44 Comments
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Steve Cheung's avatar

Thanks for this.

I’ve always been confused as to why the “US market” was given such primacy, when the EU population exceeds the US population by about 100 million.

So the “quiet part out loud” bit makes sense. And it is confusing why the US allows itself to be charged exorbitant prices compared to other parts of the world.

Joseph Marine, MD's avatar

Perhaps we have more pliant politicians. The previous administration made a foray into this with a few drugs. The current administration has expressed its determination to do something about this on a larger scale. We will see.

Steve Cheung's avatar

I also wonder about the rules for political contributions from off-shore/ multinational corporations. It would be a variant of the old adage, applied to politicians, where “they’re not going to understand the importance of keeping drug prices low for Americans when their wheels are greased on the basis of failing to understand it”.

April's avatar

Amen. Thank you for this.

"In my view, the US would be better served funding 500 one million-dollar basic science RO1 grants." Great idea!

I was fortunate to survive the J&J shot. I think if I had a serious cancer then I would consider the modmRNA, otherwise NO THANK YOU!

Roy Small's avatar

I would like to know the source that Dr. Marine used to state that there were "thousands of deaths were reported to VAERS" related to Covid vaccines.

Indeed there were thousands of deaths reported to VAERS but less than 100 (2021-8/23) were temporarily related to myocarditis. And a temporal relationship does not establish causation.

Overall for deaths occurring 7-42 days after vaccination, the observed reporting rates were LOWER than expected background rates.

I find Dr. Marine's post incomplete and misleading.

Fred's avatar

Autopsies were not done, and innumerable deaths were falsely attributed to Covid. Our data are irreparably compromised. Of 3 sudden deaths and 14-15 serious AEs in our small circle of F&F, not a single one was reported to VAERS. We tried to warn them.

PharmHand's avatar

Vaccine-associated myocarditis was most prevalent in young men - a demographic in which sudden cardiac death is otherwise very rare. If there had been thousands of such deaths, one would think someone (such as yourself) would have noticed and reported on it.

Absence of evidence is not evidence of absence, but the absence of evidence makes strong opinions difficult to support.

Fred's avatar

We noticed. We were silenced, ignored and threatened with loss of career. After the Navy seal candidate was found dead after successfully completing HelI Week, I wrote to a couple of Congress folks suggesting that they do IL, CRP, d-dimer and other screening to see if we can identify those at risk. Got boilerplate responses on immigration. Not one word. https://www.thecardiologyadvisor.com/home/topics/acs/acute-coronary-syndrome-acs-biomarkers-mrna-covid19-vaccine/

https://adarapress.com/2021/07/14/d-dimer-tests-show-at-least-62-percent-of-mrna-vaccinated-patients-have-microscopic-blood-clots-reports-dr-charles-hoffe-m-d/

https://luis46pr.wordpress.com/2021/05/13/whats-going-on-india-sees-surge-of-deaths-and-injuries-following-covid-19-vaccine-roll-out/

https://healthimpactnews.com/2021/death-rates-skyrocket-in-israel-following-pfizer-experimental-covid-vaccines/

https://www.ocregister.com/2021/01/26/health-care-worker-dies-after-second-dose-of-covid-vaccine-investigations-underway

Blamed on “preexisting” condition; not! If you’re read nothing else, read this and tell me it was not caused by the vaccine. Died in less than 24 hours.

https://medicaltrend.org/2021/10/10/taiwan-death-from-covid-19-vaccination-exceeds-death-from-covid-19/

https://www.euroweeklynews.com/2022/01/18/vaccinated-boy-died-aged-6-heart-attack

There are many of these already.

And, you’ll find this study removed and link disabled:

http://rightsfreedoms.worldpress.com/2021/08/13/mit-harvard-study-suggests-mrna-vaccine-might-alter-dna-after-all/

Have many, many, many more. The two small plane crashes here several months ago were likely from the vax. Fine on approach until abrupt onset of garbled speech in one, and “oh s—-“ by someone else on board with the second. Sadly, lost 4 members of our air ambulance crew. The 39 yo Utah gal; fulminant hepatic failure blamed on Tylenol, but none found on tox. No one is on a transplant list within a few days of developing liver disease. Docs know.

I imagine you’ve seen the Good Sciencing list of dead and injured athletes. Of course not all are from the shot, but if even a few are, the numbers are alarming.

