Dr. Walter Veith and the anti-vaccine arguments of Dr. Geert Vanden Bossche

Dr. Walter Veith, a retired zoologist who is fairly well-known in Adventist circles, recently put out a video (April 12, 2021) promoting the claims of Dr. Geert Vanden Bossche against the COVID-19 vaccines (a virologist with a Ph.D. from the University of Hohenheim, Germany). Since Dr. Walter Veith is fairly well-known and carries a lot of weight with many in the Adventist Church, I was disappointed to learn of his promotion of the recent arguments of Dr. Bossche against the COVID-19 vaccines during this pandemic – which have themselves gone “viral” around the internet and social media platforms. Dr. Bossche recently published a letter (March 31, 2021) as well as interviews in which he argues that the vaccination campaign against COVID-19 is going to precipitate a public health disaster because the vaccines will select for viral variants that can escape their protection and drive them towards higher virulence. This letter, as well as his videos, went, well, “viral” – being extensively promoted on social media platforms by anti-vax enthusiasts and anti-government conspiracy theorists.

As an alternative to the current vaccines that strive to educate the adaptive immune system to recognize the SARS-CoV-2 virus and eliminate it before serious infection sets in, Bossche wants to promote the innate immune system:

This innate immunity gambit on the part of Dr. Bossche is something typically seen in wellness communities obsessed with the naturalistic fallacy, where strengthening your immune system is as simple and as natural as taking in the sun, walking in the woods, and hugging people. For Dr. Bossche, however, the solution is not long walks on the beach, but an alleged new type of vaccine focused on training the innate immune system. One of the cell types of the innate immune system is a natural killer cell, and Dr. Bossche claims to be developing a natural killer cell vaccine. Have we seen any evidence of this? No. I believe I speak for many scientists when I say: show us the evidence.

Jonathan Jarry M.Sc., The Doomsday Prophecy of Dr. Geert Vanden Bossche, March 24, 2021

As it turns out, the main claims and concerns of Dr. Bossche are completely unfounded and, despite his Ph.D. in virology, are based on a number of fundamental misunderstandings of the sciences of virology and immunology – which have been extensively addressed by numerous scientists and medical experts on this topic.  Consider, for example, this opening statement from biochemist, Dr. Edward Nirenberg, discussing the anti-vaccine claims forwarded by Bossche:

His claims are speculative, he offers no evidence to support his arguments, and makes several comments which are blatantly incorrect. The core of his argument relies on the assumption that COVID-19 vaccines do not have a significant effect on transmission. This has been repeatedly confirmed to be false in multiple studies. Furthermore, even if his assumptions about the effects of the vaccine on transmission are true, his conclusions are incorrect based on established precedent from Marek’s disease, a viral illness of birds with a vaccine that does not strongly affect transmission- but it still shows meaningful public health benefits in the populations of chickens where it is used. The vaccines will absolutely be critical to ending the pandemic, and fortunately the modular nature of the technology allows for rapid reformulation and adjustment as necessary (and thus far, though precautions are being taken with novel variants to produce vaccines specific to their set of problematic mutations, there isn’t significant enough evidence to suggest that total reformulation of the vaccines is needed), but no issues raised in this letter warrant a re-evaluation of our current COVID-19 vaccination policy.

I won’t be addressing the contents of Dr. Vanden Bossche’s resume as it’s irrelevant to the fact that he is currently making unsupportable claims, but for those seeking a backgrounder on the subject, Dr. Iannelli [a board certified pediatrician] has graciously obliged. I also won’t be linking to his original letter.

Edward Nirenberg, March 15, 2021

It’s certainly worth reading through the rest of Dr. Nirenberg’s rebuttal of Bossche (Link).

Also, Dr. Zubin Damania (with his well-known and very informative website zdoggmd.com, has reviewed the claims of Dr. Bossche in an informative video (Link), with a portion of the transcript as follows:

He’s a veterinary medicine doctor, so he’s not a human doctor, but he does have post-doctoral training and PhD in virology. He’s worked in various institutions including the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Gavi, and as project managers and supervisors in certain pharmaceutical companies in the vaccine space. So he has experienced in vaccines, there’s no doubt about it. Is he a world expert on it? Well, it’s impossible to tell because he hasn’t really published extensively on vaccines that I can find. He’s done conferences and things like that, but he claims he has this thing in the works for a natural killer cell vaccine but I can’t seem to find any patents or anything like that.

