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Vaccination as 'Civil Duty'?

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The South African Philately Club Good wishes you good Health and Happy Hunting in 2022.

There has been a suggestion that perhaps I should keep politics out of my articles and displays on the South African Philately Club. The thing is, I like to write about South African history ('politics' to many) and illustrate it with postal history, stamps and ephemera. I believe that postal history without a social context is irrelevant. So, I am going to continue to do what I do while welcoming the rest of you to do what you do. Your comments are always welcome.

For the last two years the biggest issue in our lives has been Covid. Is it possible to have a discussion about it?

We follow the lead of experts and dutifully do as we are told because we believe we are being given the best advice. That being the case, we should be able to freely talk about it. Sadly, that is not the case. Much of what has happened and why is hidden from us. Today, open debate has been largely cancelled in the media, which only promotes an approved narrative. Those with alternative dissenting views, be they doctors or other experts, are denied a platform on mainstream media, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, etc. This censorship makes it easy to imagine a conspiracy. The fundamental cause of a belief in a Covid conspiracy is the failure to allow a debate and discuss all points of view.

'Science' once meant that a subject was debated and tested until the best possible understanding was reached. However, what we have today is 'The Science' which excludes all dissenting opinions. Challenge an opinion and you have selective science chucked at you - 'The Science of Climate Change', 'The Science of Covid'. The latter is invariably blinkered if not blind support for the one-sided vaccination agenda of government, Big Pharma and Big Tech. I am not a conspiracy theorist, (nor am I an anti-vaxxer), but it is easy to see, if you are not blinkered or blind, why so many South Africans refuse to be vaccinated given the clampdown on anyone with disagreeable opinions or observations.

Late last year I received an emailed PDF copy of the South African Philatelist (December 2021) from André du Plessis RDPSA, Chief Operating Officer of the PFSA (Philatelic Federation of South Africa). Writing in 'Federation News, he advises "Please encourage and motivate anyone you know who has not had the vaccine to do their civil duty and go and have the vaccine." Like me with my version of history, the PFSA has its own take on the Covid-19 pandemic. That's fine if we can openly discuss it but bringing in 'civil duty' as conformity is, I fear, 'The Science' talking, rather than scientific data.

The PFSA's accompanying message states that "The pandemic will still be with us in 2022 ..... To survive, let us accept and deal with these challenges in a positive manner. We at PFSA urge our members and readers to follow all COVID-19 protocols and to be vaccinated. Please also encourage and motivate anyone you know who has not been vaccinated. This is our best defence against infection and transmission of the virus ... and to beat it."

Unfortunately, the PFSA's advice that vaccination is "our best defence against infection and transmission of the virus" is wrong. It is a popular misconception unsupported by medical evidence. We have known for almost a year that vaccination does neither of those things. Among others, the UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson and Bill Gates, ex-Microsoft vaccine proponent, have both said on video that the vaccine does not prevent re-infection and the consequent transmission of the virus.

This is confirmed by the Lancet medical journal, (Nov. 2021), "Covid-19: Stigmatising the unvaccinated is not justified" which says "there is increasing evidence that vaccinated individuals continue to have a relevant role in transmission. In Massachusetts, USA, a total of 469 new Covid-19 cases were detected during various events in July 2021, and 346 (74%) of these cases were in people who were fully or partly vaccinated....". That is just a fraction of the emerging evidence. In addition, many of us now know people who have been vaccinated and who have then subsequently caught Covid.

The PFSA's call to "civil duty" suggests that you should get vaccinated in order to protect others. We know the vaccine does not do this. The only reason to get vaccinated is to limit the damage Covid-19 can do to you. A vaccination may reduce the effect of the virus when you contract it and, depending on your age and health, possibly prevent you from being hospitalised. But being vaccinated will not prevent you from catching Covid-19 or a variant again, nor from transmitting it.

