We at the TSAP vehemently oppose the latest disturbing trend: "vaccine passports". Yes, those things are exactly what they sound like, a paper (or most likely digital) proof of vaccination to be used as a requirement for entry into various venues, travel, and God only knows what else. Perhaps even leaving one's house at some point? Make no mistake, these creepy vaccine passports are the next crucial step towards a "papers please" totalitarian state, and slopes are a LOT slipperier than they appear!
The TSAP has already vehemently opposed from the get-go ANY form of force or coercion for these still-experimental COVID vaccines, period. Anything short of free and fully informed consent in that regard is an egregious violation of civil and human rights (not to mention the US Constitution, remember that dusty old thing?) and thus has absolutely NO place in a free and civilized society, period. And we absolutely refuse to compromise in that regard. This illiberal and utterly Orwellian and dystopian idea needs to be nipped in the bud, and yesterday is not soon enough!
The very specious concept that the vaccinated and unvaccinated must be segregated in some way is patently absurd on its face. The unvaccinated are NOT a material threat to the vaccinated, and if there is any threat it would be the other way around. Unless, of course, you are in fact tacitly conceding that these vaccines may not really be all they are cracked up to be, but hey, you said it (or implied it), not me. And if that were really the case, and the vaccines were essentially no better than Nyquil, then what would be the point of vaccination in the first place? Conversely, if the vaccines really are so safe and effective against such an extraordinarily horrible plague like you claim, there would be no need to force or coerce anyone to get them at all. Seriously, if you give the New Abnormal zealots enough rope...
Plus, rigidly segregating the unvaccinated from the vaccinated in the long run would most likely result in dangerous new and/or vaccine-resistant variants taking hold more easily, by unwittingly selecting for, concentrating, and incubating whatever nastier and more contagious variants there are at a given time, compared to simply letting the virus circulate freely and the nastier variants eventually burn themselves out and get swamped by the milder ones.
In fact, as we at the TSAP have pointed out repeatedly before, we don't even need a vaccine to go back to true normal, since even well before the vaccines we already had more than enough existing treatments and prophylactics sufficient to reduce the pandemic to a mere nuisance within a week or two. That is, if we had actually chosen to use them instead of suppressing and censoring such things.
At least Governor Ron DeSantis of Florida has the good sense to preemptively oppose the idea of vaccine passports. In fact, he recently implemented an executive order prohibiting them in his state. Not only does it ban government entities from issuing or requiring anything of the sort, but also prohibits any businesses in Florida from requiring them for customers and patrons as well. Make no mistake, he clearly does NOT oppose COVID vaccines or any other common vaccines, and he has clearly been instrumental in freely distributing these shots in his state just like every other governor has. But unlike some other big-shot governors, he is clearly taking a firm stand against even the slightest hint of vaccine coercion and the resulting vaccine apartheid.
Even if DeSantis were the only governor in the nation who will take such a stand (and he probably won't be for very long), his executive order creates a clear and positive conflict between federal and state law should the federal government make any attempt to create and impose their own national vaccine passport program. Talk about a major fly in the ointment!
Meanwhile, the venerable ACLU is strangely out to lunch on this issue. Just a year ago they opposed even such trivial intrusions as temperature checks, and yet they won't openly take a stand on THIS? Hey ACLU, you know we love you overall, but know this: "the hottest places in hell are reserved for those who, in times of great moral crisis, maintain their neutrality," as JFK apocryphally attributed to Dante's Inferno.
Even the famous arch-vaccine skeptic and arch-lockdown skeptic J.B. Handley has been strangely quiet lately about this increasingly pressing issue, come to think of it. And in fact ALL of his several blog articles from 2020 related to either vaccines, COVID, and/or lockdowns have been mysteriously deleted in these past few months for some reason. And his Twitter has barely even mentioned these topics at all since January or so. Of course, people will unfortunately interpret his deafening silence as consent. Whether he is silent or was silenced, we really don't know, but either way, it is not good at all.
(Fortunately, there is always the Wayback Machine, which indefinitely saves archived versions of his many now-deleted articles for all of us to see.)
Oh, and one more thing: it should go without saying, but these experimental vaccines are NOT FOR KIDS! Not only is COVID less dangerous than the flu for children, and children are far less likely to spread it too, but these vaccines have barely been tested at all on people under 16 for the Pfizer vaccine (18 for Moderna and J&J). That makes these vaccines all risk and negligible reward, so our opposition to vaccine coercion applies a fortiori to anyone under 18. If consenting adults truly want to take these vaccines, that is fine, but DO NOT impose them on kids or teens, period. And certainly DO NOT require them as a condition of school attendance just because some of the already-vaccinated teachers and staff are still somehow too scared (!) of unvaccinated kids. No, you FIRE the freaking cowards and open up 100%, yesterday! It's really a no-brainer at this point.
We have a choice between returning to true normal versus the dystopian New Abnormal on steroids for the foreseeable future. Let's make the right choice.
(While we still have a choice, that is.)
