Covid 19 Part XXXV-956,720 ROI (5,952 deaths) 452,946 NI (3,002 deaths) (08/01) Read OP

In the MVCs afaik they are using Pfizer BA.4-5 so the latest updated version.

I dont think there is much data yet re kraken

This article mentions reduced sensitivity re asymptomatic omicron

https://www.verywellhealth.com/can-rapid-tests-detect-omicron-6832866

This BBC article gives a good summary on factors in the excess deaths.

• Covid is still killing people, but is involved in fewer deaths now than at the start of the pandemic. Roughly 38,000 deaths involved Covid in 2022 compared with more than 95,000 in 2020.
• In November, for example, it took 48 minutes on average for an ambulance in England to respond to a suspected heart attack or stroke, compared to a target of 18 minutes... On 1 January 2023, the president of the Royal College of Emergency Medicine suggested the crisis in urgent care could be causing "300-500 deaths a week".
• Some of the excess may be people whose deaths were hastened by the after-effects of a Covid infection.number of studies have found people are more likely to have heart problems and strokes in the weeks and months after catching Covid, and some of these may not end up being linked to the virus when the death is registered. As well as the impact on the heart of the virus itself, some of this may be contributed to by the fact many people didn't come in for screenings and non-urgent treatment during the peak of the pandemic, storing up trouble for the future.
• Finally, figures up to June 2022 looking at deaths from all causes show unvaccinated people were more likely to die than vaccinated people. While this data on its own can't tell us it's the vaccine protecting people from dying - there are too many complicating factors - if vaccines were driving excess deaths we would expect this to be the other way around.

I linked an article from a highly reputable news organisation, the BBC. I have given a fair and balanced summary of the article so to suggest it is something I have come up with myself is what is incredible. And by incredible I mean completely without merit or foundation and a deliberate act of misrepesentation, if not outrightly deceptive.

Look at the post you quoted:

• Some of the excess may be people whose deaths were hastened by the after-effects of a Covid infection.number of studies have found people are more likely to have heart problems and strokes in the weeks and months after catching Covid, and some of these may not end up being linked to the virus when the death is registered. As well as the impact on the heart of the virus itself, some of this may be contributed to by the fact many people didn't come in for screenings and non-urgent treatment during the peak of the pandemic, storing up trouble for the future.

I will further link one of such studies, discussed on the vaccines thread, showing a significant increase in all cause mortality risk for post covid infections, the cohort in this group were unvaccinated given the timelines, but it clearly establishes that long covid as a plausible factor in deaths well beyond the timelines for what is classed as a covid death.

This study demonstrates patients with COVID-19 to be associated with increased risks of CVD and mortality post infection (acute phase). These risks remain increased even up till a year post recovery and are associated with long-COVID

We need to be specific about what we mean by "reduced" immunity or "immunity debt". We may have lost some of the carryover immunity e.g. flu infection from one year carrying over from one year to the next but there is absolutely nothing to suggest that our immune systems are worse at fighting off infections. We know that such 'carryover' is very limited because you can get infected again and again with flu, RSV and the flu vaccine needs to be updated each year to account for new strains.

And we are seeing a surge in 'novel' infections ie children encountering a disease for the first time but nothing to suggest that their immune systems at 'worse' at that than before.

But sadly, those with political or ideological agendas have been quick to fit this into their pre-existing narrative: some have said it’s a consequence of lockdown and children not being exposed enough to diseases and building up an “immunity debt”, while others have said it’s due to weakened immune systems from prior Covid-19 infection, given that the majority of children have now had Covid-19.

Neither of these hypotheses has enough data to support it yet. And in fact one could also argue that restrictions on social mixing and the reduced transmission of all infectious diseases delayed strep A infection in children, including severe cases. A similar argument can be made for the benefits of delaying RSV infection in infants, which can trigger recurrent wheezing and asthma during childhood.

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2022/dec/06/strep-a-uk-myths-deaths-children

Random bunch of youtubers v the BBC?

Right.

Come back to us when you have some real data and not a bunch of youtubers 'just asking questions' in a long winded video. Nobody has time to sit through all the videos linked on this forum.

The BBC are basing it on official UK data.

Hospitals had to cancel operations and screenings due to the pandemic, likewise during that period less people obviously went for screenings due to Covid. This was the first winter without masks and distancing, ergo we had high cases of flu, Covid, additional respiratory diseases.

We do have a decent understanding of why there are more excess deaths, there are numerous factors, as already pointed out. Ageing populations, over-crowded hospitals, reduced healthcare staff, delayed treatments/screenings, Covid and long Covid, summer heatwaves, and so on.

Pointless COVID restrictions? When were these?

Do you remember what happened when we let people off to Cheltenham and cases exploded when they got back or when we relaxed restrictions in December 2020 and how bad things were in January 2021?

I don't think anybody liked the restrictions but most accepted they were the right thing at the time.

It's his Youtube channel highlighting a BBC interview with a controversial anti-vax cardiologist.

Due to a pandemic.

ICU's reached critical levels in many cities, medical staff and professionals were pushed to their limits and over them (which is why we have staffing issues now), an estimated 80,000 health staff world wide died due to Covid, over 6.5 million people died.

You are just sitting here, with hindsight, vaccines, knowledge of Covid, increased resistance, herd immunity, judging a period in time when we didn't have those things.

Read the links, he's a controversial figure who has anti-vax views.

The BBC was criticised for letting this guy air his views

"Scientists have described the doctor as “hijacking” an interview on statins to air his views, causing BBC staff to be “alarmed and embarrassed” by their booking. Malhotra recently retweeted a video by the MP Andrew Bridgen, who had the Tory whip removed on Wednesday after comparing the use of Covid vaccines to the Holocaust."

"Dr Stephen Griffin, a virologist at the University of Leeds, said: “I am genuinely astonished by the BBC allowing someone with a known extreme fringe view on mRNA vaccines and the extent to which they are associated with cardiovascular problems to either hijack an interview on a tenuously related topic to express these views, or indeed to appear at all following even a cursory background check.”"

"Prof Marc Dweck, the chair of clinical cardiology at the University of Edinburgh, told the Guardian: “I think that Dr Malhotra’s opinions on both statins and Covid vaccines are misguided and in fact dangerous. The vast majority of cardiologists do not agree with his views and they are not based upon robust science."

"Dr Matt Kneale, the co-chair of the Doctors’ Association, said Malhotra’s appearance was “deeply dangerous behaviour” and called on the General Medical Council to take action."