Good post, Witzbold - thanks. I did a similar analysis of what happened between Nov 2020 and Jan 2021: https://open.substack.com/pub/alexstarling77/p/tina-turned - "There Is No Alternative" (to universal rollout) was allowed to become gospel, at least in part due to suppression of rational discussion and cost/benefit analysis.
Admit I shudder when I hear that dreadful phrase, There Is No Alternative, much as with "We must do something". Hollow sloganeering designed to shut down debate. Never good.
I also thought that this comment in Dec 2022 from one who celebrated "extraordinary vaccine success" in Jan 2021 is kind of telling:
“The entire population was vaccinated or offered the vaccine, which now looks like a terrible idea when there were deaths among young people who really had no need to be vaccinated. They were not at risk from Covid. The mantra was it limited transmission. We hear less about that now. Parliament was shut down. Government colluded with social media giants to suppress legitimate questions about the origin of the virus and all manner of other policy debates”. Ref:
Let me nitpick (or should I say "Korinthenkacken") a little: yes, it is a shame that the RKI&/STIKO are fabulating about "postmarketing and real-life studies" without providing references, but they are careful with their language. You should not anything but "signifikant" as "significant" because they are only using it in the context of statistical significance. :)
Thanks! You're right, I missed that when translating - it left me puzzled. So they just mean statistically significant. Makes much more sense now and aligns RKI nicely with UK assessment at same time.
Good post, Witzbold - thanks. I did a similar analysis of what happened between Nov 2020 and Jan 2021: https://open.substack.com/pub/alexstarling77/p/tina-turned - "There Is No Alternative" (to universal rollout) was allowed to become gospel, at least in part due to suppression of rational discussion and cost/benefit analysis.
Hi Alex, thanks, and good post.
Admit I shudder when I hear that dreadful phrase, There Is No Alternative, much as with "We must do something". Hollow sloganeering designed to shut down debate. Never good.
I also thought that this comment in Dec 2022 from one who celebrated "extraordinary vaccine success" in Jan 2021 is kind of telling:
“The entire population was vaccinated or offered the vaccine, which now looks like a terrible idea when there were deaths among young people who really had no need to be vaccinated. They were not at risk from Covid. The mantra was it limited transmission. We hear less about that now. Parliament was shut down. Government colluded with social media giants to suppress legitimate questions about the origin of the virus and all manner of other policy debates”. Ref:
https://reaction.life/time-to-talk-about-covid-mistakes/ ... what a difference 23 months make! It is still - to me - unbelievable that so many people's survival instinct didn't kick in earlier.
Let me nitpick (or should I say "Korinthenkacken") a little: yes, it is a shame that the RKI&/STIKO are fabulating about "postmarketing and real-life studies" without providing references, but they are careful with their language. You should not anything but "signifikant" as "significant" because they are only using it in the context of statistical significance. :)
Thanks! You're right, I missed that when translating - it left me puzzled. So they just mean statistically significant. Makes much more sense now and aligns RKI nicely with UK assessment at same time.
Very good, and very thorough analysis.