Following the Science™ Four Years On
Turns out--the 'Covidiots' were virtually completely correct: and guess who doesn't want to consider the evidence now…
Last week, we asked, with
, ‘what if the Covidiots will be right in the end?’:
Today, we’ll check in with the Branch Covidians in Norway—‘enjoy’ (non-English content, emphases, and [snark] mine).
The below piece is a ‘fact check™’ written by one Ida Bergersen, which appeared on 19 Jan. 2021 (updated on 21 Jan. 2021) at Lommelegen.no under the header ‘Seven Conspiracy Theories About the Covid Vaccines’ (orig. Syv konspirasjonsteorier om coronavaksinen).
Since this is literally ‘old news’, it comes with a ‘disclaimer’, stating the following:
Please note that this article has not been updated in the last two years. Developments in medicine are rapid and the information may therefore be out of date.
Do tell (me more).
Seven Conspiracy Theories About the Coronavirus Vaccine
By Ida Bergersen, 19 Jan. 2021
Conspiracy theories, fallacies and misunderstandings abound online. One theory is crazier than the other. What are the facts?
At the end of 2020, vaccination against the Coronavirus began in Norway, and the first injection of the BioNTech/Pfizer vaccine was administered at Ellingsrudhjemmet in Oslo. Since then, many thousands have received the vaccine.
The vaccines authorised for use in Norway are currently BioNTech/Pfizer and Moderna. More are expected. DB.no has an overview of the status of authorised vaccines in Norway. [the AstraZeneca product was not granted conditional marketing authorisation—the EU’s equivalent to the FDA’s emergency use authorisation—until 29 Jan. 2021]
There are many different theories about the coronavirus vaccines online. That they destroy the immune system, make you sterile, or can lead to autism. Others believe that you can become seriously ill and die.
The internet, and especially Facebook, has recently seen a large increase in misinformation and disinformation about the Coronavirus vaccine. Much of this has originated in the USA. Many people share screenshots and headlines that can be frightening.
1. Forced vaccination
Morten Langfeldt Dahlback, philosopher and journalist at faktisk.no, explains that many of these claims that abound online are about vaccines in general, but now the focus is mainly on the coronavirus vaccines.
These conspiracy theories started to flourish right from the start of the pandemic, even before the vaccine candidates were announced. When talk of a vaccine began, some people believed that the population would be forcibly vaccinated, which the health authorities have rejected.
[sure, in Norway; check out other places, such as Austria, German, France, parts of the US, to say nothing about Australia, China, or the like; in these pages, I’ve written at length about my home country, Austria, as it morphed into what I called ‘Covidistan’—and for a particularly galling piece, see here]
2. Microchips for surveillance and mass murder
There are some pretty extreme conspiracy theories, according to Dahlback. Microsoft founder Bill Gates is one of those who has taken a beating on Facebook since the pandemic broke out:
There have been a number of allegations about Bill Gates, with some claiming that the vaccine is being used to inject microchips into people’s bodies so that they can be monitored. He is accused of wanting to reduce the world’s population by killing them with vaccines. ‘This is not true’, emphasises Dahlback.
[I’ll give this counter-claim a half-baked ‘benefit of the doubt’, if only there is (not yet, at least) a ‘smoking gun’ known to the public. That said, there is more than a kernel of truth in the above statement, as Gates is on the record ‘wanting to reduce the world’s population’, but by adding that second part renders Ms. Bergersen and Mr. Dahlback spreaders on disinformation; do watch Dylan Nolan’s comment, too—wherever Ms. Bergersen and Mr. Dahlback have found that particular claim, which they don’t disclose, this reeks like a straw-man; as to the microchips, well, that wasn’t necessary as smart phone adoption in 2021 was sky-high, hence there was, technically speaking, no reason to secretly implant microchips…]
3. Serious Adverse Events Will Abound
The fact that two coronavirus vaccines have been authorised in Norway means that they are considered safe enough to be used. However, as with all vaccines, side effects can occur. Some claim that the side effects can be serious, but studies so far show that this is not the case.
According to Preben Aavitsland, Director [overlege] at the Division of Infection Control, Environment and Health at the Norwegian Institute of Public Health, information about side effects has been obtained from studies where participants have been followed up for about two months after the second dose.
