Thought of the Day - January 12 2022 - Vaccine (non)Surprises

In 2021 we managed to get real-world data confirming a number of COVID vaccine topics talked about in 2020. Of course, the great news for 2021 was confirming that COVID vaccines can save people from dying from COVID. However, there were a number of other vaccine attributes that continue to surprise to me, surprise me that so many of the general public are still unaware.

The following are five examples:

1. COVID Vaccine Protection Wanes Over Time. This was talked about in 2020, the only discussion going into 2021 was when and by how much. This meant confirming how long people would on average retain COVID blood antibodies, and then when people stopped producing them, how effectively someone would respond when exposed to the real virus. As with the 'flu vaccine' six months turned out to be the timeframe, as far as protection, less than hoped.

2. Delaying Repeat Vaccination Is a Good Idea. As mentioned before, we owe a debt of gratitude to authorities in Quebec for this one. Pfizer threatened the federal government with cutting off Canada's vaccine supply if Quebec was allowed to delay their second vaccination (bad for their business you know). If the country had not followed Quebec's lead by now we would be on our fourth shot (just like Israel) - in short, we would be spending billions more as well as adding to the current total of over 30-thousand Canadian's that have had severe adverse COVID vaccine reactions.

3. Mixing Vaccines Is a Good Idea. COVID vaccines, especially injected mRNA vaccines, expose your body to only a subset of the total virus. Mixing vaccines provides your body with greater exposure to the overall blueprint of the virus. In short, you are more likely to recognize SARS-CoV-2 in all its mutations. The risk with multiple brands could have been vaccine interactions but, with a significant delay between shots, this is extremely unlikely. Unfortunately, the bad public relations by AstraZeneca and bad quality control by Johnson & Johnson meant that most Canadians have not been able to get the benefit of multi-platform vaccination (Tip of the Day for all you Pfizerites looking to get boosted: Moderna vaccines are readily available and you only need a half dose booster).

4. COVID Vaccines Do Not Stop Transmission. This was talked about in 2020 when Pfizer was asked why they did not provide transmission data as part of their approval submission. Their answer was they did not bother to track it. Why? Because that was not the objective of the vaccine in the first place. That said, this is kept quiet as much of the campaign against the unvaccinated is predicated on transmission reduction.

5. Canada Has Bought Way Too Much Vaccine. Here we are, ridiculing people who hoarded toilet paper, PPE, fresh produce, and now rapid test kits, yet we, by this I mean Canada, are known around the world as the country that has hoarded more vaccine per capita than any other nation - and seeing the forward contract announcements we have certainly not changed course on this one.

Hopefully, 2022 will yield more public awareness concerning what COVID vaccines are good and not good for, so as things continue to unfold we can have a more informed discussion concerning public policy going forward.

Cheers

Cliff