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Covid-19, 3 years in.

Now that we are officially moving into our third year of the coronavirus pandemic, the opportunity to look back into covid-19 management is easier than predicting the future course of the disease.  As they say, hind sight is 20/20.  I recently came across a document that I found very interesting.  The Great Barrington Declaration was published on October 4th 2020.  It was co-written by 3 authors.  Dr. Martin Kulldorff, professor of medicine at Harvard University, a biostatistician, and epidemiologist with expertise in detecting and monitoring infectious disease outbreaks and vaccine safety evaluations.  Dr. Sunetra Gupta, professor at Oxford University, an epidemiologist with expertise in immunology, vaccine development, and mathematical modeling of infectious diseases.  Dr. Jay Bhattacharya, professor at Stanford University Medical School, a physician, epidemiologist, health economist, and public health policy expert focusing on infectious diseases and vulnerable populations.  The document was initially co-signed by 48 of some of the most prestigious medical doctors, professors and scientists representing renown universities and institutions from around the world.  One co-signer, Dr. Michael Levitt is a biophysicist and professor of structural biology at Stanford University, USA and a recipient of the 2013 Nobel Prize in Chemistry.  Harvard, Oxford, Duke, Stanford, Tufts, Yale, Cambridge were all universities listed many times for where these experts came from.  This was by no means a list of unqualified people.  Since its publication, the document has been signed by over 920,000 medical practitioners and scientists. 

 

The basic premise of the Barrington Declaration statement was advocating an alternative approach to the COVID-19 pandemic which involved "Focused Protection" of those most at risk and seek to avoid or minimize the societal harm of COVID-19 lockdowns.  The document’s main highlights for me were this:  ”We know that vulnerability to death from COVID-19 is more than a thousand-fold higher in the old and infirm than the young. Indeed, for children, COVID-19 is less dangerous than many other harms, including influenza. Adopting measures to protect the vulnerable should be the central aim of public health responses to COVID-19. By way of example, nursing homes should use staff with acquired immunity and perform frequent testing of other staff and all visitors. Staff rotation should be minimized. Retired people living at home should have groceries and other essentials delivered to their home. When possible, they should meet family members outside rather than inside. A comprehensive and detailed list of measures, including approaches to multi-generational households, can be implemented, and is well within the scope and capability of public health professionals. Those who are not vulnerable should immediately be allowed to resume life as normal. Simple hygiene measures, such as hand washing and staying home when sick should be practiced by everyone to reduce the herd immunity threshold. Schools and universities should be open for in-person teaching. Extracurricular activities, such as sports, should be resumed. Young low-risk adults should work normally, rather than from home. Restaurants and other businesses should open. Arts, music, sport and other cultural activities should resume. People who are more at risk may participate if they wish, while society as a whole enjoys the protection conferred upon the vulnerable by those who have built up herd immunity.”

 

Despite the credentials of the authors and it’s co-signers, the document has its fair share of critics who felt that general public lockdowns, overall mask mandates and mass vaccinations should be the preferred approach to managing the pandemic and that the path to herd immunity was an irresponsible approach.  Three years into the pandemic, we know what approach the majority of countries took towards this virus.  Once the Barrington Declaration was drafted and shared, it was basically ignored by leading public health officials.  Only time and history will tell if the approach that was taken was the most effective way of handling the management of this virus.

 

Covid-19 News:  A freedom of information act request surmised that the deaths from covid-19 in England and Wales were over reported.  If a patient had a positive covid-19 test within 28 days of dying, they were listed as a covid-19 death.  The 137,000 deaths reported on between January 2020 and September 2021 was actually 17,371 when covid-19 was the sole cause.  Of those deaths, 13,597 were over the age of 65 and the average age of death was 82.5 years old.  The England and Wales office of National Statistics responded to the publication of this request by stating that “There is a huge range of pre-existing conditions that can be listed on the death certificate, from heart disease and cancers, to obesity and heart arrhythmias. For the more than 140,000 deaths that were due to COVID-19, it has been determined that COVID-19 was the underlying cause of death, as opposed to one of these pre-existing conditions.  We distinguish between deaths that are “due to COVID-19” and those “involving COVID-19” to provide the most comprehensive information on the impact of the disease on mortality.”

