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Covid Quarterly Commentaries for Q2 2024

By Gary F. Zeolla

      In this article I will be quoting from and commenting upon various news articles about Covid from the second quarter of 2024 (April to June).

Paxlovid Ineffective

Gateway Pundit. NEJM Study Reveals Pfizer’s Antiviral Drug Paxlovid Does ‘Little or Nothing’ Against COVID-19.

      It can be recalled that Paxlovid was increasingly linked to instances of rebound infections. Notably, several high-profile figures such as Dr. Anthony Fauci, Joe Biden, Jill Biden, and former CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky have reported experiencing a resurgence of COVID-19 symptoms following treatment with the drug….

      “Paxlovid, once considered a wonder drug to beat back COVID-19, may not be so mighty after all. A study published in the New England Journal of Medicine on Wednesday [4/3/24] suggests the antiviral drug does little or nothing for both fully vaccinated or unvaccinated people who have at least one risk factor for severe COVID. It did little to shorten the duration of symptoms,” said Duke.

NEJM. Nirmatrelvir for Vaccinated or Unvaccinated Adult Outpatients with Covid-19.

      In adult participants with Covid-19 who were at standard or high risk for severe Covid-19, there was no significant difference in the time to symptom alleviation between the nirmatrelvir–ritonavir [aka Paxlovid] group and the placebo group….

      Results from the trial provide some intriguing observations about the use of nirmatrelvir–ritonavir in vaccinated patients who have risk factors for severe Covid-19. Among the patients who underwent randomization, Covid-19–related hospitalization or death from any cause occurred in 5 participants in the nirmatrelvir–ritonavir group and 10 in the placebo group (with the only death occurring in the placebo group)…

      In this trial, we assessed the safety and efficacy of nirmatrelvir–ritonavir as an antiviral agent against SARS-CoV-2 in symptomatic, nonhospitalized, vaccinated or unvaccinated adults. Nirmatrelvir–ritonavir was not associated with a significantly shorter time to sustained alleviation of Covid-19 symptoms than placebo, and the usefulness of nirmatrelvir–ritonavir in patients who are not at high risk for severe Covid-19 has not been established.

      To comment, I have been skeptical about Paxlovid from the start for several reasons, First, it is very expensive, costing about $500 for a course of treatment. Second, very early, the possibility of rebound infections became apparent. And third, it just did not seem necessary for use for those who were fully vaccinated.

      But most of all, it seemed to me that the disparagement of hydroxychlotoquine (HCQ) and ivermectin were because those were inexpensive drugs which had been in use for so long, they were available in generic forms. As such, a course of treatment costs $20 or less.

      However, it was obvious the drug companies would eventually come out with newer and more expensive drugs for Covid. But if effective ones were already available, then the new ones could not receive emergency use authorization (EUA). As such, HCQ and ivermectin could not be allowed to be widely used.

      I know I sound a bit conspiratorial here, but I do think something was up with the way the media and Dems disparaged HCQ and ivermectin. And think this is why. Without them, new drugs would have to be approved quickly, even if they were not very effective and not so safe. And that seems to be the case with Paxlovid.

      I do know, if I or my dad had ever contracted Covid, I would not have taken Paxlovid, and I would have encouraged my dad not to do so either.

      However, do not miss that there were fewer hospitalizations and deaths in the Paxlovid group than in the placebo group. But the study says that were “not significant” given the number of participants. Such non-significant reductions in hospitalizations and deaths were seen in other trials with Paxlovid.

      Only the reader and your doctor can decide if that slight reduction of risk outweighs the cost and risk of rebound infection of Paxlovid if the reader ever contracts Covid.
4/9/24

Long Covid Persists

US News & World Report. Entering the Fifth Year of the Coronavirus, Where Does Long COVID Stand?

      Long COVID is a condition involving new, returning or ongoing health problems four or more weeks after initial coronavirus infection. Symptoms are wide-ranging and can include fatigue, difficulty thinking or concentrating, memory problems (or “brain fog”), difficulty breathing, joint or muscle pain, fast-beating or pounding heart, chest pain, dizziness after standing, menstrual changes, changes to taste and smell or inability to exercise.

      Long COVID has no approved treatments or tests. While the condition is more common in people who had severe COVID-19, even people who were asymptomatic can develop it. Unlike the virus itself, which can run its course in a week or maybe two, long COVID – like its name suggests – can afflict a patient for weeks, months or even years. Its cause – or, more likely, causes – remain unknown….

