As the Delta variant of the COVID-19 virus travels through society, we are being told that those who were vaccinated against the Alpha, or original, variant of the virus will experience lower mortality as a result of that vaccine. While there are currently reports of susceptibility to the Delta variant in both vaccinated and unvaccinated populations, the campaign to promote vaccination continues to compare the vaccinated with the unvaccinated in an attempt to persuade the latter to “get the jab”, reasoning that if you do get sick from COVID with the vaccine then it will be less severe.
But can we compare the vaccinated with the unvaccinated? Is this a fair and scientifically accurate comparison? Or is it comparing apples with oranges?
Over the past year of vaccine promotion, it is clear that there are two distinct segments of the population regarding vaccinations. There are those who completely believe in vaccines and their essential use, and there are those who avoid vaccines like the plague. I will call these groups vaccinophiles and vaccinophobes.
Vaccinophiles are more likely to follow mainstream medical advice. They are more likely to go to a doctor when sick, and are more likely to want pharmaceutical treatments over alternative health or lifestyle treatments. They are more likely to believe in the advice from mainstream medical authorities, and are more likely to comply with pandemic mandates of masking, isolating, and social distancing. They more likely to listen to mainstream media and have trust in government.
Vaccinophobes, however, are more likely to follow alternative medical advice. They are more focused on disease prevention and natural immunity, and are more likely to go to an alternative medical provider. They are more focused on diet and dietary supplements than vaccinophiles, and have a greater appreciation of lifestyle in the cause and prevention of disease. They are more likely than vaccinophiles to question medical authority and to believe in conspiracy theories, more likely to listen to alternative media, and less likely to comply with pandemic mandates.
When comparing these two groups, you are comparing sub-cultures with different lifestyle strategies, values, and belief systems. We could expand on the differences, such as which group is in overall better health, which group has a higher rate of co-morbidities, which group has a higher rate of prescription drug use or abuse, and so on, but the point is that these two subcultures have differences which impact health and behavior, including how they are responding to the pandemic.
As a result, we cannot compare the morbidity and mortality from COVID-19 between these two groups. Vaccine status is only one variable among many variables which impact health and disease prevention.
It’s important to also realize that positive placebo effects and negative placebo, or nocebo, effects will differ for these two groups regarding the immune response and adverse reactions to the vaccine. Those who are vaccinophiles will have enhanced immunity due to the belief in the vaccine, which is a positive placebo effect. This could also minimize adverse side effects, or at least the perception of these effects. On the other hand, those who are vaccinophobes are more likely to experience negative placebo, or nocebo, effects due to negative expectations, along with worse side effects.
This means that the impact of the vaccine depends, in part, on the mindset of the person getting vaccinated. Mandating vaccines, or vaccine coercion, can make vaccinophobes more ill from the vaccine than would be the case for vaccinophiles.
Masking has dubious advantages for viruses, along with known harmful impacts on physical and mental health, altering respiration and heart rate, causing hypoxia and hypercapnia, creating dental and dermatological problems, and creating psychological issues. Vaccinophiles are more likely to wear masks than vaccinophobes, creating another variable in assessing the health differences between these two groups and the impact of vaccination on health.
Social distancing has the potential to create psychological problems, along with reduced immune function, since the immune system atrophies and weakens when lacking exposure to pathogens. Vaccinophiles are more likely to socially distance compared to vaccinophobes, adding this health issue as another variable.
Stress is a known factor impacting health on many levels. Those who are most frightened by the pandemic are more likely to get vaccinated. This makes this group more stressed out than the vaccinophobes. You might think that vaccination ends the fear, but the attacks by the vaccinated against the unvaccinated attests to the continued fear experienced by these vaccinophiles.
From this brief, logical assessment of the differences between vaccinophiles and vaccinophobes, it should be clear that you can’t compare morbidity and mortality to COVID-19 based solely on vaccine status. If these two groups become better characterized, perhaps we can compare the vaccinated and unvaccinated within each group. Providing that these groups are relatively homogeneous in the issues raised above, we could then compare the outcomes more reliably.
But for the moment, we are in the midst of a vaccine promotion campaign waged by the government, industry, and the media, with the goal of getting needles in arms. Whatever challenges that agenda is suppressed or censored. This means that reason and science take a back seat to propaganda and an agenda which must show vaccines are more effective than natural immunity, even if it isn’t.
So don’t fall for the false comparison between vaccinophiles and vaccinophobes. These are two distinct groups with greater differences than just vaccine preference. But don’t expect good science and political honesty to suddenly prevail in the response to this pandemic.
The best advice is this: If you believe in vaccines, then take them. If you don’t, then don’t take them. Being true to your own beliefs is important in any healthcare. The choice should be yours to make for yourself. Only you know if you are an apple or an orange.