The last couple of years have witnessed the rise of a global phenomenon involving incredibly wealthy companies, governments, regulatory agencies, social media platforms and news agencies. The unprecedented cooperation disallows questions, suppresses dissent, and punishes those who point to facts that do not support a prescribed narrative.
The Seventh-day Adventist church has been given light concerning the erosion of civil and religious liberties near the end of earth’s history. It has also been given a powerful tool to assist in taking heaven’s last message to the world, the health message.
However, if we forget the principles of healing given to the church, we will lose key opportunities to realize the power of God’s methods of healing. The medical work of the church may become so subsumed by the policies of the world that it becomes indistinguishable from the world’s medical work. Then, rather than assist the work of the gospel, it serves to divide and confuse the church.
The recent pandemic gave ample opportunities for confusion. One remains the issue of wearing a face covering when out in public, in the belief that doing so does not pose any health risks and will protect the wearer from spreading or catching disease. Both of these ideas are not supported by the weight of evidence. Under the leadership of some Adventist doctors, well-meaning church members have stood in foyers of churches, handing out masks and insisting that congregants wear one if they wished to enjoy Sabbath morning worship.
Surgical masks may reduce transmission of microbes carried on droplets when in very close range of a person who has symptoms of illness. N-95 masks, when worn briefly in negative pressure rooms, can reduce the risk of transmission of airborne microbes.
As early as December of 2020, the World Health Organization acknowledged that the evidence to support the masking of healthy people in the community to prevent infection with respiratory viruses was “only limited and inconsistent.”(1) Recently, a massive Cochrane review article incorporated findings from 78 randomized controlled trials, and reported that their pooled analysis “did not show a clear reduction in respiratory viral infection with the use of medical/surgical masks. There were no clear differences between the use of medical/surgical masks compared with N95/P2 respirators in healthcare workers to reduce respiratory viral infection.”(2)
Carbon dioxide (CO2) is a waste product of cellular metabolism and is excreted chiefly by the lungs. CO2 “quickly rises to a very high level in healthy children in a seated resting position” while wearing masks.(3) Side effects of face mask wearing in children include irritability, headaches, difficulty concentrating, reluctance to go to school, malaise, impaired learning, drowsiness(4) and breathing problems which are exacerbated by exercise(5). Despite being at the lowest risk of severe disease from SARS-CoV2, children have endured the most disproportionate disruption to their lives during their most formative years during the pandemic.(6) All mask types like community masks, surgical masks, and N95 respirators can be responsible for a significant rise in the blood content of CO2,(7) exceeding standards set by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH).(8)
The CO2 concentration of the blood of a pregnant woman must be lower than that of the unborn child in order for the fetus’ CO2 to pass to the mother’s circulation via the placenta. Slight shifts in CO2 concentration caused by masks could interfere with the fetal-maternal CO2 gradient and increase over time of exposure.(9) Global carbon dioxide re-breathing since 2020 may be linked to the current reported disturbing 28% rise in stillbirths worldwide(10). Children born during the pandemic have significantly reduced verbal, motor, and overall cognitive performance compared to children born pre-pandemic.(11)
Deep re-inhalation of condensed droplets or virions trapped in face masks may worsen prognosis of those who are infected and “might be linked to long-term effects of COVID-19 infection.”(12) Headaches,(13) Mask-Induced Exhaustion Syndrome (MIES)(14) and acne(15) are among common effects of mask-wearing.
What do we find in the inspired counsel regarding the importance of fresh air? “The lungs are constantly throwing off impurities, and they need to be constantly supplied with fresh air. Impure air cannot afford the necessary supply of oxygen, and the blood passes to the brain and other organs without being vitalized.”(16)
Let’s move on to that most contentious topic, the gene therapy that has been mandated and pushed as absolutely safe and effective. I will not attempt a comprehensive discussion of a huge topic, but list a few points worth mentioning:
The modified RNA products by Pfizer and ModeRNA were shown to reduce the risk of getting symptomatic Covid infection (we subsequently found out, for a short duration) with the original strain of Covid-19. (17)
Pfizer’s 6-month follow-up analysis of its randomized controlled trial (RCT) did not show an advantage in all-cause mortality among those who were injected. There were 20 deaths from any cause among those who were vaccinated and 14 deaths among those who were not vaccinated.(18) The researchers did not submit the death from any cause data for statistical analysis. Although the safety monitoring period for this paper ended in March of 2021, and despite the authors’ assurances that safety monitoring would continue for 18-24 months after the second dose, no subsequent safety updates have been published.