More than 17% of U.S. adults reported having ever experienced symptoms of long COVID as of February, according to the Household Pulse Survey. Extrapolated to the U.S. population, it would mean more than 45 million adult Americans have had long COVID….

      “They’re told that their brain fog or other symptoms are not real, and that’s demoralizing,” Rylance said. “So what they need is kindness and support through their treatment. And that comes from their family, their friends, their employers because it’s in everyone’s best interest that people with long COVID don’t feel alone and feel that they’re supported throughout their recovery.”

      To comment, note that the risk for long Covid is greater in people who had “severe COVID-19,” while the vaccines reduce the risk of such. That is one of the main reasons I decided to get vaccinated and to get the annual booster shots. My life changed when I contract the flu back in February of 2001.

      After I recovered from a ten-day bout with the flu, I never felt the same again. Among other symptoms, I developed some mentioned here. Most notably fatigue and joint and muscle pain. That led to a diagnosis of fibromyalgia. But “long influenza” might be more accurate. That is why I now get the Covid shots, as I do not want to add long Covid to that.

      CDC Director Mandy Cohen confirms my thoughts in that regard when she says in this article, “when you get vaccinated, right, you are both less likely to go into the hospital, but you're also less likely to get long COVID, and you are less likely to get this virus overall.”

      I can also associate with people with long Covid who have difficulties convincing friends and relatives their symptoms are real. That is a long-standing frustration for people like us with health problems that are not easily noticeable to others.

      But despite all of this, not much has been done in terms of discovering the cause of long Covid hand treatments for it. And that is highly frustrating for the millions of Americans suffering from it.

4/9/24

Biden Still Pushing Vaccine Mandates

Breitbart Biden Campaign Requires Employees to Be ‘Up to Date’ on COVID-19 Vaccines.

      The Biden campaign is requiring its employees to be “up to date” on COVID-19 vaccines, according to a job listing from the campaign, which is searching for a diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) director.

      Currently, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) states that those 12 years old and older who are unvaccinated should receive “1 updated Pfizer-BioNTech or updated Moderna COVID-19 vaccine, OR 2 doses of updated Novavax COVID-19 vaccine.” For those 12 years old and older who were vaccinated before September 12, 2023, the CDC states that they should receive “1 updated Pfizer-BioNTech, Moderna, or Novavax COVID-19 vaccine.”

      I have spoken against any kind of Covid mandates from the start of the pandemic. The reason is simple—blanket mandates do not take into account the widely disparate risk from Covid for different people groups. Yes, those in high-risk groups, like the elderly and the obese, should get vaccinated. But to say 12-year-olds should get vaccinated is quite silly. Unless a child has a specific health conditions that puts him or her at high risk from Covid, vaccination makes little sense, as a child is at little risk form Covid.

      The same goes for those in the 20s-30s, which many of Biden’s campaign workers are. But if he wants to limit his pool of potential campaign workers to those who are willing to get an unnecessary vaccination, that is fine by me. It will reduce the number of workers he is able to recruit.

4/16/24

Fauci in the News Brings Back Fearmongering and Lies

SRN News. Fauci denies suppressing COVID lab leak theory before US House panel. 

Washington Examiner. Trust in health agencies and vaccination was a pandemic casualty. 

Washington Examiner. Fauci unmasked: Trust in public health and vaccination was pandemic casualty. 

Washington Examiner. Fauci unmasked: The consequences of school closures.

Washington Examiner. Fauci and the origins of COVID-19: The congressional investigation so far. 

Washington Examiner. Fauci unmasked: Clearing the record on masks, social distancing, and vaccines.

      Former National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) Director Anthony Fauci appeared before Congress on Monday June 3, 2024. He then released his memoirs the week of June 18^th.  Those events enabled the left to repeat its fearmongering about the Coronavirus and for the right to repeat its lies about Covid and the vaccines.

      The former reminded me of the absurdity of the left calling for lockdowns, school closures, and mask and vaccine mandates. In doing so, they ignored the immense disparity of risk from Covid for different people groups. Yes, those at high risk form Covid needed to take precautions, namely, stay at home as much as possible, socially distance and wear masks when going, and to get vaccinated when they became available.

      However, none of that was necessary for those at low risk. The economy should have remained open, schools should have remained open, and the young and healthy should have been allowed to access their own risks and live their lives as they felt fit, while taking reasonable precautions to avoid not infecting those at high risk.

