Why, after seven decades, do we not have proof that vaccines present more benefits than risks?

A must-read book asks this question: why, after seven decades, do we not have proof that vaccines have more benefits than risks?

Whether you are a health care professional, a parent of a young child, or someone who wants to engage in the vaccine debate that is stirring the world today, this book is a must-read.

By Madhava Setty, M.D.

Original in English :  https://childrenshealthdefense.org/defender/turtles-all-the-way-down-vaccine-science-myth
Translation: Francis Leboutte

In 2019, a remarkable book,  » Turtles All The Way Down: Vaccine Science and Myth, » was published in Israel. This book, originally written in Hebrew, is a comprehensive review of the evidence behind the claim that vaccines are safe and effective. The book was published in English⁽¹⁾ in July 2022.  Éditions marco pietteur ].

Although it could easily have gone unnoticed, the book received its first success when the leading medical journal in Israel, Harefuah (« Medicine »), gave it a positive review. In the September 2019 issue of Harefuah, two senior academic criminologists, Nati Ronel and Eti Elisha, found « the book to be well-written, serious, scientific, and important, » offering « a comprehensive view of the issue. »  » Turtles All The Way Down: Vaccine Science and Myth  » became the first book critical of vaccines to receive a positive review from a mainstream medical journal.

Criticism of Ronel and Elisha quickly came from the medical establishment, but as Ronel states Mary Hollandeditor of the book, president and general counsel of Children’s Health Defensein the preface of the book:  » Their assessment of the book has not changed today: in the three years since its publication (in Hebrew), not a single medical professional or medical scientist has been able to refute the book’s claims « .

The reason why the information proposed in the book has not yet been refuted is simple. The 1200 or so citations and references in the book are to scientific journals only mainstream and health organizations such as Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC — Center for Disease Control and Prevention) and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA — Food and Drug Administration) and the World Health Organization (WHO).

To attack this book is to attack the medical establishment itself.

If you want to engage in the vaccine debate in the best way possible, this book is a must.

Why this book?

Had « Turtles All The Way Down » received the attention it deserved from the international medical community when it was written a year before the covid pandemic, the world might well have avoided the predicament we find ourselves in today. Nevertheless, the book remains relevant. Rather than listing the obvious failures of current covid vaccination campaigns, « Turtles All The Way Down » offers a compelling explanation of why we should have anticipated vaccine failure from the beginning — but didn’t.

I am a physician and was trained at some of the best institutions in the United States. Yet, in the summer of 2020, I didn’t know much about mRNA (messenger RNA) technology and vaccines in general. In other words, I was like most doctors. We knew how vaccines worked in principle, and at some point in our training we had memorized the recommended immunization schedule for children.

When the CDC announced that Pfizer’s formulation met and exceeded the minimum efficacy requirements for emergency use authorization, I saw our nation breathe a sigh of relief. I have also seen colleagues enthusiastically make appointments to receive this gift of modern medicine.

None of my colleagues were interested in the results of the trial. Nor were they curious enough to know why our health authorities were so confident in their assessment.

When the results of Pfizer’s multicenter trial of its BNT162b2 mRNA vaccine were published in the  New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM), it was clear that they brought more questions than answers, at least for the more attentive among us.

According to the NEJM, yes, the trial data indicated that the « vaccine » had a calculated efficacy of 90% in preventing severe disease, but this was only established for a few weeks and only from the point of maximum efficacy, which was two weeks after the second dose.

In addition, only 10 out of approximately 40,000 participants developed a severe form of covid (nine of whom received the placebo). This means that approximately 2500 people needed to be vaccinated to prevent a single case of severe covid.

Six out of every 1000 people vaccinated had a reaction that posed an imminent threat to their physical integrity or life: they had to be hospitalized or undergo surgery and/or suffered permanent disability.

Why would the public accept a treatment that would result in 15 serious adverse events for every one case of severe covid it prevented?

