I see everywhere epidemiologist and doctors calling for « humility » with covid, since it has shown to be « full of surprises ». Which, to me, looks like another way of saying they got wrong numerous times in the past on how to manage the epidemic.

The fact is, we’ve never had (at least in europe) that many vaccinated people, that many sanitary measures (except for full lockdowns at the very beginning), and yet that many number of cases, as well as that many number of people in hospitals (from delta, since omikron looks much weaker, thanks to nature).

In that context, trying to blame JR for trying to give speech to other medical experts, and have a different opinion on that topic, is really unfair. This should actually be the stance most scientists should take : what did we do wrong, what did we miss, was there something we could have done differently ?

I could see what they are trying to say because I hear the same thing all around me.

I'm in Ontario, Canada. There are regions with 90% vaccinations rate (Toronto) and still the hospitals are full and we are in lockdown. As laymen, people do question whether anyone knows what they're doing.

Toronto has been one of the most compliant cities for masking, social distancing, and vaccines. Even then we are not spared.

We didn’t track infections as well in march 2020. We basically have 0 data for that period other than hospitalization.

Vaccines are 100% about trust, since you’re supposed to take them when you’re still healthy.

Could the governments have done more to unsure vulnerable people got it, while at the same time not bypass every core rules western democracies stand on ?

Here’s a few tips : 1- make the EU contracts with pfizer and moderna public (i can’t believe they thought this was a good idea)

2- don’t pretend vaccines are 100% safe, report about side effects, and communicate about ongoing investigations around them. Saying « everything’s fine » when you can easily find online testimonies of people having horrible side effects, is NOT the good approach.

3- admit that there are still unknown unknowns about mRNA vaccines, as there is with every piece of new tech. We still have 0 statistics about >2 years side effects. By definition.

This is an adult way of communicating. It doesn’t rely on fear but rather providing the maximum amount of quality information, so that everyone can make its own decision about their own health.

I don't think that comment was implying those measures are to blame for rising deaths. I think it was to argue that they haven't had the impact they were expected to have.

Yet colleges are mandating boosters for students. For what, couldn't be the 25% vs 75% case reduction because that is piss to the wind if you think you will avoid getting it. The mad overreach is what is causing this backlash.

You're right, he is wrong. But you're also wrong. Intramuscular vaccination only will never prevent sars-cov-2 infection or spread. Just like it doesn't with influenza a. It isn't just about people not getting vaccinated. The problem is that we're not following up the intramuscular vaccination with an intranasal vaccination booster.

Intramuscular vaccination for upper respiratory aerosol viral diseases does protect your internal body from serious disease. It does that partially with antibody neutralization (via B cells) and with variants, mostly with cross reactive T cells which kill any of your infected cells.

But those B and T cells are in the body serum immune compartment. The serum igG antibodies generated by intramuscular vaccination do seep into your lower lungs a bit and provide protection. But they barely get into the upper respiratory surface tissues (mucosa) and for less than a couple months even at those low levels. And none of the T cells (or B cells making antibodies) become resident in the upper respiratory tissues where infection happens.

This means the upper respiratory mucosa immune compartment can and is still infected and spreads sars-cov-2. Even if sars-cov-2 has 70x less chance of killing you now. It means that tests for infection in the nose/throat/etc will return positive. And it means the intramuscularly vaccinated can and do spread sars-cov-2 and have to wear N95/ffp2 masks like everyone.

The intramuscular vaccination is only the FIRST STEP. The second is intranasal vaccination so that there are tissue resident B and T cells in the upper respiratory mucosa to prevent infection and spread.

It's incredibly frustrating to me (and probably others in the know) that no institutions or governments have acted on this well known historical fact (been known since the 1960s). If we go based off the time it took governments to realize everyone needs to be wearing a proper fit mask with no gaps then they should realize the value of intranasal vaccines about 2 years from now.

If you're plan relies on 100% compliance, it's bound to fail.

The second and third worlds have far lower vaccination rates. The new omicron variant did not come from the US but from South Africa. We cannot control how well they choose to vaccinate. We can scarcely control it here.