That’s fine. So let’s assume he has some credentials, even though again, and remember it fits this narrative of this very romantic figure of the mad vaccine scientist who no one’s listening to who’s right about this thing. Now what’s he saying he’s right about and the rest of the world is wrong? He’s saying that when you have a pandemic and the coronavirus is replicating everywhere, things like lockdowns, viral mitigation, things like masks, trying to slow the spread of the virus and vaccines are gonna cause the opposite effect because what you’re doing is you’re preventing people from developing natural immunity that isn’t necessarily purely antibody based, it has other aspects of innate immunity like natural killer cells and T-cells and things like that that can prevent infection and we should be allowing that. Basically his philosophy is let it rip…

We’re vaccinating in the midst of a rapidly replicating virus. What you’re doing is you’re creating an antibody defense with the vaccine that he claims does not prevent the virus from actually replicating in vaccinated people, does not prevent asymptomatic shedding of virus in vaccinated people, and therefore, you are putting selective evolutionary pressure on the virus to evade the vaccine defense and mutate, and you select for mutations that then escape vaccine, these vaccine escape variants. And he’s saying in the setting of this, when there’s so much viral replication, the vaccine is going to encourage these variants to occur and these variants are going to be vastly more dangerous, deadly and plague-like than the current natural pandemic which should have just been allowed basically to unfold is what you’re reading between the lines of what he’s saying…

The first claim is that the vaccines do not prevent or reduce even, he’s saying, asymptomatic transmission in people who are vaccinated or viral replication in people who are vaccinated. This is just wrong. So the data and especially data out of Israel, et cetera, in real-world applications, show that asymptomatic transmission plummets, and of course, viral replication is going to drop in a properly vaccinated person because you’re binding antibodies that you’ve made because you’ve got vaccinated to the spike protein with very high affinity and you’re preventing the virus from entering cells and you’re actually activating aspects of your immune system, which I’m going to talk about, that prevent the virus from replicating…

And this idea that the vaccine doesn’t prevent replication is not correct. In which case, one of the fundamental pillars of what he’s saying is, well, you’re vaccinating people, you’re preventing them from getting sick with this variant but you’re allowing it still to replicate and thereby escape the vaccine and generate new variants. That’s just not true. Now he’s right in that, if you partially vaccinate a population or partially vaccinate an individual, then you absolutely allow for partial viral replication in that person because they don’t have full immunity or in that population because there are a lot of people who aren’t vaccinated…

So what’s gonna happen? More viral replication, which means more chance for the emergent of variants. Note this, the variants that have emerged so far emerged in the absence of vaccine pressure, without any vaccine pressure those already emerged, more contagious variants. And the study so far with the existing mRNA vaccines, for example, show that even though these vaccines bind with less affinity to the new variants, they still clinically work. They still actually prevent severe disease and hospitalization, which is what you care about. So this idea of rapid viral vaccine escape has not been shown so far. Now, could it happen? Absolutely. Does he have a point in that you want to reduce viral replication as much as possible to prevent a vaccine escape? Yes. So how do you do that? Vaccinate as many people as possible, as quickly as possible, to lower the pool of circulating virus.

Bio of Dr. Sean Pitman

Dr. Sean Pitman is a pathologist, with subspecialties in anatomic, clinical, and hematopathology, currently working in N. California.

34 thoughts on “Dr. Walter Veith and the anti-vaccine arguments of Dr. Geert Vanden Bossche

  1. Informative and stimulating, but proceeding into more confusion. A veteran of Moderna vaccinations, I trust, hope, they are effective, at least until otherwise. The whole business, being part of End Times, is in the hands of God, not humans expert and as degreed as they may be.

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    • The current weight of evidence, as far as I can tell anyway, seems to strongly support the conclusion that the mRNA vaccines against COVID-19 are very effective indeed – far beyond original expectations. They have the power to reduce the overall death rate from around 1% to around 1 in a million. I’d say that this is extremely “effective” and very hopefully indeed for those who will take advantage of this modern medical miracle.