And what about all the suspicious withdrawals from the trials? Why were five times as many people who received the vaccine withdrawn from the trial within seven days of the second dose as those who received the placebo?

What happened to these 311 volunteers and why were they dropped from the trial shortly after receiving the second dose ( VRBPAC memorandum, Table 2 ) ?

Surely the FDA could have asked some embarrassing questions. But she didn’t. And no one else I know has done it. Not my friends, not my neighbors, not my fellow doctors.

Why on earth was no one asking questions?

The explanation is rooted in our society’s unquestioned beliefs in Western medicine and its seemingly positive results in eliminating diseases that have historically taken a toll.

Vaccines are supposed to be a huge success because vaccines are considered by many to be the best contribution of modern medicine to humanity. Vaccination is shrouded in a powerful mystique. Vaccines do not cure diseases, they prevent them. They keep us healthy!

And we know they work because diseases like polio no longer exist (at least not in our country). They are obviously safe, otherwise we would not inject them into human beings from the age of a few hours (hepatitis B), would we otherwise?

In retrospect, I see that simply asking questions about the results of the CV vaccine trial was seen as an attack on modern medicine, an institution lauded for using innovative technologies and research to speak unassailable truths due to objectivity coupled with some of the highest ethical and safety standards, with oversight from public institutions such as the National Institutes of Health, the CDC and the FDA.

The questioning of vaccines against cancer has been equated with the questioning of all vaccines. This was not only considered unscientific, but also unpatriotic. It was not only unpopular, it was heretical. It was an attack on a savior of humanity.

To understand what was going on at the time, one must first look at the lens through which events were viewed. Referring people to suspicious numbers in a table in the appendices of a scientific study was not going to change the minds of most of us. I can personally attest to that.

« Turtles All The Way Down » addresses the problem in the only way that makes sense: from the origin of the concept of vaccination.

A unique and timely book

The phrase « Turtles all the way down » is the punchline of an anecdote often told in the scientific community.

The story goes that an elderly woman, after patiently listening to an astronomer’s lecture about the Earth and its place in the solar system, criticizes him to let him know that she does not agree with his « theory » because there is a better one. When asked to explain, she states that the Earth is actually held on the shoulders of four very large elephants standing on the shell of an even larger turtle. When the baffled astronomer asks, « But what is the turtle standing on? », the woman confidently replies, « On an even bigger turtle! You see, they are turtles all the way!

This story demonstrates how a myth can substitute for evidence if we abandon logic and our level of investigation remains superficial. The anecdote of the « turtles » is also a commentary on the general tenor of discussions between laymen and scientists, where the rational professional is always able to skillfully discover the faulty reasoning behind the stupid ideas of the « non-scientists » by asking the most basic questions.

But what happens when we turn the tables and demand answers to the most fundamental questions about vaccine science? How do our public health agencies know that all vaccines are safe and effective?

Could the whole « safety and efficacy » discourse be a series of interrelated myths that are ultimately based on hot air and not on complete and reproducible evidence? Would there be turtles all along the line?

This book succeeds where others have not

Before discussing the merits of this book, it is worth mentioning another feature: the authors are anonymous.

The reason is obvious, as Holland explains:  » As soon as someone questions any part of the official narrative, no matter how minor the point or how reasonable the argument, that person is immediately attacked, to the point where recognized scientists in many countries have seen their reputations crumble for questioning vaccine dogma « .

Beyond protecting their own careers and reputations, maintaining anonymity offers authors another advantage. When solid, consistent, factual critiques of vaccine safety and efficacy emerge, the decoders and other fact-checkers do not respond with opposing evidentiary arguments because they cannot. There is simply no such thing.

In such circumstances, they have only one weapon left: ad hominem attacksThis includes attacks on the authors themselves, using derogatory terms such as « science denier » or « anti-vax » to mislead readers into believing that any book that comes to unflattering conclusions about vaccines must surely be the product of ignorant minds or smoke and mirrors salesmen with hidden agendas.

