The ethical problem of vaccines

 First, and this may cause some people's defense to shoot up, I am not anti-vaccine. In fact, I believe the concept, the theory, behind vaccines is sound. 

But, there are a couple of issues that give me pause with regards to vaccines.

First, I have no desire to be a part of massive experimental vaccine trial. So, I have no intention of getting an COVID vaccine (not to mention I recently had COVID).

No vaccine is proven to be 100% effective nor is any guaranteed to be 100% safe. If you happen to be one of the few unlucky ones to get a reaction you have no recourse against the manufacturer. Or your doctor.

Vaccine manufacturers may claim vaccines are not money makers. Maybe. But when does a for-profit company do something out of completely good will, especially when it costs them millions of dollars?

Did you forget the government is paying vaccine manufacturers?

What about insurance companies?

The truth is there is a ton of money involved, it's just that the public doesn't see it directly. Maybe on a per vaccine basis there isn't much profit, but at multiple millions of doses there is.

And if that's not enough, let's make the vaccine two doses so there's an additional payment.

And, what about a booster...that's another payment.

And, well, it looks like this will be another recommended annual vaccine like the flu shot so that's more money going to the manufacturer.

Yeah, while I'm not convinced the vaccine is as harmful as some places claim I'm not definitely not convinced it's as effective as it's claimed to be.

And there's the other problem.

Vaccines go through a short term trial, with the COVID vaccine preliminary trials being less than normal. When it's supposedly deemed effective it's marketed as such.

Then the manufacturer will offer the vaccine to the control group as well, because they claim it would be unethical to not offer it to them.

What about a long term study of the effects of vaccines? A real valid study is hard to do without a consistent control group of substantial size. So, by giving the vaccine to the control group there's no longer a control group. That means any health issues that come up can be explained away by other factors.

In my opinion it's actually unethical to not have a long term control group. Without that control group there is no proof either for or against the long term efficacy and/or effects from the vaccine.

What's happening with COVID vaccines? 

It's touted as the best thing available to protect you and your loved ones. It's claimed to be effective. Politicians, medical professionals, scientists all clamor for everyone to get vaccinated. Forget any potential long term effects. Forget any large control groups.

Do you understand where I'm coming from?

Without a large control group for a long term study the manufactures and government can easily cite insufficient evidence for vaccine harm. They can easily blame and attribute other factors to health problems and deaths.

And regarding studies, how many independent studies are there about vaccine safety or are the majority of the studies funded by vaccine manufacturers?

Manufacturers are already essentially considered blameless and individuals have no legal recourse against vaccine manufacturers if there is harm.

And we're back to money. The manufacturer gets paid by the government and insurance companies. The manufacturer has little to no fear of any legal ramifications (think lawsuits and paying out lots of money). As long as they can point to sufficient short term "proof" that the vaccine is safe and effective for the majority of people then they can get a stamp of approval. 

So, while the idea of vaccines is valid I'm not convinced that they're as safe as claimed when there is so much money involved.

And, for a touch of possible conspiracy....It was about the same time that COVID vaccines started becoming widely available that rumors of the delta variant began to surface. It was first detected in India in October 2020, with it really becoming a problem by April 2021. Then cases started showing up in the US in May. By July 1 the delta variant was in all 50 states. 

Last Friday my quarantine was up. I had tested positive for COVID, though there wasn't any specification as to the variant. COVID cases have been increasing over the last several weeks. The gains seem to follow after a few weeks of increasing vaccination rates. Could it be that vaccinated individuals are shedding the virus and infecting others?

I'm not saying the delta variant is from vaccinated individuals. I'm sure it's not as India has very low vaccination rates. But, is the delta variant essentially being used as a cover for the inefficacy of the vaccine and/or that vaccinated individuals are actually spreading COVID more than admitted? It seems strangely coincidental how quickly the delta variant has spread in the weeks following so many people getting vaccinated.

Anyway, enough conspiracy conjecture. 

I'll give my thoughts on having COVID in a future post. For now I'll just say it was like a weird cold.