Enough Is Enough: The Narrative Around “Returning To Normal” And Herd Immunity Has Been Brazenly Inconsistent

(Submitted by Quoth the Raven at QTR’s “Fringe Finance” blog. Help fight media censorship and groupthink here: http://quoththeraven.substack.com)

Sometimes, you just have to let the facts do the talking. That’s my plan for this piece, which – not unlike my “Question the Answers” podcast I did about the changing narrative regarding the lab leak theory – will rely solely on what we were told versus what has actually transpired regarding the vaccines and herd immunity. 

This isn’t an anti-vaccine post, but rather a question the narrative you are given at all times post that will show just what we were led to believe about herd immunity and vaccines during 2020 and at the beginning of 2021, versus what we are being told now.

And I’ll even extend another olive branch before pointing out some discrepancies: let’s leave the political jabs (pun intended) behind for this piece. This means the ridiculous shift in narrative from Democrats like Kamala Harris and Andrew Cuomo who said they wouldn’t take a vaccine being pushed by the Trump administration, before doing a full 180 with Joe Biden in office and doing nothing but pleading with Americans to get vaccinated, is also off-limits.

The perpetually changing narrative and moving of the goalposts when it comes to when the country is going to have its rights back (you know, the same rights assured by the Constitution, as inconvenient as that is for politicians and many useful far-left automatons) and will return to normal shouldn’t be surprising to those who have been paying attention since the beginning of the pandemic. The powers that be have done nothing but flail and change the narrative about almost everything about Covid.

Here’s what that changing narrative looks like when “experts” have to say something because they’re constantly making TV appearances and returning to the “normal life” that we had just 18 months ago becomes a carrot on a string held in front of the American public.

Most important, when considering this timeline, just look at some of the brazen inconsistencies in message and key points.

Dr. Anthony Fauci in September 2020: It’s Not Going To Be An Overnight Event Where You Have A Vaccine And Then All Of A Sudden Everything Is Okay

Fauci seemed to level with people heading into the end of 2020, stating about one year ago to the day that getting everyone vaccinated is “not going to be an overnight event, where you have a vaccine and then all of a sudden everything is okay.”

Fauci would later use the vaccines as a carrot on a string to encourage a return to normal, as I will show, many times.

Fauci in December 2020: 75% To 85% Of The U.S. Vaccinated Means Life Could Be Back To Normal By Summer Or Fall 2021

Shortly after these debates, the “authority” Dr. Fauci told us life could wind up back to normal by summer or mid-fall 2021. CNBC reported in December 2020:

“So if we can get the overwhelming proportion of the population vaccinated by let’s say the end of the second, the beginning of the third quarter – by the time we get into mid-fall of 2021, we can be approaching some level of normality.”

Fauci also told us that getting between 75% and 85% of the population inoculated would “prevent further spread of the virus”:

To get back to normal, however, Fauci said between 75% and 85% of the population will need to to get inoculated against Covid-19. That would create an “umbrella” of immunity to prevent further spread of the virus, Fauci said.

As of right now, according to the Mayo Clinic, 61.6% of the U.S. has had at least one dose.

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In December 2020, Newsweek published an article says that the U.S. may approach “some level of normality” by summer 2021 if “most” Americans get vaccinated.

Fauci says COVID vaccine may make life more normal by next summer

We’re now in September 2021; do things feel “normal” yet?

December 2020: Referencing Fauci, Dr. Vinay Prasad, MD, MPH, Says Scientists Play A “Dangerous Game” When They Move The Goal Posts On Science To Promote Policy Goals

The op-ed appeared in Medpage Today, where Prasad is openly critical of Fauci “moving the goalposts”:

As a former National Institutes of Health fellow, I have a profound reverence for Anthony Fauci, MD, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and a towering figure in American medicine. Fauci’s contribution to biomedicine cannot be questioned. At the same time, recent statements by Fauci raise a thorny and important question for scientists, doctors, and public health experts: Is it acceptable to distort the truth to get people to do what you want them to do?

As I stated at the outset, I have profound respect for Fauci for his career of service, and like many, I am a fan of his clear public speaking. Yet, these two events force us to ask whether fact manipulation is acceptable.

I believe it cannot be. The public will not trust us, and should not trust us. People will put our statements through a reverse translator to try to deduce what we truly think, and it gives an unjustified power to scientists that belongs in the hands of people.

