Letter from America: Dr Allan Cunningham: April 3rd: How the CDC/FDA etc. manipulate evidence for both flu and Covid:
All you need to Know
Weekly U.S, Influenza Surveillance Report. (CDC, FluView, 29 March 2024)
It’s been an average flu season in the USA. Influenza-like illnesses (ILIs) peaked the last week in December 2023, and if the current downward trajectory of ILIs continues, the season will be over in a week or two. The CDC continues, as usual, to promote fear with deceptive statistics and continues, as usual, to urge that everyone 6 months and over get a flu shot, even this late in the season. They have followed a similar pattern for 20 years, since the 2004 National Influenza Vaccine Summit when Glen Nowak, a communications expert at the CDC, outlined a “Seven-Step Recipe for Generating Interest in, and Demand for, Flu (or any other) Vaccination” (“Are US flu death figures more PR than science?” Doshi, BMJ 2005;331:1412) The recipe is paraphrased here: (www.fisique.ca/documents/CDC_2004_flu_nowak.pdf)
1. Public health authorities should assert that influenza causes severe illness.
2. Emphasize that everyone can be affected, including children and healthy adults.
3. Express concern and alarm and predict dire outcomes--and urge vaccination.
4. Characterize flu seasons as ‘very severe’…’more severe than previous years’…’deadly’.
5. Foster the perception that many people will have a bad case with continued and frequent reports that influenza is severe and affecting lots of people.
6. Provide tangible examples with stories and pictures of affected children and families—and people getting vaccinated.
7. Make frequent references to pandemic influenza and the importance of vaccination.
Guided by the foregoing “recipe” the CDC has systematically inflated influenza death numbers with estimates based on mathematical models: “CDC estimates that there have been at least 22,000 deaths from flu so far this season” (FluView 3/29/24)…Vaccine effectiveness and safety have also been exaggerated. Through mid-January 2024 VE was reported to be 60% against the H1N1 virus and 40% against the H3N2 virus (the most virulent strain), according to a Canadian report. (www.cidrap.umn.edu 19 February 2024) VE figures are based on test-negative case-control studies which ignore vaccine adverse effects and the increased risk of illness from non-influenza viruses associated with flu shots…In 2024 we still have no high quality evidence that flu shots save lives, notwithstanding CDC reports of “90%...60%...30% vaccine effectiveness” week after week and year after year. https://www.bmj.com/content/369/bmj.m2184/rr-11 One observational study over 14 seasons found that seasonal flu shots were associated with an increase in all-cause mortality in the elderly…NOTE: The “recipe” should sound familiar. It’s also been used to promote Covid-19 vaccines.
COVID-19 MORBIDITY AND MORTALITY HAVE BEEN EXAGGERATED: We still hear that “over 1.2 million Americans died from the virus,” but that figure is inflated by imprecise diagnoses, massive false positives from PCR testing, and estimates from mathematical models. The minuscule risk to children was exaggerated to support school closures and controversial vaccine recommendations. “Long Covid” continues to be publicized to promote vaccines: (1. “Four Years Later, Covid Isn’t Done With Us” Christakis, WSJ, 9 March 2024…2. “Why the covid PCR tests did so much harm” Fenton, www.conservativewoman.co.uk, 18 March 2024…3. “U.S. Is a Global Outlier In Urging That Children Get Covid Booster Shots” Leonhardt, NYTimes, 14 February 2024…4. “There is no such thing as Long Covid, say health officials” www.telegraph,co.uk, Knapton, 15 March 2024…5. “New neurologic issues less likely after severe COVID than flu, research suggests” www.cidrap.umn.edu, 22 March 2024…6. “Burden of Neurologic Health Care and Incident Neurologic Diagnoses in the Year After COVID-19 or Influenza Hospitalization” de Havenon et al, Neurology online 20 March 2024)