UPDATE 1: As of April 5th, it looks like DeSantis is no longer the only governor to openly oppose vaccine passports. As of April 6th, the number is now SEVEN, and growing, red and blue, and now also includes: Governors Greg Abbott of Texas, Brian Kemp of Georgia, Mike Parson of Missouri, Charlie Baker of Massachusetts, and Laura Kelly of Kansas. And, of course, Governor Kristi Noem of South Dakota as well, who rightly called vaccine passports "un-American". Even President Biden is apparently backing off from the idea now. And New York's "Excelsior Pass" currently seems to be a glitchy mess for the most part. The tide is finally turning, God willing.
UPDATE 2: Looks like the TSAP has been right all along about herd immunity having been far closer than the "experts" seem to think, even before the vaccine (that is, the old-fashioned way via natural infection). Antibody serosurveys apparently only tell part of the story, since, as yet another study confirms, T-cells seem to be both more important, more durable, and fortunately more prevalent than antibodies. Simply as little as being exposed to the virus but not necessarily infected (that is, a failed attempt by the virus to infect you since you managed to knock it out quickly before it could establish itself), or perhaps a brief and asymptomatic infection, can be sufficient to develop at least some T-cell immunity even in the absence of detectable antibodies and/or when repeatedly testing negative for the virus itself.
In fact, previous exposure to other coronaviruses (including common cold coronaviruses) apparently can also create a T-cell cross-response to SARS-CoV-2 to some extent as well, a fact already known last year.
And not only do T-cells last longer than antibodies, but another study finds that they work far better against the new variants, even the South African and Brazilian ones. These variants managed to evolve a specific mutation to at least partially dodge antibodies, but yet they do NOT seem to be able to stand a chance against our T-cells, whether they are derived from previous natural exposures to the older strains or from vaccination (which interestingly appear to be about equally effective in that regard).
So where can we get these T-cells? From our very own thymus glands, in fact, and we need sufficient zinc to make it happen. Zinc is also needed for the B-cells to make antibodies, and plus it is also a good antiviral in it's own right by stopping viruses from replicating, especially when paired with a zinc ionophore such as Quercetin. Throw in some Vitamin A, Vitamin C, Vitamin D, niacin, thiamine, resveratrol, and the amino acid Lysine, and you got yourself a truly winning combination. So whether or not you end up getting any of the vaccines, be sure not to forget any of these crucial nutrients!
(In the same vein, the ever-insightful Bill Sardi also points out that thymus gland extracts are quite promising treatments for when one is actually sick.)
Because truly the very best "vaccine" of all is the one that the body makes itself. And unlike manmade ones, it is universal as well, with no nasty side effects.
UPDATE 3: The authors of the Great Barrington Declaration, including Professor Martin Kulldorf, clearly oppose vaccine passports as well.
UPDATE 4: As for the latest Faucian (Faucist?) idea that vaccinated people can somehow become asymptomatic superspreaders, and thus still needing to continue following restrictions indefinitely, that is also highly unlikely given how 1) asymptomatic transmission in general, even without vaccines, is far less likely than originally thought (a mere 0.7%) and thus not a major driver of outbreaks, and 2) while breakthrough infections can still occasionally occur after being fully vaccinated, there is evidence that vaccinated people have significantly lower viral loads than unvaccinated people, further reducing the potential for onward transmission to others. Thus, there is no real obstacle to returning to 100% normal yesterday. But still, regardless of whether you are vaccinated or not, be sure to take your vitamins, wash your hands, cover your coughs and sneezes, and respect each other's personal space, the latter of which used to be called "etiquette". Also, fresh air and sunshine are your friends. And if you actually get sick in the traditional sense of the word, stay the hell home! In other words, use common sense.
UPDATE 5: We are deeply disappointed in Thom Hartmann for his recent article he wrote in support of vaccine passports for places as mundane as restaurants. There is absolutely nothing "woke" or progressive in taking such a stance, period.
Also, take a look at Miss Conceptions on Twitter. They point out some rather eerie "coincidences" that can be found all around the world in regards to vaccine launches and subsequent spikes in supposedly COVID cases and deaths as well as all-cause excess deaths within a few weeks later, typically lagged two weeks. From India to Hungary to Czechia to Mongolia to Chile to Israel to Gibraltar to the UK to several US states, et al., it is really quite curious indeed. And if nothing else, as a bonus, you will also learn the flags of pretty much every country in the world.
We can see a classic "journey-destination problem", that is, whether through mass infection, mass vaccination, or the two-for-one special, the journey to herd immunity is much more dangerous than the destination. Though as Gibraltar and Israel have shown, and the UK is currently showing, once the unfortunate mountain of corpses has been climbed, there is barely any COVID at all on other side once the dust has finally settled. If only there were some sort of safe and effective treatment and prophylaxis regimen available last year, then the journey could have been made much safer, without resorting to any rushed experimental vaccines. Oh wait, there actually was such a thing in existence, but the ghouls in charge chose to wilfully ignore, deny, and greatly downplay it, which is literally murder by omission.
UPDATE 6: See the following excellent article by Helen Andrews. The issue isn't going away!
No comments:
Post a Comment