Covid-19

Covid rising faster among vaxxed Vermonters

For first time, Levine boosts treatments, not just vaccine

by Guy Page

Positive Covid-19 test cases are up in highly-vaccinated Vermont while declining nationally, Vermont Department of Health reported today. Covid-19 positive cases last week grew at a higher rate among vaccinated Vermonters than unvaccinated.

While positive cases are on the wane nationally, positive tests in 88.7% vaccinated Vermont are up 26%. Vermont had 14 Covid-19 deaths this month through October 11.

Published data offers no breakdown in vaxxed-unvaxxed deaths, and Levine he didn’t have that information at his fingertips and would ask his staff to provide it. There were definitely some vaxxed fatalities, he said, which he said is to be expected with a vaccine with a 90-95% effectiveness rate. By September 25 last month, 76% of Covid fatalities were vaxxed.

Positive test cases among the fully vaccinated rate rose 7.1% last week, compared to 6.9% among the “not fully vaccinated.” Commissioner Levine said he believes it’s the first time vaccinated Vermonters tested positive at a higher rate than unvaccinated. When asked to explain, he said “I guess I try not to explain things that are .02 different. I wouldn’t want to blow that difference out of proportion.” The total number of positive cases per capita was still almost four times greater for unvaccinated people, statistics show.

Gov. Phil Scott said he’s not sure why the 26% Vermont uptick has occurred.

“We’re expecting we’ll see that drop again,” Scott said. “It’s unfortunate. I wish we had the answers.” Vermonters must continue to get vaccinated, he said.

Also, Health Commissioner Mark Levine for the first time publicly endorsed a specific drug treatment program for the treatment of Covid-19. Until now, the only prescription drugs Levine has publicly recommended have been vaccines. “People who get Covid should consider asking their health provider for mono-clonal antibody treatments,” Levine said. “Monoclonal antibodies are recommended for patients with mid to moderate disease.”

Molnupiravir – Maerk photo

As reminded by VPR reporter Peter Hirshfeld, Levine has not always been “bullish” on monoclonal antibody treatment. What has changed, he was asked.

A year ago, national advisory boards were cautious about mono-clonal antibodies, Levine responded. “The data and the science” now show strong support for this treatment, he said.

Levine also offered encouragement about Molnupiravir, an anti-viral treatment proposed by pharmaceutical manufacturer Maerk for emergency use authorization.

“This could be an important tool,” Levine said. “Stay tuned for more news from the FDA and the CDC.”

Molnupiravir is reportedly similar to ivermectin. Levine in recent months has been dismissive of the therapeutic value of ivermectin, the low-cost, 2015 Nobel-prize winning anti-viral drug. After the FDA approval of the Comirnaty vaccine, he described ivermectin as “off the table.”

In a related matter, Gov. Scott also said Vermont school officials are doing the best they can to implement the school Covid-19 policies.

“I want to remind everyone they are just doing their jobs under very difficult conditions,” Scott said. “This is frustrating for everyone. “The cases we have seen in schools, and the quarantine we have seen for some, leads to frustration with families and work and so forth. It has led to frustrations for everyone.”

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Categories: Covid-19

23 replies »

  1. We’ve yet to be informed about what the hospital protocol is for treating those admitted with Covid-19.

    And what of EARLY treatment at home? By far the best results occur when those infected with Covid-19 get early treatment at home. Levine and Scott show their intentional or unintentional ignorance at every presser about what has proven to be effective treatment. Get informed at https://covid19criticalcare.com/

    • It would appear that the term depraved indifference can be applied to Scott, Levine and now Kelso’s disregard for treatment options. I can think of no logical reason to not pursue treatments such as Ivermectin and HCQ, other than money and/or depraved indifference. There is now unconfirmed reporting that members of the US Congress have been treated with Ivermectin, which given recent behavior by the “elite” I would suspect is accurate. Somehow, I doubt you’ll see that reported on CNN.

  2. WHY do WE, as patients, need to “ask” our medical doctors for the proper treatments for an illness.

  3. Re: “I wish we had the answers.” Vermonters must continue to get vaccinated, he said.”

    If Scott doesn’t have the answers, how does he know we must continue to get vaccinated?

  4. Admittedly, I am very bad at math, however, if nearly 80% of Vermonters are vaccinated & break-through infections have been known since the beginning would be occurring, doesn’t it make sense from a “numbers” standpoint that of course MORE vaccinated people would be testing positive than un-vaccinated people at this point??

    More importantly however – the government REFUSES to tell us the number of people or the percentage of people who are fully vaccinated who are:

    1.) asymptomatic
    2.) mildly/moderately ill requiring no hospitalization
    3.) hospitalized & released
    4.) Died along with their age and number of underlying conditions

    The government simply will NOT supply as these facts. What’s the point then??? To terrify people into getting yet a third vaccine? I’m will NOT until I learn substantive information.

    Either give us ALL the facts, or none. Anything less is manipulative.

    • There is also a problem caused by counting vaccinated people in the two-week waiting period as “unvaccinated.” We need those numbers broken out.

  5. Not terribly surprised- the same thing happened in heavily vaxed Israel. But as for early treatment- they have effectively eliminated being able to obtain Ivermectin except for the horse paste type. If I get Covid, horse paste it will be! Thanks Vermont!!