COVID VACCINES ARE UNSAFE AND MONITORING BY THE CDC AND THE FDA ARE “WINDOW-DRESSING” 1) “COVID-19 Vaccine Safety Technical (VaST) Work Group: Enhancing vaccine safety monitoring during the pandemic” Markowitz et al, Vaccine online 9 February 2024. The VaST Work Group is billed as being “independent of and external to the federal government” but out of 28 members at least 16 were government employees, including 8 from the CDC, 2 from the FDA, and 1 from the NIH. They held regular meetings from November 2020 through April 2023 and “collaborated with federal agencies to ensure timely assessment of vaccine safety data during this time.” Table 3 indicates that the only “safety concerns” acknowledged by VaST were anaphylaxis, TTP syndrome, myocarditis-pericarditis, Guillain-Barre’ syndrome, and ischemic stroke. (NOTE: acknowledgement of these safety concerns by the CDC didn’t occur until long after these and other adverse vaccine effects had been reported by experts outside officialdom) This report includes a good deal of self-praise for VaST’s “independence, transparency, collaboration, and enhancement of public confidence”…2) “COVID-19 vaccines and adverse effects of special interest: A multinational Global Vaccine Data Network (GVDN) cohort study of 99 million vaccinated individuals” Faksova et al, Vaccine online 12 February 2024. This highly publicized observational study also acknowledged “safety signals” for myocarditis, pericarditis, Guillain-Barre’ syndrome, and cerebral venous sinus thrombosis for up to 42 days following vaccination. A fourfold risk of ADEM (acute disseminated encephalomyelitis) following the first dose of the Moderna vaccine is mentioned, amounting to 5 extra cases per 10.5 million doses. Safety signals were also mentioned for transverse myelitis, Bell’s palsy, seizures, thrombocytopenia, ITP, pulmonary embolism, and splanchnic vein thrombosis…Most news outlets emphasized the rarity of these AESIs and vaccine protection against severe Covid-19…3) “Stroke Risk After COVID-19 Bivalent Vaccination Among US Older Adults” Lu et al, JAMA 2024;331:938. This FDA-sponsored study found “there was no evidence of a significantly elevated risk for stroke during the days immediately after vaccination.” This conclusion cannot be taken at face value because the study includes no unvaccinated controls. Beyond this fundamental flaw, there are tables and tables of data, and behind them all is a “big black box” of statistical software through which the raw numbers are “adjusted” to the point that no evidence of adverse vaccine effects is found. The result is a blizzard of numbers and no intuitive understanding of the results. Instead, we are left with the sound bite “no elevated risk.” Real knowledge of vaccine safety and effectiveness requires bona fide randomized, placebo-controlled trials. These would obviate the need for exotic black box statistics vainly attempting to adjust for confounders…4) “Postmarketing Vaccine Safety Assessment. Important Work in Progress” Edwards & Griffin, JAMA 2024;331:915. This editorial summarizes and praises the foregoing study, but it also discusses a secondary analysis in the study that suggests the possibility that high-dose or adjuvated influenza vaccines cause 1-3 strokes per 100,000 patients. Refreshingly, the authors acknowledge that “some healthy older adults who are at extremely low risk of serious influenza complications may not find the individual risk-to-benefit calculus favorable. Given that vaccines are recommended for healthy populations to prevent a possible future event, the bar for safety must be extremely high, especially for those who are unlikely to suffer serious complications from the vaccine-preventable disease…Public health professionals should be prepared to effectively communicate the level of certainty about potential risks (and) to communicate individual as well as population benefits vs risks” NOTE: the authors seem to admit that the CDC/FDA “one size fits all” approach to vaccine promotion is no longer valid. Such candor is refreshing, but I wonder how serious they are about this, or if this is just one more public relations gambit by public health authorities. The editorial admits that clinical trials are usually too small to detect rare but serious adverse effects, and it refers to cases of Guillain-Barre’ syndrome in the trials of RSV vaccines for the elderly. These and other cases forced the CDC to withhold unqualified approval of the vaccines. (You have to dig to learn that out of 442 subjects given Arexvy together with Fluarix Quadrivalent vaccine during GSK’s trial 5 subjects developed immune-mediated diseases. This amounts to one Serious Adverse Effect for every 88 vaccine recipients, and one of the 5 was a fatal case of ADEM)…The editorial concludes with congratulations to the FDA and the CDC: “The study by Lu et al illustrates the value of a timely, well-designed analysis and has provided reassurance about the COVID-19 boosters…This type of timely and transparent continuous assessment should be used to enhance vaccine safety and assure the public that vaccine safety is a priority of the FDA and the CDC”…Bravo CDC! Bravo FDA!
