Four years on, Covid is clearly here to stay. So what do we do now? Drawing on his expertise as one of the world’s top virologists, Dr. Paul Offit helps weary readers address that crucial question in this brief, definitive guide.
As a member of the FDA Vaccine Advisory Committee and a former member of the Advisory Committee for Immunization Practices to the CDC, Offit has been in the room for the creation of policies that have affected hundreds of millions of people. In these pages, he marshals the power of hindsight to offer a fascinating frontline look at where we were, where we are, and where we’re heading in the now-permanent fight against the disease.
Accompanied by a companion website populated with breaking news and relevant commentary, this book contains everything you need to know to navigate Covid going forward. Offit addresses fundamental issues like boosters, immunity induced by natural infection, and what it means to be fully vaccinated. He explores the dueling origin stories of the disease, tracing today’s strident anti-vax rhetoric to twelve online sources and tracking the fallout. He breaks down long Covid—what it is, and what the known treatments are. And he looks to the future, revealing whether we can make a better vaccine, whether it should be mandated, and providing a crucial list of fourteen takeaways to eradicate further spread.
Paul A. Offit, M.D. is the Director of the Vaccine Education Center at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia and the Maurice R. Hilleman Professor of Vaccinology and Professor of Pediatrics at the University of Pennsylvania. He has appeared on The Today Show, Good Morning America, CBS This Morning, 60 Minutes, and many other programs. Offit has published more than 170 papers in medical and scientific journals in the areas of rotavirus-specific immune responses and vaccine safety. He is also the co-inventor of the rotavirus vaccine, RotaTeq, recommended for universal use in infants by the CDC and WHO. In 2021 he was awarded the Edward Jenner Lifetime Achievement Award in Vaccinology from the 15th Vaccine Congress. He is the author of numerous books including: Do You Believe in Magic?: Vitamins, Supplements and All things Natural; Vaccinated: From Cowpox to mRNA, the Remarkable Story of Vaccines; Deadly Choices: How the Anti-Vaccine Movement Threatens Us All; You Bet Your Life: From Blood Transfusion to Mass Vaccination, the Long and Risky History of Medical Innovation; and Pandora’s Lab: Seven Stories of Science Gone Wrong. His new book is Tell Me When It’s Over: An Expert’s Guide to Deciphering Covid Myths and Navigating Our Post-Pandemic World.
Shermer and Offit discuss:
- How do you know that the Covid-19 vaccines are not the 8th story of science gone wrong, or part of the long and risky history of medical innovation?
- Loss of trust in medical and scientific institutions (Anthony Fauci, Francis Collins)
- Overall assessment of what went right and wrong with the Covid-19 pandemic
- Pandemic vs. epidemic
- Influenza caused 800,000 hospitalizations & 60,000 deaths
- Testing, masking, social isolation
- Mandates vs. recommendations
- Is the cure worse than the disease?
- Closing of schools, restaurants, salons, parks, beaches, hiking trails, etc.
- The cost to the economy of the shut downs
- The cost to the education of children of the shut downs
- Comparative method: which countries and states did better or worse?
- Viral: The Search for the Origin of Covid-19 by Alina Chan and Matt Ridley
- Lab Leak hypothesis vs. Zoonomic hypothesis
- Living with SARS-CoV-2 and its variants
- Vaccines and autism
- RFK, Jr. and his conspiracy theories
- Debating anti-vaxxers (Rogan and elsewhere)
- Treatments: hydroxychloroquine, ivermectin, remdesivir, Vitamin D, Paxlovid, Tamiflu, retroviral medicines, monoclonal antibodies, convalescent plasma
- High risk vs. low risk groups; age, sex, race, pregnancy, weight, preconditions, immune compromised
- Myocarditis, Robert Malone, mRNA vaccines, Joe Rogan, RFKJ, Peter Hotez, Del Bigtree
- Spike protein made by Covid vaccines: toxic? (the spike protein the mRNA vaccines make cannot fuse to our cells. Normally, SARS-CoV-2 attaches to cells via the spike protein, then enters cells through a process called fusion….p. 107
- Stanford professor Jay Bhattacharya censored for signing the Great Barrington Declaration (“focused protection” of the people most at risk): Wall Street Journal OpEd: “Is the Coronavirus as Deadly as They Say?”, which argued there was little evidence to support shelter-in-place orders and quarantines In March 2021, Bhattacharya called the Covid-19 lockdowns the “biggest public health mistake we’ve ever made” and argued that “The harm to people is catastrophic”. Blacklisted by Twitter.
How civilization might change:
- Medical: Coronavirus is here to stay—herd immunity naturally and through vaccines
- Personal and Public Health: handshakes, hugs, and other human contact; masks, social distancing, hygiene
- Economics and Business
- Travel, conferences, meetings
- Marriage, dating, sex, and home life
- Entertainment, vacations, bars and restaurants
- Education and schools
- Politics and society (and a better understanding of freedom and why it is restricted).
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This episode was released on February 20, 2024.