Observational (not RCT) studies are laden with inherent biases called confounding which affect their representation of the truth, although researchers try to control for confounding with study design and statistical methods. While a short-term (2-month follow-up period) study of Kaiser Permanente patients may have suggested a protective effect of vaccination on all-cause mortality, these effects, as the authors concede in their discussion, could be due primarily to a bias called the healthy vaccinee effect.(19) Meanwhile, data from the United Kingdom’s Office for National Statistics (ONS) shows that the relative risk of all-cause mortality for the vaccinated compared with the unvaccinated goes up over time in all age groups.(20) After 2021, a history of vaccination seemed to have increased the risk of death from any cause, and this increase worsened over time.
Myocarditis (inflammation of heart muscle) is a known risk of the modified RNA products. What we are learning now is that the risk of damage to the heart muscle, undetected in most cases because the recipients are not sick enough to present for medical care (called subclinical myocarditis) is 2-3%, according to data from Thailand(21) and from Switzerland(22). This is several orders of magnitude higher than previously thought. In the Thai study of teen modified RNA recipients, over 29% exhibited some cardiovascular reaction. 2.33% showed biochemical signs of heart muscle damage.
But if people with subclinical myocarditis mostly recover and do well, what’s the big deal? Heart muscle does not regenerate well, so any bit of heart muscle lost is significant. Inflammation of the heart can cause chest pain, shortness of breath, tachycardia, fatigue, and life-threatening arrythmias linked to sudden cardiac death, particularly during times of physical stress. Researchers in South Korea (23) and Seattle (24) have found that some signs of heart muscle damage persist long term in many patients who have covid-19 vaccine-related myocarditis. An important question is, what will happen when billions of people get boosters every year?
Covid-19 vaccine genetic vaccines can target many body systems and cause a vast array of neurologic syndromes,(25) thrombotic/thromboembolic events including stroke,(26,27,28) and autoimmune diseases.(29, 30) Vaccine-induced spike protein synthesis can facilitate the accumulation of toxic prion-like fibrils in neurons, leading to neuroinflammation related to diseases like Alzheimer’s, ALS, and Parkinson’s. Moreover, these prion-like characteristics are more relevant to vaccine-related mRNA-induced spike proteins than natural infection with SARS-CoV2.(31)
What about cancer? Do Covid-19 vaccines cause cancer? To my knowledge, no studies have been published on risks of various cancers and how they are affected by whether an individual has received one of the modified RNA Covid vaccines. However, a protein called Interferon Regulatory Factor 7 (IRF7) is necessary for the functioning of the important tumor suppressor gene BRCA1. Vaccination with Covid-19 vaccines suppresses the function of IRF7.(32) This can be expected to interfere with the cancer-protective effects of BRCA1. Impaired BRCA1 activity is associated with cancers of the breast, ovaries, uterus, prostate, and pancreas.(33) IRF7 is also necessary for the function of tumor necrosis factor-related apoptosis-inducing ligand (TRAIL) receptor 1 and 2. Failure of TRAIL-R increases the metastatic potential of melanoma, colorectal cancer, lymphoma and other hematologic malignancies.(34) A case study of rapid progression of lymphoma following a dose of the BNT162b2 (Pfizer) mRNA booster shot has been published.(35)
Alarming ecological trends are seen in various countries. In reports from Japan and Germany, a 5-10% increased all-cause mortality was observed in 2021 and 2022, under pandemic counter-measures including vaccination campaigns. This represents over twice the rate of excess mortality in 2020.(36) These findings are corroborated by data emerging from many countries.(37)
A cautionary tale: In a recent modeling study by Watson, et al, published in Lancet Infectious Disease, the claim was made that the Covid-19 vaccines likely prevented 14-20 million deaths in 2021. This was based on predictions made by an epidemiologic SEIR model, which is trained on partially simulated data. Germany’s Angela Merkel referred to such models as “the science,” equating model predictions with future truths. The problem is that models are only as good as the assumptions and equations built into them. The model used by Watson, et al has been cited for deep flaws in its construction and the plausibility of its ability to predict the truth.(38)
During the early days of the pandemic, the need to treat the disease early in its clinical course(39) was ignored by governmental agencies. The use of repurposed treatments in the outpatient setting was discouraged despite substantial clinical evidence of efficacy(40, 41, 42) and no evidence of harm. Small SDA health institutions were having success in treating patients with simple natural remedies.(43)
In 2021, a director of the Public Affairs and Religious Liberty department of the SDA Church wrote an article, published in a church periodical, taunting “Mr. Functional Medicine Man” who would dare question The Science, as deserving of limitations on his ability to work, travel, and participate in society. These comments have aged poorly, as even studies sponsored by the CDC failed to show a difference between vaccinated and unvaccinated infected individuals in the amount of virus their bodies harbored,(44) and the FDA has acknowledged that there is no evidence that vaccination prevents the spread of the virus from person to person.(45) Some Adventist medical professionals urged that it was our civic and religious duty to get vaccinated while others mocked those who questioned The Science. Some voices in the church parroted the Vatican’s “common good” narrative.