While the vaccines have been approved, they remain on an emergency use or temporary licence. There are no long term studies on their safety. Worryingly, reports are emerging about various side effects, such as the risk of myocarditis in young men and menstrual problems in women. We do not yet know what the long-term consequences of these side effects will be. Surely it is one's civil duty NOT to encourage people who are unlikely to become seriously ill from the disease to take the unknown risk of these vaccinations, despite what governments, Big Pharma and Big Tech say about them being 'safe and effective'. This is particularly true for children and pregnant women.

In a time of pandemic it should be the civil duty of all who are in a position of power and influence to fully understand a subject before commenting on it. I am all for civil duty based on a foundation of freedom of speech and critical debate. But when the concept of 'civil duty' is invoked based on one-sided half-truths, ignorance and fear, there is the great risk of losing our freedoms to a tyranny. We need to be very cautious about the advice we offer. Everyone should have the right to an informed choice. Only on the basis of open debate can we do our civil duty.

If anyone wishes to comment on any aspect of this, you are invited to post your comments below. If you are going to quote statistics, please provide a reference, some links or evidence that will support your claims.

I thought this was an excellent article. The sender wishes to remain anonymous. That says a lot!

 
What follows below is an extract:
 
"Concretely, some of the big things I’m concerned by are:

  1. The decoupling of our Covid policies from the body of evidence. A few obvious policies that do not have clear scientific backing include:
    1. The lack of acknowledgement of natural immunity for many “immunity passport” systems.
    2. Travel restrictions and quarantines when the virus or variant is already spreading locally.
    3. The use of cloth masks on very young children in the US.
    4. Vaccine mandates for anyone who’s risk of a serious Covid outcome approaches zero, including young children and previously-infected young adults.
    5. Any vaccine mandates which are justified as stopping or slowing the spread of disease in the face of Omicron.
  2. The vast degree of censorship happening on our big tech platforms for credible experts who take non-consensus opinions. We should always be debating the science, not shutting down science we disagree with.
  3. The casual “othering” of the unvaccinated, and casual dismissal into their right to choose what to put into their body and freedom to live their lives in society.
  4. The slow drift into authoritarian behavior in some places (Austria, Germany, and Australia, to name a few)

If you’re also concerned about any of these things, but have kept silent to date, now is the time to speak up. Without your voice things aren’t going to change. Have a conversation on these topics with a friend."

Bas PAYNE has reacted to this post.
Bas PAYNE

I disagree with this post.

This is and should be a philately website - and there is nothing philatelic in this post.  For this reason I hesitate to reply.  But I feel that it's important that the other side of the argument is not left unsaid.

Speaking from a UK perspective, it's sad to see the damage that has been done and is being done by anti-vaxxers.   Yes, it's true that vaccination sometimes has side-effects, and these can be very damaging - but the risks from not being vaccinated are much higher for most people;  and yes, it's  true that being vaccinated doesn't stop you getting Covid or passing it on; but if you are vaccinated and get Covid, you are much less likely to get it badly, and much less likely to die from it.     The much more important reality now in the UK is that the damage that Covid is doing at the moment by delaying urgent medical treatment in our hospitals for other conditions.  There are now about 6 million people waiting for "routine" treatment for other conditions, and suffering and dying as a result.  I'm not suggesting that this backlog would disappear if everyone got vaccinated, nor am I suggesting that vaccination should be compulsory;  but those who choose not to be vaccinated should realise that their choice harms others.

 

steveiow has reacted to this post.
steveiow

Thank you for your reply despite your reservations about this not being a philatelic matter. I disagree.

This website was started during the Covid-19 pandemic in order that collectors of South African philately in lockdown could have a global on-line meeting place. This post was started because the PFSA (Philatelic Federation of South Africa) told philatelists to get vaccinated on the basis that it prevents transmission and re-infection. We now know that the vaccine does not do that. I could not in good conscience allow their misleading statement to go unchallenged.