      As far as living in the “End of Days”, yes, all that is prophesied is in God’s hands. However, until it really hits the fan, I say that we should take advantage of every blessing that comes our way for all good things come from God to help us combat the tares that are sown “by the enemy” of us all…

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      • Haha! Don’t you look like a high schooler now! 5700 deaths by vaccines and over 200k injuries with Harvard staying these only represent one percent of the injuries. This being only the USA, UK much higher!
        If you had watched vaccine experts like dr. Shiva , dr. sherry tenpenny, you would not only see the data from mRNA in animal trials, but the pathology and seen the absolutely terrible stats of all vaccines.
        Dr. Walter veith is an information library. When you start criticizing him, you had better get Ur study on. He’s hands down the smartest individual I’ve ever listened to. You might want to listen to more than one of his lectures.
        Funny how you accuse of lack of evidence , while that’s exactly what you offered in this article of yours.
        Your claims concerning mRNA doesn’t match what the short little studies they did before their release showed. No effect of killing virus, and can’t stop spread, nor did they know the dangers. But boy, the results are piling up like the tower of Babel on this vaccine.
        Any doctor like you that would give an untested , vaccine like this to the population sh
        This goes against all ten of the Nuremberg codes. Shame on you. Ur as bad as the doctors in Germany , and you had hindsight to learn from. This makes you a complicent wAr criminal.

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        • And I suppose you believe the claims by your “experts”, like Dr. Sherri Tenpenny, that the vaccines make people “magnetic” too? Please…

          How many millions of $ do you think Dr. Tenpenny makes selling her conspiracy theories to gullible people each year?

          “It was estimated that Tenpenny took in nearly $250,000 CAD from course fees. Nowhere in her official testimony was it explained that she derives up to $2 million per year from spouting misinformation online.” (Link)

          I could do the same thing and retire a wealthy man. But, I’d rather tell the truth and actually try to help people maintain their health and even their lives. Sure, it may be hard for those who have little to no medical background to understand the benefits of the mRNA vaccines against COVID-19. However, the truth is that the benefits do in fact far far outweigh the risks. Yes, all vaccines have risks. However, these risks are minimal compared to the risks of getting infected by the COVID-19 virus during a pandemic. And, it’s not just about you. It’s about protecting others around you in your community and even around the world. Be a wall instead of a link that enables this virus to keep spreading to more and more people – many of whom will end up dead and many more with long-term injuries.

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    • Thank you Dr. Pitman for enlightening people of the safety and effectiveness of the Covid-19 vaccines. I am actually a Dr. Veith avid follower, but when it comes to vaccines, I believe you. I have witnessed unvaccinated people dying in their beds, saying good-byes to their relatives via video calls. They could not talk much, because they are out of breath and later succumbed to cardiac arrest, they could not be transported to the ICU because it is already full. Compared to a physician (Catholic) who was admitted but was vaccinated (Sinovac). He was hopitalized for 1 week, though he recovered, he still have bouts of shortness of breath, but he is happy he is alive. Unlike an unfortunate incident were a young SDA physician who is against vaccination and believes in a healthy lifestyle and a good immune system would combat the infection. He was infected and hosptalized for more than a month, intubated, dialyzed, admitted in the ICU and yet died. I cannot question God why he did not save our bretheren. The outcome become the choices we make. Looking at the evidences so far who survives and who does not through the years– vaccine save lives. If it can save lives, I don’t believe God is against it.

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    • Interesting opinion of Veith. Stopped clock is right twice per day. I appreciate Veith, and good medicine — but don’t know if this vaccine is good medicine. Waiting to hear from Pittman what is required for FDA approval. Vaccine is emergency use status now with para companies exempt from any liability — what a deal.

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        • Sean, God gave us all a BRAIN, we are WONDERFULLY made, IN HIS IMAGE. God SPOKE things into being: he gave US a voixe

          Im trusting your comment refers to you and your family! The rest of US dont need you or morderna to think for us- thanks but no thanks! We BELIEVE in creation- NOT evolution- where SOME set themselves on a PEDESTAL saying THEY have evolved further than others!