The US public health agencies (FDA, CDC, NIH) and their grantees are now engaged in a “full-court press” (basketball metaphor) to restore public confidence and to persuade us that they are serious about vaccine safety and are making earnest efforts to discover adverse vaccine effects. DO NOT BELIEVE IT! The foregoing articles are exercises in public relations, further examples of the elaborate window-dressing already represented by VAERS…The research they publish is biased and of poor scientific quality, the type of research lamented by Douglas Altman 30 years ago. (“The scandal of poor medical research” Altman, BMJ 1994;308:283) The CDC has spent the last 20 years exaggerating the risks of the influenza virus to promote flu shots, and lately they have been doing the same thing with Covid-19. Their exclusive focus on vaccine promotion “might be good for business, but could prove fatal to global public health.” (“The rush to create a covid-19 vaccine may do more harm than good” Torreele, BMJ 2020;370:m3209)
SOME INDIVIDUALS CAN TOLERATE MANY COVID-19 VACCINATIONS: A 62-year-old German man had 217 vaccinations against Covid-19 within a period of 29 months, deliberately and for private reasons. They did not lead to adverse events and increased the quantity of spike-specific antibodies and T cells without having a strong positive or negative effect on the intrinsic quality of adaptive immune responses. (“Adaptive immune responses are larger and functionally preserved in a hypervaccinated individual” Kocher et al, Lancet Infect Dis online 4 March 2024. “After 217 Covid Vaccines, Man Had No Side Effects and Robust Immunity” Mueller, NY Times, 6 March 2024)
MYOCARDITIS CAUSED BY VACCINES: 1) 1533 cases of myocarditis were identified in 8.9 million young adults in Denmark, Finland, Norway, and Sweden. There was a 2 to 9-fold myocarditis risk increase in males within 28 days following mRNA vaccines and a 4-fold risk increase in females. (“Booster vaccination with SARS-CoV-2 mRNA vaccines and myocarditis in adolescents and young adults: a Nordic cohort study” Hviid et al, European Heart Journal, 15 February 2024)…2) Myocarditis reports to VAERS for 2021 Covid-19 vaccinations were 223 times the annual average of all vaccines combined in the past 30 years. (Athrappully, www.theepochtimes.com, 16 February 2024)…3) A systematic review of published autopsies found 28 cases of myocarditis following Covid-19 vaccines. Mean age at death was 44 years. Deaths occurred within 36 days of vaccination with a peak at 3 days. No alternative causes were found. (“Autopsy findings in cases of fatal COVID-19 vaccine-induced myocarditis” Hulscher et al, ESC Heart Failure, 2024)…4) Dr. Dean Patterson is a consultant cardiologist in the UK whose practice saw a massive increase in severe myocarditis during the vaccine rollout. (“Top Cardiologist Reports a 47-Fold Increase in Serious Myocarditis Post Covid Vaccinations as He Calls on GMC to Investigate” Patterson, www.dailysceptic.org, 27 February 2024)…5) By February 2021 a myocarditis safety signal for mRNA vaccines had already been seen in peer-reviewed data, particularly for teens and young adults. The CDC withheld the evidence while they urged parents to vaccinate their kids. In September 2021 Pfizer started a trial in children testing for heart muscle damage caused by the vaccine: “Phase 2/3 Obtaining Serum Samples for Potential Troponin I Testing.” So far, the results of this trial have not been released. (“Report 94: Pfizer Secretly Studied a Heart Damage Marker, Troponin I, in Five- to 15-Year-Olds, Following mRNA COVID Vaccination in 2021” Dr. Chris Flowers,
https://dailyclout.io/
, 22 February 2024…”Pfizer ‘Quietly’ Studied Myocarditis in Children” Baletti, www.ageofautism.com, February 2024)