      The latter reminded me why I had stopped listening to most all conservative talk radio and conservative podcasts. I had slowly begun to listen to them once again, but as they repeated their lies once again, belittling the seriousness of Covid, denying any effectiveness of masks and social distancing, and exaggerating the dangers of the vaccines and misrepresenting their effectiveness, I once again shut them off.

      But as for Fauci, he tried to defend his Covid response, but was unable to provide scientific evidence for many of his recommendations that caused much harm to people, as indicated in the finale article listed above.

      The problem with Fauci is as I stated at the beginning of the pandemic—he might be a good epidemiologist, but he is not a economist nor a psychologist. And it seems he never consulted such. As a result, in his recommendations for widespread masking, social distancing, and lockdowns, he did not consider the economic and psychological efforts those mitigation efforts would have on people.

      And I should add, he also did not consult ministers, so he did not consider the spiritual detriments the closure of churches would cause. But, as I document in my article Churches Are Essential Revisited, those church closures had many detrimental and long-lasting effects on the USA.

6/4/24

2024 Booster Shots 

Newsmax. FDA: Target JN.1 Strain in Fall's Updated COVID Shot.

      Government advisers Wednesday [6/5/24] said it’s time to update the recipe for the COVID-19 vaccines Americans will receive in the fall — targeting a version of the ever-evolving coronavirus called JN.1….

      But just a few months later, numerous offshoots of JN.1 already are on the rise, prompting Moderna and Pfizer to also test a slightly different vaccine formula targeting what’s now the most common U.S. subtype, called KP.2….

      But KP.2 isn't likely to still be the biggest threat by fall, the panel responded. Having to make the choice now, they preferred the parent JN.1 variant itself rather than trying to predict which of its descendants was most likely to increase in the coming months.

      “Having a vaccine that’s the trunk of the tree rather than the branches makes sense to me,” because it would offer some cross-protection to other subvariants that emerge, said one adviser, Dr. Melinda Wharton of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention….

SRN News. US FDA advisers to consider if new COVID shots should target JN.1 variant.

      Shares of Novavax soared 11% in morning trade, after the documents were released. The company had said last month it would only be able to offer a COVID vaccine in the United States this autumn if regulators accept the shot it started manufacturing to target the JN.1 variant….

      A variation in vaccine strain from the global norm could also pose a challenge for COVID vaccine makers, especially Novavax as it makes a more traditional protein-based shot that takes longer to manufacture.

      Vaccines based on messenger RNA (mRNA), like those from Moderna, or Pfizer and its partner BioNTech, can be developed more quickly. In the past, Pfizer had said it could make the shots in 100 days.

      Just like with the annual flu shot, and just as I predicted when the Covid variants began to emerge, there will be annual booster shots for Covid. But also like with the flu shot, it will be difficult for experts to predict which variant of the flu and of Covid will be most prevalent over the winter so as to target their vaccines for that variant.

      Making it more difficult is production of the shots need to begin in the spring to early summer to have them available for the fall to be put into people’s arms. But the both viruses are apt to change before the winter months.

      That is why the flu shot is sometimes very effective and sometimes not so effective. The same will be the case for Covid boosters. But Covid-anti-vaxxers will seize on when it is not as effective to say you should never get it. But that has never been the case for the flu shot.

      Moreover, even if the researchers do not get it exactly correct, both shots will still have some effect at reducing the risk of severe infection, even if they do not significantly reduce the risk of infection itself. That again relates back to the risk of long Covid (or long influenza). Thus, for those at high risk from both viruses should consider getting the yearly shots, after consulting with your doctor of course.

      As for myself, I got the Novavax show last year and had my dad do the same. That is because we both had significant side effects from the mRNA shots. They only lasted a day. But we had no side effects from the Novavax shot, so I would prefer that one this year again for both of us.

6/4/24

From Masks Mandates to Masks Bans

SRN News. Gov. Hochul considering a face mask ban on New York City subways, citing antisemitic acts.

      Gov. Kathy Hochul said Thursday [6/13/24] that she is considering a ban on face masks in the New York City subway system due to concerns about people shielding their identities while committing antisemitic acts.

      Hochul, a Democrat, told reporters the exact details of the policy are not clear but it would contain “common-sense exemptions” for health, cultural or religious reasons. Many people concerned about COVID-19 and air pollution routinely wear masks on the subway….

      “We will not tolerate individuals using masks to evade responsibility for criminal or threatening behavior,” Hochul said. “My team is working on a solution. But on a subway, people should not be able to hide behind a mask to commit crimes.”