I am not an 'anti-vaxxer', whatever that is. I have been vaccinated many times before but I am not getting vaccinated now. I am lucky! I have had Covid without requiring hospitalisation. Recently I had a mild dose of Omicron to update my natural immunity (your Booster). By all means get vaccinated. You must do what you think is right for you. I will not stand in your way. I do not say "you must not have it" the way pro-vaxxers demand I must get vaccinated. All I ask is that you to respect my right to say "No thank you!" on the basis of having had Covid and having acquired natural immunity as a consequence - and because no-one has yet provided a clear, convincing argument, moral, scientific or otherwise, why the naturally immune must get jabbed.

I reject any suggestion that it is the unvaccinated /naturally immune requiring hospital treatment for Covid who are taking up beds, thereby preventing the Covid pandemic's long-delayed treatment to a backlog of some 6m people to proceed. This suggestion is part of a co-ordinated and scurrilous Government propaganda drive to demonise the unvaccinated. (The Government is currently Britain's biggest advertiser.) The Government's own data (December 2021) shows that there were just under 10,000 Covid hospital admissions in England in December, comprising 4056 unvaccinated and 5791 who had had at least one vaccination. These 4056 unvaccinated patients average at just 4.7 beds in each of England's 875 hospitals for the entire month of December, hardly a crisis.

Government figures define a hospital admission as 'Covid' if the person is "within 28 days of a positive test". So, if you tested positive for Covid 27 days ago and had to be admitted to hospital today after being run down by a bus, you would be counted as a Covid admission! It is not known how many of the 4056 unvaccinated Covid admissions in the December report required treatment for Covid. This data failure has long been used by government to exaggerate the Covid admissions figure. Sajid Javid, the Health Secretary, has now admitted as much. "High Covid death rates skewed by people who died from other causes", (The Telegraph. 19th January 2022).

Regarding 'the damage done!', you are right, 'choice harms others'. Parliament chose to allow pandemic policy to proceed without opposition or proper scrutiny. This policy has now cost the country nearly £400 billion (R8 trillion). (The British people have also paid in other ways that cannot be counted in money.) By December 2021 the number of dead with Covid was 153,000 deaths (within 28 days of a positive Covid test) or 174,000 deaths (with Covid-19 on the death certificate). The 'reality' is that the number of healthy people who died only from Covid ie. without any other underlying conditions, is 17,371 (February 2020 to December 2021, Office of National Statistics), an average of about 900 pm, about half the average for annual winter flu. Given the high all causes Covid death toll, this lost vast sum of national treasure has served no good purpose. There were other better ways to have dealt with this crisis rather than authoritarian bullying. These choices by Government and Parliament will have political consequences, good or bad.

We are not as far apart as you suggest ....  

I'll try to keep this short - I still think it's best for a philately website to concentrate on philately ...  but it's your website ....  

I'm not advocating compulsory vaccination - and you are of course right that the protection you have from having had Covid is almost certainly better than the protection you would have if you hadn't had Covid and had chosen to be vaccinated.  

Nor would I defend the Government's record on Covid - huge amounts of money have been wasted, and a lot of unnecessary economic and social damage has been done.  And you are right that the Government has been manipulating the numbers (what a surprise!), and right that ONS figures tell a more reliable story (we are one of the sample households ...)

But .... I'm inclined to believe the figures that say that a high proportion of UK adults are vaccinated, but that a majority of those in intensive care with Covid are unvaccinated; and that this increases pressure on the NHS and means that more people with cancer and unreplaced hips have to wait longer than they should.

 

 

 

I continue to disagree that the 'unvaccinated' are clogging up NHS beds. Let's see what the January figures say.

However, I agree .... let's keep this short. I spent weeks writing an article about my Covid experience - and it is still not finished. If I wanted I could now research the papers that suggest being naturally immune is better than being vaccinated and or better than having had Covid and being vaccinated. There are also reports that suggest that those who have been vaccinated are now suffering the worst effects of Covid and that the vaccine looks likely to provide no long-term immunity. We will have to see. I could research it all but then where will I be?

