Skip to main content

COVID Surges Amidst 118% Vax Rate; Better News Sources; What I Regret

Gibraltar has canceled official Christmas celebrations over surging COVID cases. Its >100% vaccination rate is due to "doses given to Spaniards who cross the border to work or visit the territory every day," according to RT

The article continues, "Similarly well-vaccinated countries have also reported surges in Covid-19 infections recently. In Singapore, where 94% of the eligible population have been inoculated, cases and deaths soared to record highs at the end of October, and have since subsided slightly. In Ireland, where around 92% of the adult population is fully vaccinated, cases of Covid-19 and deaths from the virus have roughly doubled since August."

As I said months ago, if you can get COVID, you can spread COVID, and vaccinated people are obviously getting and spreading COVID. This study in The Lancet found vaccination only reduced household transmission of the delta variant from 38% to 25%. This preprint of a huge study found vaccination modestly reduced transmission, but the protective effect waned "alarmingly at three months." 

Yet Healthline's recent headline reads, "You're Far Less Likely to Spread the Coronavirus if You're Vaccinated." It's not the official title of the article, but it's what shows up in the search and appears as the title in the browser. An Atlantic article hems and haws for several paragraphs over this simple question. The CDC is still saying, in a briefing last updated way back in September, "Early evidence suggests infections in fully vaccinated persons caused by the Delta variant of SARS-CoV-2 may be transmissible to others." You think? "Fact checkers" say "False! Vaccination isn't worthless for stopping spread!" instead of admitting that's just a mild exaggeration. 

Even the Wall Street Journal's articles on COVID have beggared belief as shown in the comments sections. When they reported on Biden's vaccine mandates for employers but forgot to mention OSHA had paused plans for enforcement after a federal court stayed the order--a fact that was on OSHA's website and vital to readers--that was the last straw. I let my subscription expire--my last subscription to a legacy media source. Almost all of them now are just junk. It's frustrating and disappointing--I used to like the Wall Street Journal, The Atlantic and the Indianapolis Star. No good replacement has come along for any of them. 

Someone in that comments section asked where to get good reporting on COVID. Reason has had good reporting on court cases. Alex Berenson and Eugyppius have excellent substacks and Dr. Suneel Dhand is on Locals. There's also dashboards, studies and news from other places showing results of different approaches. Odysee and Rumble host videos that YouTube takes down. 

Jay Bhattacharya is on Twitter--and his interview with the Hoover Institution reminded me of someone who's no longer active there: Professor Richard Epstein. He's a law professor who was against the lockdowns from the beginning but got so much blowback--he said he'd never felt so alone--that that must have been the reason he abandoned Twitter. I regret that I didn't speak up for him. He's still going, though, and was recently was on a podcast where he talked in legal depth about Biden's vaccine mandate and even got into ivermectin. 

I said some months ago that I missed the days of smaller, chattier, more numerous websites, and that's what's turning up now. The mainstream media has done no better job reporting on COVID vaccines than it did on low-carb diets or diabetes, and the vaccine fanatics are more vicious than the vegan trolls ever were. But we prevailed then; we'll prevail again.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Dana Carpender's Podcast; Dr. Davis on YouTube; Labor Day Sales

Dana Carpender, who's written several recipe books and other works on low-carb, has a podcast and is still writing articles at carbsmart.com. She's a terrific writer and amateur researcher (otherwise known as reading , as Jimmy Dore jokes ). I use her book 500 Low-Carb Recipes all the time and I'm looking forward to hearing more from her. I've embedded her podcast on my blog (click on the three lines at the top right if you don't see it, or go to Spotify or other podcast source if you're getting this by email). Carbsmart.com doesn't seem to have a blog feed, so if you want to see the latest posts there, you can sign up for notifications at their site. Dr. Davis has been putting a lot more videos on YouTube, so I've added his channel to the lineup. Click on the three lines on my blog if you don't see it, or go to his channel here .  * * * * * Primal Kitchen is having a Labor Day sale-- 20% off everything. They sell high quality collagen powder, con...

Fermented bread and butter pickle recipe ft. L. Plantarum

After Dr. Davis said the other night that  L. plantarum  may reduce some of the effects of the herbicide glyphosate (which is everywhere), I'm re-running my recipe for fermented bread and butter pickles. Pickling cucumbers naturally have  L. plantarum  bacteria on them, and fermenting them with some brown sugar multiplies these bacteria. (Just don't use chlorinated water to wash them.) And if you're growing your own cucumbers, avoid spraying the fruits with  Bacillus thuringiensis , or Bt (leaves and vines are OK). It's unclear what effect a big dose of Bt would have on humans. Another benefit of DIY pickles: no emulsifiers like polysorbate 80, which is a common ingredient in pickles. If you have GI problems, it could be from emulsifiers. These sweet-and-sour pickles are the tastiest I've ever made. There's just a little added sugar (some of which the bacteria will consume) and turmeric that gives the pickles their bright color.  Special equipment Quar...

Collagen-filled Low Carb Burritos

Low-carb, grain-free Mexican food is hard to find, but it's easy to make your own at home. This recipe has an authentic ingredient: carne de lengua, or beef tongue. Don't be put off: beef tongue is tender, delicious, and full of collagen. Look for it directly from farmers in your area. To cook it, cut it in 1" to 1-1/2" slices and pressure cook for one hour. Enjoy the delicious broth as a bonus. Ingredients 1 slice cooked beef tongue, peeled and cut into small cubes 1 egg wrap (I use these  from Egglife) 1/4 cup cooked black or pinto beans Chili pepper Oregano Garlic (powdered or minced) Cumin Guacamole (with no emulsifiers) Salsa Shredded cheddar cheese Sour cream or homemade cream cheese  with no emulsifiers  Put the egg wrap on a plate and put the beef and beans down the middle of it. Sprinkle with the herbs and spices. Wrap, turn over and microwave for 1-2 minutes. Spoon salsa over the burrito and sprinkle with cheese. Add guacamole and sour cream or homemade crea...

15% Off Starter Culture

Starter culture for the wonderful cream cheese I made is 15% off for the next two weeks (through June 18, 2025). The shop (BacillusBulgaricus.com) also offers rennet and starter for other cheeses, yogurt, kefir, kombucha, sour cream, fermented vegetables, and more. They ship to 118 countries across six continents. The coupon code is LORI_sekd3tkb at bacillusbulgaricus.com .  Photo from Pexels .

Cardio: A Waste of Valuable Dance Time

"I'd rather hold a girl in my arms than a football." -Joe DeCicco, friend and dancing fanatic Have you heard that it takes a woman 77 hours of exercise to lose a kilogram of fat? (For us Americans, that's half a pound.) That's according to a study cited by Dr. John Briffa .(1) The women who huffed and puffed three hours a week for a year ended up 4.4 pounds lighter than the sedentary women. That doesn't surprise me: my own weight loss involved a lot less exercise than what I'd been doing. I did no cardio workouts, just strength training . I had more time and energy for dancing, which is a stress reliever, helps keep me in shape, and it's a ton of fun. It's not expensive to dance (as long as you stay away from the studios). I've found excellent lessons at clubs where the teachers really care about the students getting it. Here in Denver, there are dancing clubs that are run by nonprofit organizations, where the prices are reasonable and...