      New York passed a law banning face masks in public in the 1800s as a response to protests over rent. It was suspended in 2020 by then-Gov. Andrew Cuomo as part of a pandemic public health campaign, and masks were also made mandatory for subway riders until September 2022.

      I warned at the beginning of the pandemic that widespread mask wearing would make things difficult for law enforcement in identifying lawbreakers. I also said it eliminated an early warning signal that someone was up to no good.

      Before Covid, if you saw someone wearing a mask, you knew he was up to no good. But now it is so commonplace, no one takes notice. Even now, with the pandemic over, there are still people wearing masks. I was at Pittsburgh’s East End Food Co-op yesterday and saw two people wearing N95 masks.

      It makes no sense for most health-wise. As such, I am all in favor in reinstating masks bans. But there needs to be a provision that people can get an excuse from a doctor that they need the mask. But for the rest, no masks in public places, so law enforcement can more easily identify and arrest wrongdoers.

6/14/24

Zero Deaths from Covid Vaccines

I posted the following as a Commentary previously, but it is so important, I am reposting it here as the final quarterly update for this article.

NBC News. Covid vaccines not linked to fatal heart problems in young people, CDC finds.

US News and World Report. Study: COVID-19 Vaccine Not Linked to Sudden Cardiac Death Among Young People.

      The CDC has stated that cases of myocarditis and pericarditis – inflammation of the heart muscle and the lining outside the heart, respectively – have rarely been observed after COVID-19 vaccination. It’s more common among young males within a week of receiving the second shot. Most patients respond well to medicine and recover quickly.

      The CDC maintains that the benefits of the COVID-19 vaccine outweigh any known risks.

      The incorrect idea that COVID-19 vaccines are linked to death in young people gained immense attention on social media from conspiracy theorists with the hashtag #diedsuddenly. Certain events in real life, including Buffalo Bills player Damar Hamlin's cardiac arrest, offered fuel for speculation without evidence.

      The CDC and other public health officials faced an uphill battle during the pandemic to convince people the COVID-19 vaccine was safe as public figures like Elon Musk, Joe Rogan and Robert F. Kennedy Jr. spread skepticism.

      Still, more than 81% of all adults got at least one COVID-19 vaccine, according to CDC data.

CDC. Assessment of Risk for Sudden Cardiac Death Among Adolescents and Young Adults After Receipt of COVID-19 Vaccine — Oregon, June 2021–December 2022.

      The data do not support an association of COVID-19 vaccination with sudden cardiac death among previously healthy young persons. COVID-19 vaccination is recommended for all persons aged ≥6 months to prevent COVID-19 and complications, including death….

      In this study of 1,292 deaths among Oregon residents aged 16–30 years during June 2021–December 2022, none could definitively be attributed to cardiac causes within 100 days of receipt of an mRNA COVID-19 vaccine dose; one male died from undetermined causes 45 days after receipt of a COVID-19 vaccine. During May 1, 2021–December 31, 2022, a total of 979,289 doses of COVID-19 vaccines were administered to Oregonians aged 16–30 years (unpublished data, ALERT IIS, 2024.)

      During the same period, COVID-19 was cited as the cause of death for 30 Oregon residents in this age group. Among these 30 decedents, ALERT IIS had records for 22 (73%), only three of whom had received any COVID-19 vaccination. Studies have shown significant reductions in COVID-19–related mortality among vaccinated persons; during the first 2 years of COVID-19 vaccine availability in the United States, vaccination prevented an estimated 18.5 million hospitalizations and 3.2 million deaths (9).

      To comment, I found it interesting that I found this study reported on many mainstream news sites, but not on any conservative news sites, nor was it mentioned by any conservative commentator that I heard. After three years of disparaging the Covid vaccines, I would have thought at least some conservative antivaxxers would have mentioned this study if only to denigrate it. But I guess they couldn’t do so, so they just ignored it.

4/28/24

Covid Quarterly Commentaries for Q2 2024. Copyright © 2024 by Gary F. Zeolla (www.Zeolla.org).

Overcoming Back Pain: A Mind-Body Solution

     My first audio book is now available on Amazon, Audible, and iTunes. It is the story of how I overcame years of crippling low back pain, so much so that I was able to start powerlifting again.  If you suffer from low back pain, this could be the solution to your problem. And even if you do not, this is an interesting story, with lots of twists and turns. For other formats for this book, see the Preview page on my fitness website.

The above article was posted on this website June 22, 2024.