Surgeon Kelsey Musgrove found dead beside a hiking trail with no apparent cause of death until news the next day that she was “partially buried” in a collapse. What; they didn’t notice that on day 1? The list goes on and on. 

Contrary to the immediate claim, Daman Hamlin did not have commotio cordis, and MSM is now backing off because it’s obvious. Docs say they don’t know what caused his collapse, but that is blatantly false. It is factually impossible that he is not a body double. I have dozens more if you’d like to engage in an honest discussion.

Fred's avatar

http://www.nature.com/scientificreports

Increased emergency cardiovascular events among under-40 population in Israel during vaccine rollout and third COVID-19 wave

Crossref DOI link: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-022-10928-z

Published Online: 2022-04-28

Update policy: https://doi.org/10.1007/springer_crossmark_policy


Increased emergency
cardiovascular events
among under40 population
in Israel during vaccine rollout
and third COVID19 wave
Christopher L. F. Sun1,2 , Eli Jaffe 3,4 & Retsef Levi1

Scientific Reports | (2022) 12:6978 | https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-022-10928-z natureportfolio

The two small plane crashes in San Diego after rollout were likely from the vax. Fine on approach until abrupt onset of garbled speech in the first (a cardiologist), and “oh s—-“ by someone else on board with the second. Sadly, lost 4 members of the air ambulance crew. More recently, single seat military jet unexpectedly went down (pilot didn’t eject) and the site was locked down like Fort Knox.

Fred's avatar

There were well over a thousand when I stopped keeping track. Very stereotypical, and contrary to decades of medical experience, many unable to be resuscitated despite immediate availability of a defibrillator and full ACLS.

Paul Elliott's avatar

It's common to hear people say that absence of evidence is not evidence of absence, but this confuses evidence with proof. Absence of evidence is indeed evidence of absence. It may only be weak evidence, depending on the situation, but it's evidence all the same.

PharmHand's avatar

Yes - I agree! Since so many people don’t understand this, I added the ‘absence of evidence makes strong opinions difficult to support’.

Marius Clore's avatar

Surely myocarditis is a major risk for future cardiac events in the distant future ( ie 10, 20, 30 years). Ie no matter how you frame it myocarditis is very bad news for the patient.

PharmHand's avatar

No. Many cases of myocarditis are asymptomatic, which is true for vaccine-associated myocarditis. And most young men (and the very few young women) with vaccine-associated myocarditis had no evidence of sustained myocardial injury. This was the state of things in 2023. I have seen nothing published since then to suggest otherwise. If you know of more recent data showing this, do tell…

Fred's avatar

Risk of sudden death after myocarditis persists.

“The results of this study suggested that there was higher incidence of life-threatening VT and mortality during the very long-term follow-up in patients with a history of myocarditis.”

https://journals.lww.com/md-journal/fulltext/2017/05050/increased_risk_of_ventricular_tachycardia_and.10.aspx

PharmHand's avatar

The study you link to - an observational study done in 2017 - is only tangentially related to the issue of vaccine-associated myocarditis. The patient characteristics (gender, age, and comorbid conditions) are quite different than the cohort of (mostly) young men being discussed. It does not offer strong support to your contentions regarding the safety of the mRNA-based COVID vaccines.

Fred's avatar

“Published?” Surely you recognize the irony. Like the trans study that did t get published because it didn’t parrot the narrative. Like the Lancet article retracted in less than 24 hours. Every single published report of an AE if the shots had to include the obligatory “extremely rare (nope), “saved # lives,” or “necessary to control the pandemic” or some similar bologna.

Fred's avatar

“The Navy has fired a dozen leaders but won't explain why.”

A total of 13 commanding officers have been fired so far this year, including five in one week, the Navy said. Read in NBC News: https://apple.news/A2s7rtAM5TUi9YqTUIt3lxA

I know why; they dared to speak out about all the sudden deaths among young, healthy recruits and were simply removed from their positions. There were 13 sudden deaths in an Alaskan base in a very short period of time. Many were called suicide, but people intimately familiar with several of the men denied that possibility.

Marius Clore's avatar

That’s total BS. First there were certainly severe cases including children on Ecmo. Second, how would you know that most cases were asymptomatic since such individuals would not have gone to the doctor. So your assertion is as daft as it gets. Third, any case of myocarditis admitted to a hospital is by definition a severe adverse event, and the long term implications for future cardiac events such as arrhythmias should be self-evident.