Fauci in January 2021: I Believe In 2021 We Will See This Behind Us

Fox News reported on January 1 that Dr. Fauci said that a return to normal was going to be a “summer, beginning of the fall” event for 2021.

“We can do both, we can keep the country open and we can abide by the public health measures,” Fauci told MSNBC. “That together with a vaccine, I believe in 2021 we will see this behind us. … It’s not going to happen in the first few months. If we do it correctly, hopefully, as we get into the end of the summer, the beginning of the fall of 2021, we can start to approach some degree of normality.”

Fauci In February 2021: Tells AMA Most Covid Mutations Don’t Have Any “Functional Relevance”

The AMA wrote in February 2021:

SARS-CoV-2 continually mutates, with most of these mutations not having any “functional relevance,” Dr. Fauci said. “But every once in a while, a combination of mutations occur that create what’s called a ‘variant’ or a ‘new lineage,’ which does have functional consequences.”

Fauci has now said this summer that all bets are essentially off thanks to the Delta variant and that its like we have a “new pandemic”.

Fauci In April 2021: Moves Herd Immunity Guidelines From 60%-70% to Up To 85% Because “The Country Is Finally Ready” To Hear What He Really Thinks

The NY Times reported:

In the pandemic’s early days, Dr. Fauci tended to cite the same 60 to 70 percent estimate that most experts did. About a month ago, he began saying “70, 75 percent” in television interviews. And last week, in an interview with CNBC News, he said “75, 80, 85 percent” and “75 to 80-plus percent.”

In a telephone interview the next day, Dr. Fauci acknowledged that he had slowly but deliberately been moving the goal posts. He is doing so, he said, partly based on new science, and partly on his gut feeling that the country is finally ready to hear what he really thinks.

Fauci In May 2021: We Can Get “Close” To Normal By May 2022, Says When Population Is Vaccinated “The Virus Doesn’t Really Have Any Place To Go”

Fauci made the comments talking on ABC around Mother’s Day 2021.

Fauci says we can get “close” to normal next Mother’s Day but there are “some conditions to that” (everyone has to get vaccinated)

May 2021: New York Times Says Herd Immunity Is Now “Unlikely” In The US And That The Virus Won’t Make Its “Long-Promised Exit”

Despite Fauci’s comments that the virus would have no place to go, the idea of herd immunity was tossed aside in May of 2021 by “experts” cited by the New York Times:

Early in the pandemic, when vaccines for the coronavirus were still just a glimmer on the horizon, the term “herd immunity” came to signify the endgame: the point when enough Americans would be protected from the virus so we could be rid of the pathogen and reclaim our lives.

Now, more than half of adults in the United States have been inoculated with at least one dose of a vaccine. But daily vaccination rates are slipping, and there is widespread consensus among scientists and public health experts that the herd immunity threshold is not attainable — at least not in the foreseeable future, and perhaps not ever.

Instead, they are coming to the conclusion that rather than making a long-promised exit, the virus will most likely become a manageable threat that will continue to circulate in the United States for years to come, still causing hospitalizations and deaths but in much smaller numbers.

Fauci In June 2021: We’ll Know We Have Herd Immunity Because Infections Will “Almost Disappear”

According to CNBC, Fauci said in June 2021:

Since the start of the pandemic, many people have anticipated “herd immunity” against Covid as an elusive finish line. The catch is, no one even knows for certain what the threshold of herd immunity for Covid-19 is, Dr. Anthony Fauci, White House chief medical advisor, told YouTube’s Dr. Mike Varshavski during an interview published June 6.

So how will we know if and when we’re there?

“When you get that level of protection that turns out to be the threshold of herd immunity, you’ll know it, because you’ll see the infections almost disappear.”

And so, despite the NY Times assertion, Fauci now has us waiting for Covid to “disappear”. Does he think that’s really going to happen now? Did he think it then?

Fauci in August 2021: Herd Immunity Can Happen “Really Easily” If We Get Everyone Vaccinated

Who is wrong, The New York Times “experts” who said herd immunity is “unlikely” or Dr. Fauci? Because Fauci’s comments in August stand at stark odds with the NY Times.

Despite the constantly changing narrative on herd immunity, Forbes reported in 2021:

Fauci told MSNBC’s “The Mehdi Hassan Show” that herd immunity—the concept that a community can be protected against a virus when there is a high enough level of overall immunity—could be achieved “really easily if we get everyone vaccinated.”