          Even more sickening is the fact that Educate the Truth used to publish AGAINST La Sierra University!

          Sean, we can only do ONE of two things, UNLESS we are easily bought!:

          1. We can GIVE LIFE and ABUNDANCE or

          2. We can ROB, MAIM, KILL, DESTROY!!

          Period!

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        • If you understood how these vaccines actually work, you would understand that they are part of helping to preserve life and health – part of ending all the death and suffering that the SARS-CoV-2 virus is causing on this planet.

          Not all science is bad. Most of the discoveries of science are actually good – especially when it can be tested and observed in real-time. True scientific knowledge and medical advancements are a gift of God to ease the pain of humanity in this fallen world…

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    • Pharmacy and pharmaceuticals – the words derived from the old Greek “pharmakos” that translated means “sorcery/black magic”. So, I wouldn’t be attributing this “vaccine” to God at all but trust in the natural immunity that He has given me.

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  2. How long does it take for a vaccine go from Emergency Use Authorization to FDA approved? What is required to become a FDA approved vaccine? What is required for vaccine to get Emergency Use Authorization only? Please explain.

    It appears we are all in one big experiment, so don’t trust Veith and don’t trust you. No one knows yet?

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    • The FDA initially granted Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) in December of 2020. The FDA usually requires at least six months of data for the clinical trial participants before full FDA approval is granted. Pfizer, in particular, has previously said that it planned to apply for full FDA approval this month (April 2021). With full FDA approval, Pfizer would be allowed to sell its vaccine directly to hospitals and other health care providers. (Link)

      The process required to get the initial EUA from the FDA is fairly extensive and detailed upfront. The mRNA vaccines (put out by Pfizer and Moderna) underwent double-blinded placebo-controlled trials in 70,000 humans, along with double-blinded placebo-controlled trials with animals as well – at the same time. These Phase III trials continued for 10 weeks and showed >95% efficacy against COVID-19 infections – far better than expected. Perhaps even more impressively, none of those vaccinated had severe COVID-19 symptoms, required hospitalization, or died – while more than two dozen such cases were noted in the placebo arms (along with 6 deaths). This data, together with other data dealing with vaccine production protocols and other such safety data, was taken into account as the basis for the FDA’s EUA.

      Of course, since the general rollout of the mRNA vaccines worldwide, the data has only gotten better. Take the results of the rollout in Israel for example (since Israel is far ahead of the rest of the world in the percentage of its population that it has been able to vaccinate). So far, the mRNA vaccines in Israel have shown a 98.9% efficacy rate in “preventing hospitalizations” from COVID-19 (Link). That’s amazing! The data in the US is similar with less than 1 in 1 million deaths for those vaccinated so far (Link). Now, let’s say that the overall death rate for COVID-19 is 1% (or 1 in 100 people on average, but exponentially higher with age beyond the age of 50). The mRNA vaccines would be able to reduce that death rate to between 1 in 100,000 and 1 in a million! That’s miraculous! It truly is!

      “The 2 mRNA vaccines have similar efficacy of approximately 95% for the prevention of symptomatic COVID-19 and nearly 100% efficacy in preventing death from COVID-19 after 2 doses.” (Rio and Malani, JAMA, March 4, 2021)

      If that’s not enough, around 1/3 of people who come down with a COVID-19 infection who don’t die, will end up with some long-term illness or injury (Link). Commonly, these long-term injuries involve the lungs, heart, and brain – and affect even 1/3 of those who had no symptoms or just mild symptoms during their initial infection. The mRNA vaccines can dramatically lessen “Long-Hauler’s Syndrome” as well… and are even showing some benefit for those who already have long-term illnesses as many seem to recover once they get vaccinated.

      Given that the technology for the mRNA vaccines isn’t new either (mRNA vaccines have been studied for over 30 years now), it isn’t like scientists don’t have a very good understanding as to how they work and what to look out for already. Known potential risks have been solved, such as ADE. Also, the mRNA vaccines require no adjuvants, like mercury or aluminum. They are the cleanest vaccines ever produced since they also require no culture on any kind of cellular tissue or organic medium.