Marius Clore's avatar

And fourth even asymptomatic myocarditis is likely to have long term sequelae.

Joseph Marine, MD's avatar

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/36813704/

Thanks for your comments. As others have noted, events reported to VAERS do not prove causation. They raise safety concerns, and some people been concerned they were not addressed as vigorously as they should have been, due to concerns about causing "vaccine hesitancy."

NeverDull's avatar

I couldn’t hit the “like” button fast enough. Thank you so much for a sensible, data supported article on a topic that is still on many minds. Knowing observant, conscientious physicians are paying attention gives me so much more confidence in the future of medicine- I was genuinely becoming fearful when mRNA was being touted as a miracle solution by so many in the medical community when relevant contradictory studies were ignored.

Joseph Marine, MD's avatar

There are very few "medical miracles," much as we may wish to believe in them. We do have many effective therapies, when properly applied to the right population with cognizance of risks and benefits.

Matt Phillips's avatar

I wrote a paper about the death in the USAF from cardiac causes. There were 4 confirmed smallpox myocarditis ( culture and EM pics of virus ). I met with a general and he asked how many deaths. There were 4 over 20 years. Its a historical issue now as the virus is no longer live, but the answer was the risk of smallpox in warfare was thought to be real and this was an "operating cost" . At the same time the risk of any DEATH was dramatically LOWER in the military for young adults in peacetime as they are not driving...A good friends daughter had covid vaccine myocarditis. One wonders with MRI if we will see the scarring be significant and will be the EP docs future problems

Joseph Marine, MD's avatar

Thanks for sharing this story. I have heard from other military doctors about the cautionary tale of smallpox vaccination. I believe that the US stopped vaccinating children with smallpox prior to global eradication for similar reasons. We also stopped using OPV for polio in the US around 2000 because it was causing more cases of paralytic polio than it was preventing. It illustrates the larger challenge of weighing risks and benefits of vaccination when the incidence of disease falls to zero. At that point, even very rare ADEs that may be undetectable in clinical studies may become clinically relevant. It is a challenge that the vaccinology community is not openly discussing.

As to the potential long-term effects of subclinical myocarditis, whether from covid or the shots, this will be a challenging question to answer. In EP, we commonly see patients with ventricular arrhythmias and MRI scans showing small amounts of LGE - we usually attribute to "healed myocarditis" without uncovering a root cause. It would probably require a very large signal to attribute a change in incidence to either covid or the shots.

Ernest N. Curtis's avatar

Thank you for the excellent perspective on the mRNA vaccines. These important principles should be applied across the board for all pharmaceuticals. Two things are necessary to bring about effective change.

1. End all government funding and other forms of subsidies for pharmaceutical research. It has become a sinkhole of corruption and an enormous waste of resources.

2. Repeal all laws and policies that exempt pharmaceutical and medical device manufacturers from legal liability for the harms they cause.

Absent those two fundamental changes, all talk about reform is just whistling past the graveyard.

Joseph Marine, MD's avatar

Thanks for your comment. Corporate welfare is hard to quit - there will probably always be some for pharma. As for liability exemptions, I also question why they are necessary. If the liability system is unfair to vaccine manufacturers, it seems to me that the right thing to do is to reform it to make more fair to everyone (including doctors).

Ernest N. Curtis's avatar

Yes, eliminating corporate welfare would not be easy (or, likely possible). That is why it has to be applied broadly---no exceptions. Applying the same legal standards for liability should be easier---just eliminate the exemptions. Unfortunately, any such changes would require honesty and political courage which are both in short supply.

Mark Kahn's avatar

Great that the trials were conducted and the results used to reevaluate the vaccines. That is what the trials are for, after all!

Question: You state: "The story of the minimization of risk of myocarditis from covid shots in young males is well known (https://substack.com/redirect/8445777c-e169-4ef0-81f1-5ba82c447676?j=eyJ1IjoiNnlwcGRoIn0.zJHoLVSiiExQo9OmT-YH3C3vQT88XGkg2QvnIZ5gI8M)." This reference does not discuss the "minimization of risk". Could you please provide a reference that does?

Joseph Marine, MD's avatar

I think there is a general perception that the CDC and public health establishment was slow to recognize the problem of myocarditis in young males so as not to cause "vaccine hesitancy." I will try to find a more concrete reference.

