Zeke Emanuel Pushes Dangerous Covid Misinformation
Plus, vitamin D deficiency again linked to bad covid outcomes
You have to watch this to believe it:
Dr. Zeke Emanuel joins Kristen Welker to discuss Pfizer’s submission of their Covid vaccine for kids under five amid low vaccination numbers for eligible children. “With the omicron variant, kids are either going to get the vaccine or they're likely to get a serious condition of omicron,” says Emanuel. “I am confused about parents’ attitude. Five and above, seems like it's a no brainer.”
In English, words mean things. “Likely” means “probable”, as in, a more than 50% chance of occurring. There is no way that kids have a more than 50% chance to get a serious condition of omicron.
More than 4 in 100,000 children under age 5 were admitted to a hospital with Covid-19 as of January 1, the CDC reported.
I’m a little fuzzy on the math, but is 4 children per 100,000 a “likely” outcome? Does he know Fauci already admitted most kids aren’t even in the hospital for covid? When can we expect Mr. Emanuel to be removed from polite society for spreading dangerous misinformation? I won’t hold my breath.
In better news, another study confirms the link between vitamin D deficiency and bad covid outcomes. Go out into the sunshine (if you can find it) and take a walk!
Of 1176 patients admitted, 253 had records of a 25(OH)D level prior to COVID-19 infection. A lower vitamin D status was more common in patients with the severe or critical disease (<20 ng/mL [87.4%]) than in individuals with mild or moderate disease (<20 ng/mL [34.3%] p < 0.001). Patients with vitamin D deficiency (<20 ng/mL) were 14 times more likely to have severe or critical disease than patients with 25(OH)D ≥40 ng/mL (odds ratio [OR], 14; 95% confidence interval [CI], 4 to 51; p < 0.001).
Also yesterday, Matt Taibbi spoke with Glen Greenwald yesterday during a call-in, and it was AMAZING! Greenwald spoke at length about how the notion that ‘private companies can do what they want’ is untrue if they’re actually taking direction from government. If you’ve got an hour, take a listen!
Is Substack overwhelming your email with notifications? Yesterday I realized that comments come from “forum@mg1.substack.com”, whereas likes come from “reaction@mg1.substack.com”. A simple filter will save your sanity, and your inbox.
Speaking of Substack tips, check out reader.substack.com to view all your subscriptions on one easy-to-read page!
Time to power up and tackle the world! Have a great day out there, readers!
Since I'm not completely innumerate, like so many Americans, I haven't been scared of Covid from the beginning when the age stratification first became obvious -- I may be in my mid-50s but I'm in good health with no chronic conditions.
However, I remember hearing something about Vitamin D back in summer 2020 and, because I live in Seattle, since then I've been supplementing with 5000 IU/day and my blood level is up to 60 ng/ml, well above the highest level seen in anyone hospitalized. So now I'm even less scared.
Why the likely, now confirmed, benefits of Vitamin D weren't trumpeted to the heavens in 2020 I'll never understand.
Dr Ryan Cole gave a whole lecture about vitamin D and sunlight, very interesting info. One open question is whether D is itself the active health booster, or if D is the proxy by which other sunlight benefits are measured. Studying supplementers vs sunlighters would be useful.
Also, skin tone matters, and fair people needed to be fair at the higher latitudes to absorb enough sunlight, while darker skinned people living closer to the equatorial latitudes did not need also much. Now that we moved around, mixed up, and moved inside, darker people, especially, have trouble getting enough D. It's not racism, it's science.