I have been asked many times to respond to the issues brought forth in the video “Plandemic.” In a previous post, I talked about how it saddens me to see it throwing people into a tizzy, when I believe we benefit most from focusing on health-building activities right now. Though I have watched it and reflected on it, I just couldn’t bring myself to take the time and energy to counteract all the misinformation, but am thankful to my colleagues that have and will pass along some of their thoughts that I agree with.
In some ways conversations like these are analogous to debating the philosophy of fire, the risks and benefits of fire, who starts fires, proper place to burn fires, etc. WHILE a wildfire is still burning. This obviously detracts from the important education about how to protect yourself from fire, where and how big the fire is and what to do if you catch on fire. But for that very reason, I have gathered some information to help you have some balanced information.
First as a family physician and medical educator, I have to say that I do not purport to be an expert in infectious disease, epidemiology or political theory. I do have very solid medical training and I am an expert in knowing what I don’t know, seeking up to date information from a multitude of sources and analyzing that data to have a well-informed opinion. I am first and foremost an advocate for personalized excellent medical care for every patient. I am part of a community of physicians world-wide who do the same in their various areas. In the setting of an unprecedented global pandemic, physicians and scientists with no political agenda have banded together to share information and best practices related to a novel virus that is behaving both in the population and individuals differently than we have seen in the past. There is no algorithm for the prevention and management of COVID19 and I don’t expect one. I am open to novel treatments, holistic treatments and pharmacologic treatments and make the best judgments based on the knowledge of how the body works, previous experiences that can be safely extrapolated and evolving data.
Much of the below is taken with permission from a colleague who actually turned her privacy settings back on because the conversations in her comments were getting nasty. I also would direct you to a YouTube video by Dr. Mike entitled “Doctor Fact-Checks PLANDEMIC Conspiracy” which is a thoughtful exploration. I trust that we can share viewpoints and ask questions from a place of respect in this feed.
“Plandemic”... A well-produced, well-lit film depicts now-discredited former researcher Judy Mikovits who shares a plausible-sounding narrative about the current pandemic in the setting of her new book coming out. It uses many well-known techniques of the power of persuasion and marketing to set a scene of trust that unfortunately is misused. Nearly all of her scientific statements are demonstrably false or at best misapplied.
- She states “There is no vaccine for any RNA virus that works." Incorrect: Polio, hepatitis A, measles, to name a few. (Source: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4763971/)
- Her retracted paper was actually not about vaccines at all, even though she insinuates that it was. (Here is the article: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19815723)
- She states that Ebola could not infect humans until it was engineered to do so in her laboratory. This is false. (Here is an article describing an outbreak of Ebola in 1976, long before Dr. Mikovits was conducting research: https://academic.oup.com/jid/article/214/suppl_3/S93/2388104 )
- Likewise, many other zoonotic viruses have been shown to gain mutations that allow them to infect humans. This would not be some kind of new, crazy idea. We actually predicted it years ago: we just didn’t know exactly which virus or when it would occur. (Here is an article from 2015 discussing the likely emergence of future coronavirus pandemics: https://virologyj.biomedcentral.com/…/10.…/s12985-015-0422-1 )
- She states that the US was working with Wuhan to study coronaviruses years ago, like it’s a “gotcha” moment: yes, of course we were doing this – Wuhan is a coronavirus hotspot and it makes sense to study this family of viruses where it naturally occurs. (Same article as above: https://virologyj.biomedcentral.com/…/10.…/s12985-015-0422-1 )
- She states that COPD lungs are identical to COVID-19 lungs. Any practicing physician would be able to tell COPD from COVID-19, both clinically and histologically. (One article discussing an overview of tools for diagnosing COVID19 https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acsnano.0c02624, one about CT specifically https://www.tandfonline.com/…/full/10…/22221751.2020.1750307, and one about histology specifically https://academic.oup.com/ajcp/article/153/6/725/5818922)
