an illness or the level of contagiousness of an individual. Our response. Way to go for stating the obvious.

PCR tests are simply an aid to doctors, enabling them to confirm or dismiss a possible diagnosis in conjunction with visible symptoms and other factors. In other words, as all doctors are aware, you treat the patient, not the test. Fuellmich obviously isn’t aware of this annoying medical habit of clinicians using diagnostic tools to assist them in confirming a diagnosis, leading him to claim rather brashly that the court decision in Vienna is a game-changer.

Sorry, Reiner, that’s a silly own goal and not your first.

Conspiracies r us

From around the 7th minute onwards in the video Fuellmich simply abandons any appearances of sane discourse and invokes almost every known conspiracy theory circulating on the internet. Davos is out to get him, there is a “great reset” underway, covid vaccines are compared to genetic bio-experiments, mass sterilization experiments (you can almost see Mike Yeadon typing Fuellmich’s script in the background). Even the Jews are dragged into and he has the audacity to compare the pandemic response to the holocaust.

It’s at this point that any credibility the man may have built up, based on his questionable earlier pseudo-science-based statements, flies out the window, and I feel comfortable closing with the following. Reiner Fuellmich is simply another one-trick pony and not a very impressive one. A con artist with delusions of grandeur and ambitions way above his station. 

If you can seriously entertain either the man or the sham he presents as actual fact, then you can consider your indoctrination into the ethereal world of conspiracies complete. You haven’t been flummoxed, you’ve been Fuellmiched. 

Hmm, think I may get T-Shirts printed. Pfizer, where’s my cheque?

Where is the Grift?

It’s there, we can assure you. Contibutions pouring in to support this world class “liberation” con. It’s the Normandy beach landing, except this time the beach is empt and no one’s home. Fuellmich has convinced the more gullible among us, and there are many, that the beach is crawling with enemies. I can see how he arrived here and the holes in his narrative provide a road map of sorts. If you’ll indulge me my fairy tale, you’ve listened to Fuellmich’s, so you can spare me five minutes.

He, or his office, began examining Covid or the lockdowns or masks or PCR tests, possibly for a client or simply out of his own financial interests. What he found overwhelmed him, both in terms of scale and sheer possibility. It was a lawyers wet dream, people falling over themselves to present evidence against the accused, one theory crazier than the next, but the list was as endless. 

The world was pissed off, at Covid, at being confined and just generally pissed off. Its our default setting of late, just hang out on social media for a while. 

There has to be a scape goat, a guilty party and a reason for our misery. Reiner Fuellmich understands this mindset or need all to well. He’s used to dealing with crime and the legal constructs dividing the world into the guilty and the innocent. Fuellich continued interviewing and continued collecting evidence. In the back of his mind, a plan was formulating. An ambitious one. Who better to blame than “the man”, the system and all its corrupt appendages. Who better as a client than the all the innocents. Fuellmich protects the world.

All he then needed was to formulate a construct, a backstory or plan that showed clear intent to harm his client (you and I, the innocents), a complex web that would prove sufficiently difficult to comprehend and equally differ to decipher. The chaos of the pandemic and the mixed messages presented the perfect fertile soil to plant his seed of doubt and the scientific materials he was about to twist out of shape to conform to his narrative abounded. And so, his “legal document” was created.

Nothing fits as it should in his convoluted tale. Bits poke out awkwardly everywhere, pushed into spaces they weren’t designed for. In places, as we’ve noted, he’s had to resort out of desperation to blaming things like Davos and completely ridiculous conspiracies. Yes, the worlds out to screw you, but so what. It didn’t need the pandemic for that. If you’re honest with yourself, his story just doesn’t feel right, does it. It feels forced.

What these conspiracy fans all typically tend to forget is that the overlords they complain about rely on their subjects for their existence. Without the one, the other ceases to exist. Its the same relationship flaw Fuellmich suffers. Without you, without your support, he ceases to exist. 

The post Reiner Fuellmich Fact Checked and Exposed as a Covid Conspiracy Con appeared first on Medika Life.

The Disinformation Dozen

The following people have been identified as being responsible for 65% of the anti-vaccine and health misinformation circulating on social media. On Facebook, they account for up to 73% of misleading vaccine propaganda. On Twitter, their names are referenced on 17% of anti-vaccine tweets. Meet the Disinformation Dozen.

1. Joseph Mercola
2. Robert F. Kennedy Jnr
3. Ty and Charlene Bollinger
4. Sherri Tenpenny
5. Rizza Islam
6. Rashid Buttar
7. Erin Elizabeth
8. Sayer Ji and Kelly Brogan
9. Christiane Northrup
10. Ben Tapper
11. Kevin Jenkins
12. Clay Clark

These names (with the exception of Clay Clark, who Medika has added for reasons you’ll see below) are listed on a report issued by The Center for Countering Digital Hate,(CCDH), a not-for-profit NGO that seeks to disrupt the architecture of online hate and misinformation. You can access the full report here and this article comprises much of the report. They are, with the possible exception of Kennedy, grifters par excellence.

The report reveals that just twelve individuals and their organizations are responsible for the bulk of anti-vaxx content shared or posted on Facebook and Twitter. The majority of the Disinformation Dozen remain on major social media platforms, despite repeated violations of their terms of service. We’ll summarize each of the names listed with a brief explanation as to why these individuals pose a real and present danger to public health. Where individuals are linked to existing Medika articles, we’ve referenced those articles by linking the names.

In addition to the named individuals listed above, their business or websites pose an equal or greater threat to public health. A sample of these are shown below and these websites multiply like viruses, with more springing up every day.

• Children’s Health Defense (Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.) 
• Informed Consent Action Network (ICAN) (Del Bigtree)
• National Vaccine Information Center (NVIC) (Barbara Loe Fisher, Joseph Mercola)
• Organic Consumers Association (OCA) (Joseph Mercola)
• Millions Against Medical Mandates

How did the CCDH narrow down its list?

The individuals above were selected because they have large numbers of followers, produce high volumes of anti-vaccine content, or have seen rapid growth of their social media accounts in the last two months. According to the report:

Analysis of a sample of anti-vaccine content that was shared or posted on Facebook and Twitter a total of 812,000 times between 1 February and 16 March 2021 shows that 65 percent of anti-vaccine content is attributable to the individuals named above. Despite repeatedly violating Facebook, Instagram and Twitter’s terms of service agreements, nine of the Disinformation Dozen remain on all three platforms, while just three have been comprehensively removed from just one platform. 

This is the product of a series of failures from social media platforms: 

• Research conducted by CCDH last year has shown that platforms fail to act on 95 percent of the Covid and vaccine misinformation reported to them. 
• CCDH’s recent report, Malgorithm, uncovered evidence that Instagram’s algorithm actively recommends similar misinformation. 
• Tracking of 425 anti-vaccine accounts by CCDH shows that their total following across platforms now stood at 59.2 million in December, an increase of 877,000 more than they had in June. 
• CCDH’s ongoing tracking shows that the 20 anti-vaxxers with the largest followings account for over two-thirds of this total cross-platform following of 59.2 million. 
• Analysis of anti-vaccine content posted to Facebook over 689,000 times in the last two months shows that up to 73 percent of that content originates with members of the Disinformation Dozen of leading online anti-vaxxers. 
• Facebook’s own internal analysis of vaccine-hesitant content on its platform is likely to underestimate the influence of leading anti-vaxxers by failing to address the ultimate source of this content, and by the recorded failure of its algorithms to identify content concerning vaccines.
• Analysis of over 120,000 anti-vaccine tweets collected in the last two months shows that up to 17 percent feature the Disinformation Dozen of leading online anti-vaxxers.

