At A Glance:
- The White House calls on social media to help flag and ban misinformation.
- The U.S. Surgeon General releases a 22-page statement to combat misinformation.
- President Biden quoted “a pandemic of the unvaccinated.”
- 60 percent of hospitalizations in Israel and England are breakthrough cases of vaccinated individuals.
The White House has continued to ramp up its efforts against what they call “misinformation.” It’s been no secret that Facebook, Twitter, and other social media platforms have all used “fact checkers” in the past year to call any posts that speak negatively about COVID vaccines into question. Now the U.S. Surgeon General and The Rockefeller Foundation have also joined in as well. Last week President Biden called for trusted community messengers to go door-to-door to educate people about the COVID vaccines to dispel any rumors they may have heard. Earlier this week, the privacy of text messages was brought into question as Biden allied groups such as the DNC announced they were going to “engage fact-checkers more aggressively and work with SMS carriers.”¹
Social Media Under Attack or in Partnership?
On July 16, the U.S. Surgeon General, Vivek H. Murthy, issued a 22-page advisory statement on “building a healthy information environment.”² The statement calls for people to know how to discern misinformation as well as how to fight it. The statement was more political than typical apolitical statements made regarding health advisories. While the statement didn’t call out specific social media platforms, Dr. Murthy and Press Secretary Jen Psaki did so on Thursday during a press briefing.³ Murthy continued:
“Modern technology companies have enabled misinformation to poison our information environment, with little accountability to their users,” Dr. Murthy said.
“We expect more from our technology companies,” he added. “We’re asking them to operate with greater transparency and accountability. We’re asking them to monitor misinformation, more closely.”³
Friday, Jen Psaki called on social media platforms to:
“create robust enforcement strategies that bridge their properties and provide transparency about rules. You shouldn’t be banned from one platform and not others if you are providing misinformation out there.”
“We’re flagging problematic posts for Facebook that spread disinformation. We’re working with doctors and medical experts…who are popular with their audience with accurate information,” she said Thursday. “So, we’re helping get trusted content out there.”⁴
This raised concern among several critics calling it a violation of First Amendment rights on users. Further concern indicated the issue of the government partnering with Big Tech to suppress differing opinions.
Other Partners
The DNC has said it will partner with SMS carriers⁵ to mitigate misinformation through text. Social media has been called on by The White House. The Rockefeller Foundation has also pledged $13.5 million “to counter health mis- and disinformation.”⁶
President Biden and Facebook Face-off
On Friday, President Biden was preparing to board Marine One for a trip to Camp David for the weekend. A reporter asked him for comment on Facebook regarding the issue:
“They’re killing people,” he said. “Look, the only pandemic we have is among the unvaccinated, and that — and they’re killing people.”⁷
Facebook responded with comment:
“We will not be distracted by accusations which aren’t supported by the facts,” said Dani Lever, a company spokeswoman. She pointed to efforts to promote authoritative information about Covid-19 and vaccines that two billion people on the platform have viewed.⁷
Pandemic of the Unvaccinated?
Last week, the Jerusalem Post released information as to the state of COVID in Israel. “At the moment, around 60% of the patients in serious conditions have been vaccinated. Moreover, according to Hebrew University researchers who advise the government, around 90% of newly infected people over the age of 50 are fully vaccinated.”⁸ Israel has one of the most robust vaccination programs for COVID in the world.
Today, in England, Sir Patrick Vallance said: “In terms of the number of people in hospital who’ve been double-vaccinated, we know it’s around 60% of the people being admitted to hospital with COVID.⁹
CDC and Information Released
Recently, the CDC made a shift in reports for COVID. “As of May 1, 2021, CDC transitioned from monitoring all reported vaccine breakthrough cases to focus on identifying and investigating only hospitalized or fatal cases.”⁹ As of July 12, 2021, “CDC received reports from 48 U.S. states and territories of 5,492 patients with COVID-19 vaccine breakthrough infection who were hospitalized or died.”¹⁰
All non-vaccinated cases are still reported whether asymptomatic, mild, moderate, hospitalized, or fatal.
Hold the Phone — Doc’s Thoughts:
First Amendment rights, misinformation, accurate information, Big Tech and the government deciding which posts stay and which are flagged…there’s a lot to walk through here!
First of all, who determines what information is correct? What about VAERS? We don’t seem to be hearing about that information. As the vaccine is continued to be touted as “safe and effective” that seems like misinformation. In terms of effectiveness, did you see that number above according to the CDC? 5,492 patients with the vaccine were hospitalized or died.¹⁰ Even if the vaccine wasn’t meant to stop transmission or prevent you from getting it, they did say it would reduce the severity of the case…these people DIED.
VAERS released their latest numbers on Friday. As of July 9, to date 463,456 had been made with 10,991 deaths and 30,781.¹¹ That’s over 46,000 deaths and hospitalizations for a vaccine they are calling safe and effective.
What about the CDC reporting of vaccinated versus unvaccinated? If they are just reporting the most serious of cases of vaccinated with all of the cases of the unvaccinated, of course it will look like “a pandemic of the unvaccinated!”⁷ They’re reporting some of the cases of one population as compared to all of the cases of another population! And who is expected to get tested? There is more call for the unvaccinated to be tested than the vaccinated according to the CDC.¹² So unvaccinated are suggested or required to get tested more often, and they’re not reporting the vaccinated cases unless they are hospitalizations or deaths? That seems like a path to a pretty skewed count!
