Over the weekend, Lance Morrow had an opinion piece in the WSJ entitled: “You are Living in the Golden Age of Stupidity.”
Now while on first reading that may seem true, I’m sure that a lot of other people in different times and places felt like they were living in a golden age of stupidity. Indeed, golden ages of stupidity abound throughout human history. Barbara Tuchman wrote about such things in her book, The March of Folly. That book expanded on themes in her other books: A Distant Mirror and The Guns of August. I’m sure Voltaire thought he lived in a Golden Age of Stupidity. I bet Petrarch did, too. And Erasmus, who wrote his Encomium Moriae for Thomas More. I wonder what the Romans thought about the stupidity of the Roman who opened the gates for the Barbarians. Probably didn’t have too much time to think about that, though, I suppose. Like the poor, stupidity will always be with us. Gallipoli comes to mind.
But, I admit, I had a somewhat strange reaction to one group to which he attributed stupidity, and those are the vaccine-hesitant or the anti-vaxxers. He excoriates them mercilessly.
I am a physician. I practice full-time, seeing 20 to 30 patients a day and I am 71 years old. When the vaccine became available, I tried to be first in line to get it. I work and live in Georgia, where the vaccine rollout was about as smooth as the 2020 election. I called, I cajoled, and enquired. I could make an appointment at the health departments months down the line. I thought I was in a risk category that was to be vaccinated first!. It took me about two months to get the Moderna vaccine, at a nearby Publix at the end of January. I breathed a sigh of relief. Even after reading about all those ferrets that immediately succumbed to the ferret version of cytokine storm after being vaccinated for a ferret Covid virus, with no apparent ill effects until they were exposed to the virus. Then all of the vaccinated ferrets promptly diet. That was a number of years ago. That didn’t seem to occur with humans and the new mRNA vaccines. I was confident, I believed the science.
Yes, I still washed my hands before and after every patient. I wore a mask. I switched to telemedicine. We limited patient families to one member to assist the patient only if required. And so one, and etc. We were compliant with all of the recommendations. With the vaccine we would not get the virus, only later that proved to be not true. We could still get the virus, only it was less likely, and the illness would be less severe, and we would not die from the virus, only that wasn’t absolutely true either. Then the use of masks, which we were told wouldn’t be necessary after vaccination, were said to be necessary again.
Then I started to pay attention to the literature on such things as Ivermectin. I read the article (in Spanish, as I couldn’t find it in English) on the prospective study in Argentine on COVID prophylaxis for healthcare workers treating COVID patients, with small daily doses of ivermectin (and a karageenan nasal spray) that showed 100% efficacy in the treatment group, whereas 60% of the control group contracted COVID.
Now I see data coming out of other parts of the world that the Pfizer vaccine may provide efficacy for as little as three months in my age cohort, that the antibodies may fade quickly. I got a qualitative test for antibodies to the spike protein a month after I got the second dose of the Moderna vaccine and I definitely had antibodies then. It’s been six months since my second dose and I wonder if I still have antibodies, I think I’ll get tested again to see. If I don’t have antibodies, what shall I do? If the vaccine gives me protection for three or four months, I can’t see the point. The Regeneron dual monoclonal antibody cocktail has 80% efficacy at prevention, and those antibodies have a half-life of 30 days. With 4 half-lives required to get to pretty much complete disappearance, the Regeneron antibodies may last longer than the protection from the vaccines.
I’ve treated a number of patients with COVID with Ivermectin, and all of them were back to health within 48 hours. The number is small, but the repaid resolution of symptoms of all of the patients has floored me. I didn’t expect such quick and consistent results. Is that a placebo effect? If it is, I’ll take it. Nothing makes an impact like direct experience with something like that. Regardless of what Fauci says.
Now I am beginning to feel like a fool for having taken the vaccine. I think I’ll go with Ivermectin and chase it with the Regeneron cocktail if I catch the virus, or even have definite exposure.
At any rate, I’m starting to feel like I have contributed significantly to our Golden Age of Stupidity by taking the vaccine. And that those anti-vaxxers may turn out to be the geniuses among us.
Am I wrong?
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September 01, 2021 at 12:00AM
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