Who are the Disinformation Dozen?

If you’re not familiar with the names above, these brief bio’s will help you develop a clearer understanding of the names listed and their places in the anti-vaxx community.

1. Joseph Mercola

We’ve previously listed Mercola on Medika’s Quack scale and he’s been consistently selling his version of quackery for far longer than most, allowing him to build up an impressive social media following of misled converts. 

His ridiculous suggestions widely shared on Facebook include 

• Hydrogen Peroxide can successfully treat most viral respiratory illnesses, including coronavirus — FALSE
• The same number of people died on average in 2020 that died the previous year, so the coronavirus deaths are a hoax — FALSE
• Forced vaccinations are part of a plan to reset the global economy — FALSE

Mercola has been peddling dietary supplements and false cures as alternatives to vaccines for years. His combined personal social media accounts have around 3.6 million followers. At the time of writing, Mercola still enjoys active social media accounts on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

2. Robert F Kennedy Jnr

Trained as a layer, Kennedy enjoyed early public successes against large chemical corporations guilty of chemically contaminating our environment and knowingly poisoning their communities and customers. His early career boasts many admirable achievements and he was one of the original eco-warriors.

Which makes what has become of him, al the more painful. His focus gradually shifted to big pharma and his clear vision has been clouded by an obsession with healthcare conspiracies and anti-vaxx rhetoric. In many ways, he may have been one of the original victims to buy into a complex web of lies and deceit. Many now view him as the unofficial, uncrowned “king” of the anti-vaxx movement, and the reach and influence he exerts through his website, Children’s Health Defense, would support this view.

In Kennedy’s case, his misguided and misleading exertions are not necessarily spawned by a desire to grift but may be seated in a deeply subverted view of actual science and medical fact. His background suggests he would view any large corporation as suspect, including pharma and government. Irrelevant of his motivation, he poses a real and present danger to public health. His Children’s Health Defense offers a welcoming platform to many of the names on this list, to further their propaganda, expand their reach and further enrich themselves at the cost of public health and safety.

A recent film made by Kennedy on Black healthcare displays all the tactics of anti-vaxx propaganda and appropriates black culture to promote Kenedy’s agenda. We discussed this move at length here.

3. Ty and Charlene Bollinger

Ty and Charlene Bollinger are anti-vax entrepreneurs who run a network of accounts that market books and DVDs about vaccines, cancer, and COVID-19. In 2020 they launched the United Medical Freedom Super PAC ahead of last year’s United States elections. 

The Bollingers have promoted the conspiracy theory that Bill Gates plans to inject everyone with microchips as part of a vaccination program.

The Bollingers have also posted content that violates platform standards on election misinformation. As with almost every name on this list, their ties to the Republican party are undeniable. The pair are extremely talented alternate health charlatans profiting handsomely from the disinformation they spread. At the time of writing, they still enjoy active social media accounts on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

4. Sherri Tenpenny

Dr. Sherri Tenpenny is an osteopath physician who spreads anti-vaccine sentiment and false claims about the safety and efficacy of masks via her social media channels. While her Facebook account has been removed, her Twitter and Instagram are still intact. One of her most recent claims related to the covid vaccine.

“Some people are going to die from the vaccine directly,” Tenpenny said in the video, which has nearly 1 million views. “But a large number of people are going to start getting horribly sick and get all kinds of autoimmune diseases, 42 days to maybe a year out.”

This is of course complete nonsense. you can read an article here that debunks this ridiculous statement. In the video, Tenpenny refers to the covid vaccine as deadly and a bioweapon. She is a licensed osteopath based in suburban Cleveland and the author of “Saying No To Vaccines: A Resource Guide for All Ages.” She runs an alternative health clinic and has previously claimed vaccines cause autism. 

On 23 June 2020 Sherri Tenpenny tweeted that the longer you wear a mask, the more unhealthy you get. Tenpenny alleged that masks suppress your immune system.https://medika.life/media/4fa458bd9d888e08c17eb721712bb898

5. Rizza Islam

Rizza Islam’s anti-vaccine posts aim to spread vaccine hesitancy amongst African Americans. While Facebook removed Rizza Islam’s Facebook Page in February, he continues to post anti-vaccine messages from his Instagram and Twitter accounts.

Islam intentionally discourages fellow African Americans from being vaccinated. His dangerous rhetoric contributes to the increased risk of death this sector of the population faces from the coronavirus. His Twitter account is a carefully managed stream of vaccine misinformation, focusing on the covid vaccine. Every person he turns away from the vaccine is a potential death at his hand in a community he claims to serve. 

He’s no stranger to manipulating healthcare for his own profit. In 2015 the executive director of World Literacy Crusade (WLC), then Hanan Islam, Ronnie Steven Islam (AKA Rizza Islam), and Hanan’s adult children were arrested for Medi-Cal fraud and insurance fraud for billing for a detox program. The Compton, Californian offices of the WLC housed a drug detox program using “dry heat sweat therapy.

This Jan 4 article explains what’s awaiting a very deserving con artist. Hanan and Rizza Islam get trial date for $4 million Medi-Cal fraud at Scientology rehab. At a pretrial conference, the trial was set for May 20 in the case, which seeks felony convictions against Hanan Islam, 61, and three of her children, including her son Ronnie “Rizza” Islam, 30. If you’re an African American, Rizza Islam is not your friend. 

6. Rashid Buttar

Rashid Buttar is an American osteopathic physician from Charlotte, North Carolina. He is an ardent conspiracy theorist known for videos posted to his YouTube channel. Buttar claims that COVID-19 tests have living microorganisms (discouraging people from getting government-approved tests) and that Covid vaccines cause infertility

In an early 2020 video, after warning that corrupt government leaders would seize on the crisis to enact authoritarian rule, Buttar — a widely discredited osteopath — directed viewers to his website, where he sells information packages that cost up to $450. Only there, he claims, can he share the “real truth” in its entirety. Buttar is a grifter, a con artist, not a particularly good one, with a healthcare spin. A popular QAnon Instagram page reposted one of his videos with the caption “Coronavirus Was Man-Made.” 

While Buttar’s scam may not be as sophisticated as many of his more practiced colleagues on this list, he is nonetheless hugely disruptive to public health. At the time of writing, Buttar still enjoys active social media accounts on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

7. Erin Elizabeth

Erin Elizabeth is the partner of Joseph Mercola (surprise, surprise). She runs Health Nut News, a prominent ‘alternative health’ website with affiliated newsletter and social media accounts.

She has posted an antisemitic conspiracy theory about the Rothschilds to her Instagram account, connected Bill Gates to wild vaccine plots, suggested the influenza vaccine makes you chronically ill. She actively supports Mercola and they are, not unlike the Bollingers, representative of a new element emerging from the alternate health sector, the “Power-Con Couples”. Healthcare Bonnie and Clyde’s but they aren’t robbing banks, they’re threatening your health.