Unfortunately, this method has proven to be very effective in suppressing a healthy and necessary debate about vaccine science.

By hiding their identity, the authors avoided this predictable line of attack on their work.

However, in doing so, another difficulty arises: how can the reader then determine whether the book is a serious effort by reputable scientists to present all facets of a complicated subject or is nothing more than a charlatan’s and pseudoscientist’s reverie that delights in anonymously misleading the public?

The answer is simple. You must read it. Check out the many citations. Discuss this with your friends, family and doctor.

Yes, you will have to make up your own mind. In an age where information is published at a frantic pace and accusations of misinformation are just as frequent, we will sooner or later have to face the fact that we will have to rely on our own intelligence to understand what is going on.

I think the authors of « Turtles All The Way Down » are aware of the difficult situation the audience is in. This is one of the reasons why this book is so effective. Very little prior knowledge is expected from the reader. It is therefore suitable for both laymen and health professionals.

The authors have also managed to make the book very attractive by making it understandable to the casual reader, but by including over 1200 references from reputable sources, it cannot be dismissed as a simplified version of the « facts » by those who wish to get to the bottom of things.

In order to answer the simple question of whether the « safe and effective » vaccine narrative is scientific or simply a myth, we need to start by looking at the fundamentals and see where they lead us.

That’s exactly what this book does:

• Chapter 1 describes how vaccine clinical trials are conducted and the limitations of what can be concluded from such investigations. What can we know about the safety of the products we inject into our children if  none of the vaccines in the CDC’s children’s program have ever been tested against a real placebo ?
• Chapter 2 presents another sobering reality. Scientific research on the mechanisms by which vaccines could harm our physiology is almost non-existent. If these mechanisms are underestimated, how can we be sure that they do not have deleterious effects?
• Chapter 3 provides an unflinching critique of the adverse event reporting systems that are supposed to highlight any safety issues after flawed clinical trials and vaccine administration to tens of millions or more. In fact, they do not fulfill their role, but were they designed that way on purpose?
• Chapters 4 and 5 show how epidemiological studies can be easily manipulated to produce a desired outcome. Beyond assumptions, the authors analyze several studies widely cited by vaccine advocates to reveal the bias that permeates their methodology and conclusions.
• Chapter 6 attacks claims by our health agencies that the childhood immunization schedule has been thoroughly tested. Is this claim based on evidence, i.e. randomized controlled trials? No, it is not. Have there been large, long-term observational studies comparing vaccinated and unvaccinated children? Again, no. Such studies would certainly silence vaccination skeptics. Why have they not been realized?
• Chapter 7 demonstrates the clear lack of evidence to support the conventional wisdom that the timing and number of vaccines administered are optimal and safe.
• Chapter 8 deals a severe blow to the dogma of vaccination by highlighting an inconvenient truth: mortality from diseases targeted by the childhood vaccination program had already declined significantly before the widespread use of these vaccines. And that other thorn in the side of vaccination: why has the incidence of chronic disease skyrocketed since the childhood vaccination program expanded?
• In Chapter 9, the authors tell us about  herd immunity In Chapter 9, the authors talk about the carrot that is dangled in front of the public to encourage us to participate in vaccination campaigns for the good of all. However, only a minority of the vaccines deployed on our children are good enough to ever provide herd immunity, no matter how many of them receive them. Yes, that’s right. Herd immunity is primarily a function of the ability of a given vaccine to prevent infection and transmission. If a vaccine cannot do this, herd immunity cannot be achieved. Period.

At this point, a majority of readers should see the possibility that the vaccine narrative is actually more rooted in myth than science.

How can we know that childhood vaccines are safe if none have been tested against a real placebo?

How do we know that the « scare tactics » used by « anti-vaxers » do not in fact tell stories of healthy lives devastated by vaccines? How can we know that adverse events are extremely rare if the CDC admits that our reporting systems capture only a fraction of them?