The inspired counsel is to educate away from drugs, to “use them less and less.”(46) “There are many ways of practicing the healing art, but there is only one way that Heaven approves. God's remedies are the simple agencies of nature that will not tax or debilitate the system through their powerful properties.”(47) It is difficult to reconcile this counsel with the recommendation for a healthy person, in order to stay healthy, to get genetically programmed with modified RNA with unknown downstream consequences, and reload the program every six months.
Another pandemic may be coming. Certainly greater tests lie ahead. I pray that we will not be rich and increased with goods (Revelation 3:17) but will see our true condition and repent.
Pearl Tragoudi, MD, MPH*
References:
(1) “Mask Use in the Context of COVID-19,” Interim Guidance, 1 December 2020, World Health Organization, page 8.
(2) Jefferson T, Dooley L, Ferroni E, Al-Ansary LA, van Driel ML, Bawazeer GA, Jones MA, Hoffmann TC, Clark J, Beller EM, Glasziou PP, Conly JM. Physical interventions to interrupt or reduce the spread of respiratory viruses. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews 2023, Issue 1. Art. No.: CD006207. DOI: 10.1002/14651858.CD006207.pub6. Accessed 05 September 2023.
(3) Walach H, Traindl H, Prentice J, Weikl R, Diemer A, Kappes A, Hockertz S. Carbon dioxide rises beyond acceptable safety levels in children under nose and mouth covering: Results of an experimental measurement study in healthy children. Environ Res. 2022 Sep;212(Pt D):113564. doi: 10.1016/j.envres.2022.113564. Epub 2022 May 28. PMID: 35636467; PMCID: PMC9142210.
(4) Schwarz S., Jenetzky E., Krafft H., Maurer T., Martin D. Corona child studies “Co-Ki”: first results of a Germany-wide register on mouth and nose covering (mask) in children. Monatsschr Kinderheilkd. 2020;169:353–365. doi: 10.1007/s00112-021-01133-9.
(5) Smart N.R., Horwell C.J., Smart T.S., Galea K.S. Assessment of the wearability of facemasks against air pollution in primary school-aged children in london. Int. J. Environ. Res. Publ. Health. 2020;17:3935. doi: 10.3390/ijerph17113935.
(6) Ladhani S.N. Face masking for children - time to reconsider. J. Infect. 2022;85:623–624. doi: 10.1016/j.jinf.2022.09.020.
(7) Kisielinski K, Wagner S, Hirsch O, Klosterhalfen B, Prescher A. Possible toxicity of chronic carbon dioxide exposure associated with face mask use, particularly in pregnant women, children and adolescents - A scoping review. Heliyon. 2023 Apr;9(4):e14117. doi: 10.1016/j.heliyon.2023.e14117. Epub 2023 Mar 3. PMID: 37057051; PMCID: PMC9981272.
(8) Ibid.
(9) Ibid.
(10) Ibid.
(11) Deoni S.C., Beauchemin J., Volpe A., D’Sa V., Consortium the R. 2021. Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Early Child Cognitive Development: Initial Findings in a Longitudinal Observational Study of Child Health.
(12) Fögen Z. The Foegen effect: A mechanism by which facemasks contribute to the COVID-19 case fatality rate. Medicine (Baltimore). 2022 Feb 18;101(7):e28924. doi: 10.1097/MD.0000000000028924. PMID: 35363218; PMCID: PMC9282120.
(13) Gurnani B, Kaur K. Headaches Associated with Face Mask Use During COVID-19 Pandemic-Are We Seeing a Headache Epidemic? Indian J Otolaryngol Head Neck Surg. 2022 Oct;74(Suppl 2):2968-2969. doi: 10.1007/s12070-021-02621-w. Epub 2021 May 20. PMID: 34036070; PMCID: PMC8136115.