      In short, the mRNA vaccines will have full FDA approval very soon, and for very good reason. They have been studied and tested far more than most vaccines or other drugs or medications have been tested before receiving full FDA approval. They have demonstrated amazing efficacy, far far better than expected, and are far far safer than getting sick with the live SARS-CoV-2 virus. I don’t know about you, but I’ve lost more than a dozen family friends to this pandemic so far. So, not only have I been vaccinated with the Pfizer vaccine, but my wife as been vaccinated (Moderna), both of my parents have been vaccinated (Moderna), both of my wife’s parents have been vaccinated (Pfizer), my brother and his wife have been vaccinated (Moderna), all three of my wife’s siblings and their spouses have been vaccinated (Pfizer and Moderna)… and many more. I highly recommend that you do the same as soon as the vaccine becomes available to you!

      For more information, you might find some benefit from a short talk I just gave on this topic: Link

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  3. What is wrong with seeing both sides of the issue? I feel that with so many against seeing or hearing both sides have something to hide. We do not know what are going to be the end results of these vaccines. They are experimental at best, and the experiments are being pushed on the American people as facts! This is just wrong. Let those who do not want to take the vaccine see this pandemic play out, and they can make up their own minds whether they want to take the vaccine or not!

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    • It’s certainly highly advisable to look at both sides of the issue. However, many, including Dr. Veith, just aren’t doing this in an evenhanded manner where the overall weight of evidence is carefully considered and laid out for evaluation. Your own claims, in particular, aren’t exactly balanced and unbiased either…

      First off, the mRNA vaccines are not just “experimental”. They have been extensively studied now for over 30 years. Scientists are very well aware of how they work. There is no significant mystery here. Also, they were subjected to very large clinical trials in both humans and animals that were double-blinded and placebo-controlled. These trials included 70,000 human participants (combined between the Pfizer and Moderna trials), who have been carefully observed now for over six months. The Pfizer mRNA vaccine is now eligible for full FDA approval. Past experience with vaccines tells us that the vast majority of adverse outcomes, if they happen, happen within the first few months. The argument that something serious will turn up a year or two or three down the line simply isn’t based on empirical evidence. And, simply sitting back to “see this pandemic play out” is a recipe for continued disaster – costing millions of lives worldwide.

      The weight of scientific evidence that is currently in hand very strongly supports the very high efficacy as well as the safety of the mRNA vaccines as compared to the risks of getting infected by the live COVID-19 virus – to include up to 1/3 of people of all ages ending up with long-term sicknesses and injuries from originally mild and even asymptomatic cases of COVID-19 (Link). This isn’t something to play around with. The mRNA vaccines are truly a miraculous gift to humanity. Take advantage of it…

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      • Can you talk about the blood clot side affect — the rash side affect — and the other side affects listed in the VAERS document? Are these deaths and suffering are just “ho-hum” dispensable humans to the cause of good for all?

        What is happening to cause so many side affects? How is one to know if there is a chance of dangerous side affects of the vaccine for a person?

        Are vaccinated women who get the vaccine during pregnancy, or get pregnant and give birth having any side affects among their babies?

        Also, have your children been vaccinated? What is your opinion of elementary or high schools requiring the vaccine for school children? Which childhood conditions need to be studied before administering the vaccine to children with these conditions?

        What “empirical evidence” is there that mRNA vaccines do not cause any side affects “a year or two or three down the line”? Is there a study I can read – link?

        Yes, your glowing recommendation is convincing with several issues not addressed in the glow.

        Do you recommend a yearly booster vaccine like now is being developed? I think big Pharma announced a flu/covid combo vaccine coming out for next fall. What is your opinion please?

        Thanks for your help in understanding the full spectrum of topics about these mRNA vaccines.

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        • Can you talk about the blood clot side affect — the rash side affect — and the other side affects listed in the VAERS document? Are these deaths and suffering are just “ho-hum” dispensable humans to the cause of good for all?