What about the reports from Israel? They are saying the Pfizer vaccine isn’t as effective against the Delta variant.⁸ Check out the video we had on A Different Perspective July 17, 2021 regarding the variants and why we don’t need to be scared. Variants will definitely continue. It’s how viruses work! The vaccine may protect against exactly what you were vaccinated for, the original virus out of Wuhan. But mutations and variants will continue and the vaccine won’t be effective. Consider the flu shot every year. It changes. Why? Viruses mutate.
Let’s look at what the Surgeon General had to say regarding misinformation. I’m going to present his quotes and share some thoughts regarding each:
Misinformation also thrives in the absence of easily accessible, credible information. When people look for information online and see limited or contradictory search results, they may be left confused or misinformed.²
I agree! Remember, I only share with you what I can back up with citations. If I give you my opinion, I will say so! We are always researching and studying websites from all over the world to find credible information that is easily readable. There are so many contradictory results that will leave so many people confused. Confused isn’t always bad, sometimes it means you just don’t have the full picture and need to keep digging and studying.
Before posting or sharing an item on social media, for example, we can take a moment to verify whether the information is accurate and whether the original source is trustworthy.²
Yes! I agree! Remember, go ahead and read all the documented information. If you look at several peer-reviewed websites, you will find several doctors, professionals and experts who are able to share their views. You are allowed to think through the information for yourself rather than just the headlines. Who determines when a source is trustworthy or the information is accurate? Also, anyone who has read through the Fauci emails in the recent FOIA dumps may have questions about accuracy and trustworthy.
Examples of misinformation tactics used by those who deny scientific consensus on health issues include presenting unqualified people as experts; misleading consumers with logical fallacies; setting impossible expectations for scientific research; cherry-picking data or anecdotes; and introducing conspiracy theories.²*
Ahhh, this is my favorite. So I think we need to look at “those who deny scientific consensus.” Senator Rand Paul recently weighed in on how Dr. Anthony Fauci is ignoring science.¹³ Doctors around the world are aware that natural immunity is superior to vaccine immunity for all viruses. Yet, we aren’t considering whether people have natural immunity from COVID before just giving out vaccines in blanket pushes. This is dangerous.
Logical fallacies. Appeal to pity, appeal to fear, snob appeal, straw man, mob appeal…all logical fallacies. These are constantly being used to urge people to get the vaccine, wear the mask, lock down. Setting impossible expectations for scientific research: I think all that many of us are calling for is real, thorough scientific data. When we use the scientific method, we’d see that with all of those adverse events reported to VAERS, and the warning labels applied to the vaccines for myocarditis, Guillain-Barre Syndrome, and concerns over blood clots, we should be making adjustments! Remember, as far as scientific research is considered, long-term studies aren’t due in for another year or so on these vaccines. We should not be rushing for approval.
But my favorite, conspiracy theories! That’s a great line to use to attempt to discredit anything. Remember last year when several doctors and researchers called attention to how this virus looked like it could have been produced in a lab? Conspiracy theories! Many journals called attention and labeled them as such immediately to discredit them. What was the news last month? Oh yeah…this likely was leaked after being produced in a lab!
And what is a “healthy information environment?” In America we have the freedoms granted to us in the First Amendment. Free speech. Let me ask you, what makes you stronger, resistance or easy? Resistance! You have to be able to think through and discern for yourself, just like exercising your muscles. You don’t want everything handed to you on a silver platter. You should have information presented to you to think through for yourself, or to have someone discuss another angle, even if it’s contradictory to what you think at first.
So let’s take a look at all of this. In reality, what Surgeon General, Dr. Murthy, is calling for is exactly what we are doing at The Wellness Way. We supply you with all of the information so that you can study it for yourself. We use many of the websites they would tell you are trusted: CDC, FDA, WHO, peer-reviewed journal articles from JAMA, BMJ, and many others. Even mainstream media! We’re bringing this information forward so that it is easy for you to find and understand.
So ask yourself: Why are they trying to limit which information you hear? Why are they calling it misinformation? Are they painting the whole picture for you? Making the information accessible and easy to read and understand? Who gets to determine what is appropriate and what is misinformation? Why do we have to look at international articles to hear about the majority percentages being breakthrough cases? Would these factual articles be considered misinformation because they cast doubt on the effectiveness of the vaccine?
At The Wellness Way, we say that you are smart enough. You get to make the health care choices for your family. You deserve to have all of the information presented to you in a clear, accurate way so that you can exercise your medical freedoms. You don’t need the government, SMS carriers, social media fact-checkers, or anyone else to determine which information you can access.
¹https://www.politico.com/news/2021/07/12/biden-covid-vaccination-campaign-499278
²https://www.hhs.gov/sites/default/files/surgeon-general-misinformation-advisory.pdf
³https://www.nytimes.com/2021/07/15/us/politics/surgeon-general-vaccine-misinformation.html
⁴https://www.foxnews.com/media/twitter-psaki-big-tech-unite-bans-misinformation
⁵https://www.politico.com/news/2021/07/12/biden-covid-vaccination-campaign-499278
⁷https://www.nytimes.com/2021/07/16/us/politics/biden-facebook-social-media-covid.html
¹⁰https://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/covid-19/health-departments/breakthrough-cases.html
¹¹https://www.openvaers.com/covid-data
¹²https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/symptoms-testing/testing.html
¹³https://www.newsmax.com/newsmax-tv/randpaul-anthonyfauci-vaccine-mandates/2021/07/13/id/1028514/
