Australia’s Largest Christian News Site

In 2021, the New York Times swore black and blue that anyone sharing testimonies of the vaccine injured was an anti-vaxxer. Now the Times claim thousands were maimed. What gives?

The New York Times has evidently joined the cause of the anti-vaxxers — at least, according to last week’s definition of an anti-vaxxer.

Until the publication of ‘Thousands Believe Covid Vaccines Harmed Them. Is Anyone Listening?’ by New York Times science and global health reporter Apoorva Mandavilli, a phrase like “even the best vaccines produce rare but serious side effects” meant shut up and take the shot.

Now, apparently, it means that we all should have been asking more questions about the COVID-19 jabs from the get go.

To reply to Mandavilli’s query: Yes, many of us were listening. However, for years we have been dismissed as quacks and conspiracy theorists until you shifted the goal posts last Friday.

To be fair, people like myself have been short on allies since 2020, so I want to be careful not to burn my bridges with newcomers to Team Sanity.

But I can’t help asking why all of the stories of the vaccine injured that Mandavilli includes in her article centre on Ivy League types from America’s coastal-urban enclaves.

Meet ‘Anti-Vaxxer’ Senator Ron Johnson

I recall watching highlights from a vaccine injury roundtable and media briefing hosted by Senator Ron Johnson of Wisconsin (from which humble state I currently write) all the way back in June 2021.

Present at that roundtable was wheelchair-bound teenager Maddie de Garay and her mother Stephanie. Maddie had taken part in the Pfizer trial over the winter, and soon afterwards, she developed severe abdominal and chest pain, brain fog, headaches, dizziness, seizures, and a loss of feeling from the waist down.

Four others, all from flyover country, also testified at Senator Johnson’s roundtable. Their vaccine side effects included paresthesia, heart palpitations, tremors, swollen lymph nodes, muscle weakness, convulsions—the list goes on.

Out of curiosity, I searched the New York Times website for mentions of dear Maddie de Garay. As you might have guessed, the results came up empty.

However, when I searched the Times website for mentions of Senator Ron Johnson and vaccines, I found plenty of impetuous propaganda like ‘Elevating Fringe Theories, Ron Johnson Questions Virus Science’, and ‘Assaulting the Truth, Ron Johnson Helps Erode Confidence in Government’.

And before I hear any protests about nuance, let it be known that Senator Johnson kicked off his June 2021 roundtable by acknowledging that more than 300 million doses of the vaccine had already been given in the U.S. at that time, and that, “for the vast majority of people the vaccine has been administered with little or no side effects.”

All this to say, Senator Ron Johnson and other voices in the wilderness like him have been listening to the vaccine-injured for years, even as the New York Times and other regime outlets have blocked their ears and shouted “LA LA LA” over the top of so many tragic testimonies.

Now that stories of severe vaccine injuries have begun bursting elite bubbles, we are allowed to notice them. See how it works?

Anti-Vaxxer NYT’s Tragic Tales

And yes, their stories are tragic, too. Consider Mandavilli’s opening paragraphs:

Within minutes of getting the Johnson & Johnson Covid-19 vaccine, Michelle Zimmerman felt pain racing from her left arm up to her ear and down to her fingertips. Within days, she was unbearably sensitive to light and struggled to remember simple facts.

She was 37, with a Ph.D. in neuroscience, and until then could ride her bicycle 20 miles, teach a dance class and give a lecture on artificial intelligence, all in the same day. Now, more than three years later, she lives with her parents. Eventually diagnosed with brain damage, she cannot work, drive or even stand for long periods of time.

“When I let myself think about the devastation of what this has done to my life, and how much I’ve lost, sometimes it feels even too hard to comprehend,” said Dr. Zimmerman, who believes her injury is due to a contaminated vaccine batch.

Or the testimony of this New York medical worker:

Shaun Barcavage, 54, a nurse practitioner in New York City who has worked on clinical trials for H.I.V. and Covid, said that ever since his first Covid shot, merely standing up sent his heart racing — a symptom suggestive of postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome, a neurological disorder that some studies have linked to both Covid and, much less often, vaccination.

He also experienced stinging pain in his eyes, mouth and genitals, which has abated, and tinnitus, which has not.

“I can’t get the government to help me,” Mr. Barcavage said of his fruitless pleas to federal agencies and elected representatives. “I am told I’m not real. I’m told I’m rare. I’m told I’m coincidence.”

Or the case of this working professional from Washington State:

Renee France, 49, a physical therapist in Seattle, developed Bell’s palsy — a form of facial paralysis, usually temporary — and a dramatic rash that neatly bisected her face. Bell’s palsy is a known side effect of other vaccines, and it has been linked to Covid vaccination in some studies.

But Dr. France said doctors were dismissive of any connection to the Covid vaccines. The rash, a bout of shingles, debilitated her for three weeks, so Dr. France reported it to federal databases twice.

“I thought for sure someone would reach out, but no one ever did,” she said.

After reading their stories, former CNN host and vaccine evangelist Chris Cuomo told his own story of vaccine injury in his new gig on News Nation, even interviewing Shaun Barcavage, mentioned above.

One savvy Australian content creator has juxtaposed Cuomo’s original stance on COVID-19 vaccines with his most recent comments, and the results are jarring to say the least:

To be sure, I am happy that Chris Cuomo now feels permission to speak the truth about a deeply personal issue that, until lately, was samizdat.

Good for Michelle Zimmerman, Shaun Barcavage, Renee France, and the thousands of others who are now allowed to speak freely about what happened to them. And credit to Apoorva Mandavilli for shining the spotlight on this issue. Doubtless she will still receive some pushback for what she has written.

But let this be a cautionary tale about the media’s stranglehold on the Overton Window, and their control of narratives as consequential as deaths and injuries via mandated medical injections.

The New York Times isn’t just wrong in hindsight. They and countless other legacy outlets were wrong all along. And some of us, by contrast, were right.

Like Senator Ron Johnson, in 2021, I was warning about vaccine injuries and making an emphatic case for medical freedom in the face of government coercion. I too was mocked and harangued by majority voices for my measured words.

I have yet to hear a single apology. But the comments section is open if anyone feels obliged.

___

Republished with thanks to Mercator. Image courtesy of Pexels.