          I talk about VAERS here (Link). The Herpes Zoster rash happens in a low percentage of immunocompromised people who have previously been infected with the Herpes virus (Link). While certainly uncomfortable, it’s not life-threatening and it isn’t a risk for most people. The blood clot risk is a very rare risk (about 1 in a million for young women) for the DNA vaccines, possibly related to the adenoviral vector used for the vaccines. I talk about this here (Link). There is also a very rare risk for severe immune thrombocytopenia (Link). Note that for all of these risks for the vaccines, the very same risks are much much much higher when it comes to being infected by the live COVID-19 virus. So, if you want to reduce your risk as much as possible, the best way to do that is to get vaccinated.

          What is happening to cause so many side affects? How is one to know if there is a chance of dangerous side affects of the vaccine for a person?

          The thing about risk is that it is impossible to know, ahead of time, exactly how a particular person will react. That’s just the nature of the concept of “risk”…

          Are vaccinated women who get the vaccine during pregnancy, or get pregnant and give birth having any side affects among their babies?

          No. I talk about this rumor here (Link).

          Also, have your children been vaccinated? What is your opinion of elementary or high schools requiring the vaccine for school children? Which childhood conditions need to be studied before administering the vaccine to children with these conditions?

          The mRNA vaccines are not approved for children under the age of 16. They are currently in the trial phase of testing for younger children. My own boys are 9 and 11 years of age, so no, they haven’t been vaccinated yet. However, once approved, I would be getting them vaccinated since even children are at risk for long-term injury and sickness from COVID-19 (30% of children get Long-Hauler’s following even asymptomatic infections with COVID-19). As far as childhood “conditions”, I know of no common childhood conditions which would preclude vaccination…

          What “empirical evidence” is there that mRNA vaccines do not cause any side affects “a year or two or three down the line”? Is there a study I can read – link?

          As I’ve already mentioned, the evidence for this is the very long history that we’ve had with vaccines and understanding how they work with the human immune system. When complications arise, they do so within the first few months for large populations (Link). It is extremely unlikely that something brand new and unexpected will come to light years down the line (Link). Also, by that time, millions will have been killed and permanently injured by the very real and very well-known risks of the COVID-19 virus itself.

          Yes, your glowing recommendation is convincing with several issues not addressed in the glow.

          I have addressed most of your questions already in other posts on this topic…

          Do you recommend a yearly booster vaccine like now is being developed? I think big Pharma announced a flu/covid combo vaccine coming out for next fall. What is your opinion please?

          For now, it seems likely to me that the mRNA vaccines will produce immunity lasting more than a year, likely several years. However, as with most viruses, the COVID-19 virus mutates. If a new mutant strain comes along that “breaks through” the immunity provided by the original vaccine(s), then yes, a booster would be necessary. However, if enough people would get vaccinated quickly, it would make the odds of such breakthrough mutations less likely.

          Thanks for your help in understanding the full spectrum of topics about these mRNA vaccines.

          Thank you for your thoughtful questions.

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      • Have you seen slides of blood taken from a healthy person verses blood taken from a person who has taken the vaccine? It is astounding. It completely changes the molecular structure of the blood cells. That is scary stuff.

        I totally disagree with your statement that Dr. Veith has not studied both sides of the equation. I have been listening to him for over ten years, and I can tell you, in all of his lectures on what ever subject, he gives BOTH SIDES of the subject equal time.

        If you are such a godly man, why don’t you encourage people to eat better, and embrace the Biblical side of diet, so that a person can fight off these viruses? I know that doctors only get about fifteen hours of nutrition while in school. That means that you need to study on your own after you get your license. I have yet to see one doctor on television or in writing to promote a healthier lifestyle to combat disease, and this Covid19 virus.. Dr. Veith does just that.

        You have a lot to learn from Dr. Veith! Having worked for doctors for over twenty years, I have seen first hand that the first thing out of their mouths is, “Let me give you a pill or a shot for that problem”. That is not a cure!

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        • Have you seen slides of blood taken from a healthy person verses blood taken from a person who has taken the vaccine? It is astounding. It completely changes the molecular structure of the blood cells. That is scary stuff.