VACCINE-ASSOCIATED DEATHS, DISEASES AND DISABILITIES: 1) “MHRA slumbers as the vaccine deaths mount” Gyngell, www.conservativewoman.co.uk 13 March 2024. As of February 28, there were 2679 deaths reported, probably less than 10% of real world figures, and indicating one death per 2000 vaccine doses…2) “New Zealand Excess Deaths Correlate to Those Who Have Been mRNA Vaccinated” www.thewhiterose.uk, 2 February 2024. Excess deaths increase with dose number…3) “Why would mortality data by vaccine exposure be withheld from Parliament and Jane/Joe Public?” Jefferson & Heneghan,
, 19 March. The UKHSA has data on mortality by number of doses but has shared it only with pharmaceutical companies…4) “Heads in the sand over vaccine links to cancer and disabilities” Hodgkinson, www.conservativewoman.co.uk , 20 March…5) “This dishonest denial of a covid jab link to cancer” Hodgkinson, www.conservativewoman.co.uk, 25 March. According to Dr. Harvey Risch, clinicians have been seeing very strange things. 25-year-olds with colon cancer with no family history of the disease. The most likely mechanism is immune system damage caused by covid vaccines in a fraction of the vaccine recipients…6) “More Young People Getting Cancer—What’s Behind the New Public Health Crisis?” Burdick,
https://childrenshealthdefense.or
, 27 March. In a March 26 op-ed in The Washington Times Dr. Pierre Kory and journalist Mary Beth Pfeiffer said the marked increase in cancers among young people may be linked to COVID-19 mRNA vaccines and pandemic policies… 7) “Joint Open Letter to the Secretary of State. When will you order an investigation into vaccine harms?”
https://www.hartgroup.org/
, 6 February 2024. 119 signatories representing HART, UKMFA and CCVAC…8) “Brief research report: impact of vaccination on antibody responses and mortality from severe COVID-19” Adhikari et al, Front Immunol, 7 February 2024. Among adults hospitalized with Covid-associated acute respiratory failure mortality was significantly higher in those who had been vaccinated, possibly because they had higher levels of IgG4, a tolerizing antibody. The authors emphasize that their results do not address the overall efficacy of vaccination in preventing deaths in a general population. (Discussed in March 13 issue of Epoch Times)
COVID-19 LAB LEAK: Data have steadily accumulated supporting the hypothesis that the SARS-CoV-2 virus emerged from a laboratory. In March 2018 a team of American and Chinese virologists applied for a Pentagon grant to manipulate bat viruses related to SARS-CoV-1. It specified that virus infectivity would be enhanced by inserting a furin cleavage site. In 2022 three independent biologists guessed that a lab-generated SARS-CoV-2 would have been assembled from six sections of lab-synthesized DNA with the help of restriction enzyme BsmBI. New documents confirm that their guess was correct and included a cost estimate in a grant proposal for the purchase of BsmBI. This strengthens, perhaps conclusively, the contention that the virus is synthetic. It raises “to the level of a smoking gun” the evidence that the virus was manufactured, according to Richard H. Ebright, a molecular biologist at Rutgers. One piece is missing from the puzzle: the identity of the parent virus from which SARS-CoV-2 was derived. This is because Chinese authorities have suppressed all information from the Wuhan Institute of Virology, the likely source of the virus…But the documentary and scientific evidence already assembled seems sufficient to understand the genesis of the pandemic that killed millions. (“Where Did Covid Come From?” Nicholas Wade, WSJ, 29 February 2024)