PharmHand's avatar

If you offered a citation that does not say what you claimed it supports, that is rather disappointing - perhaps disingenuous. In 2023 there was a fair amount of data available (published) on vaccine-associated myocarditis in young men, but the data I saw in those papers didn’t indicate serious or long lasting sequela in most cases…

PharmHand's avatar

I studied this question diligently in 2023. The published material did not suggest a significant risk. A cardiologist I consulted at the University of Colorado mentioned to me that he was having trouble finding cases for a study of this problem…

Fred's avatar

Tough to study the dead. Myocarditis induced arrhythmias are very likely a significant factor in the SADS.

PharmHand's avatar

Tough to study anything without data. ‘Very likely’ but then - where’s the data? Persons with vaccine-associated myocarditis who then died from complications of said myocarditis are the demographic of interest - and in 2023, the literature I could find didn’t identify many. The cardiologist I consulted was having trouble finding cases either alive or dead to include in his study. So, as they say, show me the money (or in this case, show me the bodies). I would very much like to see the data…

TAS's avatar

Much of the “data” is covered up it seems. At least in our community of people it was. Our F&F alone could give you much needed “data” that was never given to proper entities (VAERS or otherwise). 4 pace makers for individuals that never had ANY heart conditions until their 2nd or 3rd jab. One heart attack after 1st jab (within 24hrs). One with an eye condition they cant name other than calling it autoimmune. Thats just our small world of humans. The only one that even got a “COULD have been from the jab” or as you put it, “very likely” was the heart attack. But she didnt push it with her doctor to report to VAERS so it was not. The data would be amazing to have….if issues were reported as they should be. But as we all know, doctors are scared to death to go up against their administrators.

JohnS's avatar

We’re supposed to have faith in mRNA vaccines, based on claims that they produce antibodies and reduce severe symptoms. They want us to ignore the fact that RCTs failed to show a reduction in death or hospitalizations. They want us to ignore the fact that the RCTs showed an alarming rate of serious harms:

“the mRNA vaccines were associated with an excess risk of serious adverse events of special interest of 12.5 per 10,000 vaccinated”

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/36055877/

They want us to rely on confounded observational studies instead. They think we don’t know about the healthy user bias. On a different day of the week, when it suits their purpose, they tell us that only RCTs can show causality. They boast about all the lives that were saved, but can’t find a decent study to back that up. We’re supposed to trust them because of their credentials.

They call us anti-vaxxers for failing to obediently believe their faith. They try to destroy the lives of people who criticize the vaccines. They even expect the public to pay for development. Then they find someone to blame for the public’s loss of trust. They are living in a very thick bubble.

TAS's avatar

Its so refreshing to hear a doctor speak truths about the mrna and its rollout. Most doctors put their heads down still, and don't say a word for fear of retribution from superiors signing their checks. Super hard place to be. Thank you for your courage Dr. Marine.

Lauren Solomon's avatar

Stunning. Especially the part about the 5% (U.S.) providing the profit margin and R&D.

Witsd's avatar
Feb 4Edited

Yes! “The US public pays nearly all of the profit margin and R+D budget for the global pharmaceutical industry.”

This is a major issue in the unsustainable expense of U.S. healthcare.

Thank God we are seeing intensified review of REAL research results and not media-based “evidence”.

Thank you again, Dr. Marine!!!

J Askins's avatar

Excellent article, Dr. Marine. These genetic drugs never passed the test of the “three D’s” that are known for all other pharmaceuticals, including vaccines: DOSE - DISTRIBUTION - DURATION of action. The DOSE isn’t how much they put in your shoulder; it is the amount of spike protein produced by your cells under the direction of the mRNA. That dose is unpredictable. DISTRIBUTION? The mRNA goes everywhere in the body including brain, ovaries, myocardium. DURATION? Not just a few days but reports of 2 years and counting. I agree mRNA might be of value in cancer where potential benefit could outweigh the risk. But as a “vaccine”? No way!

Marius Clore's avatar

Agree with you and the article 100%. It seems to me that one of the major issues is rcts carried out by pharma. Sure pharma should pay for these but they should have absolutely no input or influence on the trials or how they are carried out. And of course inconvenient data should not be left out of a scientific publication in the nejm. That is nothing short of scientific fraud.

Robert H Lopez-Santini's avatar

Facts don’t care about your feelings ? Just the facts mom. We need to be protected from bad science. Glad we can have conversations now without fear of losing our jobs