Her social media accounts remain active on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

8. Sayer Ji and Kelly Brogan

Another “Power-Con Couple” with a slight difference. The only real danger here is Brogan. Her partner, Sayer Ji, is the joke on the list. If you want to take health advice from an unqualified supplement salesman, then you pretty much get what you deserve. His philosophy degree is as far away from healthcare as the sun is from the moon.

Sayer Ji runs a popular alternative health website, GreenMedInfo.com, and affiliated social media accounts that promote pseudoscience and anti-vaccine misinformation. Despite his GreenMedInfo accounts being removed by Twitter and Instagram, it is still available on Facebook. 

Kelly Brogan on the other hand is a cold, calculating medical charlatan. You can read more about her on Medika’s Quack Scale and her abusive relationship with past patients. She now claims to practice “holistic psychiatry” and sells a range of books and courses from her website. In a widely viewed video in March 2020, Kelly Brogan claimed that “there is potentially no such thing as the coronavirus” because “it’s not possible to prove that any given pathogen has induced death.” 

A post on Kelly Brogan’s website titled “Why We Stay Asleep When Covid-19 Is Trying to Wake Us Up” cites a number of COVID conspiracy theories, including that the pandemic was planned. CrowdTangle analytics show it has been shared on Facebook nearly 11,000 times.

9. Christiane Northrup

Our favorite Covid kook. Christiane Northrup offers up theories so wild and unbelievable, they’re actually entertaining. If she didn’t pose such a serious risk to public health, we’d be encouraging her to take her show on the road. 

We’ve written about Christiane Northrup on Medika’s Quack Scale and she doesn’t shy away from insanity when attacking the covid vaccines, dragging fetal cells, 5G cell towers, and tracking chips out in the same breath. The only thing more amazing than Northrup’s crazed theories is the fact that anyone would even consider them. She makes baseless claims that vaccines cause an 800% increase in chronic illness and that getting vaccinated will allow governments and organizations to somehow track you.

She’s a sought-after guest on alternate health podcasts and “news” channels, appearing with Thrivetime’s, Clay Clark in his latest anti-vaxx, anti-covid effort, the “Health and Freedom Project”, a Republican based disinformation campaign with ties to QAnon, designed to destabilize a Democrat-led American government. Her social media accounts remain active on all three platforms, Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.

10. Ben Tapper

Ben Tapper is a chiropractor with a growing following on social media. He has routinely posted COVID disinformation and spoken out against masking. Although he is fond of introducing himself as a doctor, he is not a medical doctor. In fact, some doubt exists as to his actual qualification.

Apparently, chiropractic students are now doing courses in virology and molecular biology and have a broad knowledge of nutrition and chemical interactions when they qualify. Oh no wait, that’s not actually true. In fact, they aren’t doctors at all and their courses focus on the mechanistic treatment of pulled muscles, and aches and pains supposedly initiated by poor spinal alignment. Their manipulation techniques apparently extend beyond just treating patients.

This small technical issue doesn’t however stop an inordinately large amount of chiropractors from advising on everything from virology to pandemics and cancer cures. Tapper is the perfect example of someone way out of his depth. Here is an article that debunks a lot of nonsense Tapper sprouted about PCR tests (under the false guise of being a medical doctor) while addressing a city council in the USA.

At the time of writing, all Tapper’s social media accounts remain active on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

11. Kevin Jenkins

Another black man hell-bent on harming his fellow African Americans by spreading lies about the dangers of Covid and the Covid vaccine. 

Kevin Jenkins is an anti-vaccine activist with a growing social media presence who has appeared at public events with Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. Jenkins has called vaccines a “conspiracy” to “wipe out” black people and is a co-founder of the Freedom Airway & Freedom Travel Alliance, a company founded in late 2020 to help its members travel around the world without observing any masking, quarantining, vaccination, or other pandemic control measures.

In a now-deleted Facebook Live from DC on January 6th, Kevin Jenkins stands on stage and tells the crowd that Black people are being targeted with the vaccine. “They are spending a trillion dollars to convince you [the Black Community] that it’s ok to kill yourselves [with the COVID vaccine].” Jenkins has also claimed that the Black community is being targeted for experimentation with the vaccine.

All Jenkins’ social media accounts on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram remain active.

12. Clay Clark

Clay Clark was not originally included in the original Disinformation Dozen. Medika feels this is a massive oversight and we’ve rectified it here. 

We’ve left the best for last and judging by the photo below, you may want to make sure your children are tucked up tight in bed. Clay Clark has officially embedded himself with his fellow Republican anti-vaxx, democracy denying, covid doubting, Qanon supporters, and sympathizers.

The presenter of Thrivetime now actively promotes quacks, covid conspirators, and a host of other radical Republicans directly from the front page of the Thrivetime website. It’s worrying that people with profiles like Clark’s feel comfortable enough to come out in such a public show of support for these radical elements, such is their confidence in their growing power base and if ever there as a wake-up call to moderate and sane Republicans, Clark represents this call.

A link on the front page of Thrivetime takes you directly to Christiane Northrup discussing fetal cells and tracking devices in the covid vaccines, both repeatedly disproven statements. One of the sites he links to is called timetofreeamerica.com with possibly the largest collection of anti-covid propaganda we’ve comes across. It also includes false claims on 2020 election fraud, a popular Trumpian narrative.

Gates is shown as an orchestrator of world domination and every other imaginable covid conspiracy is wheeled out, including the disgraced Judy Mikovitz. The scariest part of all this, as if it could get any worse, isn’t the collection of fake and misleading, misquoted and appropriated science, it is Clark’s clear attempt at garnering himself a power base for his political aspirations. He intends to do this by ingratiating himself with an ever-expanding radical segment within the Republican party.

He’s hosting conferences, which he has inappropriately labeled “Health and Freedom” conferences and we wrote extensively about them here. They are nothing more than an embarrassingly public display of the collapse of the mainstream Republican party, eroded from within by Clark and the cancerous elements he represents. He isn’t grifting for money, it’s power he’s after.

Speakers at the first event included Andrew Wakefield, Christiane Northrup, Simone Gold, and a smorgasbord of conspiracy theorists, covid doubters, and general health disinformation experts. Clark is actively mixing alternate health and anti-vaxx propaganda with seditionist rhetoric and election fraud conspiracies. 

Clearly, he feels this base is growing sufficiently within the Republican party to justify coming out of the closet. Make no mistake, Clark isn’t a believer. He’s merely a skilled manipulator who’s seen an opportunity he can exploit for his own benefit. He enjoys a large public following and all his social media accounts remain active. Don’t forget to vote for him when you see the ticket.

What can you do to stop the Disinformation Dozen?

There are actually a few really simple actions you can take to deplatform these individuals. Despite this list having been provided by a congressional body to the implicated social media companies well over a month ago, most of the accounts above still remain active.

Report these accounts whenever you come across them, report individual posts, and ensure the owners of platforms like Twitter and Facebook are continuously made are of their responsibility to protect the public against disinformation.

If you’re a mainstream Republican that values democracy and the rule of law, express your outrage to your local Republican office. Question why these elements are allowed to persist and thrive within your party. Act now or you may find yourself looking for a new political homeland in the not too distant future. 

Images are all used in accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, commonly known as “fair use law”. This material is distributed without profit with the intent to provide commentary, review, education, and increase public health knowledge.

The post The Dirtiest Dozen. Meet The Anti-Vaccine, Anti-Covid Health Grifters appeared first on Medika Life.

