We know that President Donald Trump pressed health officials to approve convalescent plasma therapy so he could announce it on the eve of the Republican convention. Although this treatment might actually be helpful, its effectiveness was overstated by a President who lied to the public about Covid-19, the worst thing public officials can do in a pandemic.
So if a vaccine is announced, would you take it?
Although I have no trust in anything Trump says, I would take a vaccine if it were recommended by Dr. Anthony Faucci.
If Fauci says it's safe I'd be more likely to get it BUT I'd still prefer to wait a couple more months to see how things were going.
ReplyDeleteHonest answer is I don't know. With infection rates as low as they've been locally for months, I'd be inclined to wait. If you trust Faucci, do you trust his statements regarding the likely uselessness of masks? I wear one and am not picking a fight. But he's made more no mask statements than pro mask statements. He's also defended most of Trump's nuts and bolts decisions from the start of the virus. I kind of like the guy for his independence. But his more unguarded statements seem to generally defend Trump and call masks unhelpful unless symptomatic. It's difficult to discern the science from the political science, as you've diligently detailed here regarding Wolf's decisions vs the realities of the math he can't master. I think it's some of your best work and you'll receive no blogging awards for any of it because most media prefer to pretend the naked emperor is wearing clothes.
ReplyDeleteIt’s wrong to use this unfortunate medical situation as a political weapon to influence how people vote. Regardless, it is clear no one can be sure of most anything these days, so, I’ll choose to wait months before taking any such vaccine.
ReplyDeleteCNN Posted on this subject saying in part .. "On April 12, 1955 the government announced the first vaccine to protect kids against polio... More than 200,000 children got the polio vaccine... "Forty thousand kids got polio. Some had low levels, a couple hundred were left with paralysis, and about 10 died... 40 million people got vaccinated against swine flu, according to the CDC. That vaccination campaign was later linked to cases of a neurological disorder called Guillain-Barre syndrome,"
ReplyDeleteTherefore I'd be hesitant for the first year or so after it becomes available. It's similar to software updates. Programmers recommend to wait a week or two and see how it goes for others.
Trump - lied, denied, golfed and over 190,000 Americans have lost their lives! He's creating panic, fear and bigotry across our country. Are you confident in anything he says (tweets)?
ReplyDeleteForget writing. Computer graphics is your speciality.
ReplyDeleteVaccines are not live viruses usually. Side effects minimal. If clinical trials prove safe everyone should take it. If not to save yourself or your family. Take to save someone else's family. Those who say follow the science should trust the scientists and give up your politics for a moment to save lives. If you choose not to then pray you remain quarantined for you and everyone for the next year. It's pretty low that we use politics to scare people into not protecting fellow Americans. True hatred for trump should not interfere with doing the right thing. Just because we and our loved ones may still be alive doesn't guarantee the next wave won't kill someone close. Please do the right thing and get the vaccine and trust the science and ethics behind the process.
ReplyDeleteI agree on waiting a bit to see how a vaccine goes, and I'm high-risk for COVID. A recommendation by Trump means absolutely nothing to me.
ReplyDeleteBest to stay home and use the mask a little while longer. Tampers down the babbling among the restless freedom loving citizens. Policy can be thoroughly reviewed say around November 4th.
ReplyDeleteMaybe if Faucci takes it first
ReplyDeleteWhat many of your readers fail to acknowledge is how most of America views today’s unrest. Even those who dislike Trump, his personality is not what an average American fears most. Their greatest fear is the decline in Law and Order. For the vast majority of people, maybe more than 95%, Covid is survivable and requires a few days home at rest with some medication and monitoring.
ReplyDeleteOn the other hand, they sit home every day over the past several months and watch cities, neighborhoods, and now woodlands burn. Ruined by people thumbing their nose at any authority by law and common decency. They see innocent adults and children gunned down as state and city officials watch silently. An increasing number of neighborhoods not yet affected are now ‘arming-up’ and preparing for the spread of domestic terrorism. Not the spread of Covid. The societal safety of their family holds greater precedence than the slim chance of becoming ill.
People will vote for the most likely government to put down the insurrection by those heavily-funded groups who are currently doing their best to bring down America. Hope you have an opportunity to respond to these thoughts.
Well written. And true.
DeleteTrump is responsible for the 125 million American lives lost to Covid.
ReplyDeleteHow can anyone not support our former VP?
Biden 2020
When Trump wins the 2020 election by a landslide there will be an indefinite lock down of the USA.
ReplyDeleteHow is Trump responsible for any deaths is beyond me. You Ds always want to blame someone for everything that goes wrong in your life. Maybe you didn’t get the promotion you sought. Blame someone else. Little johnnie or Susie didn’t get a grade that you, yes you, worked so hard for in school. I’m sure you have someone to blame. You want your little johnnie to bat 4th on the baseball team and he doesn’t even know which end of the bat to hold. I am so tired of everyone gets a trophy just for participation mentality.