(14) Kisielinski K., Giboni P., Prescher A., Klosterhalfen B., Graessel D., Funken S., Kempski O., Hirsch O. Is a mask that covers the mouth and nose free from undesirable side effects in everyday use and free of potential hazards? Int. J. Environ. Res. Publ. Health. 2021;18:4344. doi: 10.3390/ijerph18084344.
(15) Falodun O, Medugu N, Sabir L, Jibril I, Oyakhire N, Adekeye A. An epidemiological study on face masks and acne in a Nigerian population. PLoS One. 2022 May 19;17(5):e0268224. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0268224. PMID: 35588427; PMCID: PMC9119463.
(16) Ellen G. White, The Ministry of Healing, p. 274.
(17) https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/nejmoa2034577
(19) Xu S, Huang R, Sy LS, Hong V, Glenn SC, Ryan DS, Morrissette K, Vazquez-Benitez G, Glanz JM, Klein NP, Fireman B, McClure D, Liles EG, Weintraub ES, Tseng HF, Qian L. A safety study evaluating non-COVID-19 mortality risk following COVID-19 vaccination. Vaccine. 2023 Jan 16;41(3):844-854. doi: 10.1016/j.vaccine.2022.12.036. Epub 2022 Dec 20. PMID: 36564276; PMCID: PMC9763207.
(20) Donzelli, A.; Malatesta, G.; Di Palmo, G.; Cosentino, M.; Alessandria, M. All-Cause Mortality According to COVID-19 Vaccination Status: an analysis of the UK Office for National Statistics Public Data. Preprints 2023, 2023020414. https://doi.org/10.20944/preprints202302.0414.v1
(21) Mansanguan S, Charunwatthana P, Piyaphanee W, Dechkhajorn W, Poolcharoen A, Mansanguan C. Cardiovascular Manifestation of the BNT162b2 mRNA COVID-19 Vaccine in Adolescents. Trop Med Infect Dis. 2022 Aug 19;7(8):196. doi: 10.3390/tropicalmed7080196. PMID: 36006288; PMCID: PMC9414075.
(22) Buergin N, Lopez-Ayala P, Hirsiger JR, Mueller P, Median D, Glarner N, Rumora K, Herrmann T, Koechlin L, Haaf P, Rentsch K, Battegay M, Banderet F, Berger CT, Mueller C. Sex-specific differences in myocardial injury incidence after COVID-19 mRNA-1273 booster vaccination. Eur J Heart Fail. 2023 Jul 20. doi: 10.1002/ejhf.2978. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 37470105.
(23) Yu, C, et al, Cardiovascular Assessment up to One Year After COVID-19 Vaccine-Associated Myocarditis, Circulation. 2023; 148:436-439.
(24) Schauer J, Buddhe S, Gulhane A, Sagiv E, Studer M, Colyer J, Chikkabyrappa SM, Law Y, Portman MA. Persistent Cardiac Magnetic Resonance Imaging Findings in a Cohort of Adolescents with Post-Coronavirus Disease 2019 mRNA Vaccine Myopericarditis. J Pediatr. 2022 Jun;245:233-237. doi: 10.1016/j.jpeds.2022.03.032. Epub 2022 Mar 26. PMID: 35351530; PMCID: PMC8957353.
(25) Finsterer J. Neurological Adverse Reactions to SARS-CoV-2 Vaccines. Clin Psychopharmacol Neurosci. 2023 May 30;21(2):222-239. doi: 10.9758/cpn.2023.21.2.222. PMID: 37119215; PMCID: PMC10157009.
(26) Nahab F, Bayakly R, Sexton ME, Lemuel-Clarke M, Henriquez L, Rangaraju S, Ido M. Factors associated with stroke after COVID-19 vaccination: a statewide analysis. Front Neurol. 2023 Jun 28;14:1199745. doi: 10.3389/fneur.2023.1199745. PMID: 37448752; PMCID: PMC10337778.
(27) Seneff S, Kyriakopoulos AM, Nigh G, McCullough PA. A Potential Role of the Spike Protein in Neurodegenerative Diseases: A Narrative Review. Cureus. 2023 Feb 11;15(2):e34872. doi: 10.7759/cureus.34872. PMID: 36788995; PMCID: PMC9922164.
(28) Bekal S, Husari G, Okura M, Huang CA, Bukari MS. Thrombosis Development After mRNA COVID-19 Vaccine Administration: A Case Series. Cureus. 2023 Jul 4;15(7):e41371. doi: 10.7759/cureus.41371. PMID: 37546104; PMCID: PMC10400017.
