Share this page!

Claire Berlinski. Profile picture
Twitter logo
28 Jul, 5 tweets, 1 min read
"All the evidence needed to debunk these tropes can be found online within five seconds by anybody with an inquiring mind." Yes, and that's a point worth taking seriously. What does it suggest? quillette.com/2021/07/28/vac…
Why do certain people have such an enormous psychological need to believe things that are so implausible and preposterous on their face? What emotional agenda does it serve? I don't quite know. Any insight, anyone?
In any case, I enjoyed this until the last paragraphs, with which I disagree. The risk of long Covid, and especially the attendant cognitive damage and drop in IQ, entails a strong argument for vaccinating children.
And while it may be true that herd immunity from vaccination is unachievable, we definitely don't know this yet. We certainly shouldn't give up on it so quickly.

What's more, it's obvious that the fewer times you catch Covid the better.
It *may* be true that it's inevitable everyone will be infected, and more than once, but this doesn't mean we should just bathe ourselves in Covid19 and say, "Que sera, sera."

• • •

Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to force a refresh
　

Keep Current with Claire Berlinski.

Claire Berlinski. Profile picture

Stay in touch and get notified when new unrolls are available from this author!

Read all threads

This Thread may be Removed Anytime!

PDF

Twitter may remove this content at anytime! Save it as PDF for later use!

Try unrolling a thread yourself!

how to unroll video
  1. Follow @ThreadReaderApp to mention us!

  2. From a Twitter thread mention us with a keyword "unroll"
@threadreaderapp unroll

Practice here first or read more on our help page!

More from @ClaireBerlinski

Claire Berlinski. Profile picture
28 Jul
I dream that I am trying to pilot a huge cruise ship through Puget Sound, which is crowded with other vessels. I realize that this is a hospital ship. My friend @GCharing, who in fact died last year (RIP, Gaby) is on the ship. And dying.
She's still alive, but man is she furious with me for the way I'm piloting the ship. I'm doing everything wrong, apparently. The steering wheel is too heavy. I can't move it.

I'm aware that she's not being fair--and she's also dying, so I shouldn't take it personally--
but I'm still stung by the criticism.

Somehow the ship is full of graceful, Asian hospital orderlies/ship stewards who do everything right. I realize I forgot my mask. They hand me a fresh one with disdain.
Read 6 tweets
Claire Berlinski. Profile picture
26 Jul
As for VAERS, let me explain it. Then it will no longer be "unexplained."

Why might the number of reports in VAERS be higher than typical for other vaccines?

First: PUBLICITY. Anyone can report anything to VAERS.
There's a well-established link between media reports about a vaccine and AE reports in VAERS: sciencedirect.com/science/articl…

(There's also a relationship to "litigation." pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/16452357/)

But neither of these are related to "safety." Image
Given the massive amount of media attention to the pandemic and these vaccines, it's actually surprising that the rates of reported adverse effects are so low.

Second, DEMOGRAPHICS. The population that received these vaccines is very different from the usual vaccine recipients.
Read 25 tweets
Claire Berlinski. Profile picture
26 Jul
1. There is no "unexplained adverse event signal in VAERS." I'll return to this in the next thread.

2. IVM does not "address escape variants." There is scant evidence it does anything at all, no less address these variants. What's more, the reasoning is backward:
Even if it were effective, it's therapeutics, *not* vaccines, that should cause us to worry about escape variants. See:
assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/upl… The way to avoid those variants is to get as many people vaccinated, with both doses, as possible. As fast as possible.
It's especially important to prevent the spread of the disease to the immunoincompetent, which for obvious reasons requires *the whole community* be vaccinated.

3. There have been *no* reports of ADE from the vaccines. They've looked for it in animal studies: None.
Read 15 tweets
Claire Berlinski. Profile picture
25 Jul
This column by @davidfrum gets at something I sense, too. He asks, "Will Blue America ever decide it’s had enough of being put medically at risk by people and places whose bills it pays?" Then concludes rhetorically: "Check yourself: Have you?"
Still, theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/…
Then what? Yes, this is different, somehow, different even than realizing a large minority of the country voted for Trump--twice. This is a far more personal and physical assault. People are sick of the pandemic. Sick of fearing for the people they love. Sick of lockdowns.
Sick of cripplied economies. Sick of the burden on the healthcare system and above all the healthcare workers. And everyone understands that the obstacle to returning to normalcy is the anti-vaxxers--a danger to themselves, their families, their communities, and their countries.
Read 8 tweets
Claire Berlinski. Profile picture
25 Jul
It is inexcusable, unacceptable that @US_FDA is stalling on this. They're slowing a vaccination campaign and fueling hesitancy amid the most deadly pandemic since 1918. Hard to imagine greater fecklessness. @FrankYiannasFDA @FDACDERDirector @FDA_Drug_Info @DrWoodcockFDA @FDACBER
@FDACBER, Peter Marks is dead wrong and @EricTopol is entirely right. nytimes.com/2021/07/09/opi… Public trust in FDA being damaged *by the delay,* which is *assuredly* contributing to vaccine hesitancy and thus to needless suffering and death.
In your opinion piece, you say, "get vaccinated right now." Yet by foot-dragging, your own agency is doing more to undermine this message than any other part of our government. @SenatorBaldwin, can you get on the phone with @DrWoodcockFDA and say, "This is unacceptable?"
Read 4 tweets
Claire Berlinski. Profile picture
24 Jul
I wandered lonely as a cloud
That floats on high o'er vales and hills,
When all at once I saw a crowd,
A host, of golden imbeciles;
Beside the lake, beneath the trees,
Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.
Continuous as the stars that shine
And twinkle on the milky way,
They stretched in never-ending line
Along the margin of a bay:
Ten thousand saw I at a glance,
Tossing their heads in sprightly dance.
The waves beside them danced; but they
Out-did the sparkling waves in glee:
A poet could not but be gay,
In such a jocund company:
I gazed—and gazed—but little thought
What wealth the show to me had brought:
Read 4 tweets

Did Thread Reader help you today?

Support us! We are indie developers!

This site is made by just two indie developers on a laptop doing marketing, support and development! Read more about the story.

Become a Premium Member ($3/month or $30/year) and get exclusive features!

Become Premium

Too expensive? Make a small donation by buying us coffee ($5) or help with server cost ($10)

Donate via Paypal Become our Patreon

Thank you for your support!

Follow Us on Twitter!

Like this author's thread?

Get emails when @ClaireBerlinski has new unrolls!

Check out other threads from @ClaireBerlinski!

Read all threads by @ClaireBerlinski

:(