The NH Journal recently reported on a flap between NH House Finance Chair Representative Ken Wyler and NH Health Commissioner Lori Shibinette at a Fiscal Committee meeting.
The feud started when Shibinette stated, “90 percent of people hospitalized for COVID-19 are unvaccinated.” Weyler responded he views Health and Human Services Covid statistics to be unreliable, including the 90% figure. Who’s right? Below are facts to consider.
At the meeting, Weyler stated, “people I’m hearing from, working in emergency rooms, are saying 90 percent of those admitted have had the shot.”
90% may indeed “have had the shot” (one Pfizer or one Moderna injection) – but that does not mean they are “fully vaccinated.”
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The Commissioner perhaps interpreted the term “shot” to mean “fully vaccinated.” Per the CDC’s definition, vaccinated adults are only those people who have received the single Johnson & Johnson vaccine, or, both of the Pfizer (or Moderna) vaccines – and had their shot sequence greater than 14 days ago. Anyone who had only had one of the Moderna or Pfizer “shots” (or completed both less than 14 days ago) is not categorized as fully vaccinated.
Weyler said he understood that “90 percent of people coming in [to emergency rooms] have had the shot” while Shibinette referenced “hospitalized” in her 90 percent comment.
Weyler and Shibinette were referencing different events.
“Hospitalized” means admitted to the hospital. Since only 12.4% of ER visits become admissions to the hospital, that means most are not admitted, are discharged, and often referred to their physician for further treatment.
And importantly, in May 2021 the CDC stopped monitoring and recording breakthrough infections of vaccinated people unless they were “hospitalized” (or died).
The ER nurse mentioned by Representative Weyler may be correct that high numbers of “vaccinated” patients are coming to the ER (and they may have been tested for Covid19 while there). But unless they were hospitalized (admitted) they are not being counted in government statistics. Even if they were admitted for hospitalization with their shot sequence completed — if their admission date was less than 14 days since shot completion – they are not identified as fully vaccinated, according to the CDC.
The NH Journal piece asserts Representative Weyler “also repeated unverified claims about the impact of the COVID vaccine on fertility.” This is false and libelous. The British Medical Journal reported in September 2021 for example that changes in menstrual cycles can occur in female patients receiving Covid-19 vaccines.
State and Federal HHS officials and Commissioner Shibinette need to address the following broader concerns about data-collection methodologies before Chairman Weyler and many other Granite Staters will be satisfied Covid statistics breathlessly reported are trustworthy – and a solid basis for launching liberty-crushing mandates.
The first concern: the test kits.
Millions of Covid test kits have been routinely used to collect “data” on Covid-19 infection rates and justify command-and-control measures.
These Covid test kits in fact have only had Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) for months now.
In other words, the test kits themselves have been “experimental.”
The positive predictive value or PPV of Covid test kits (meaning their diagnostic reliability) has been found “alarmingly low” in studies published in the medical journal Deutsches Ärzteblatt: “The positive predictive value is calculated as a quotient of the number of correctly positive tested (21) and the sum of all persons with a positive test result (21 + 49 = 70). It is alarmingly low at 0.30 – 70% of people who test positive are not positive at all, but they are prescribed quarantine [i.e. shutdown businesses and home confinement].”
Amazingly, the instruction manuals for the test kits authorized under EUA state the kits are not intended for making diagnoses! Altona Diagnostics’ PCR manual (“Instructions for Use RealStar® SARS-CoV-2 RT-PCR Kit 1.0”) for example warns in bold type on page 5,
“For research use only (RUO)! Not for use in diagnostic procedures.”
To compound matters, the FDA has acknowledged that – when accurate and positive Covid-19 test results are obtained – the results do not ensure the patient is in fact suffering from Covid.
The FDA states, “Positive results do not rule out bacterial infection or co-infection with other viruses. The agent detected may not be the definite cause of disease.”
In light of these advisories, Shibinette’s claim “90 percent of people hospitalized for Covid-19 (emphasis added) are unvaccinated” certainly needs more discussion – and perhaps an audit.
What does our Health Commissioner mean by the phrase, “for Covid”? How many of people are being hospitalized “due to Covid” (with verified Covid symptoms) – and how many were admitted for an unrelated disease condition yet “with Covid” – a positive test?
One fact we do know – hospitals receive 20% more in Federal reimbursements for treating uninsured patients when “Covid-19” appears in the paperwork.
Many NH citizens sense that these mRNA therapies are being prematurely rushed out, with hasty FDA approvals. The concerns are not unreasonable.
When the FDA gave full approval to Pfizer’s vaccine in August it admitted in its press release that “information is not yet available about potential long-term health outcomes.”
The truth is that no traditional long-term trial studies of the mRNA therapies and their potential side effects have been completed. “Normally, vaccine development is a long, complex process, often lasting 10-15 years and involving a combination of public and private involvement.”
The New England Journal of Medicine states “most vaccine clinical trials include substantially longer follow-up of trial participants to track both safety and efficacy. For example, for shingles vaccines, participants in Shingrix clinical trials were followed for a median of 3.1 years in one study and 3.9 years in another.”
Last, the exact calendar date on which one becomes “fully vaccinated” is still ambiguous. This is the CDC’s fault, and could harm the accuracy of short and long-term data collections for possible side effects.
As we noted, “fully vaccinated” individuals according to the CDC are those who received the J & J vaccine or two Moderna or Pfizer vaccines and did so 14 (or more) days ago.
The “14-day” stipulation means hospital admissions of those potentially experiencing adverse reactions to mRNA shots less than 14 days since receiving them are not identified as “fully vaccinated” patients.
However, adverse reactions have been reported within a week of the shots (blood clots for example were observed within a “median interval” of 8 days following injections – between 6 and 15 days).
Since a “fully vaccinated” status is not attained until 14 days after having completed the shot sequence, immediate symptoms, by definition, cannot be associated with being “fully vaccinated.”
Make sense? No.
Contrast the “14-day” definition with a different one the CDC also suggests in its instructions for Adverse Event Reporting to VAERS. Here, the CDC indicates that the “Date of Vaccination” to be included in the “incident” report. If blood clots, heart issues, and other symptoms emerge after a few days of injection – do admitting hospitals use the definition of “vaccinated” patient to mean the date of vaccination – or “14 days” after that date?
The NH Journal couldn’t resist unnecessary piling on when it wrote, “Weyler reflects a broader problem facing the New Hampshire GOP.” No, actually it is NH’s HHS and Federal agencies that are having problems.
We’ve only seen 6 months of ‘long’ term vaccine data. The long-term risks to mRNA therapies are unknown.
Public officials who like to repeat, “The vaccines are safer than getting Covid!” have no basis for such claims until full trial studies free of corporate influence have been completed.
Just ask Thalidomide victims.
Pamela J. Brown, Ph.D.