‘The vast majority of side effects occurred one to two days after vaccination, were mild or moderate and resolved after a few days’, says Aavitsland.
Side effects were generally milder after the first dose, especially among people under and up to and including 65 years of age. Aavitsland comments:
A smaller number of vaccinees may experience more severe local and systemic side effects. From the studies conducted so far, there is good knowledge about common and less common side effects in the groups that have received the vaccine, but rare side effects cannot be ruled out.
[This is prima facie evidence of lying; remember, the original piece went online on 19 Jan. 2021, at which point a first ‘adverse events report’ dated 14 Jan. 2021 was public; it contained a mere 29 AE reports of which 13 (!) included death as an outcome. Please re-read what Dr. Aavitsland stated:
‘According to Preben Aavitsland…information about side effects has been obtained from studies where participants have been followed up for about two months after the second dose…A smaller number of vaccinees may experience more severe local and systemic side effects…but rare side effects cannot be ruled out’
Those ‘rare side effects included 13 dead people, but I suppose since they were not included in the studies read by Dr. Aavitsland, all was well. Note that the AE report mentioned that ‘on average, 45 people die in Norwegian care homes every day’, and ‘when vaccinating such a group, deaths will occur in close proximity to the administration of the vaccine’. The cost of ‘doing business’, I suppose.
Do note that on 21 Jan. 2021—the day of the ‘last update’ of the piece—another ‘AE report’ was released by the Norwegian Medicines Agency (Legemiddelverket), which contained some helpful references that allow for the cross-referencing of these early data: about 63,000 injections had been administered by then, which resulted in 104 AE reports—of which 30 (or close to 29%) led, or contributed, to the death of the vaccinee.
Yet, neither Dr. Aavitsland nor Ms. Bergersen or Mr. Dahlback were troubled, for all they included—despite this data having been in the public domain on the day of the ‘last update’—but the following table:
So, neither Dr. Aavitsland nor Ms. Bergersen or Mr. Dahlback were honest. This is hair-on-fire wrong, even by the state of knowledge of 19 or 21 Jan. 2021; as of the last publicly available information, dated 11 April 2023, 12,360,000 doses resulted in an official tally of 274 deaths in close proximity to the administration of any of the Covid injectable products. Hear no evil, see no evil people like these three—and many, many others—have never owned these statements: shame on them.]
4. You Can Become Sterile
Another conspiracy theory is that taking the vaccine will make women sterile. This is because pregnant women are advised not to take the vaccine. Dahlback:
The reason why pregnant women should not take the vaccine is because it has not yet been tested on pregnant women. But this does not mean that the vaccine makes women sterile.
[Since Mr. Dahlback is either as much an expert on this as you and I am, I shall link to content posted by Dr. Peter McCullough and merely ask: what about the drastic -10% decline in live births in 2022; sure, this couldn’t have been known for a fact back in early 2021, but even the smallest amount of thinking would have indicated that ‘offering’ women of child-bearing age these products might not be the smartest thing to do…]
5. ‘The film evidence’: A Nurse Dies From the Vvaccine
A few weeks ago, a video was released showing a nurse being filmed taking the vaccine and fainting.
It was American nurse Tiffany Dover who fainted on TV after taking the Corona vaccine.
‘Some people thought she died, but that was not the case. She had a condition that makes it easier for her to faint’, says Dahlback.
[No source is given; do see this video here, dated 11 April 2023 (!), in which essentially the same arguments alluded to by Dahlback are repeated.]
6. Elderly Nursing Home Patients Die in Droves Due to the Vaccine
Norwegian nursing home patients are the first to be offered the vaccine in Norway. These are the oldest and most frail patients we have, many with a short life expectancy. Normally, 300-400 patients die in nursing homes every week in Norway.
The Norwegian Medicines Agency has looked at the side effects that have been reported in Norway. As of 14 January, 23 deaths have been reported in connection with vaccination, 13 of which have been assessed. Only frail, elderly people (80 years and older) who have a pre-existing condition (advanced heart failure, dementia, COPD or other serious illnesses) may have died as a result of side effects after receiving the vaccine.