My article was certainly too long to use here. It went through many drafts and two final versions before new information made me update it and thereby delay things. There's always new information. Ultimately I canned my article - it is almost a 30 minute read - and put up the previous post for the sake of brevity and my sanity. I have at the same time been really busy philatelically. This post has been a huge distraction at a time when I can't afford to waste any time. However, you gave me a lot to think about - thank you! - and the consequent writing of what has become my Covid mainfesto may one day go up as a long PDF article. You're right. It's not philatelly and its not worth being put up here unless someone has a strong interest in the subject and a desire to re-live what most of us want to forget. Personally, I am tired of it. You are also right that we have much in common.  From my side, I am bitterly disappointed in Parliament in the first instance and the Government in the second and fear where this will lead.

Back to basics. I forgot to thank you for sending me the modern RSA used. Many thanks. My old boy is pleased.

The Pro and Anti-Vacciantion Lockdown argument is hotting up. How is it that with such a majority of people vaccinated there appears to be growing resistance to the authoritarian vaccine mandate?

Here are a few things that have happened recently in no particular order.

PFIZER BOSS BOURLA SPEAKS

Speaking to CNBC's 'Squawk Box". Pfizer Chairman and CEO, Albert Bourla, described the company's future plans for vaccine development. He said ".... we believe that there's a very high probability of delivering a solution to an unmet need not because the curent vaccines are not very effective, but they are (sic) don't have the safety profile that we hope to achieve with this technology".

Bourla, a veterinarian, is suggesting two things about a vaccine described by its proponents as "safe and effective".

First the CEO of Pfizer is indicating that the vaccines are not very effective, something we already know. Secondly, he is suggesting that they are not as safe as they should be. We are starting to learn this, indeed some would argue that we already know this.

I believe the MRNA technology used in the Pfizer vaccine was never used on humans before the advent of the Covid-19 pandemic. The reason for this was because of fears about its safety. As a result, before Pfizer would release what was still an untested Covid-19 vaccine based on MRNA technology, it demanded from all governments who received their vaccine an indemnity from prosection should problems arise from the vaccine at some future stage. So, don't blame Big Pharma. Blame your Government / Compliant Parliament!

Consultant Anaesthetist Steve James

This happened some time ago. Sky News was following Sajid Javid, the Minister of Health, at King's College Hospital, London, where he was asking nurses about their vaccine status and the fact that they will soon lose their jobs if not vaccinated. The nurses were embarrassed and non-communicative. Consultant Anaesthetist Steve James then chipped in. He told Javid that he was against the government making it mandatory for NHS staff to be vaccinated and denied that Covid was causing "very significant problems" for young people. Smith said that he had had the virus which meant that he had antibodies against it. He wanted to see the government recognise that people who were naturally immune were treated as if they were vaccinated. He was angry at the possibility of being dismissed by the government's decision to force vaccines on hospital staff. "The science isn't strong enough", he told Javid who disagreed and waffled uncomfortably. Unsurprisingly, Javid failed to give the doctor a medical or scientific reason to get vaccinated.

Dr Simon Fox

NHS consultant Dr Simon Fox could be sacked under Sajid Javid's 'no jab no job' policy for NHS frontline staff.

"Given I've had the infection and worked with patients with Covid for two years, I can hand-on-heart say I'm as immune as anyone else can claim to be," Dr Fox said in an interview with Julia Hartley-Brewer on talkRADIO.

CANADA

The ultra-woke pro-Big Pharma vaccine manadating authoritarian Prime Minister of Canada, Justin Trudeau, has gone into hiding. Well, he says he is self isolating after he was exposed to Covid-19 and is following Ottawa Public Health's guidelines and staying home. Let's be clear. He tested NEGATIVE for Covid but he is self-isolating! What has become of Canada and the Western World?

"I feel fine and will be working from home," he tweeted. "Stay safe, everyone — and please get vaccinated."

CANADIAN RESISTANCE KEEPS ON TRUCKING

Trudeau's isolation means he will be in self-isolation when 50,000 protesting Canadian truckers arrive in Ottawa, the capital, on Saturday. The 75 mile long 'Freedom Convoy' protest, the biggest in world history, is organized by Canada Unity, a group that opposes Covid-19-related measures. Its organisers want Trudeau to drop the vaccine mandate for truckers crossing the Canada-US border and to do away with other public health protections. Thousands are turning out in the cold to wave flags and encourage the truckers' subversion.

