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Pfizer Isn’t Sure Whether Its Vaccine Stops People From Being Able to Spread COVID-19

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Pfizer COVID vaccine

In an interview during the Thursday NBC Dateline special “Race for a Vaccine”, Pfizer chairman Albert Bourla told journalist Lester Holt that he was “not certain” whether the pharmaceutical company’s COVID-19 vaccine will stop vaccinated people from being able to spread the lethal virus to others.

“This is something that needs to be examined,” Bourla said. ” We are not certain about that right now with what we know.”

This is an important question, as frontline health care workers, nursing home residents and employees will be prioritized to receive the first vaccinations. If they remain contagious, it could endanger other at-risk populations.

Pfizer claims its vaccine is 90 percent effective, but it must be delivered and stored in extreme sub-zero temperatures in order to work: the optimal temperature is minus 70 degrees Celsius, colder than winter temperatures in Antarctica. Once stored at a normal refrigeration temperature, the vaccine must be used within four or five days or else its active mRNA will break apart, making the inoculations useless.

The extreme temperatures required for its storage have raised serious questions about its costs for transport, storage and availability to millions of Americans who’d need to be inoculated in order to help the pandemic end.

A mid-May survey by the Associated Press and Norc Center for Public Affairs Research at the University of Chicago found that 20 percent of American adults say they won’t get a COVID-19 vaccine with an additional 31 percent of people saying they’re not sure if they’ll get vaccinated or not.

Epidemiologists say 70 percent of the population will need immunization in order to end the pandemic, according to Science Magazine.

People who fear receiving vaccines often worry about negative health effects, view medical authorities suspiciously or want more information about them before receiving them. Pro-vaccination experts say that the medical community must use emotional messages and first-person testimonies that appeal to people’s empathy about protecting loved ones rather than fear about killing them.

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ANTI-VAXXERS

Marjorie Taylor Greene Pushes COVID Vaccine Myth About Embalmers Finding Clots

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4 months ago

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December 28, 2023

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Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) is pushing a COVID vaccine myth that’s resurfaced.

Writing on X, formerly Twitter, Greene tagged the House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic while reposting a video from the right-wing TV channel Real America’s Voice.

“.@COVIDSelect we need to investigate this by talking to embalmers,” Greene wrote.

The video claims that embalmers are finding “white fibrous clots” in “up to 50 percent or more of their corpses.” The clip claims that the clots only started appearing after the 2021 vaccine rollout.

READ MORE: DeSantis Pledges to Install His Surgeon General, Who Reportedly Said Anti-Vax Policies Are God’s Plan, at CDC

This particular COVID vaccine myth is, like many, based in a very small grain of truth. Blood clotting is a side effect of the AstraZeneca and Johnson & Johnson vaccines, according to a April 2021 PBS report, but they were very rare.

For example, out of 6.8 million people who had received the Johnson & Johnson vaccine at the time, only 6 people developed cerebral venous sinus thrombosis—or, in layman’s terms, a blood clot in the brain. The clot stops blood from draining, and can cause a hemorrhage leading to a stroke, according to Johns Hopkins. Patients who took the Pfizer or Moderna vaccines were not affected.

It appears this vaccine myth of embalmers finding clots in many bodies originated with Richard Hirschman, an embalmer in Alabama, according to European news organization AFP. In a viral clip, Hirschman said he found clots in “50-to-70% of bodies,” and he shows a number of jars he says contains removed blood clots. His claims made up a good portion of the anti-vaccine documentary Died Suddenly, which is riddled with inaccuracies, according to McGill University’s Office for Science and Society.

“I am not a doctor or scientist not even a phlebotomy expert,” Hirschman told AFP. “But I am very familiar with embalming and I work with blood all the time.”

However, when AFP asked an actual doctor, they said it was impossible to tell what caused the clots from just looking.

“It is usually impossible to tell what caused the blood to clot in the first place by looking at the clot,” Pathologist David Dorward told the news service. “For example, a blood clot from a patient who had clots caused by Covid infection when compared to blood clots formed following prolonged bed rest after a major operation would look pretty much identical.”

Mortuary expert Monica Torres provided a more obvious explanation for the high number of clots.

“The blood clots are from refrigeration. It happens to many bodies,” Torres told AFP. “It’s just that there were so many bodies to process, many of them sat in refrigeration for long durations so they got blood clots. It’s not a big deal and these people are trying to make it a thing.”

Nikolaus Klupp, an associate professor of forensic medicine at the Medical University of Vienna, agreed with Torres’ explanation.

“The images look to me more like postmortem clots, mainly due to the color, the shape, and particularly because of the amount. Vital clots (clots that formed in a living person), for example in the context of disseminated intravascular coagulation are strongly attached to the vessel wall and are difficult to detach, in our experience,” he told HealthFeedback.org.

What’s more—according to esteemed medical journal The Lancet, a patient is much more likely to get blood clots from COVID-19 itself than any of the vaccines.

 

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A New Dawn in the Fight Against COVID: ‘Fauci is Vaccinated’

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3 years ago

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December 22, 2020

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Dr. Anthony Fauci received his first dose of the Moderna COVID vaccine Monday morning.

Fauci said he hoped his vaccination would serve as a “symbol to the rest of the country.”

“I feel extreme confidence in the safety and the efficacy of this vaccine, and I [want] to encourage everyone who has the opportunity to get vaccinated,” he said.

Just like the Pfizer vaccine, the Moderna vaccine requires two injections, given 28 days apart, to prime the immune system well enough to fight off the coronavirus. But because the vaccine is so new, researchers don’t know how long its protection might last, The New York Times reported.

CNN political correspondent Abby D. Phillip tweeted, “Great to see Dr. Fauci being vaccinated on TV today. Not just because of the signal that it sends but also because we legit need him to be healthy for as long as possible!”

See additional reactions below.

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