Vaccine sceptics and anti-vaxxers have been spreading the story of the dead nursing home residents on social media. Some of them claim that ‘mainstream media is hiding the deaths’.
Several international media have also reported the Norwegian deaths, and the IPH has therefore commented on this on its website today [19 Jan. 2021].
‘In older people, you should consider how appropriate it is to administer the coronavirus vaccine’, explains Aavitsland, adding
Even relatively mild vaccine side effects can have serious consequences for those who are very frail. For those who have a very short remaining lifespan anyway, the benefit of the vaccine may be marginal or irrelevant. For very frail and terminally ill patients, a careful weighing of the benefits versus harms of immunisation is therefore recommended.
7. The Vaccine was Developed too Quickly, Therefore it is Dangerous
Some people claim that the coronavirus vaccine came before the virus. This is practically true, as several different researchers have been working closely together for several years, creating candidates for vaccines against other diseases and vaccine platforms. Vaccine platforms are a form of semi-finished vaccines, where a vaccine is developed and tested as far as possible before a new disease occurs. In this way, the vaccine can be customised when the new disease occurs. All you need is the genetic code. [but don’t mention it might be gene therapy, even though that was known at the time]
The vaccines that have been developed over a short period of time in the past have taken researchers around five years to develop. It usually takes 10 years to develop a completely new vaccine. [so, if it’s faster than 5 years…]
In order to develop the coronavirus vaccine, major resources were invested in the form of money and research resources. […it was in the works some time]
‘The vaccine did not arrive as quickly as many people might think. Large studies have been conducted on many patients in a short time, so we have a lot of data on the two vaccines that are currently authorised in Norway’, explains [Steinar] Madsen [Section Head at the Norwegian Medicines Agency].
The Consequences of Conspiracy Theories
Dahlback explains that there are several Facebook groups with users who spread a lot of misinformation and conspiracy theories from the anti-vaxxer community:
They are very engaged in this topic and very critical of vaccines. I think most people have spoken to friends or acquaintances who think that the vaccine has arrived a little too quickly and are worried.
[interviewer] What negative consequences could this have?
These conspiracy theories don’t seem to have much of an impact at the population level, but they may help to create more uncertainty about the vaccination programme. But if vaccine opponents contribute to making people less willing to get vaccinated, it will take longer before we achieve herd immunity.
[Curiously enough, the notion of ‘herd immunity’ has been abandoned in the US by autumn 2021…]
Dashlback explains that the Coronavirus vaccines appear to be as well tested as most other vaccines, but there may be side effects that have not yet been discovered, or that are so rare that they are not picked up during testing:
It seems that serious side effects are very rare—otherwise the vaccines would not have been authorised by the authorities. It is also up to each individual whether they choose to take the vaccine—if they think the risk is too high, they can refrain.
[No pressure, right? As to ‘serious side effects’ that ‘are very rare’, well, see the above information: 13 dead at the time of writing of the piece (19 Jan. 2021), 30 by the time of the last update (21 Jan. 2021), well, that’s apparently irrelevant. Talk about condescension, eh?]
Concerns are not the same as conspiracy theories
There is good reason to ask questions about whether a vaccine is safe, how it has been developed, and what the side effects are. If you have questions, it doesn’t mean you’re a conspiracy theorist, but that you want scientific factual information to help you make a more informed decision about whether to take a vaccine.
Below you will find three common questions and answers.
1. Can the Coronavirus Vaccine be Compared to the Swine Flu Vaccine?
Some people compare the coronavirus vaccine with the swine flu vaccine administered in 2009, Pandemrix, which has subsequently been shown to be a possible cause of narcolepsy in a small group.
[Dahlback] It is not known with certainty whether this is true, although some have received compensation due to narcolepsy. The standard of proof in these cases is lower than in other cases (the requirement is that the vaccine may be the cause of the injury and that there are no other probable causes). But this is probably why some people are also sceptical about the coronavirus vaccine.