Some unkindly suggest that Trudeau's self-isolation is him running scared and hiding out. He doesn't want to be there when 50,000 truckers arrive in Ottawa angry and opposed to his minority leadership. Still, let's allow Trudeau to have the last word. He says his party wants to work for families, health care workers and "truckers and farmers who put food on our tables."

SOUTH AFRICA

The tragic fact is that the anti-Covid measures, from lockdowns to masks to even vaccine mandates, have done little to nothing to curb the spread of this highly contagious respiratory virus, and taken as a whole they’ve likely done more harm than good.

"I take no pleasure in pointing this out. Truly, I wish something HAD worked. If so, we wouldn’t be talking about this two years in. But alas, the only thing that’s working is viral attenuation and Omicron infecting everything it touches, regardless of masking or vaccine status. It’s not that these vaccines don’t have their uses. If someone is at high risk for a bad outcome from Covid, taking the “jab” and even endless boosters could be a smart move. But we were promised something else a year ago, weren’t we? “Take the shot,” we were told, “and you can live a normal life free of masks and restrictions.” That promise, like so many others, has been broken and memory-holed, relegated to the dustbin of so many other Faucian ‘noble lies.’" Read the full article here.

I discovered John Mayall & the Bluesbreakers when I was about 16 in South Africa. John Mayall was probably the most influential musician in Britain at the time, giving work and encouragement to Jeff Beck, Mick Fleetwood, John McVie, Peter Green and Eric Clapton, among many other greats. Ultimately, old 'Slow Hand" Eric Clapton would become 'God', the world's greatest guitarist. Eric believes that being vaccinated twice resulted in the loss of feeling in his hands
 
Today Eric along with Van 'No More Lockdown' Morrison lead British music's resistance to Covid authoritarianism. It is difficult to imagine two more influential senior figures in the British music industry today. The following article "Clapton speaks out: "I'm cut from the cloth where if you tell me I can't do something, I really wanna know why I can't do it" is on Eric's stance on Covid. BTW, he's vaccinated and believes that his health has been damaged by two AstraZeneca vaccinations.
 

NEIL YOUNG

I include Neil here to provide some objectivity, something the pro-vaxxer cancel-culture argument seldom accords this debate.

For what it's worth, Neil was another hero of mine when I was a teenager. From Buffalo Springfield  to After the Gold Rush's "look at Mother Nature on the run in the 1970s", Cowgirl in the Sand, Star of Bethlehem and CSN&Y, Neil's Californian music was more important to me than the Beatles and the Rolling Stones.

So, I was disappointed to see his support for pro-vaxxer agenda of Big Pharma, Trudeau and Biden. (What disappointments they've turned out to be!) I thought Neil was bigger than that. But apparently not. When Spotify aired the Joe Rogan Show it contained anti-vax statements Neil disagreed with. He gave Spotify an ultimatum - one of us goes, either my music or Joe Rogan's show. Spotify chose Joe Rogan. This is really a sad for me because on reflection the life Neil lived suggests he should be standing up for the rights and liberty of the individul against Big Government and Big Pharma. He should be playing alongside Clapton and Morrison. Neil's apologists suggest that his experience of polio as a child lies behind his pro-vaxxer critciism of Joe Rogan, America's most popular talk show podcaster. Neil recently sold the rights to his music catalogue for reportedly $150m. As he no longer owns his music, he has nothing left to lose.

Joni Mitchell, Neil's ex-Muse, the greatest female singer songwriter of my time, has come out in support of him against Joe Rogan. I find it profoundly sad and worrying that people whose lives and lyrics once inspired the counter culture generation now support authoritarian Big Government and Big Pharma, the first whose statements do not hold up to criticial scrutiny  and the second whose vaccine product is clearly not "safe and effective". To quote Joni, "you don't know what you got till its gone!" Yeah, I finally lost my hippy, trippy naievity!

