By Jill Chapin
Have you ever wondered in hindsight why we were told at the beginning of the pandemic last year that our only protection against getting or treating Covid was to do – nothing?
We were told to basically stay home, wear masks, wash hands frequently and most importantly, wait for a vaccine to deliver us back to our lives as we once knew it.
So, for nearly one year, we assumed that there were zero options for any kind of prevention nor any medical options available to treat covid. Are you in any way beginning to understand why that might be so?
Consider that the vast majority of covid hospitalizations and/or deaths were people who suffered from obesity, high blood pressure, diabetes and low zinc and vitamin D levels. If nothing else was available to help us, these factors alone were in our power to remedy. Yet no one in the media used tough love to explain these significant risk factors that we could individually address as we awaited that miracle vaccine to arrive.
But far more significant is why the FDA approved Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) for the covid vaccines. The FDA, under section 564 of the Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act, may authorize unapproved medical products to be used in an emergency when certain criteria are met, including when there are no adequate, approved, and available alternatives. (underline mine)
So, what is wrong with the above? Well, on October 22, 2020, Gilead Sciences announced the FDA approved the antiviral drug Veklury (remdesivir) for the treatment of Covid 19 patients requiring hospitalization. It works to stop the replication of the virus that causes Covid-19. This approval announcement also appeared on the FDA website. Remdesivir is the first and only approved Covid-19 treatment in the United States. (underline mine)
Here is what is wrong. On December 11, 2020 – nearly two months later – the FDA issued a news release on their website announcing the issuance of the first EUA for a Covid-19 vaccine. Why would the FDA dismiss their own requirements for an EUA, the one that states that an EUA is issued only if there aren’t any other viable treatments? (underline mine)
The significance of this is multifaceted. First and foremost, it would basically stop the normally years-long Phase 3 trial for a new drug to safely play out, unless you count everyone vaccinated as part of a massive trial. But far more concerning is why didn’t the powers that be in government, medicine and the media inform an agitated population that treatment was available months before the vaccine was rolled out? How many may have needlessly died by withholding that information? The talking points wherever we looked directed us only to wait for a vaccine and to not even consider anything else, much less an FDA-approved alternative.
Why? Although this article is an opinion piece, I am going to pass on opining on the reason why. Instead, I’d like to leave it up to you readers to think about this, to assure yourselves the above is accurate and to question why we had been led to believe that vaccinations were the only treatment for covid, even as we are now realizing that their protection is fleeting and must be boosted every time a new variant occurs, which will be forever. But hopefully soon it will mutate down to an annoying cold or mild flu.
I’ll leave you with a hint as to why we were not directed to look elsewhere as we awaited a vaccine: Follow the money.
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