    • Someone who responded to this post included a list of doctors who will prescribe it. Take a look, maybe they will send the prescription. Leave it to Vermont to cut off all options but vaccination. I included a link to a Senate presentation where one doctor stoke to the recent studies that proved Ivermectin works to prevent and treat COVID-19.

      • Even if we obtain a prescription for Ivermectin we have to have a way to get it filled outside of VT. So crazy that they are that determined to force the vax that they’d rather people got terribly sick instead of promoting early care.

      • I agree completely. You have to ask why refuse to consider any option but vaccination.

  6. Please provide a link to the chart and data above showing. I’m searching for the chart shown at the top of this article and cannot find it via the V DOH website. Thank you.

    • It was provided to the press and shown on the screen at the press conference Tuesday. Unsure if it’s on the DOH website at this time.

  7. Phil said he was on the phone with the White House, conference call included CDC wonk Wolinsky. He also said he was headed to Washington DC that afternoon. Why does his State website not include a calendar of his daily appointments? If he’s leaving the State, doesn’t that make Molly in charge and shouldn’t that be posted on his website that he is out of state for any period to time? He said before he was headed to Washington DC at a press conference this summer. Later that day, I saw him walking down the street near the State House. Perhaps it’s time to start filing FOIA requests for his daily calendar and his official emails and transcripts of his phone calls. There is also fishy information regarding the mandates, testing protocols (employees provided home test kits? – provide a test of your dog’s saliva and see what happens!), no validation required of vaccination unless requested, etc etc. Susanne Young is retiring? This administration has fumbled and bumbled this “plandemic” for over 18 months. They use coercion, disinformation, and copious amounts of word salad to confuse and keep the citizens completely misinformed of facts and truth. We need to go complete Project Veritas on these criminal clowns.

    • Hi Melissa, I had the same thought this morning to submit a request for all inbound and outbound emails from and to all CMS employee, including Anthony Fauci to governor Scott’s office. The second request would request the same information specific to Mark Levine.

  8. Are there any reports/data regarding “breakthrough” cases of those who have recovered from Covid and those who have recovered AND been vaxxed? That kind of info would make it easier to judge the effectiveness of natural immunity vs the vax or no vax, and natural immunity/with vax vs vax only or no vax.

  9. Looking at the graph above, I noticed the yellow line represents the not fully vaxxed and the blue, fully vaxxed. If that is correct the graph itself does not support the article. Am I reading it incorrectly or missing something altogether?

    • You’re right. The graph is a poor representation of the circumstances. For one thing, the X axis of the graph covers a time period of 3 ½ months (more than 100 days), while the data cited in the text represents only the last 7 days. We can’t see the graph closely enough to make any judgement. Furthermore, the VT Dept. of Health continues to move the goal posts. In the latest DOH Covid Dashboard report, they actually contradict themselves.

      “NOTE: On October 11, changes were made to improve how the data that feed the COVID-19 case dashboard are processed. These changes were made to make processing more efficient and less time-consuming. As a result, there are small shifts in historic data. These shifts are reflected in the current data available for download. Overall trends remain the same and historic daily case counts are unaffected by this change.”

      So, are there “small shifts in historic data’ or are “historic daily case counts …unaffected by this change”?

      Let’s say there are 400,000 Vermonters eligible for vaccination and 89% of them are vaccinated. That’s 356,000 vaccinated Vermonters and 44,000 unvaccinated. If 7.1% of vaccinated Vermonters were infected over the 7 day period, that’s 25,276 people. If 6.9% of unvaccinated Vermonters were infected over the same 7 day period, that’s 3036 people.

      What does this tell us, statistically? Only one conclusion can be drawn – the difference in protection from the virus between being vaccinated and unvaccinated is statistically insignificant. Over the 7 day period there was no significant benefit discernable to being vaccinated or unvaccinated.

      Re: “Gov. Phil Scott said he’s not sure why the 26% Vermont uptick has occurred.”

      This is a biased question, the proverbial false dichotomy. Sure, go ahead and try to figure out why the uptick occurred – whatever the percentage rate may be. But one thing is certain, the vaccination rate has no significant effect on whether the rate of infection goes up or down.

      And keep in mind, this report covers only a 7 day period. And if this article’s statement that “[b]y September 25 last month, 76% of Covid fatalities were vaxxed” is true, it would support the contention that the vaccination’s effectiveness is statistically insignificant.

      My question remains unchanged. With such insignificant data over such a short period of time, why are our administrators going all-in on being vaccinated?

      Answer: For one thing it’s politically expedient for them and they assume no responsibility for adverse reactions and results. And neither do the pharmaceutical companies – because, under Emergency Use Authorization, Big Pharma’s liability protection remains intact.

      Clearly, it’s all about the money. Hospitals receive higher government subsidies when they report patients as being Covid infected. And Lord only knows how much taxpayer money is being spent, in the healthcare subsidies, the vaccine development and manufacturing process, or the administrative costs from the Federal level to the Municipal level.

      The ‘cure’ may or may not be worse than the disease…. But this vaccine cure sure costs a hell of a lot more.