Author: Ben Bonafede

The California COVID-19 Law article by Mimi Nguyen Ly and Joshua Philipp ended with great success for the medical community. On January 1st, 2023, AB 2098 was supposed to go into effect. This new California law stated that it was prohibited for medical doctors to speak out, privately or publicly, about COVID-19 vaccines or alternative treatments. Rick Jaffe, an attorney in one of the lawsuits, argues that the law represents the first effort to suppress healthcare practitioners from expressing their views on COVID-19 topics, including vaccines, to patients. In the end, this law has been put on a temporary block. If this law were to stand, it would just be the beginning of doctor suppression.

After reading about AB 2098 and empathizing with these doctors, my mood swiftly changed after reading the article about the CDC officials. Two US health officials, Drs. Katherine Fleming-Dutra and Sara Oliver of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), spread false COVID-19 child death data in public meetings in 2022. The false data was presented while US officials were weighing the emergency authorization for COVID-19 vaccines for children as young as 6 months. The study the data was cited from was corrected after the public meetings. Emails obtained by The Epoch Times show that the officials apologized to the source of the false data, Seth Flaxman, but not to the public. The CDC has not informed the public of the false information. The false data claimed at least 1,433 deaths attributed to COVID-19 among those aged 0 to 19 in the US, while the actual number was 1,088. I wonder if this was an honest mistake or a known inflation.

The final article revolved around Elon Musk and the negative side effects of his COVID-19 booster shot. At the beginning of the article, the Epoch Times fed its readers an anecdotal, unverified story about Elon Musk. In this personal piece, Musk claimed that his 2nd booster shot made him like he “was dying.” Furthermore, the article began to list many statistics of US citizens’ personal opinions about the COVID-19 vaccines and their potential negative side effects.

The global narrative on the origins of COVID-19 has constantly been evolving, with new evidence and theories being put forward by experts. In the early days of the pandemic, the initial hypothesis was that the virus originated from a wet market in Wuhan, China. It was believed that the virus was introduced into bats, and was later spread to humans. However, as more research has been conducted, some scientists have raised questions about the possibility of a laboratory origin, leading to a significant change in the global narrative.

In the realm of science and the scientific method, it is not uncommon for researchers to often change their views given new information that has surfaced. In the case of COVID-19, further information was popping up every week which, naturally, led to confusion throughout the science community. So, it wasn’t that these scientists were having “changes of heart,” but instead it was just the introduction of new knowledge.

In Holmes’s article, he states “I’ve absolutely no problem with people knowing that my views on this issue have evolved as more data have appeared. That’s science… [W]e set up an hypothesis and then tested it… [W]e are only guilty of the proper scientific method.” It is common for scientific understanding to change over time as new information comes to light. Scientists strive to pursue scientific truth and make revisions to their findings based on new evidence. In the case of COVID-19, with so much still unknown about the virus and its origin, it is likely that the narrative will continue to change as new information is discovered.

The COVID-19 pandemic was difficult for everyone, especially Dr. Anthony Fauci. Dr. Fauci is the head medical doctor of the NIAID. During the pandemic, this role bore plenty of responsibilities including promoting medicine, creating medical guidelines, and many more. As you might infer, this job must be hard and very stressful.

Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s book, The Real Anthony Fauci, is a complete hit piece on Dr. Fauci and all of the decisions he has taken since the inception of the pandemic. Throughout Chapter 1, Kennedy hits the points of lying about data, disregarding early treatment, nursing home disasters, and (of course) hydroxychloroquine.

Living for a “long” 20 years, I have realized that it is much easier to criticize someone’s actions when you have done nothing similar. Dr. Fauci was in a position that no one else in the history of the United States has been in. This outbreak was a once-in-a-lifetime type of thing. Did Fauci most likely make mistakes? Of course, everyone does. However, he had to deal with a politically split country that would criticize his every move.

The documentary, Died Suddenly, was morbid, sickening, and terrifying. However, not for the reasons you may think… As I am sure you have all picked up by now, I am a heavy advocate for science-based decisions, and my opinion on this documentary is no different.

I want to start off by saying that not one point presented in this film was backed by any sort of scientific research or data. The film fed its viewers anecdotes upon anecdotes of propaganda-Esque remarks by embalmers. Yes, you read that right. Embalmers. Just to make their claim “stronger,” they decided to use funeral home embalmers instead of medical doctors. That makes sense!

Now, let me get off my tangent and give the film some credit. I do believe that there has been a potential increase in heart-related issues. As an athlete myself, over the past 6 months, I have heard 3 personal stories of kids my age dropping to the floor- mid-game. So yes, I do agree there might be an issue going on with COVID and fatal medical problems. However, I can assure you that these problems have not arisen from the vaccine, but instead, COVID-19 and its lasting effects are what are causing these “sudden deaths.” If you want to argue that COVID-19 was a man-made weapon created by the government, then sure. But, saying the vaccine is causing these sudden deaths is irrational and not supported by science.

Both my mother and father are medical doctors, which offered much insight into the medical community throughout the course of the pandemic. Before I tell my story, let me give you some insight into both of my parents. The main difference between my parents and how they have gone about their medical careers is risk aversion/rule-following. My mom is one of the most by-the-books and straight-and-narrow people you will ever meet. She is where she is now because of her relentless work ethic. Comparatively, my father is more of a risk-taking and thought-provoking man. This lays the backstory for the next paragraph.

Ever since news broke about the use of hydroxychloroquine, my parents have been on opposite sides of the spectrum. My mom was a stern believer in Fauci and his anti-early-stage medications. On the flip side, my dad always used to challenge her and say she has no proof to support her opinion. A year and a half into the pandemic, my uncle got extremely sick and wasn’t getting better. After a few days of severe thought, my dad gave the opinion to try hydroxychloroquine; this came with swift opposition from my mom. In the end, my uncle’s family decided to use hydroxychloroquine and it “magically” helped him. Ever since my mom has been much more open to different thoughts. The reason I tell this story is Dr. Parks’, COVID-19: A Second Opinion, story showed a close resemblance to my family’s stories.