(29) Panagis Polykretis, Alberto Donzelli, Janci C. Lindsay, David Wiseman, Anthony M. Kyriakopoulos, Michael Morz, Paolo Bellavite, Masanori Fukushima, Stephanie Seneff & Peter A. McCullough (2023) Autoimmune inflammatory reactions triggered by the COVID-19 genetic vaccines in terminally differentiated tissues, Autoimmunity, 56:1, 2259123, DOl: 10.1080/08916934.2023.2259123
(30) Nune A, Durkowski V, Pillay SS, Barman B, Elwell H, Bora K, Bilgrami S, Mahmood S, Babajan N, Venkatachalam S, et al. New-Onset Rheumatic Immune-Mediated Inflammatory Diseases Following SARS-CoV-2 Vaccinations until May 2023: A Systematic Review. Vaccines. 2023; 11(10):1571. https://doi.org/10.3390/vaccines11101571
(31) Seneff S, et al.
(32) Liu J., Wang J., Xu J., Xia H., Wang Y., Zhang C., Chen W., Zhang H., Liu Q., Zhu R., et al. Comprehensive investigations revealed consistent pathophysiological alterations after vaccination with COVID-19 vaccines. Cell Discov. 2021;7(1):99. doi: 10.1038/s41421-021-00329-3.
(33) Seneff S, Nigh G, Kyriakopoulos AM, McCullough PA. Innate immune suppression by SARS-CoV-2 mRNA vaccinations: The role of G-quadruplexes, exosomes, and MicroRNAs. Food Chem Toxicol. 2022 Jun;164:113008. doi: 10.1016/j.fct.2022.113008. Epub 2022 Apr 15. PMID: 35436552; PMCID: PMC9012513.
(34) Ibid.
(35) Goldman S, Bron D, Tousseyn T, Vierasu I, Dewispelaere L, Heimann P, Cogan E, Goldman M. Rapid Progression of Angioimmunoblastic T Cell Lymphoma Following BNT162b2 mRNA Vaccine Booster Shot: A Case Report. Front Med (Lausanne). 2021 Nov 25;8:798095. doi: 10.3389/fmed.2021.798095. PMID: 34901098; PMCID: PMC8656165.
(36) Scherb H and Hayashi K, Annual All-Cause Mortality Rate in Germany and Japan (2005 to 2022) with Focus on the Covid-19 Pandemic: Hypotheses and Trend Analyses, Medical and Clinical Science, (2023) Vol 5, Issue 2
(37) 2023-09-17: D.G. Rancourt, M. Baudin, J. Hickey & J. Mercier, “COVID-19 vaccine-associated mortality in the Southern Hemisphere”, Correlation Report
(38) Klement R and Walach H, SEIR models in the light of Critical Realism – A critique of exaggerated claims about the effectiveness of Covid
19 vaccinations, Futures 148 (2023)
(39) https://www.amjmed.com/article/S0002-9343(20)30673-2/fulltext
(40) Bryant, Andrew MSc1,*; Lawrie, Theresa A. MBBCh, PhD2; Dowswell, Therese PhD2; Fordham, Edmund J. PhD2; Mitchell, Scott MBChB, MRCS3; Hill, Sarah R. PhD1; Tham, Tony C. MD, FRCP4. Ivermectin for Prevention and Treatment of COVID-19 Infection: A Systematic Review, Meta-analysis, and Trial Sequential Analysis to Inform Clinical Guidelines. American Journal of Therapeutics 28(4):p e434-e460, July/August 2021. | DOI: 10.1097/MJT.0000000000001402
(41) https://journal.chestnet.org/article/S0012-3692(20)34898-4/fulltext
(42) Prodromos C, Rumschlag T. Hydroxychloroquine is effective, and consistently so when provided early, for COVID-19: a systematic review. New Microbes New Infect. 2020 Nov;38:100776. doi: 10.1016/j.nmni.2020.100776. Epub 2020 Oct 5. PMID: 33042552; PMCID: PMC7534595.
(43) https://www.ucheepines.org/counseling-sheets/covid-19
(44) Riemersma KK, Grogan BE, Kita-Yarbro A, et al. Shedding of infection SARS-CoV-2 despite vaccination. Medrxiv2021.07.31.21261387 [Preprint]. doi:10.1101/2021.07.31.21261387
(46) EG White, Counsels for the Church, p. 105.
(47) EG White, Testimonies to the Church, Vol. 5, p. 443.
*a pen name