 

Sadly:  Sen. Mike Crapo from Idaho, a major recipient of pharmaceutical and insurance industry donations, on Thursday blocked an attempt by Sen. Bernie Sanders to force a vote on the Cutting Medicare Prescription Drug Prices in Half Act, a bill that would slash prescription drug prices.

 

Covid-19 Vaccine and Children Info:  In clinical trials, 2 shots of the Pfizer vaccine did not induce an adequate immune response in children 2 to 4 years old.  Pfizer has since decided to delay applying for emergency use authorization as the data is not in yet on whether 3 doses of the vaccine will produce the desired immune response.  In direct contradiction of the vaccine, many health agencies, scientists and medical doctors from around the world feel that the vaccine is not necessary for children, that the risk of the vaccine far outweighs the benefit.  Multiple studies show that children have a stronger innate immune response in the upper respiratory tract that prevents viral replication early on. They go on to say that this may explain why children are also far less likely to contribute to disease transmission.  CDC data indicate deaths among children make up a fraction of a percentage of those who have died from COVID.  A study by Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore showed a mortality rate of zero among 48,000 children without preexisting conditions and a large covid study conducted in Germany found the case fatality rate among children is three out of a million, and zero deaths occurred in children under five.  As you will see below, adverse events following Pfizer’s COVID vaccines for children in two age groups continues to accumulate.

 

Vaccine Informed Consent Information:   Informed consent means that the person to be vaccinated has to be informed about all the risks, the risk benefit ratios, the potential dangers and what is known about side effects. For example, informed consent takes place in all drug advertising.  Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System data released 2/04/21 by the CDC showed a total of 1,103,893 adverse vaccine reactions reported from all age groups following COVID vaccines, including 23,615 deaths. Serious injuries reported in this time period totaled 188,135. New Data for 5 to 11 years olds:  7,724 reported adverse reactions, 170 reported as serious, 3 deaths.  This week’s data for 12- to 17-year-olds show 28,793 total adverse events, including 1,651 rated as serious and 38 reported deaths among 12- to 17-year-olds.  Severe reactions in all age groups of anaphylaxis include 2,316 people, 3,950 reports of myocarditis and 12,981 reports of blood clotting disorders and 1576 heart attacks.  This week’s data for pregnancy /prenatal vaccination shows pregnant women had over 5038 adverse events reported including 1,576 reports of miscarriage or premature birth.  VAERS is the primary government-funded system for reporting adverse vaccine reactions in the U.S. Reports submitted to VAERS require further investigation before a causal relationship can be confirmed. The Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS) database contains information on unverified reports of adverse events following immunization. Reports are accepted from anyone and can be submitted electronically.

 

Atlantic County, NJ and Covid-19:  Covid cases have decreased from 3,046 new cases in a 14 day span to 1,394 new cases in the last two weeks. Our 7 day average cases reported is 99 cases per day.  Atlantic County has had 36 deaths in the last two weeks.    On 2/04/2022, there were a total of 4,862 people admitted in all of New Jersey’s hospitals for care of Covid-19 infections, up from last week’s number of 3,723.   Atlantic County has had 67.302 total cases of Covid-19.

 

Pregnancy, prenatal chiropractic care info:  The loosening of ligaments brought on by pregnancy often makes chiropractic adjusting comparatively easy using the gentlest of chiropractic techniques. A patient who is comfortable will relax more completely and requires less force during the adjustment. To make the pregnant patient more comfortable, the use of tables with pelvic pieces that can be raised allows the patient to be adjusted lying face down throughout the pregnancy. In addition, as pregnancy typically causes the chest area to enlarge throughout the course of pregnancy, the use of commercially made pillows may allow proper positioning and comfort to the patient. Side posture techniques are typically not used in pregnant patients to avoid stress on the uterus. The chiropractic adjustment is beneficial during pregnancy and with proper patient positioning for comfort and relaxation, only the slightest force need be applied to safely and successfully correct pelvic alignment and subluxations in the spine of the pregnant chiropractic patient.

Author
Dr J. Zimmerman, Chiropractor Dr. Zimmerman is a practicing chiropractor from Galloway, NJ with 30 years of chiropractic practice.

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