Aavitsland explains that no other new vaccine in modern times has caused such a serious side effect as narcolepsy, which was reported after Pandemrix in 2009:
We do not expect serious side effects after administration of the coronavirus vaccines, but as with all new vaccines, we cannot guarantee that there will be no very rare side effects. Pfizer’s vaccine has now been administered to a few million people without any unexpected serious side effects being found. [what a claim, in light of what Peter Doshi wrote just a few weeks later…]
Steinar Madsen, Medical Director at the Norwegian Medicines Agency, also doubts that we will see such serious side effects [like, 1 case of narcolepsy in Norway before the mass vaccination campaign against swine flu…?] again:
I understand that some people are concerned about serious side effects given what happened after the swine flu vaccine, but based on the data we have received so far, it is not believed that this will happen [but facts—like the 13 dead by mid-January 2021 aren’t ‘data’, right?]. However, it is still a little too early to say anything with certainty. We are therefore urging healthcare professionals and patients to report any side effects to us, so that we can get an overview and monitor any side effects.
2. Is There a Higher Incidence of Allergic Shock?
Some people claim that there is a higher incidence of allergic shock among those who have received the coronavirus vaccine, which may be true.
[Aavitsland] It seems that allergic shock occurs somewhat more frequently after Pfizer’s coronavirus vaccine than after other vaccines. The frequency is perhaps one in 100,000 people who have been vaccinated.
[according to the CDC, from ‘December 14–23, 2020, monitoring by the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System detected 21 cases of anaphylaxis after administration of a reported 1,893,360 first doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine (11.1 cases per million doses)’—which means Aavitsland’s comment hints at ‘perhaps’ about the same incidence; but it’s fine to ask about sudden adult/infant death syndrome, I suppose, without mentioning anything else like, say the other dead…]
3. Do We Know Enough About the Long-Term Effects of the Vaccine?
What can be problematic is that we don't know the long-term effects of the vaccines.
[Madsen] We don’t know for sure how long the vaccine protects against infection and disease, and there is some uncertainty about whether the vaccine protects against transmission. If you are infected, you avoid becoming ill, but you may be a carrier and therefore infect others who become ill.
Madsen explains that we do not have a complete overview of the side effects that may occur after a longer period of time:
Some patients were vaccinated in July and August last year, so we are beginning to have a fairly good observation period. So far, there is nothing to suggest that there are long-term side effects. We will eventually get more data on this, and Pfizer will be following up its patients for two years. But there are no signs of any preliminary unexpected long-term side effects.
Bottom Lines
Here we are, over four years later. The theme is—no matter how correct many so-called ‘conspiracy theories’ were, those responsible for what is arguably the biggest blunder in medicine and public policy are still in denial.
I doubt that this will change anytime soon. Or ever.
The one thing we can do is—remember the dead and the deeds of the living.
What, then, will the next ‘conspiracy theories’ be that, eventually, turn out to be, well, ‘true’ or at least ‘more accurate than official information’?
Time will tell.
Or these pages here—for I’ve kept some of the receipts, such as this one:
Which soon thereafter morphed into data monkeying:
Fast-forward another year, we get the below ‘testimony™’ of a public health number cruncher:
All the while, ‘the experts™’ in academia determine—this isn’t their fight:
There’s something very, very rotten in the state of Norway, as well as elsewhere with respect to the Covid Mania.
What goes around comes around. One day soon.
Thanks for sharing. Hard to read this stuff written by fucking idiots. A good friend here in Germany, retired and was enjoying the good life took four shots in order to travel internationally and play golf. Last 9 months fighting a losing battle against turbo cancer. His wife was sceptical and asked me, without me saying anything - might it have been triggered by the vaccine. I said I thought it could not be ruled out. I then learned from her that he took 4 and after each shot got a bad reaction - shingles! Very sad. How many times is this playing out around the world?
Exactly! I had Covid/flu symptoms for a few days, allowed the immune system to do its job, recovered. Once. Immune system updated, long term protection. Done.
Most jabbed people had it more than once. Sometimes really bad. Sometimes in the middle of the summer! Except smokers. Nicotine competes with the spike protein for certain receptors.
Even dr Fauci admits flu shots fail to induce mucosal immunity, which is what you need to fight a respiratory virus. Preferably in the mucosa of your UPPER respiratory organs. Jobbing your upper arm makes little sense. Fauci also admits they had such high hopes for the mRNA platform. Hopes. Alas...