We’ll kick off with the simple stuff and then move onto the more complex topics. There a lot of my often sad and questionable humor interspersed in this article. It isn’t there to make light of the situation, rather see it as an attempt to stave off the madness of having to repeatedly write these articles in the first place. We all need to lighten up a little and learn to think critically for ourselves and let’s be honest, some of this is side-splittingly funny. For the purposes of this article, the SARS-CoV-2 virus that causes Covid is shortened to CoV-2. This is how you contract a virus.

A final thought on the context before you dive in. ALL the responses below are based on our personal exposure and experiences to and with the pandemic over the last 14 months. We have personal contact with medical professionals engaged in the field with research and critical patient care. Our concern is for the patient’s safety and wellbeing and where doubt exists on something, we are candid about it.

On the much-maligned subject of PCR testing

This tends to always feel like people clutching at straws. Also, the lack of understanding among the public regarding this topic is staggering. It allows for their manipulation by less than honorable agents.

1. PCR testing doesn’t prove you have Covid

Fact: Wow, astonishing. That’s actually correct and aside from stating the obvious we’re not sure why this statement has been latched onto. PCR testing is a screening tool used to look for genetic material that belongs to the virus. You can have this material and be either asymptomatic (no Covid) or you may have just have caught the virus and be on the fence (you may or may not develop Covid) or you may be recovering from Covid or possibly successfully have beaten the virus thanks to your immune system. So to recap, PCR is not to detect Covid. That’s just a silly statement as we all know Covid is a disease that’s caused by a coronavirus.

2. PCR tests don’t work properly

Fallacy: They do. Here’s an article that will explain exactly how well they work and what they’re really good at doing. Detecting genetic material. Detractors point to a statement by Kerry Mullis, the inventor of the PCR test shortly before his death where he was quoted as saying the tests aren’t good for detecting disease. Again, this is factual but completely misinterpreted and corrupted by Covid doubters. The tests should be used to screen for viruses and other materials that can cause or lead to disease. Exactly the way we use PCR to screen for the CoV-2 virus to confirm someone has Covid rather than a bad case of influenza. The tests also provide invaluable information about the spread of a virus in the general population. We can assess how dangerous, how viral, and how deadly a virus is from data collected from testing. Without this data, we’re guessing.

3. PCR tests are unreliable

Fallacy: They are very accurate, more so than many other screening tools and it’s why we use them. It is possible to mess up the results by contaminating samples or not following the manufacturer’s instructions for individual tests but this is human error and statistically insignificant in large samples or at the scale we’re dealing with now. Again, refer to this article.

4. Why are we testing healthy people? It’s a waste of time and money

Fallacy. A great question spoiled by a flawed conclusion based on a lack of proper public-facing education. Here’s why we test extensively. Write it down, memorize it, tell a friend. We need the data to protect the public. It’s that simple. Unless we can figure out how quickly a virus is spreading through a population, how many people are becoming ill, and how many are dying we can’t protect ourselves.

This data shows the infectiousness of a virus, how transmissible it is, how dangerous, and who it is affecting. It also means we can with reasonable accuracy suggest how deadly the virus is and whether you need to buy Twinkies and hide under your bed, or if you can mask up and move about in relative safety. Rapid and widespread testing is critical to understanding, managing, and containing viral outbreaks. If the pandemic has shown us anything about managing global viral outbreaks it is about how important the availability of accurate data is in managing unknowns. Testing provides this. So the next time someone tries to trash testing, you can explain this to them.

There is another benefit to testing that isn’t discussed in much detail but is of more importance. Research. Millions of samples help to turn up data that we may otherwise miss. Volume helps to establish patterns that researchers can look into or exploit for developing treatments. It can also alert us to new potential risks from a virus as it evolves. Without broad sampling, research is seriously hampered, and along with it, our understanding of what we are dealing with. HIV and SARS-CoV-2 are perfect examples of what large data sets can allow researchers to accomplish.

Masks Ahoy

This is my pet hate. Where to start on this one. There is so much rubbish that circulates about the futility of wearing a mask, the health risks if you wear a mask and the issues of personal freedom. Let’s deal with the most obvious and hopefully, somewhere along the line, the penny will drop if it hasn’t already. I apologize in advance for the tone in some of the answers, but seriously??? I’ll try and keep this portion brief.

1. Why should I wear a mask. There is no reason.

Fallacy: There are a million reasons. Here’s possibly the simplest explanation of all when it comes to this topic. When you sneeze, do you cover your nose and mouth with your hand and turn away from people? Simple yes or no answer. If you answered no then you’re probably one of the idiots wandering about without a mask. Yes, I know I shouldn’t, but your inability to comprehend basic hygiene is probably a combination of ignorance, arrogance, and inbreeding. This simple gesture designed to contain the sneeze is an acknowledgment that the fluids you’re about to spray around liberally from your nasal passages carry the potential for disease and death. We’ve been doing this out of respect and concern for our fellow citizens for centuries.

The simple gesture of turning away and raising your hand is one of the most telling things about you. Indirectly, you’re saying to the people around you, “I care about you bro, so I ain’t sharing”.

The mask does more to protect others than it does to protect you. Fact. It’s that hand, permanently in front of your nose and mouth to catch coughs and sneezes. If everyone wears one, then they also serve to protect you. They aren’t foolproof but they have a huge impact on the virus’s ability to become airborne and spread itself.

I always see doctors and nurses as the perfect proof of this. Many have been engaged with Covid patients for over a year. Although there have been a lot of positive cases of Covid, many medical professionals have not contracted the virus, despite it being so infectious. The reason. Masks and hygiene. The two go hand in hand.

2. N95 masks can’t stop the virus particles

True: but then we aren’t asking them to do this, are we? The virus is insanely small, small enough to pass through a normal N95 mask. However, on their own, CoV-2 particles are stranded. No legs, no wings, and no cellphone to order a Grab. They need to latch onto something to move around and airborne particles of moisture sprayed out of your mouth or nose offer the perfect ride. Luckily the N95 can cope with these small droplets and can easily capture them, preventing their passenger access to your gaping mouth or inhaling nostril. It isn’t perfect I’ll admit, but it is 100% more effective than no mask.

As the mask can trap the virus in these particles it is advisable to change your mask quite frequently and never reuse an N95 or similar type of material mask unless you have access to a sterilization unit. Washing can also compromise the mask’s fibers.

Don’t take off your mask and stuff it in your pocket. Immediately dispose of it on removal and wash your hands. Again, seriously, this is basic hygiene 101.

3. Masks being mandated infringe on my civil liberties

Fallacy: If you have so little concern for your fellow citizens that you refuse to place a small cloth square over your face when you’re in public, for the duration of the pandemic, then really, there’s nowhere to go with this other than to say if you do enjoy any civil liberties, they’re hugely underserved and definitely not as a result of any actions you’ve taken. Seat belts are mandated and in some states so are crash helmets. Are you also protesting these and while we’re at it, what about the requirement to wear clothes in public? Ridiculous, and clearly an infringement on your right to expose yourself.

Wearing a mask, seatbelt, or crash helmet is for your protection more than anything else. There is no real evidence to suggest the mask poses any hazard to your health, so like the crash helmet and the seatbelt, use them. Yes, they’re hot, yes they’re uncomfortable, and yes, they fog up your glasses, but they work. Science says so and data supports it.

