As I See It: Friends don’t let friends go unprotected

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Benjamin Franklin said “Nothing is certain but death and taxes.” However, it seems that those who should pay the most have enough power or money to avoid the later and delay the former. We are, it appears, emerging gradually from a period of excess mortality. That is, a lot more people in America died in 2020 than were expected from experience in the previous years. Of those deaths attributed to COVID19, over 99% were unvaccinated, not immunized. A good way to avoid dying this year is to get the shot.

Only one disease has ever been eliminated, smallpox, and they did it with vaccination. The first vaccination was for smallpox; the vaccine was prepared from cow pox pus. Vacca is Latin for cow. Vaccinations typically use a killed or weakened virus to train your immune system to recognize live virus and that might have a remote risk of infection. Smallpox was the germ of conquest, guns, germs and steel. It was one of the deadliest and most virulent of diseases. It caused lifetime disfigurement and killed tens of millions. It was defeated by vaccinating everyone, everyone. It took 200 years. I read about the last case, in Africa, when I was in high school. Ten years later with no new cases, world authorities decided it was safe to stop. The vaccination left a small circular scar; ask your grandparents. Many other diseases have been brought under control by similar weakened virus process and subsequently called vaccination.

If you have a problem with vaccination, there is an alternative. Most of the anti-COVID inoculations are not based on vaccination technology. The only thing they have in common is the needle and the name. The mRNA inoculation (like Moderna and Pfizer) work in an entirely different way from vaccination. It teaches the immune system to recognize and disable the spike proteins on a coronavirus. The mRNA seems to be equally effective against variants. Without those spikes, the virus cannot enter human cells and can’t replicate. The serum has no virus remnant in it, so it cannot infect you. Since humans have no spike protein DNA, it can’t alter human DNA. OK, it does inject an unusual substance into your blood, so did a mosquito bite you got last year. In the U.S., the only approved killed virus vaccination is the Johnson &Johnson. That does not involve cows either.

The presence of new variants sound scary and foretell a second wave among the non-inoculated, it is in the best self-interest of virus to become more transmissible, but less fatal. Virus tend to evolve in that direction. A parasite that reliably kills its host cannot spread very far. Ebola stayed rare. There is little evidence that the COVID variants are more severe than earlier models. Those who are science savvy, akamai, and get inoculated have a better chance of surviving and reproducing, just like Darwin predicted 200 years ago. Strangely, antivax politicians and pundits are encouraging their supporters to risk the death lottery.

Wonder how pharma came up with the immunization treatment so quickly? They were working on it 20 years ago because science predicted this could happen. America has a lot of really smart people paid to think about “What if?” and “Then what?”

If your fear is of being injected with a tracking chip, look at the smart-phone in your hand. You are being tracked right now. The chip dust that can be injected though a tiny 26g needle need a special receiver within inches. Chips with enough power for tracking would have to be implanted surgically. What is the range of Bluetooth? None of the social media scare notices have stood up to logical examination. Some are downright ludicrous. If you want to tell your grandchildren how you survived the pandemic, get the shot — it’s usually free or better. Friends don’t let friends go unprotected.

This is only what I know from reading many responsible sources. Ignore postings on social media, bulletin boards or bathroom walls.

Ken Obenski is a forensic engineer, now safety and freedom advocate in South Kona. Send feedback to obenskik@gmail.com