THE RISK OF PANDEMICS FROM SPILLOVERS OF ANIMAL VIRUSES HAS BEEN EXAGGERATED: A new report from the University of Leeds finds that claims made by the Group of 20 to support a $10.5 billion transfer of funds to combat viruses caught from wildlife are unsupported by evidence. Their assumption that the animal virus threat is dramatically increasing is almost certainly false. The fund transfer would bring spending on pandemic prevention to $31 billion annually, and would divert funds from the prevention of malaria, tuberculosis and other infectious diseases, as well as funds from lifesaving sanitation and nutrition programs. Why have international bureaucrats from the G-20 exaggerated the animal virus problem? Have they followed the advice of some scientists too slavishly? Gain-of-function research with animal viruses has certainly enhanced the careers of a number of scientists, some of whom have ignored the risks (e.g. Anthony Fauci and the Wuhan lab). A February 28 report by the Pathogens Project, part of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, has detailed recommendations for preventing virus manipulations in the laboratory. Such manipulations are likely to be riskier than animal virus spillovers in nature. (“Why Scientists Love Chasing Bats” Matt Ridley, WSJ, 7 March 2024)
US LOCKDOWNS KILLED PEOPLE AND DID SIGNIFICANT ECONOMIC DAMAGE: Before 2020 public health authorities recognized that communities respond best to pandemics when government measures are minimally disruptive. During Covid, however, officials discarded that wisdom with restrictive practices and by intentionally stoking fear. The result was enormous economic, social, educational and health harms on top of those caused by the virus. Since 2020 there have been about 400,000 lockdown and societal disruption deaths, as much as 100 times the number of Covid deaths the lockdowns prevented. Economic costs were staggering and will result in a million more excess deaths in the next 15-20 years. School closings caused learning loss, and attendant isolation led to massive increases in psychiatric illness, self-harm, obesity and substance abuse among young people…Americans have lost faith in public health institutions. Congress and the states should rewrite statutes and place strict limits on the powers of public-health executives, and Congress should set term limits for all senior positions in US health agencies. (“Covid Lessons Learned, Four Years Later” Atlas & Hanke, WSJ, 19 March 2024)
WHERE DO WE GO FROM HERE WITH COVID-19? US public health officials seem to be steering us along a road parallel to the 20-year path established for influenza viruses: annual Covid-19 vaccinations, at least for the elderly and other groups deemed to be at high risk. Covid-19 variants will be monitored and will guide regular vaccine modifications by the manufacturers. There will be regular bulletins about Covid illness frequency, announcements about deaths and severe illness, reports about vaccine effectiveness, public interest stories about children and families, and stories about the lives saved by vaccines and lives lost among the unvaccinated. There will probably be mission creep, with official reasons offered frequently to promote vaccinations for healthy adults and children. It remains to be seen how the general public responds…(1.“The Rise Of Dissident Nation” Tucker, Epoch Times, 6 February…2.“Pharmaceutical Companies are Abandoning mRNA Vaccines—Leaving Governments Holding the White Elephant” Livermore, www.dailysceptic.org, 14 February. The vaccines failed to prevent infections and transmission, vaccine protection against illness was short-lived, and vast numbers of adverse events were reported to VAERS and MHRA—far from the clear-cut success of conventional vaccines like smallpox, polio, diphtheria, measles, tetanus, and Hib…3.“COVID vaccine mandates may have had unintended consequences” www.cidrap.umn.edu, 21 February. In 2021-22 Covid booster and flu shot uptake was lower in mandate states…4.“CDC advisers recommended spring COVID booster for seniors” www.cidrap.umn.edu, 28 February…5.“CDC announces new respiratory virus guidance, ends COVID isolation policy” www.cidrap.umn.edu, 1 March…6.“Scientists Prepare for the Next Phase of the Coronavirus” Mandavilli, NY Times, 27 March 2024)
ALLAN S. CUNNINGHAM 3 April 2024 Cooperstown NY 13326 USA