4. Medical masks are dangerous and cause CO2 intoxication or oxygen deficiency

Fallacy: Considering the people and groups propagating this nonsense, perhaps we should print a disclaimer on the masks. Dangerous if consumed! You should not wear a mask while exercising, performing demanding physical labor, or engaging in carnal acts (unless of course, you paid extra for the mask). That’s simply common sense. Your oxygen demands increase exponentially and you need unrestricted access to air. This claim is also easily disproven by observing medical staff in an operating theater. You don’t see them collapsing or gasping for air, do you, despite attending procedures that last for hours. Clearly, under normal conditions, masks are uncomfortable but very safe.

The mystery of the missing virus

This is my all-time favorite. The depth of ignorance required to make the statement below is staggering.

We haven’t isolated the CoV2 virus yet

Fallacy: People spreading this gem claim that we only have a computer-based model of the virus and haven’t managed to actually isolate the real virus. This will come as very upsetting news to Wan Beom Park and his colleagues, who clearly thought they managed to do it back in February of 2020. Sorry Wan, but your paper entitled Virus Isolation from the First Patient with SARS-CoV-2 in Koreamust obviously be a mistake. Our public ‘experts’ say so.

I won’t bore you with an extensive list of the other laboratories that have isolated the virus, but rather pose a few simple questions to this group of non-believers to hopefully allow them to self-implode in a puff of logic-induced smoke.

Question one. You are aware, are you not, that the CoV-2 virus can be ordered by laboratories for the purposes of evaluation and experimentation? What do you think the CDC has been shipping to laboratories for over a year now? Two weeks after receiving their first sample of the virus in January of 2020, the CDC was able, over a period of two weeks, to generate enough SARS-CoV-2 (grown in cell culture) to distribute to medical and scientific researchers. You can read about their isolation of the CoV2 virus here.

Second question. How would be able to produce a vaccine that uses part of the virus’s RNA coding to simulate the spike protein on the virus, unless you had the actual virus to analyze? Hmmm? Guesses tend not to work too well in the field of molecular biology.

Third and final question. Accusing the world of intentionally releasing the virus on an unwitting public and then claiming we don’t actually have it are two opinions that are directly at odds with each other. You cannot have it both ways, can you? Decide which line of bullshit you want to pursue and stick to that, you cannot have both.

Covid-19 is caused by a bacterial infection

Fallacy: It’s easy to understand how folk can get this one mixed up. The CoV-2 virus is what causes the disease we call Covid-19. The disease is a result of the virus attacking our system, in particular, our lungs and other vital organs. Bacteria can then play a role as secondary infections may occur in the lungs and elsewhere, These can be treated with antibiotics as the infections are bacterial, but the antibiotics don’t impact the CoV-2 virus. Viruses are immune to antibiotics, which only work on bacterial infections. Certain viruses can be treated with very specific antiviral drugs that have been designed to target specific attributes in a chosen virus. HIV retrovirals are an excellent example.

On the topic of thermal scanners

You know the feeling right, every shop you stop at scans you. The entrance to the mall scans you and even your hairdresser scans you. There is no escape from handheld, wall-mounted, or checkout-style temp scanners and I am actually surprised no one has suggested yet we’re going to get tumors on our foreheads from all the scanning. Watch this space.

1. Scanners cannot pick up a CoV-2 infection

Yes and no. It’s a little bit of both here. While it’s true that the scanners cannot directly detect the virus, it is also true they can detect subtle changes in body temperature which may indicate an infection you are not aware of. That infection isn’t just an indicator of a viral infection though. It’s a warning sign that your body is engaged in a battle with something and that you should consider getting your butt to a doctor. Our bodies operate within a very limited temperature range, 36.5°C to 37°C, and these scanners are pretty good at picking up even a degree difference.

It’s worth mentioning that not having an elevated temperature shouldn’t be seen as an all-clear for a possible CoV-2 infection. Elevated temperature is not always present during an active infection, particularly in asymptomatic individuals. The scanning protocol is a temporary inconvenience for your protection. Get scanned and enjoy your shopping. Soon, scanners too will be a distant memory.

On the delicate topic of vaccines

This is probably the hot potato at the moment. It’s current and everyone is talking about the covid vaccines. One day they’re all declared safe, the next day it’s a maybe, Astra Zenica might cause clots, Johnson & Johnson may have issues, the mRNA vaccines will turn you into mutants, China’s vaccine may only be 3% effective and the list goes on. We’re going to work on the following assumptions here and then address the typical doubts individually.

• The FDA has issued Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) approval for three vaccines in the US. Pfizer/Biotech. Moderna and Johnson & Johnson. This means that all three vaccines have passed the safety requirements for Stage 3 trials. They cannot be fully approved yet as they haven’t proven themselves over a period of time, a requirement for final approval that takes anywhere from 3–5 years with most vaccines to ensure complete public safety.
• Short term we know they’re safe and that’s why they’ve been approved for EUA use. We don’t have the time now to hang about and wait out the three to five years while people are dying and these vaccines have the potential to stop that. Ergo, we are vaccinating now with EUA vaccines. Totally logical, given almost no short-term risk.
• We cannot engage at this point in speculation with regards to possible long-term consequences. This is an unknown, for everyone. What we do however know is that saving a life now and dealing with any (we hope there are none) subsequent consequences later, is a no-brainer. We are going to vaccinate and have been doing exactly this since December of 2020.

1. The mRNA vaccines are going to change my DNA

Fallacy. The basic answer is that in almost all cases RNA viruses, and that’s what the mRNA vaccine is based on, a viral RNA segment from the CoV-2 virus – the spike protein on the outside of the virus, to be completely accurate – cannot access our DNA. The process involved here is hugely complex and difficult to understand. I’ve just address new research on this topic and you can find the full article here. It includes an expansive but hopefully simple enough explanation of the processes at play and the rules regulating traffic from our DNA to RNA.

While it is true that some retroviruses can enter our DNA, retroviruses are a limited family of viruses that includes the HIV virus. The coronavirus is an RNA virus and incapable of a similar feat under normal conditions. The RNA used by the mRNA vaccines is synthetic and replicates a portion of the natural virus’s RNA. This teaches our cells to be prepared and on the lookout for the real thing and the reason they’ve chosen the spike protein is that this is how the CoV-2 virus gains access to our cells.

2. I got vaccinated. Party time.

Fallacy: No, no, and no. Being vaccinated doesn’t mean you cannot transmit the virus to others (act as a vector). It also doesn’t mean you’re out of the woods. Not immediately. It takes between ten and fourteen days to develop those immune cells you’ll need to stave off serious illness. Get sick in between, and you’re in for a rough ride. One of my BeingWell colleagues came down with Covid two days after being vaccinated. Contact tracing proved an exposure the morning of vaccination. What followed was nearly three weeks of hell for him as he fought off Covid and the effects of the virus. He now struggles with Long Covid symptoms.

We also don’t have conclusive evidence yet that you aren’t still a vector for variants. You may be able to spread these variants, even after you’ve developed your vaccine immunity and these may even make you ill, despite the vaccination. This is a fluid situation and vaccine formulations will change over time to address these variants and offer broader protection, but keep in mind, the virus continually mutates. It never loses this ability. So in short, keep your mask on, keep social distancing and act as though you haven’t been vaccinated. At least for now and let’s do our best to flatten curves that are once again going up in the wrong direction.