“The only way you can get to herd immunity without them is the unfortunate situation where they all wind up getting infected,” said the White House’s chief medical advisor, explaining: “Then you have a combination of infected individuals who have some degree of protection together with vaccinated individuals.”

The same article immediately contradicts Fauci thanks to the Delta variant:

Top U.S. officials, including Fauci, previously estimated the herd immunity threshold to be about 60 to 70 percent of the population, deeming that goal reachable once vaccines were available. However, the emergence and subsequent dominance of the delta variant, as well as new research on vaccines, have caused many experts to doubt whether herd immunity is possible at all. Leading epidemiologist Sir Andrew Pollard, the head of the Oxford Vaccine Group, told British lawmakers earlier this month that achieving herd immunity with Covid-19 vaccines when the highly infectious delta variant is spreading is “not a possibility.” 

Fauci in August 2021: It “Isn’t Clear” How Many People Need To Get Vaccinated For A Return To Normal

710 WOR reported in late August 2021, however, that now Fauci doesn’t seem to know exactly how many people need to get vaccinated to return life back to normal:

Dr. Fauci said it isn’t clear what proportion of the population needs to be vaccinated in order to reach a level of protection to maintain a return to normalcy, so the best way to do so would be to have as many individuals vaccinated as possible.

Fauci In August 2021: Things Could Be Back To Normal By Spring 2022, But It’s “Almost Like A New Pandemic Now”

Now, Fauci is saying that things could be “back to normal” by Spring 2022 despite telling the Guardian it’s “almost like a new pandemic now”

The US could have the Covid pandemic under control and achieve a return to “normality” by next spring, Dr Anthony Fauci said, if the “overwhelming majority” of the population is vaccinated.

More than 400,000 people have been vaccinated in the US each day in August, with 171.1 million now fully protected.

“We hope we’ll be there” by spring, Fauci said, adding: “But there’s no guarantee because it’s up to us.”

“Delta came along,” he said, “and it’s almost like we have a new pandemic now. Everything we thought we knew about Covid-19 has to be revised. I think we’re in a world of trouble for at least the next couple of months, but exactly what the shape of that trouble looks like, I can’t tell you.”

Fauci in August 2021: “I’m Certain” For the Need For A Third Vaccine Dose

Fauci made the revelation on “Meet The Press” on August 30, 2021 when Chuck Todd said we are experiencing a “pandemic of the unvaccinated”, as though breakthrough infections aren’t being documented globally:

This leads us to the obvious question: if it is now like a brand new pandemic all over again, and we have come full circle back to square one since the beginning of 2020, and we now need even more vaccine doses, when is this whole mess going to end?

It’s not looking like ever. In fact, the San Francisco Chronicle just pointed out worrying information about breakthrough infections, reporting that mutations are now starting to become more resistant to antibodies:

UCSF study has worrying findings about breakthrough infections: A study of nearly 1,400 Bay Area residents who had COVID-19 between February and June found that people with breakthrough cases were more likely to be infected with a variant that contains mutations more resistant to neutralizing antibodies elicited by the vaccine.

How many more variants are going to pop up that are going to spur endless campaigns and obsessions about getting vaccinated?

How long are we going to sit idly by and ignore people like Dr. Geert Vanden Bossche, who claims that the vaccines are creating the new variants instead of stopping them? From Zerohedge:

In a new blog post published yesterday, Vanden Bossche continued to raise questions about our mass vaccination program to fight Covid.

In a summary of his findings, he writes: “As of the early days of the mass vaccination campaigns, at least a few experts have been warning against the catastrophic impact such a program could have on global and individual health. Mass vaccination in the middle of a pandemic is prone to promoting selection and adaptation of immune escape variants that are featured by increasing infectiousness and resistance to spike protein (S)-directed antibodies (Abs), thereby diminishing protection in vaccinees and threatening the unvaccinated.“

“This already explains why the WHO’s mass vaccination program is not only unable to generate herd immunity (HI) but even leads to substantial erosion of the population’s immune protective capacity,” he continues. “As the ongoing universal mass vaccination program will soon promote dominant propagation of highly infectious, neutralization escape mutants (i.e., so-called ‘S Ab-resistant variants’), naturally acquired, or vaccinal neutralizing Abs, will, indeed, no longer offer any protection to immunized individuals whereas high infectious pressure will continue to suppress the innate immune defense system of the nonvaccinated.”

And how long are we going to label facts as “misleading” because they’re inconvenient to the mainstream’s narrative?

After all, isn’t that was Alex Berenson was just banned from Twitter for? 

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