Treating the COVID-19 vaccine with facts

OPINION:

Beware of the cure more dangerous than the disease. That’s a warning applicable to the regimen of hastily formulated COVID-19 vaccines. It is a caution long ignored that is finally getting deserved attention. Rather than censoring messengers bearing discordant facts, health authorities and media outlets have an obligation to treat their claims with objective consideration. For some Americans — men in particular — it could be a matter of life and death. 

On Friday, Florida Surgeon General Joseph Ladapo issued a warning that, given the receding threat of infection as the pandemic winds down, the mRNA COVID-19 vaccines pose an unacceptable risk to men younger than 40. “With a high level of global immunity to COVID-19, the benefit of vaccination is likely outweighed by this abnormally high risk of cardiac-related death among men in this age group,” read the guidance.

Analysis conducted by the Florida Department of Health found that men ages 18 to 38 encountered an 84% increase in cardiac-related death within 28 days of vaccination. Consequently, the surgeon general recommends against the vaccinations for men of that age group. It also advised “particular caution” for individuals with pre-existing cardiac conditions, such as myocarditis and pericarditis.

If Florida’s disturbing findings were a statistical outlier, Americans elsewhere could dismiss it as a stray dark cloud over the Sunshine State. It is not.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System finds that the various COVID-19 vaccines have accounted for a stunning 56% of adverse reactions to all types of vaccines administered since 1990, including nearly 7% of serious reactions. The majority of the adverse reactions involve the original Pfizer-Biontech and Moderna formulas.

Such findings undermine the wisdom of the Biden administration CDC’s ongoing recommendation that “everyone stay up to date with COVID-19 vaccines for their age group,” including children 6 months to 17 and adults 18 and older. The CDC adds a vague caveat for males 12 through 39 years, recommending this particularly vulnerable cohort consult a health care provider about the timing of vaccine doses to “further minimize the rare risk of myocarditis and pericarditis.”

The feds’ monolithic advice has been unfairly shielded from scrutiny by media efforts to censor voices warning the public of emerging information that casts doubt on the one-size-fits-all vaccine policy. Twitter removed a tweet posted Friday by Florida’s surgeon general containing his guidance. When exposed, the social media giant reversed course and republished it.

Moreover, records obtained by Judicial Watch from the Department of Health and Human Services through Freedom of Information filings reveal “extensive media plans for a propaganda campaign to push the COVID-19 vaccine.” The documents, according to the watchdog group, spell out initiatives for engaging with digital media like YouTube, Instagram, Snapchat and TikTok to promote “funny and/or musical videos” encouraging young people to get vaxxed.

Officialdom’s role in fighting a deadly pandemic is to inform, not propagandize. The media’s job is to facilitate the free flow of relevant facts, including oppositional views, rather than act as government censors. American lives depend on it.

For more information, visit The Washington Times COVID-19 resource page.