          That’s is scary! Funny though, that I’ve never come across this as a hematopathologist. Have you seen this? – where mRNA vaccines “change the molecular structure of blood cells” so that they look different than normal under the microscope? I mean, I look at blood smears all the time as part of my job and I’ve never seen any such thing. Why do you think this could possibly be? Can you explain the biochemical mechanism to me? Otherwise, I have to conclude, based on my own education and personal experience, that whoever told you this is either outright lying to you or they have absolutely no idea what they’re talking about. The mRNA vaccines against COVID-19 (i.e., Pfizer or Moderna) do not change the genetics of cells or their “molecular structure”.

          As far as Veith presenting both sides of this particular conversation regarding COVID-19 and the mRNA vaccines, that’s not true either. He’s just not being even-handed here. Of course, I’m not being even-handed either. I clearly have a bias in that I am strongly in favor of the vaccines as a very effective and safe way of enhancing one’s ability to fight off the COVID-19 virus without serious harm being done to the body.

          As far as encouraging people to eat better and live according to the Adventist Health Message, I have done this many times – in this forum. I’ve studied healthful living and nutrition extensively and I’m a big fan of the Adventist Health Message in particular. I was one of the very first to promote various Adventist Health principles and the use of Vitamin D to fight COVID-19 before the vaccines were available. And, I do indeed believe that if put into practice that it could save many lives as well during this pandemic. However, it just isn’t enough for many people. Many good Adventist friends of mine, who were otherwise very healthy and living according to the Adventist Health Message, have been killed by COVID-19 – despite their excellent health prior to their infections. These were generally older (older than 65 years of age). However, I’ve also had many young and very healthy Adventist friends of mine (vegan, athletic, ect) also get seriously sick and end up in the MICUs of hospitals for weeks at a time with blood clots throughout their bodies, some ending up with permanent life-long injuries to their bodies. So, while the Adventist Health Message is great and wonderful and all that, it is best to do it all. It is best to live according to the Adventist Health Message AND to take the mRNA vaccines as well. This offers a person the very best advantages when it comes to most effectively fighting off the COVID-19 virus with all of its variants.

          The same thing happened in Mrs. White’s day. Despite having the Adventist Health Message, she approved of her own son and her own staff getting the vaccine against smallpox – and there is good evidence that she was also vaccinated against smallpox herself. Why? Because, although a very good start, sometimes the human body needs an extra boost beyond a “good diet and exercise” to most effectively fight against various diseases. Mrs. White also approved of the use of quinine to fight malaria for missionaries working in malaria-stricken regions of the world. She approved of blood transfusions to save lives and even radiation therapies to treat tumors. She simply wasn’t opposed to the more reasonable advances of medical science in her own day.

          Again, while a “pill or a shot” is usually not the best place to start (since healthful living can remove the need for the vast majority of pills and shots), there are indeed times when a pill or a shot can give the human body the best chance at survival and health in a given situation – where diet and healthful living a lone simply aren’t enough.

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  4. This is what confuses about vaccine. Look at what’s happening in Orange County – about 12 days ago hundreds of parents went to school board who planned, with County Health Director, to “turn schools into vaccination sites” and “bribe kids with donuts to get vaccine without informing parents what was happening. Also, listen to Chapman College threat — hundreds attend Orange County Board of Supervisors regarding digital passports — and LA Police vaccinating mental children. This is so confusing — “Hitler’s Cattle Car Came to Our Town” — https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bn8JcIGE0b8

    With these events, vaccine is not looking good. So much suspicion with undesirable/untrusted governments pushing so hard.

    Thanks for replies. Learning. Especially answer about youth.

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    • I don’t know what is happening in Orange County, but I do know that the vaccines have not been approved for anyone under 16-years-of-age. And certainly, any medical procedure done on a child or a minor should first be approved by the parents…

      That being said, I would certainly have my own two boys (9 and 11) vaccinated as soon as the mRNA vaccine is available for children.

      Again, the evidence is very very clear that the risks associated with the mRNA vaccines are far far outweighed by the risks associated with getting the actual live COVID-19 infection where up to 1/3 of children sustain long-term/permanent injuries – not to mention the risk of passing it on to others who may also be die or be permanently injured.