SWEDEN
Sweden has decided against recommending Covid-19 vaccines for kids aged 5 to 11. The benefits do not outweigh the risks, the Health Agency argued.

EU
A Member of the European Parliament, Mislav Kolakusic MEP has tweeted that "It is scandalous that thousands of professors, doctors and experts were effectively silenced during the pandemic, and at the same time we hear and read nonsense about the pandemic every day by a person who became famous by assembling computers in his garage."

RED WINE

Encouragingly, red wine could help stave off Covid, according to new research. Fortunately, I have been drinking quite a lot of the stuff for some time. I am an alcoholic paradigm of Covid fighting virtue drinking half a bottle of red wine (that's four glasses to the uninitiated) everyday. So, when I caught Covid I was better prepared for it than most, certainly your average wishy-washy beerdrinker. Apparently, people who drink more than five glasses of red wine a week had a 17 per cent lower risk of catching the virus. Experts believe this is due to the polyphenol content, which can inhibit the effect of viruses such as flu and respiratory tract-related infections. White wine drinkers who consume between one to four glasses a week had an eight per cent lower risk of catching the virus compared with non-drinkers. According to the research, beer and cider drinkers have a near 28 per cent higher chance of contracting virus. 

As I caught Covid, drinking red wine clearly failed to protect me from being infected. But hey, what's life about if there is not a glass or four of wine to be enjoyed at the end of the day! I'll raise a glass tonight to the end of this national stupidity. Cheers.

The Daily Sceptic (Question Everything, Stay Sane. Live Free.)

https://dailysceptic.org/

Vaccine Effectiveness Against Death Falls to Zero or Below, UKHSA Data Suggest.

The negative vaccine effectiveness data for those receiving two doses is particularly concerning. British data suggests that in those aged 40-59 there are four times as many infections than in the unvaccinated.

MPs Launch Investigation into Government Covid Propaganda After Psychologists Criticise Nudge Unit For “Grossly Unethical Tactics” of Fear

The British Government’s “grossly unethical” use of its “nudge unit” stoked fear among the public during the pandemic, psychologists have said – prompting MPs to launch an investigation into the Government’s Covid propaganda. The Telegraph has the story.

“Mandatory jabs put NHS services at risk, says boss”

 The policy of compulsory jabs for NHS staff poses “a real element of risk” to services, the leader of the health service in England has said, reports the Times.

The government's strategy is brilliantly simple - fire 100,000 unvaccinated NHS staff to safeguard and speed up "the safe and efficient" (sound familiar? ) delivery of treament to 6m patients, 50,000 of whom are now expected to die of cancer due to two years of lockdown delays. You can hear the spin doctors at work. "We need to blame someone. I know, let's blame the unvaccinated."

“We’ll fight mandatory Covid vaccines in the courts, say NHS staff facing sack”

Medics warn compulsory jabs are unlawful and force health workers to “give away their bodily autonomy”, according to a legal challenge being brought by Dr. Steve James, Dr. Helen Westwood and others, reports the Telegraph.

“Macron’s divisive Covid strategy has categorically failed”

Sky-high case numbers in France prove ‘pissing off the unvaccinated’ is as pointless as it is unpleasant, writes Naomi Firsht in the Telegraph. YEAH! I am unvaccinated and pretty pissed-off myself. I am going to use this website to make life as unpleasant as possible for all who express half-baked pro-vaxxer statements that are not corroborated by solid scientific facts. 

“‘Government Overreach Is Coming to an End’: Massive Truck Convoy Heading to Washington After Ottawa”

American truckers protesting against vaccine mandates and Government overreach have been joining the record-breaking Canadian convoy and heading to the capital, reports Breitbart News. Coverage also in the Mail.

“W.H.O. Backs Neil Young Against Joe Rogan: Demands End to ‘Infodemic’”

World Health Organisation Chief Tedros backs Neil Young in his stand-off with podcaster Joe Rogan and Spotify, reports Breitbart News. I have to end on this one. The WHO has been central to the lies of governments worldwide. It has been hugely complicit in the promotion of misinformation about the spurious benfits of vaccination. And now it has the hypocritical temerity to denounce the spread of opposing  information. Dear Pot.....