3. Natural immunity is far better, I’ll take my chances with the virus

50/50: This needs to be qualified. If you’re perfectly healthy, then this is your choice. It may be that naturally acquired immunity through exposure to the virus will produce a more resilient immune response than a medically introduced virus via a vaccine, but the inverse may also be true. We don’t have enough data yet to make a convincing case for either claim. That aside, there are a few things to consider here. I’ll list them below and you can make your own choice.

• If you suffer from anything on this list then you want to get the vaccine ASAP. People with various risk factors for developing serious Covid need to be vaccinated.
• The vaccines prevent you from developing serious Covid, in fact, some are almost 100% effective at this. That’s a guaranteed get-out-of-jail card if you’re obese, diabetic, or suffer from one or more of the conditions highlighted in the referred article.
• Covid can and does kill children on occasion and perfectly healthy young and middle-aged (30 to 40-year-old) adults with no apparent underlying health conditions. To see the effects of the B.1.1.7 variant on a closed community, follow this link.
• Although the science is still out on this, there may be benefits to being vaccinated after you’ve had a natural infection. We’ll get back to you on this as we’re looking at current and emerging research. The current data seems to suggest double the bang for your buck if you opt for the vaccine on top of your naturally acquired immunity.

The Crazies

Suggestions so ridiculous you’re tempted to ignore them, but that would be a mistake. For every crazy idea out there, there are thousands of eager fingers and phones, just waiting to amplify the madness. The more obscure, the more outrageous, the better.

1. 5G will give you Covid

Fallacy: This is one of those ideas that have no basis in science or common sense. You understand surely that 5G uses a portion of the electromagnetic spectrum that allows it to transmit data very effectively through a network of repeating stations. Data is not a physical thing. I can assure you of the following. 5G is not capable of teleportation. The virus is a physical particle, too small for us to see, but still subject to gravity and all the other wonderful forces that control physical objects on planet Earth. Sneeze it out and will gradually descend to the floor.

We haven’t figured out yet how to teleport physical objects from one location and place them in another location, let alone target your nostril. 5G isn’t capable of using its intangible medium to move a physical virus into your schnoz. Sorry, just ain’t happening, not by any crazy mechanism you try and dream up. To be infected with CoV-2, you need the actual physical virus and this needs to enter your body through either your mouth or nose. Lastly, have you wondered how it is that countries without 5G also mysteriously seem to have the virus spreading?

2. Bleach, ethanol, methanol, and other crazy home concoctions will protect you against covid

Fallacy: Until I saw reports on CNN of people that had actually consumed bleach, encouraged by then-incumbent President (term used loosely) Trump, I would have bet my last dollar that no one in the world would actually follow idiotic advice like this. I’ve come to learn over the last year that there are levels of stupid I couldn’t have imagined, ranging from errant quacks to people who have no idea of how to look after themselves and rely (very unfortunately) on the opinions of charlatans and con artists.

Let’s clear this up once and for all. There are no defenses against CoV-2. NONE!! The only way you can guarantee evading the virus is to lock yourself up in a sterile vacuum, clearly not a practical long-term solution. Vaccines only prevent us from developing serious disease (Covid) from the Cov-2 virus. Even as amazing as these tools are, they cannot stop a virus from entering our bodies.

There is no drug or treatment, product, drain cleaner, pesticide, bleach, or alcohol on the planet that can stop your body from being infected. If you cross paths with the virus it can infect you. Garlic, colloidal silver, and pepper may ward off the Cowens and your wife but won’t stop the CoV-2 virus. Gargling with salt and snorting spotted Panamanian anteater urine¹ harvested under a full moon won’t stop it either, even if you order today for the free bottle of desiccated lizard testicle extract. Nothing! Got the idea yet? You’re being conned, wasting your money, and in many cases, actually putting your health at risk.

The best way to help yourself out is to ensure your immune system is in tip-top shape and practice a few common-sense habits to help it stay that way.

• Try and eat a well-balanced and healthy diet, get regular exercise, stay happy and ensure you’re smiling and laughing. Depression and anxiety prey heavily on your immune system. Watch a comedy on the telly and stop stressing.
• Obesity is a huge contributor to serious Covid, try and reduce your weight if at all possible. Even losing five to ten pounds can make a huge difference to your general health. Again the best route is a proper diet and exercise. If you’re restricted try Yoga or Taichi via Youtube. Be patient and stick to it. There are no quick fixes and companies that offer you any are the same people who’ll sell you the bleach.
• Vitamins are for the most part an equally large waste of money and I’m including Vitamin C in this. You may as well flush your cash down the toilet as this is where most vitamins end up. We think Zinc and Vitamin D may be efficacious, but make sure you keep to the recommended dosages and buy a regular product from a well know and reputable brand. More, in medicine, is usually dangerous, not better, Vitamins are no exception. Your doctor will be happy to discuss any vitamin supplementation you may require. Rather spend the cash you waste on vitamins and supplements on buying fresh food, if you can get it. Bake, boil, steam, BBQ, air fry, and avoid frying or cooking in oil.

3. COVID-19 doesn’t actually exist

Fallacy. Do I really have to do this? Yes, thanks to individuals like David Icke (from the moon is hollow fame, no really, Google it) and InfoWars’ Alex Jones we do have to. The story goes like this. COVID-19 doesn’t actually exist but is a plot by the globalist elite to take away our freedoms. Anti-lockdown protests across several states in the US have been fuelled by Icke and Jones’s idiotic rhetoric and because believers increasingly refuse to observe social distancing measures, they are directly helping to spread the epidemic further in their localities. In case you haven’t made the connection, these are the same individuals refusing to wear masks.

There is only one way to reply to this. When, once, in the history of humanity, have we all been able to work in unison? Every country pursuing the same agenda? Go on, have a think, I’ll wait. When you’re done you might also spare a thought for the nearly 3 million who’ve died from a nonexistent disease. which brings us on nicely to the next craziness.

4. COVID death rates are inflated

Fallacy: The one individual, most notably responsible for getting this misinformation ball rolling is Dr. Annie Bukacek. Her speech, in April of 2020 warning that COVID death certificates are being manipulated has been viewed more than a million times on YouTube. Bukacek appears in a white lab coat and with a stethoscope around her neck, making her look like an authoritative medical source. Dig a little deeper, however, as Rolling Stone magazine did, and it turns out she’s a far-right anti-vaccination and anti-abortion activist, previously noted for bringing tiny plastic fetuses into the Montana state legislature.

Her insistence that COVID death rates are inflated has, of course, no basis in fact. More likely the current death toll is a serious under-count. To further clarify the issue, the Centers for Disease Control has published information about excess deaths associated with COVID-19.

If anything, it is in a country’s interest, particularly for its government and appointed leaders, to try and underreport deaths. Again, think logically. Want to be seen as the hero who controlled the Covid outbreak or the loser who let it get away with spiraling deaths? Good luck getting re-elected. Mexico is an excellent example, having recently acknowledged under-reporting nearly 120 000 Covid-19 deaths.

5. The virus was made in a laboratory in Wuhan

Fallacy: Most of this has to do with the anti-Chinese sentiment that was encouraged under a Trump-led Republican government. When your President resorts to petty tactics like calling CoV-2 “the China virus” it doesn’t take long for other clowns to sign up for the circus. In fairness, China tried to blame the virus on visiting American troops, probably in response to American tactics.