Why do so many children today suffer from chronic diseases? Where were the inhalers, EpiPens (emergency treatment for severe allergic reactions) and allergy tables in public schools 50 years ago?

Why don’t our taxpayer-funded public health agencies conduct studies on the appropriate scale to compare the overall health of vaccinated children to that of unvaccinated children to put this issue to rest once and for all?

The burning question

Finally, we come to the flagship topic of Chapter 10, the point of no return for many vaccine supporters, including those physicians who are open to discussion. No criticism of vaccine science can bypass the subject of polio vaccination, the star argument of modern vaccination advocates.

The authors do not hesitate to take up this challenge, devoting a quarter of their book to this thorny issue. The authors ask very simple questions, such as  » Why was the incidence of polio already declining before the widespread use of the Salk vaccine in the Western world?  » and  » Why has the incidence of polio-like paralysis tripled in Third World countries, coinciding with the World Health Organization’s intensive vaccination campaigns? « .

These questions lead to other questions which lead to other questions and so on. Unless these questions are answered, we must ask ourselves what, if anything, is holding the last turtle back.

A book for almost everyone

This book is not for everyone. If you prefer not to consider the possibility that our public health agencies have been misleading us for decades, I would instead direct you to the corporate-funded media and CDC newsletters that ignore the criticism of the childhood vaccination program by a growing number of scientists and health professionals.

On the other hand:

• If you want to avail yourself of the enormous amount of data and studies from reputable sources that challenge the vaccine doctrine, I suggest you read this book in its entirety.
• If you are a vaccine enthusiast and don’t want to waste your time with silly vaccine warnings, I invite you to read the counterarguments section at the end of each chapter. This is where the authors take their arguments a step further by addressing the most common objections to their claims.
• If you are a parent of a young child, I recommend that you, at the very least, read the questions the authors suggest asking your trusted pediatrician or family physician.
• Finally, if you are a health care professional, this book is essential. Sooner or later, your patients will ask you the same questions that the authors answer. At a minimum, it will provide you with links to hundreds of key publications categorized by topic for future reference.

 » Turtles All The Way Down: Vaccine Science and Myth  » is not an anti-vaccine manifesto. The authors do not present evidence that any vaccine is deleterious.

Instead, they demonstrate very effectively that there is no evidence that a vaccine is safe. This is despite the deluge of official public service announcements, social media campaigns, billboards on our highways and posters in our pediatricians’ offices that say otherwise.

The authors invite us to dig deeper and ask the obvious question: why? Why, after seven decades, do we have no evidence that vaccines provide more benefits than risks?

Why are all childhood vaccines tested against other vaccines or non-placebos to establish their safety, when a true placebo would be safer and offer more information?

Why won’t CDC replace the inadequate Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS) with a working solution that was designed a decade ago?

Why have there never been any studies comparing the general health of unvaccinated and vaccinated children?

The authors politely refrain from answering these questions. They can’t do it, and they have nothing to gain by speculating.

However, these are not questions to be asked of the authors, but of our public health authorities who apparently have no interest in answering them.

***

To go further

Some books in French, extracted from the bibliography of  the covid page of Liège-Décroissance :

• Investigation on a vaccination above all suspicion — A short history of vaccines and their unbreakable link with industrial society. Hervé Krief. Les éditions Quartz (France), 60 pages. January 2022.
• Vaccines in the age of Covid. Michel de Lorgeril. Kiwi, 432 pages, April 2021.
• Vaccinations — Unwanted truths. Get informed, Choose, Assume. Michel Georget. Dangles, 512 pages, November 2017 (2nd edition).
• Medical Nemesis — The expropriation of health. Ivan Illich. 1974.  Threshold . To learn more about the work of Ivan Illich, read La société conviviale by Thierry Paquot, in the collection  The precursors of degrowth (Le Passager Clandestin).

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