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  5. I will allow others to be guinea pigs with DNA or mRNA vaccines, and will await the approval of Novavax, an older technology protein subunit vaccine before I agree to be vaccinated. There are questions and I don’t want them answered on my body.

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    • If that makes you more comfortable, that’s fine. However, when it comes to the mRNA vaccines, in particular, there really are no more remaining questions of any real seriousness to be answered. The technology has been around and studied for over 30 years now and the vaccine trials were a great success, demonstrating amazing efficacy as well as safety. The same has been true of the general rollout around the world. Those countries with the highest percentage of vaccinations are doing the best regarding a reduction in death rates and injuries from the COVID-19 virus. The longer you wait, the greater your personal risk and the risk to others around you.

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  6. To some people, especially large groups of both old and young people, the idea of taking vaccine is not clear, and it lack a proper medical explanation: scientists and doctors are silent, the only thing they are promoting: is, ”Go an have yourself vaccinated”. and people are not sure of the effects that will follow after being inoculated with these vaccines! for this type of infection, i think the Solution here should be, people must never be threatened but be given choice.

    Not that their health be compromised, under the vaccine, all we Christians know is that, satan will try to fully depopulate the earth through wars and viruses, and but God will never allow that to happen. so human rights and choice must be respected. there are natural remedies, and if people believe that they can cure and heal them from any ailments, then let them use them, all we want is to cure corona virus with anything that can heal it, not only with 1 thing called vaccines that can only developed in particular only!

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    • I do sympathize with those who don’t understand how the modern mRNA vaccines work to teach the immune system how to fight against COVID-19. The appeal to “natural remedies” is also very strong within Adventist culture, in particular. However, information as to how these vaccines work and their amazing effectiveness and relative safety is available for those who care to educate themselves. Also, while various natural remedies (such as hot/cold fomentations and good healthy living) are quite helpful indeed, they just aren’t helpful enough when it comes to saving the most lives. So, do it all. Live as healthfully as possible, use those natural remedies that have long proven themselves to be effective, and take the vaccines. This will give you and those around you the most protection against injury and death during this pandemic.

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  7. Sean, You know as well as I do that anyone convinced against their will, will be of the opinion still. Literally tons upon tons of science will be thrown aside because some antivaxxer has told them to avoid the vaccine at all costs. I will not call these antivaxxers nut jobs but they are getting close. I got hit with a powerful slug of COVID last January, thought I was going to die (84), and am still reeling from the long term effects (brain fog. fatigue, and still lots of pain). Tried to get vaccinated before it hit me. Couldn’t. I am now triple vaccinated and will get a fourth when it is needed. On a recent visit to Yellowstone National Park, I discovered that research for such vaccines actually started there in 1961. Amazing! I have a staff of several nurses who fearfully got vaccinated because it was required to work for me. I still here questioning comments now and then. Keep at it! A few will save their lives if they pay attention to you.

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  8. As time has elapsed since the beginning of Covid, I find the topic being increasingly and deliberately confused. However, I do believe that time will prove Dr. Veith and Dr. Bossche correct. I have started seeing more information coming forth that the vaccine does not stop transmission, that the boosters are rendering those over age 70 MORE susceptible, etc. Throughout the entire pandemic, the overwhelming message pushed on all sides has been get the vaccine. All information concerning natural immunity has been suppressed, which I find highly suspicious.

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    • Natural immunity is great! In fact, natural immunity alone prevents approximately 10% of the population from becoming ill from all of the variants of COVID-19. The problem is that for a great many people, especially people older than 50, natural immunity just isn’t enough to prevent serious sickness and even death. The claim that the mRNA vaccines make people “more susceptible” simply isn’t true. While one can still get infected after vaccination, mRNA vaccines have clearly proven their ability to dramatically reduce the risks of serious illness from infection with a dramatic reduction in the rate or percentage of those who are vaccinated being hospitalized or dying (compared to those who are not vaccinated). Also, those who are vaccinated suffer much less severe long-term effects from infection.

      In short, the overall risks of getting infected by COVID-19 are significantly greater, regarding any type of serious risk, as compared to getting vaccinated with the mRNA vaccines against COVID-19 – and these benefits of vaccination become greater and greater with age since natural immunity naturally declines with age.

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