The BBC

There is very little about any of this on the BBC (Biased Broadcasting Corporation) except where and when it can be spun to support the pro-vaccination narrative. The BBC has failed the British people by not being impartial and objective in its coverage and news reports. It has failed to ask uncomfortable questions of Parliament and Government. It has allowed itself to be used as a medium for Government Covid Propaganda. It has played a part in creating Covid fear and pandemic panic. Why do you continue to pay your Licence Fee?

BREAKING NEWS

HOSPITAL ADMISSIONS ON THE RISE FOR THE VACCINATED

Previously, I disagreed that the 'unvaccinated' are clogging up NHS beds. Here are the January 2022 figures

In order to put my assertion into perspective, we previously looked at the number of emergency hospital admissions who were vaccinated and the number who were unvaccinated. Using the government's Vaccine Surveillance Report for Week 52 2021, we found that there had been 9847 hospital admissions within 28 days of a positive covid test of which 4056 (41.2%) were unvaccinated and 5791 (58.8%) were vaccinated (at least one dose). We calculated that the unvaccinated comprised about 4.7 people per hospital in England during December - probably not enough to make any difference to the backlog!

The latest Vaccine Surveillance Report for Week 4 2022 is now available. Its data is now presented differently to last year. The reason for doing so is believed to be an attempt to hide the massive failure of the vaccine. We will attempt to provide some proof of this later.

The Vaccine Surveillance Report for Week 4 2022 shows that there have been 16084 admissions within 28 days of a positive Covid test of which 4807 (29.9%) are unvaccinated and 11277 (70.1%) are vaccinated (at least one dose). Compared to Week 52 2021, we can see that the numbers of vaccinated and unvaccinated admissions rose in Week 4 2022 and that the vaccinated admissions rose most of all, almost doubling

The same Report states that the overall vaccine uptake in England for at least one dose has been 69% (two doses 63.9%, three doses 49.0%). In other words, the proportion of vaccinated admissions (70.1%) is very nearly the same as the proportion of vaccinated people (69%). We can therefore conclude that based on this data, vaccination status has NO EFFECT AT ALL on whether one is hospitalised or not within 28 days of a positive Covid test.

Notes:
* Hospital admissions are within 28 days of Covid test. So the admissions - both vaccinated and unvaccinated - may not have had Covid. They could have been run over by a bus.

* The population of England is disputed. Depending on the population estimate used you would get different percentages of vaccinated / unvaccinated.

* We looked at the population as a whole, not at different age groups.

* UK Health Security Agency, COVID-19 vaccine surveillance report
Week 52 (December 2021) and Week 4 (January 2022)

I have just been emailed some sort of proof that vaccination does not protect the vaccinated from re-infection.

I assume the following gentlemen are all double vaccinated and boosted, as per the requirements in their country. (If they are not vaccinated, why not?) That they fear for their staff (who are presumably also vaccinated up to the hilt) and will not travel to London to attend the LONDON 2022 International Exhibition tells you all you need to know about their views on the efficacy of the vaccine. It does not prevent re-infection!

They emailed the following:

"Due to worldwide COVID 19 conditions, the Global Philatelic Network companies, H.R. Harmer, Corinphila, Heinrich Köhler, and John Bull, have cancelled their participation in the LONDON 2022 international exhibition. The joint exhibition stand at LONDON 2022 will not be staffed. 

However, depending on COVID 19 travel regulations, we plan to visit London during the exhibition from February 19th - 26th. If you would like to meet us for a one-on-one discussion, please contact us at any time between now and the exhibition.

We value the health and safety of our staff above all else and, therefore, feel this is a necessary decision given the current rise in cases. We very much regret this cancellation, as we were looking forward to seeing many collectors and friends again from all over the world. 

If you have any questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to reach out. 

Sincerely,

Charles Epting
Dieter Michelson
Karl Louis".

 

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