There has been a lot of talk over the past 22 months regarding COVID-19, and a great deal of it revolves around misinformation. So let’s go over some of the actual facts.
Globally, as of Oct 17, 2021 there have been 240,070,992 confirmed cases of COVID-19, and 4,889,737 deaths attributed to the virus. That puts the world wide mortality rate for the virus at 2.03%.
In the US, as of Oct 17, 2021 there have been 44,892,707 confirmed cases of COVID-19, and 724,317 deaths attributed to the virus. That puts the mortality rate for the virus in the US at 1.61%.
Approximately 70% of those infected with the virus will not know they have the virus unless they are tested. Most of those that are infected either experience no symptoms, or very mild symptoms.
Now let’s talk about the vaccine.
During the Pfizer coronavirus vaccine trials, there were 43,448 participants. Half of the participants were given the vaccine, and the other half were given a placebo. Now here is where things get interesting.
The group that was given the placebo experienced a 0.75% infection rate, while the group that was given the vaccine experienced a 0.04% infection rate. That’s a difference of 0.71%.
But Pfizer claims its vaccine is 95% effective! Right?
Well, that’s because it’s true. 0.04% is 94.67% of 0.75%. Telling people the vaccine has a 95% effective makes the vaccine sound far more effective than a 0.71% reduction in infections.
It is also worth noting that 6 people died during the clinical trial. Two were in the vaccinated group, and 4 in the placebo group. There were also 4 reported cased of Bell’s palsy among participants. All four were in the vaccinated group.
In the vaccine group, one died 3 days after receiving the first dose of the Pfizer vaccine from arteriosclerosis, and a second died from a cardiac arrest 62 days after vaccination. In the placebo group, one person died from a myocardial infarction, another died from a hemorrhagic stroke, and the other two died from unknown causes.
To be clear, during the Pfizer phase 3 clinical coronavirus vaccine trials, none of the 43,448 participants died from COVID-19 or complications caused by the virus. And while it might seem interesting that there were 4 cases of Bell’s palsy reported among the vaccinated group and none reported in the placebo group, it is such a small number that it can not be conclusively linked to the vaccine.
We could discuss the Moderna phase 3 clinical trial, which consisted of approximately 30,000 participants (30% fewer than Pfizer), but the results were markedly similar with a 1.16% reduction in infections between the vaccinated and the placebo groups.
So the global mortality rate for COVID-19 is 2.03%, while in the US it stands at 1.61%. And if you get the COVID vaccine you can potentially reduce your risk of infection between 0.71% and 1.62%.
If you in a high risk group, you should get the shot. If you are at low risk from the virus, weigh the risks and rewards, and decide for yourself. As long as we live in a free country, the decision is yours.
- https://healthfeedback.org/claimreview/cases-of-bells-palsy-and-death-observed-during-pfizer-biontech-vaccine-clinical-trials-were-within-expected-background-range-of-general-population/
- https://covid.cdc.gov/covid-data-tracker/#datatracker-home
- https://www.modernatx.com/covid19vaccine-eua/providers/clinical-trial-data