- The statement taken out of context from the CDC death certificate recommendation reads in full “In cases where a definitive diagnosis of COVID-19 cannot be made, but is suspected or likely (the circumstances are compelling within a reasonable degree of certainty), it is acceptable to report COVID-19 on a death certificate as “probable” or “presumed”. In these instances, certifiers should use their best judgment in determining if a COVID-19 diagnosis was likely. Testing for COVID-19 should be conducted whenever possible.”. My physician colleagues are not being pressured to put COVID-19 on death certificates when it should not be there. This is the same process we always follow. (Here is the actual document with instructions for
filling out death certificates from the CDC: https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/nvss/vsrg/vsrg03-508.pdf )
- The idea that physicians are incorrectly diagnosing COVID-19 due to financial incentive is also ridiculous. Medicare sometimes bundles payments for some conditions (i.e. if you have a heart attack, medicare may pay XX for your treatment) – it’s possible the hospital could get paid $13,000 for your COVID-19 admission, but do you know what that’s based on? The fact that the average cost of a hospital admission for a respiratory condition is $13,297. This is actually a cost savings to patients oftentimes. The reason physicians and hospitals get paid more to diagnose COVID19 is because they spend more time, resources, talent and risk to treat it. (I can’t post a scientific study here, since this isn’t a scientific fact, but this article describes the procedure in detail: https://www.usatoday.com/…/fact-check-medicare-…/3000638001/ )
- She states that hydroxychloroquine has been “extensively studied in this family of viruses” – in fact, it has not been studied well in coronaviruses. It HAS been studied in malaria, which is not a virus. (Here is the one study that was performed that people like to cite, and it is an in vitro study (not in humans), of SARS (not COVID-19), and chloroquine (not hydroxychloroquine): https://virologyj.biomedcentral.com/…/10.1186/1743-422X-2-69 ). And yes, it is considered an essential medicine for the treatment of malaria. Not for coronaviruses.
- Furthermore, the data on hydroxychloroquine are much weaker than they originally appeared: the small study that was highly publicized was not a randomized controlled trial, and the only patients who died were those who received hydroxychloroquine (and these were EXCLUDED FROM ANALYSIS!). This is terrible science. Even so, we want to investigate all possible treatments, so controlled trials are being conducted on hydroxychloroquine right now. (Current recommendations and summary of research: https://www.cebm.net/…/hydroxychloroquine-for-covid-19-wha…/ ; One study published on May 7 shows no benefit to using hydroxychloroquine https://www.nejm.org/doi/pdf/10.1056/NEJMoa2012410… )
- She insinuates that there is a hydroxychloroquine shortage as a result of reduced production. In fact, the shortage has resulted from an increase in demand: people who take this medication regularly are writing extended prescriptions and because physicians are using it for COVID19 patients because they have nothing else to try. (https://jamanetwork.com/c…/health-forum/fullarticle/2764607…).
- “All flu vaccines contain coronaviruses”. Nope, absolutely false. (In fact, it’s so false based on the way vaccines are made that there are no studies specifically stating this claim. It would be like trying to conduct a study to examine whether humans can live with zero oxygen. Nope, we can’t. No study needed.)
- The idea that sheltering in place somehow harms your immune system is really far fetched. There are plenty of viruses and bacteria all around us that keep our immune system busy. Your GI system doesn’t wither away when you eat less food. Your immune system is fine. A YouTube video by Dr. Mike (Doctor Fact-Checks PLANDEMIC Conspiracy) gives good info on this in more detail.
-That you may reactivate a virus in yourself by wearing a mask have been thoroughly debunked in other posts and I won’t get into the details here. Both national societies of emergency medicine have condemned the statements of these doctors, one of whom is not board-certified. Masks indeed need to be donned carefully so as not to spread droplets that may be on the mask though.
- Lastly, private companies removing false information from their platforms does not represent repression or promotion of propaganda. We have the right to free speech indeed, but we don’t have the right to spread misinformation on private companies’ platforms. I personally regret that taking down the message seems to have helped it gain steam, but it’s not our right to speak on someone else’s turf.
There is nothing wrong with taking in a variety of sources of information. I encourage it! Stay open. Know your biases. #bealeader to yourself first and foremost and then to your loved ones and community. My hope is that where you focus your emotional, intellectual and physical energy is benefiting you and not distracting you from what you would be better served focusing on.
You cannot steer a storm, but you can steer your own boat! What is YOUR plan to move forward in one area of your Whole Health - mind, body, spirit … life!
