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The Fear Factory on Full Throttle
But don’t panic: the antivirals, the winter plan and the vaccines will save the day.
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The “Flu”: fear campaign is at full throttle: ‘Britain could be heading for the worst “flu” season on record,’ headlines the Telegraph.
Sir Jim Mackey said he expected hospitals to be “at capacity” this winter, not that surprising given they are already at capacity, with far too many patients left enduring long waits.’ Also, not that shocking, given that long waits are the norm, the waiting list has now grown to 7.41 million.
He warned recent “flu” trends across the globe could be repeated in Britain, in what would be the worst season for decades. Watch out for the “tripledemic” as a way to ratchet up the fear even more.
But those in charge are finally waking up to what the TTE office pointed out a month ago, on the 11th of October: ‘it seems influenza has already taken hold, along with all the mince pies filling the supermarket shelves.’
The government also announced that it would combat “flu” outbreaks by removing bureaucratic red tape and allowing doctors and pharmacists to prescribe “flu” medicines year-round to reduce winter pressures and protect the NHS. Such a good plan—what are we worrying about?
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But if the antivirals don’t work, as we pointed out back in early September, all is not lost.
The soon-to-be-defunct NHS England has asked Integrated Care Boards (ICBs) and Trusts to craft and test winter plans, with final approvals expected by September, following regional exercises. Groundbreaking plans will be developed in just six weeks, followed by participation in the NHS England winter exercise to test them. Now, has anyone seen these plans?
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We recently told TTE readers that we were - yet again - confused by the vaccine effectiveness as the latest circulating virus evades the immune system, allowing it to keep circulating. Yet all this drift does not affect the vaccine’s effectiveness.
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However, the UKHSA has deferred to the test-negative study design to put this notion to bed.
The Scare Agency has published its latest data on the “Flu” vaccine, reporting it provides important protection despite the new subclade.’
But as we have pointed out, despite their popularity, test‐negative designs are substantially biased and have limited public health significance. The design does not test field effectiveness, but the capacity of the vaccines to generate a negative polymerase chain reaction result (what we would call laboratory efficacy). As such, they are helpful marketing tools but tell us nothing about how well the vaccine works in the real world.
Rest assured, despite all the fear-mongering and potential threats, the establishment has the winter crises well in hand. Remember, though, what goes up must come down.
This post was written by two old geezers, avid listeners to the British Broadcasting Bias Corporation, the long arm of the powerful. The old geezers disclose that they do not sing in choirs, do not kiss, and do not keep chickens in their cupboards, and have further plans.
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