Politics aside, let’s look at the science. The SARS virus (SARS-CoV) and the subsequent MERS virus are both known to have animal reservoirs, notably Himalayan palm civetsin the case of SARS and dromedary camels (one hump please) for MERS. SARS-CoV-like viruses have been isolated from several bat species, predominately horseshoe bats (genus Rhinolophus). These viruses are zoonotic (animal to human origins) and there is no reason to assume SARS-CoV-2 is any different. It shares the majority of its genome with the SARS and MERS viruses. It is a coronavirus and its origins will, in time, be discovered. For now, this issue simply serves as a distraction from more important issues.

As an aside, lack of general knowledge can seriously impact our understanding of things. Almost every season’s new influenza strains emerge first in Asia and spread to the West. This historical process follows global seasonal weather patterns and actually affords the west an opportunity to rush out the current season’s influenza vaccines. Asia provides us with a heads up for what’s coming and, if anything, we should be grateful for the window they afford us, rather than trying to assign racially-based blame on countries that are in many ways more functional than the US.

6. The vaccines are inserting tracking devices into our bodies.

True: You can check this by walking naked in front of a monitor or flat-screen television with the frequency set to 1200Mhtz. You’ll notice the sudden interference on the screen every time you pass in front of the television. You can increase the acidity of your body to activate the nanotech. Drinking a glass of water diluted with a spoon of vinegar will help achieve full particle activation and we advise wearing rubber-soled shoes. Full instructions can be found here.

Okay, we (or rather I) have had my fun. This is in fact complete and utter rubbish. We aren’t even close to possessing this kind of tech and while we can place medical devices inside a person for examination purposes these devices have a limited lifespan of a few hours at best and are not individually identifying. Also, what is the point to being able to track everyone unless you can identify who is who? That would mean individualized tech for each person. Sorry, but you’ve got an extremely overinflated idea of your value to big brother. Get a grip.

Footnotes

1. No Spotted Panamanian Anteaters were harmed during the completion of this article.

The post Debunking Common Coronavirus and Covid Misconceptions, Myths, Lies, and Fairytales appeared first on Medika Life.

tweet-jack: (verb) — the appropriation of a tweet for the purposes of subverting and/or politicizing the content for your own agenda or purpose.

Every day there’s a new angle, human baby cells used in vaccines, new world order plans for global control, mass sterilization, the list is as endless as it is crazy. Buried in between all the madness lie a few key issues that do warrant serious attention and deserve answers from the scientific community. These issues stand no chance of being taken seriously, for the simple fact they’ve been adopted and integrated into the Crazy Covid Circus of conspiracies and misinformation.

The media fuels a lot of this misdirection, focusing people’s attention on completely irrelevant topics, like, for instance, the origins of the virus. Here’s an open question to all the people dedicating their existence to figuring out whether Dracula’s cousin or an errant laboratory technician caused the outbreak. How is the pursuit of this Holy Grail remotely relevant to treating and containing the covid pandemic? Serious question.

There will be time enough after the pandemic, yes, it will pass, to analyze and evaluate evidence to isolate the coronavirus’s origins. At this point, knowing where the virus came from doesn’t affect our ability to treat it, it doesn’t help us combat the spread, and most definitely won’t make it any less dangerous. Ergo, a complete and utter waste of time, that serves only to distract from more important issues. Therefore, your pointless pursuits are condoned and even encouraged.

The conspiracy circus serves a very real purpose in the world of science, politics, and large pharma. It is tolerated and managed, with a very clear purpose. To deflect away attention from real issues and real questions that no one within the established power bases wants to be asked. By allowing and subtly encouraging the inclusion of valid scientific issues with other wild and hopelessly unsubstantiated claims, these topics become tainted.

So tainted, that no industry professional will risk raising them, for fear of being instantly adopted by the covid crazies. These groups of pandemic extremists seek nothing more than validation by scientific or medical voices, and they actively ‘help themselves to such endorsement. The favored path follows the route of social media appropriation.

There is a simple strategy they have perfected that I refer to as tweet-jacking. It plays to the strengths of algorithms designed to reward engagement and works as follows. Find a tweet by a respected member of any health-related industry, comment and agree with the statement made, and then add on your little tail. The bit about 5G towers or mass sterilization. Don’t worry about the original content or context, the link can be tenuous, that’s not what matters. Like, retweet and settle back.

Within minutes the rest of your questionable crew will descend on the unfortunate tweet, dragging it into your chop shop and stripping it of all value and any significance to the serious world of science. For example, a well-intentioned tweet questioning data from a drug trial can turn into a buzzing hornet’s nest of deceit, deception, and mind control experiments. Anyone with more than two days of experience on social media, particularly limiting platforms like Twitter, knows full well that once your tweet has been jacked, your goose is cooked.

Don’t respond and whatever you do, don’t argue. In fact, at this point, deleting the tweet is probably your best course of action, even if Eric Topol has responded to it.

Allowing the tweet-jack strategy to persist on social media platforms is the most spectacularly effective means of censoring dissenting voices with legitimate questions. Don’t stop them, actually amplify them, but make sure it the circus that gets involved. Merely asking a legitimate question in effect, immediately invalidates it. It is devious, it is clever and it is incredibly hard to navigate around. The problem now extends to almost every avenue of publication. Nowhere is out of bounds and this simply makes this isolating mechanism all the more appealing to those who wish to silence legitimate concerns.

Here then, is a newsflash for covid conspiracy theorists, for covidiots, or whatever other monikers you prefer. Big Pharma, politicians, and big business love you. You’ve rapidly become their best friend in the information wars being waged. People far brighter than you, that are paid far more money than you, and with a list of spin degrees far longer than your inflated sense of self-importance, love you. You’re being used to obfuscate real issues that no one wants to answer, and, best of all, you’re doing it for free. LOVE, LOVE, LOVE!

It wouldn’t surprise me if much of what you dream up actually isn’t dreamt up by you at all, but rather by corporate spin doctors, paid to ensure your machine remains well oiled with a steady flow of increasingly crazy misinformation. You’ve done a spectacular job so far, well above and beyond what anyone could have expected. You’ve managed to completely ruin any credible discussion on topics like HCQ and Ivermectin. playing right into the hands of your masters and it’s cost lives in the process.

Real issues like the harvesting of your DNA via PCR tests have passed right over your heads as you obsess about the test itself. Stupid, pointless questions centered around crazy theories. Here’s what you need to know about PCR testing and if you’re too lazy to read it, the truth is this simple. The tests exist, they work to identify genetic material from the virus itself, and while they are not perfect, they are a damn side better than anything else we can come up with.

Where your real concern should lie is what all the ‘nefarious’ government agencies (as you so fondly refer to them) are doing with your DNA or genetic material after the test. Sadly, you haven’t stopped long enough to actually think through much of anything, so right under your noses, half of America has now shared its DNA with the government. By the time the pandemic passes, very few Americans will not have their DNA profile embedded somewhere on a database.

See how it works? Obfuscation, magic, and mirrors, and it’s almost as sad as it is tragically amusing to watch. It’s like a video game. How many crazies can you load on the covid bus? You are without a doubt, the single greatest impediment to rational and questioning discourse our planet has ever encountered and you’ve cost lives, thousands of them, with your actions. The fact you’re actually working for the very people you think you’re undermining simply makes you the ironic punchline to the joke of the decade.

