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Omicron may not be a disaster afterallDear , With a combination of the new Omicron strain, plus demonstrations of public opposition to lockdowns, border closures and vaccine mandates, there is hope that we are on the long road back to normal. And then some premiers close state borders again, and others mandate masks, while others decide to punish the unvaxxed when they’ve vaccinated enough of their population to reach herd immunity, if it exists. Omicron appears to be more infectious, but milder than previous strains. This is the way viruses tend to mutate, so if true, it would be unsurprising. It may also mean that it is more effective than a vaccine in conferring immunity. The marches and demonstrations demonstrate the strength of public opinion, and also the quality of that opinion. Opponents of mandates are stereotyped by supporters as being far right activists. Nothing rebuts this absurd claim more effectively than row after row of average Australians, on their own, with friends, or with family. A number of large rallies are planned for the next few weeks. You may be interested in attending or telling friends and colleagues. The three that I know of are: Saturday December 18 3:00 pm:
Sorry for late notice. If you know of others, please let me know and we will put them in subsequent emails. Omicron The latest version of COVID appears to be the most contagious, and the least severe. Chief Medical Officer Paul Kelly hopes this is the case, and describes it as potentially “a very good Christmas present”. The South African doctor, Angelique Coetzee, who first identified it in her patients, said that so far the symptoms were mild and could be treated at home. Ramesh Thakur points out in this piece that the people who took the variant from South Africa and spread it around the world were all masked and subject to vaccine mandates because they all needed to be vaccinated to leave South Africa and masked to travel on planes. The latest video from Dr John Campbell analyses an Omicron super-spreader event in Norway, which tends to confirm its infectiousness and mildness. This may obviate the need for vaccinations by spreading natural immunity, but only if governments recognise that there are other ways of becoming resistant than being vaccinated. Delta is still present, but Omicron may well outcompete it. This is my speculation, but as Australia has very low incidence of Delta, it’s quite possible that Omicron will become the dominant variant here because of that, so Dr Kelly may have a very happy Christmas. Vaccine issues There are three types of vaccines in use. The mRNA vaccines which in Australia are Pfizer and Moderna, the DNA vaccines, which here is AstraZeneca, and the protein vaccines. There are no protein vaccines approved for use in Australia, but Novavax is currently being considered by the TGA. Another protein vaccine, Covax-19, was developed at Flinders University in South Australia, and is actually being used in Iran, but not here. While there will be adverse reactions to all of them (as there are to all vaccines), the mRNA ones in particular appear to produce myocarditis and pericarditis. This paper (https://www.ahajournals.org/doi/abs/10.1161/circ.144.suppl_1.10712) was delivered to a conference in Boston in mid-November and showed that before the mRNA vaccine the risk of developing a heart problem was 1 in 9, and after it became 1 in 4. Dr Aseem Malhotra confirms in an interview that this is similar to other unpublished research that he is aware of with a similar result. In another paper https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMcibr2113694 from November 24, 2022, a mechanism for the vaccines causing inflammation of the heart is proposed by two researchers, one of whom is a professor at Harvard Medical School. There are also reports that a significant number of young sportsmen are dying from heart problems. Other research https://www.thelancet.com/journals/laninf/article/PIIS1473-3099(21)00648-4/fulltext shows that viral load, and therefore transmissibility, amongst the vaccinated and the unvaccinated, is similar. Vaccine mandates and response All states have mandates for various occupations and businesses, however in some states the unvaccinated are prevented from the full range of non-work activity that the vaxxed are permitted. At the moment I fit into that category, being in Queensland and not prepared to take the mRNA or DNA vaccines. I’ve said I will take the Novovax when it is available, but at the rate that is going I may well have contracted, and recovered from, COVID, and have natural immunity. I’m finding that talking about my vaccine status is actually helping to change the minds and attitudes of people that I know. It is easy to have a stereotype of an “antivaxxer” in your mind, but when you find that person is someone you know, it is impossible to hold onto the stereotype. I’m also finding that there are a lot of misconceptions about vaccines, the most powerful being that they stop people contracting and spreading COVID. I make two points – one that even though they are vaccinated, they could give it to me; and two, that I am the one at risk, not them. The Anglican Church of Southeast Queensland has just implemented a vaccination policy, after calling for submissions. Their policy covers volunteers, and I made a submission. You may be interested in it, and you can download it from here. Other news The originators of the Great Barrington Declaration are involved with a site called Collateral Global which is “dedicated to researching, understanding, and communicating the effectiveness and collateral impacts of the Mandated Non-Pharmaceutical Interventions (MNPIs) taken by governments worldwide in response to the COVID-19 pandemic”. You may wish to join its email list. I’ll also be keeping an eye on it for anything that might be useful to send out to this email list. Wishing you a Merry Christmas, and in whatever way you seek it, immunity from COVID-19. 
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GRAHAM YOUNG
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