The stages of safely developing a vaccine are long, and proper practice dictates that one stage can't begin until the last one has concluded. Then begins the licensing process. Scientists must prove that the medication has no unaccounted-for side effects.
If you buy health care reform books, you'll find that the chicken pox vaccine was tested on 11,000 people in the USA. An early version of the shot was developed in the 1960s, and the final version was approved for use in Japan in the mid-1970s. Yet, the FDA didn't approve it until 1995.
The COVID-19 vaccination, on the other hand, was signed, sealed, and delivered to most countries in about a year. I'm Andy Lazris, MD and despite having been on the frontlines of the pandemic, color me amazed. Either the scientists who worked on the vaccine had access to a time machine, or something was not right. Even in a work of medical fiction, one wouldn't write such an accelerated timeline, because it's just not plausible. Check out this blog post about how something like this can and has gone on affect overall healthcare reform.
But Everything Worked Out? Right?
It most certainly did not. By largely glossing over the testing stage, the pharmaceutical industry simply shifted the testing onto the public. Future generations who shop for health care system-related books will surely balk at the fact that the public used the AstraZeneca Vaccine before it was discovered to cause clotting in women under forty.
Only after dozens of deaths were preventive measures put in place. Even so, the vaccine wasn't recalled but simply reserved for individuals who faced a lowered risk. The corporation also ran a celebrity-endorsed campaign, so luckily, the damage has been neatly tied up and forgotten.
Even stranger still, is that if you look up the vaccine's possible side effects on Harvard Health, one of them is "unexplained deaths". The site then goes on to explain that "further investigation is needed" to find out if the vaccine was to blame.
I write many fiction books, but if you purchase my fiction books online, specifically my COVID-19 books, some of the horrors presented aren't nearly as concerning as the possibility of an approved vaccine causing "unexplained death".
Mind you; there have been occurrences of faulty pharmaceuticals in the past. The list of drugs recalled by the FDA goes on and on. However, the main difference now is that armed with Instagram and Twitter accounts; newer generations have taken it upon themselves to become the spokespeople for things they know nothing about. The medical industry is only too happy to accept free labor.
When I, a doctor, voice my concerns about products in the industry I've worked in for twenty-five years, I'm labeled a conspiracy theorist. So much for medical school.
In my 3D fictional book, The Geriatrics Vengeance Club, I explore this. Vaccinations are a gift—when they're proven safe for use. Today in the USA, the Land of the Free, you can barely get a job if you cannot prove you've had the jab.
The Problem
The reason that vaccination development takes over a decade typically is that along with observing the immediate effects, scientists are also meant to observe the long-term effects it has on health. In rushing the process, industrialists have turned us all into voluntary lab rats.
If you dare speak up about it, you'll find your voice rapidly drowned out by the horde of people who'll arise to tell you that your research and opinion are a menace to society as we know it. In my latest fiction book, which has already earned a place among the nominations for Book of the Year by The Magic Pen, January 6th, and the Millenial Horde, I mirror the world we live in, but with a few of my choicest characters inserted.
Although I'm qualified to write nonfiction, the hope is that by taking a step back from reality and all its biases, readers will be able to have a clearer view of what happens daily. The medical industry is an industry designed to generate profit. The facts have become indistinguishable from the most vocalized statements.
If you ever happen to come across a rally of people adamantly marching placards down the street in favor of the government's response to COVID, a quick conversation will show you that most participants haven't read any healthcare reform book. When they refer to their credible sources, they mean the corporations that profit from promoting their services and products.
Why Would A Potentially Dangerous Product Be Released?
It's not an unpopular opinion in the medical community that the commercialization of the healthcare system has made it impossible to follow the stipulations of the Hippocratic Oath. You see, medical research requires funding, but it also must generate funding for the proprietors of this research. So when a single illness ails the global population, whoever produces the answer stands to make a lot of money.
Corporations didn't rush the vaccination because they were overcome by the mass deaths and infections; they did it to corner the market. Along with the vaccine, companies stumbled over each other to mass-produce sanitizer, home antigen tests, and masks, each more effective than the last.
Even the fashion industry got in on it, hurriedly producing printed masks with trendy designs. The publishing industry released hundreds of COVID-19 books for children, and the internet is awash with products guaranteed to prevent "maskne" (acne caused by wearing a mask). The pandemic was a very lucrative disaster indeed.
In the rush to buy all of the above, and don't forget toilet paper, it seems no one had time to buy affordable nonfiction books online. If they had, they might have been prompted to question the fact that with all these procedures in place, the streets of New York being disinfected, and everyone locked up in their houses, people were still getting sick.
Not only with The Virus, but with regular illnesses as well, so why was that? Don't tell Big Pharma, but the answer is very simple. Using copious amounts of disinfectant and refusing to share your oxygen with anyone is bad for your immune system.
The Effect of the Overall Response
The fact that the lockdown and its entourage of pandemic-safe practices aren't great long-term is proven, but we're not supposed to acknowledge it. One of my fictional books was inspired by this. I called it, The Great Stupidity. Highly acclaimed by reviewers and reportedly hilarious, I outline the dangers of being too taken with solutions that seem too good to be true.
It also comes with a soundtrack, custom-made to create an immersive, multimedia experience. If you're skeptical about whom to believe, I commend you for thinking on your own and recommend checking it out on my fiction book website. Get some perspective from this tale where historical fiction meets medical fiction, and nod your head along to The Sciency Song while you're at it.
The benefit of reading fiction is that instead of pushing ideas, it raises them for the reader to judge. If you prefer to buy nonfiction books, Utilizing Effective Risk Communication in COVID-19 I co-wrote with Erik Rifkin Ph.D., and published with Springer, is written specifically for nonmedical persons to help them understand the facts.
The constantly changing newsfeeds and completely diverging opinions played a large part in the cloud of fear and questions that shrouded this pandemic. At the end of the day, you can't blame a layperson for believing in the evidence provided by professionals. Hopefully, reader-friendly books like mine will help combat this.
What History Can (Try To) Teach Us
The idea of government-mandated rules being fallacious isn't new. As a historian, I can attest that it's under-discussed. Picking up Civil War-related books online will prove that. In Three Brothers from Virginia, an epic following an interracial family who struggles to avoid persecution for the crime of existing, the reader is reminded of the past mistakes made by those who blindly followed the law.
Even bigger mistakes can be made when blindly following young activists with an inexplicable preference for all things instant.
If you're a fan of fiction, buy Jewish history book,The Adventures of Yadel the Dreidel. This two-part tale was very well received by the San Francisco Book Review. On my site, you can shop Health Benefits related books, affordable nonfiction books, and, don't forget, 3D fictional books.
I also host a podcast called Straight Talking Doc Unhinged, where I share my experiences working as a physician. I urge listeners to remember that these are my real experiences, as opposed to ideas I've found elsewhere and found to be believable. I also have nothing to gain from raising these ideas; doing so has brought my medical license under threat on several occasions.
However, I took the Hippocratic Oath, and frankly, sharing the truth is the best I can do to follow it.