Take the covid vaccine. According to you, it’s everything from a radio tracker, amplified by 5G towers to a global sterilization tool grown in embryonic cells. Even in your deluded state, you must be able to acknowledge that the vaccine obviously cannot be all of these things, can it? So, if some of your crew are wrong about their suspicions, why not you? Why not possibly all of you? And yet again, your obsession with the vaccine’s content has glazed over the real issue. The question of choice and free will. A choice that is not at the expense of another person’s health or wellbeing and balances freedoms against the needs of society.

Carry on with your craziness and continue to impede or prevent serious discussion on these important issues. It’s what your bosses are paying you for. Oh right, my bad, I keep forgetting you’re actually doing it for free.

The post Mastering The Art of Tweet-Jacking During a Pandemic appeared first on Medika Life.

I’ve just come off a DM chat on Twitter with my Medika Life co-founder Dr Jeff Livingston. The subject of our quick chat was Covid, or more accurately, the stupidity surrounding it. The misinformation. We made it one of our missions when we founded Medika to combat quacks and charlatans who take advantage of an unsuspecting and often vulnerable public. We’ve been relatively successful in drawing people’s attention, via our Quack Scale.

Then, on a rainy day, along came Covid, and with it a sea of people who suddenly felt qualified to express opinions on subjects in which they have no formal training. They do, however, possess a plethora of agendas. none of which have anything to do with public safety.

We’re used to this. We deal with it every day in relation to “health experts” misquoting published papers and appropriating data for use in a way in which it was never intended. There is a playbook, common ploys like stating a fact that lends credence to the fiction you then begin to sprout. Establishing fear in your target market and then offering an out, 99% of the time, via something you’re selling.

What we weren’t prepared for when covid struck was the sheer scale. Combatting this sea of covid misinformation has become both emotionally and physically draining. It’s the same thing, over and over with no foreseeable end in sight. You could almost prepare a xeroxed response and just change the names.

These misinformation strategies feature attacks on the actual validity of the virus and its origins, conspiracy theories surrounding medical staff killing off people in hospitals for payment, mask-related rubbish to convince people to “go commando” in public, and of late, the vaccines. The vaccines, the vaccines, the vaccines.

I am in the process of writing an article fact-checking the latest misguided medical voice, Geert Vanden Bossche, who is suggesting vaccines will end humanity, but never fear, he has a solution, his type of vaccine strategy. Color me surprised (not really). His clear agenda and total transparency of motive make the article painful to write, but it needs to be done. Persecution will follow rapidly on the heels of publication.

Dealing with the fallout

The price you pay for attacking these “covid experts” differs dramatically from the normal quacks we deal with. I use the term “attacking” rather than “discrediting” intentionally because this is how their supporters view any opinions that are critical of their work.

The responses to an article, for instance, on a run-of-the-mill quack like Joseph Mercola, are timid in comparison to the types of responses we get for discrediting the covid crowd.

The quack responses are often polite, questioning, point to legitimate research, and ask pertinent questions with a view to pursuing further debate or supporting their opinion. Where there is a willingness to engage in discourse, there is an opportunity to engender change, to educate, and to foster patient safety.

Covid conspiracy theorists and vaccine debunkers are an entirely different species. They are militant, aggressive, unpleasant, and threatening from the get-go. These are the same individuals who would not look out of place in a red MAGA cap, toting automatic weapons in public at a Trump rally, heaven forbid we are ever exposed to that again.

And this time, they’re spread across the globe, with rapidly emerging clusters or powerbases forming. Canada, you’re so guilty you’re smoking. Their desire is not to raise valid, science-based concerns to enable free and open discourse. They exist solely to destabilize the public narrative, at any cost and it is for this reason they need to be de-platformed.

There is no interest in public health, they seek only to further destabilize and fragment our societies.

Any article we now publish looking to discredit covid debunkers is met with a froth of very unpleasant vitriol, threatening, and personal attacks. Most we don’t read and simply bin as the trash they are. The first few lines always indicate the intent. These cells of supporters are on a Holy Crusade and we’re the unfortunate disbelievers.

Don’t get me wrong, we don’t take these to heart. It comes with the territory and we accept it as a known risk for trying to deplatform these misinformed misinformationists. It is however the sheer volume of new dissenters willing to step into the breach that’s depressing, and it’s reflective of our society’s inability to deal with its own frailty and seeking sense and scapegoats for the perceived misery.

They’re pissed at the “Man” and as the vaccine is the “Man’s” product, it’s the easiest place to attack him. Hit him where it hurts and be remorseless. The fact they are endangering their fellow human beings is lost on them. It is a war and they see an exposed flank They are circling, like ravenous hyenas, and every now and then one steps forward to attack, egged on by the baying hounds behind him.

As always, the easiest targets are government, the establishment, and big pharma. Big brother. While I’m the first to hold up a hand and admit these power bases do nothing to elicit trust in the general public, this simple fact does not make them guilty of a global campaign to re-engineer humanity.

Pharma is simply a financial machine looking to maximize their profits, and the current pandemic has saved the fortunes of many pharma companies and in some cases spectacularly reversed them for the better.

No one, except an idiot, makes a profit once and in doing so destroys their future market. Pharma needs you alive and very much kicking so they can continue to sell to you, so they can continue to profit. To suggest any other agenda is to suggest complicity on a scale that we have proved ourselves hopelessly incapable of.

Seriously. We can’t even agree on a decimal or imperial system but suddenly the whole world is onboard to change our human physiology? Get a life!

A little help here?

To get back to the cough drops I opened with. It is against federal law to advertise products that offer treatment or cure for Covid. The FDA and DOJ have issued dozens of warnings over the last few months, instructing companies and individuals to remove the misleading statements and advertising from their websites and marketing, or else.

There is an obvious danger here they’ve sought to address. Telling someone they are safe when in fact, the mechanism you’ve sold them to ensure their safety is unproven and untested. Victims of these blatant cons are as prone to contracting covid as any one of us.

I would argue that making false statements suggesting the vaccines contain tracking chips, interact with 5G, and will make you spout a tail and horns are in fact as dangerous, if not more so than the cough drop scenario. Discouraging one person in an at-risk category to avoid taking the vaccine because of your wild and unproven claims is potentially murder. You may as well have shot the person yourself. It is that simple.

We live in a world where respect is an outdated concept. Respect for life and for individual choice. Actively trying to enforce a point of view that places life and limb at mortal risk is irresponsible and, despite my inclination towards open and uncensored media, needs to be addressed with harsh penalties and possible imprisonment.

In the meanwhile, while the snail we call the government struggles to keep pace with social media, the responsibility of calling out these dangerous purveyors of falsehoods falls on the shoulders of the medical profession. They are ill-suited caretakers, their profession engendering a sense of caution and avoidance of public confrontation. Many have bravely broken free of this mold and are speaking out, trying to counter the lies with science-based facts and evidence.

The responsibility should not be left to these few souls. The media have been far too quiet in condemning medical charlatans. Ignoring them isn’t the answer and simply allows their bases to grow. They need to be publicly and loudly disavowed. Government, mainstream media, and common-sense need to come to the party. NOW.

The post Are We Done Yet? The Exhaustion of Combatting Covid Misinformation appeared first on Medika Life.