We are a year and a half into the world’s nightmare of COVID-19, also known as the Chinese coronavirus, based on where this demon virus originated and spread from, either intentionally or inadvertently.

We have been told to not wear masks, then wear one mask, then two masks, then no masks indoors. Now we are back to indoor masking and soon outdoor masking, too.

The same “experts” told us that the vaccines were safe and effective, the pathway out of this nightmare. If we were vaccinated we no longer had to wear a mask, at least as of last May, according to the CDC. Two months later they reversed course, recommending mask-wearing indoors even if fully vaccinated.

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Celebrities, from Pele to Dolly Parton, are endorsing the vaccines, showing photos of themselves getting jabbed. Yet despite half of American adults being fully vaccinated, cases are rising, as this CNN headline screams.

Do the vaccines work or not? Depending on the day and pronouncement, it is hard to know.

First, the COVID “vaccines” are not true vaccines based on the definitions of vaccines. Rather than the “vaccine” containing attenuated virus, it is a strand of messenger RNA, based on genetic code provided by China and serving as the basis for these novel “vaccines” which cause the body to create spike protein which in turn supposedly generates an immune response in the vaccinated to supposedly provide short or long term immunity. How long that immunity lasts is anyone’s guess.

I say “supposedly” frequently as it seems no one knows anything for sure. The New York Times belatedly acknowledged, “There’s much to learn about how the virus spreads.” Tell that to the CNN and MSNBC anchors who think they have it all figured out.

Just because mRNA vaccines represent new technology doesn’t mean it won’t work or it’s bad. But it is a leap of faith assuming genetic code received from China is accurate and doesn’t contain any malicious bits. We can now 3D print organs. If an adversary country sent us computer code to 3D print a new kidney, would we rely on such code to be safe and effective?

Do vaccines prevent illness or simply mitigate things? The influenza or flu vaccine is about 50 percent effective, meaning many still get the flu. The COVID vaccine trials' primary endpoint, confirmed cases at least two weeks post-vaccination, was met, as was the secondary endpoint of reducing severe cases.

Watching the news today, one wonders how effective the vaccine really is. Distrust was sowed early by President Biden and Vice-President Harris who didn’t trust the vaccines and would refuse to take them “if Donald Trump tells us that we should take it.”

No wonder there is distrust in vaccines. Biden, who we’re told got over 80 million votes, 25 percent more than Barack Obama in 2012, must be trusted and revered by many Americans. If he said he didn’t trust Operation Warp Speed and the resulting vaccines, many Americans followed his lead.

Hence lotteries and cash incentives to take the vaccine, as the carrot. Now the stick of getting vaxxed or being fired. This is the approach hospitals and businesses are taking. For a vaccine that works, Americans should be eager to receive it. Yet only half of American adults have been fully vaccinated.

It’s not, as the media likes to claim, that only MAGA country is unvaccinated. For example, Georgia, which voted for Biden over Trump, and elected two Democrat senators, ranks 45^th in vaccination, with only 38 percent of its population vaccinated, far below the national average. Bronx and Brooklyn, hardly Trump country, are only 45 and 48 percent respectively, fully vaccinated, below the national average.

If the vaccines work, why do we see headlines like this? “Tennessee experiences 27 deaths in more than 1,000 breakthrough cases among vaccinated individuals.” Or from a solid non-MAGA blue state, “49 people who were fully vaccinated have died of COVID in NJ.”  From the Washington Post, “Three fourths of those infected in Mass. outbreak were vaccinated.” Do the vaccines work or not? Or were the vaccine expectations overly optimistic?

Chinese coronavirus cases peaked in the U.S. in early January, before anyone was fully vaccinated, and have been declining since, until a recent uptick in positive tests. Cases in India peaked in early May and then precipitously dropped despite only 7 percent of the population being fully vaccinated. In these cases, the vaccine could not have been responsible for the declines.

Maybe it’s the COVID test. A positive test is not necessarily a case, particularly in those who are asymptomatic or immune from previous infection or vaccination. How did 9 New York Yankees test positive after being vaccinated? Or number one golfer in the world Jon Rahm, testing positive and being booted from the Olympics despite having had COVID and being vaccinated?

This is the same test that was “positive” when a goat and paw paw fruit were tested in Tanzania last year.

The question is not only whether the vaccines work but also if the testing works? It seems we really don’t know.

Does the CDC want to investigate any of these issues? It seems they do not, declining to investigate mild infections in vaccinated individuals. Wouldn’t be relevant, especially when the vaccines are not yet FDA-approved, and their real-world efficacy would be relevant to the FDA in making an approval decision?

Not looking for or recording breakthrough cases is a good way to not have any, but that’s not science. It’s like the old medical school axiom, “If you don’t take a temperature  you won’t find a fever.”

The clown show continues. Now the CDC wants vaccinated individuals to be tested after COVID exposure even without symptoms.  Exposure might mean a few viral fragments in your nose, and with a PCR test using a cycle threshold of 40 or higher, you will test positive. And be sent home from work or the Olympics. Even if you are not sick or contagious.

How many of us are carrying insignificant and irrelevant bits of all sorts of bacteria and viruses? So what? Should we all live in a bubble?

The Surgeon General thinks so. He is now, “recommending fully vaccinated people wear masks outdoors to protect the unvaccinated.” His predecessor, a year and a half ago, said the opposite, that the general public shouldn’t be buying or wearing masks. So, which is it? Have decades of infectious disease science changed in a year?

If masks are effective, then why the concern over who is vaccinated or not? Those vaccinated should be safe and don’t need to wear a mask to protect themselves. Those unvaccinated shouldn’t be at risk from the vaccinated if the vaccines work. Confused yet?

If the COVID test is accurate, why are previously infected and/or vaccinated testing positive, upending their lives and livelihoods? Does the test distinguish between the flu and COVID, as the CDC quietly acknowledged that current tests may not? This might explain the absence of influenza this past season as those with the flu may have been misdiagnosed as having COVID.

We now hear from the CDC, via leaked documents, from the administration with the “highest standards of transparency”, that the latest Greek letter variant, “spreads from fully vaccinated people at the same rate as unvaccinated people.” In other words, those getting vaccinated from the virus are still getting the virus. Meaning the touted vaccines are accomplishing what?

The Los Angeles Unified School District acknowledges that the vaccines accomplish little. They are mandating all students and employees, regardless of vaccination status, have a weekly COVID test. So why get vaccinated, especially for those who already have antibodies? Half of LA County residents may have already had COVID, providing better immunity than a vaccine.

Imagine if the Chinese coronavirus was treated sensibly as previous viral pandemics were, without faulty tests, mass testing of asymptomatic individuals, inflated case and death counts, media censorship of any challenge to establishment dogma, discounting the potential merits of safe therapeutics, all in favor of a vaccine that may not be working as advertised. What if herd immunity was considered the pathway forward rather than QAnon conspiracy theory? Was it ever about the virus or furthering a political agenda?

Brian C. Joondeph, MD, is a fully COVID-19 vaccinated physician and writer. He is on sabbatical from social media.

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