ReplyDeletePut on your big boy pants, buck up and take responsibility for yourself. Look at the numbers worldwide. You know what, you are right, I believe Trump caused the worldwide pandemic, blame him for that as well.
On a different rant, I object to the photo. I find it very negatively biased against people of Russian decent. Bernie, you aren’t WOKE to the plight of the Russian people and by trying to be funny it shows how prejudice you are. Just because we look a bit different, with greenish tint on our skin, you prejudge us to be stupid drunks. I’m offended.
The biggest decline in law and order that I see, apart from the general nonsense of Trump and his cronies, is the right-winders who show up to "counterdemonstrate" by waving guns and trying to intimidate--if not actually harm--those who are demonstrating against racism.
ReplyDeleteI refuse to support another Mussolini.
The Biden voters have been drinking the koolais like Jim Jones follower's. I will all you you drink first.
ReplyDeleteGive it to all the Blogger's first then wait!
ReplyDeleteExcuse me sir but this is a Wendy's and you currently are the president. Start by stop lying every time you open your mouth!
ReplyDeleteAgree with 8:44.
ReplyDeleteTrump is in a mad rush to get something (anything) pushed through before the election. The way he has been pressuring agencies, I wouldn't take it. Quality control will probably be lax to increase production. Will there be another problem with the vaccine that appears months after having taken it?
Trump will tell us all it is perfectly safe for everyone, even if he was informed of a potential problem with a small percentage of the population who take it. I wouldn't trust anything the proven Liar-In-Chief tells me.
His right-wing, gun-toting, Trump flag waving, white supremacist base can be the guinea pigs.
If you really believe the big pharma and the scientists would push a drug before it was ready then you have general trust issues. I am so tired of everything being about the hatred of our President. This isn't about the President...but you will never be able to see that. Your hatred blinds you.
ReplyDeleteNo vaccine is going to be approved because of pressure from trump. What has been done is the process has been expedited, so that in each step it is not laying on some bureaucrats desk for weeks between steps in the process. This also is being done in other regulatory processes.
ReplyDeleteI, even though older, will not get this vaccine until much later, if ever, not because of Trump, not because of a fear of vaccines, but just a little caution until I feel it is truly in my best interest.
9.14, this is just anther stupid political statement, without any merit.
ReplyDelete8.44, you are way off topic and need to get help.
ReplyDelete"I'm high-risk for COVID ..."
ReplyDeleteNo, you're not. This is an important point. Susceptibility and outcome once infected are two completely different things. You may be at higher risk of death should you contract CoViD because you have a comorbidity or comorbidities. You are no more likely to become infected than anyone else. Current infection rates show the virus is largely gone (at least for the time being) from this area. You are more likely to contract three dozen other potentially deadly diseases. Relax. Breathe. Science. Math. Always wash your hands.
At least covid has eradicated the common cold and seasonal flu of the past. It's now all covid, all the time! Also, given the democRAT party's historic efforts in the areas of abortion and euthanasia, we can look forward to reducing population growth and over time, eliminating the human race from the planet. Slow joe can do it!
ReplyDeleteI find this whole debate a bit ridiculous. On one hand, we are supposed to be pessimistic because there won't be enough vaccine for everyone. On the other hand, we are supposed to be pessimistic because people won't trust a vaccine that comes out quickly. In a lot of ways don't the two issues kind of balance themselves out for at least a period after the vaccination becomes available? There will be limited demand in the beginning for the vaccine as the "early adaptors" will be those in high risk settings who decide the risk of the vaccine is worth it for them. This period will allow more time for confidence to build and eventually more people will decide to be vaccinated. This should correspond with increased supplies.
ReplyDeleteBy the way, Bernie, I'm a bit surprised that you allowed such an obviously inaccurate misstatement as that made by Anonymous on September 13, 2020 at 1:43 PM to remain up on your website. "125 million Americans killed by COVID-19" is about 640x the current number of about 194,000, and about 20x more than the total US cases to date. I realize you're not the "fact checking police", but you usually do a pretty good job of calling out BS, and that comment definitely shows some blatant bias in light of the Biden commercial included with it.
I thought the comment was sarcasm from a Trump supporter.
ReplyDeleteLet’s suppose that Trump announces before Election Day that a vaccine is ready for use.
ReplyDeleteHave him take it first.
If he doesn’t get sick or doesn’t die, then maybe I’d consider taking it. Provided, of course, that there are no serious side effects.
If a vaccine was proven to be safe and effective, it would be worth my while to take it. I have several health problems, one of which the CDC rates as “severe.”
Incidentally there is a precedent for a president being inoculated with a vaccine to demonstrate to the American public that it was safe and effective. President Ford rushed out a vaccine for the swine flu in 1976, a few months before Election Day. It was a fiasco. About 450 people developed paralysis (I believe it was Guillain-Barré). The mass vaccination ended immediately. Ford survived.
Frank Baran