Discussion about this post

User's avatar
The awake epidemiologist's avatar

There is a reason why I use a pseudonym both here and elsewhere on social media. I have been vilified and threatened by my academic colleagues. I've had academic responsibilities removed and my academic credentials and CV attacked. I've received hate mail about the articles that I have written in my real name and had smear articles written about me. I'm not as famous as people like Prasad, Kory, McCullough, etc. but I've had the honor of meeting many of them in person.

Steve, I'd love to connect with you.

Expand full comment
Reid G Sheftall, M.D.'s avatar

I like Dr. Vinay Prasad too, don't get me wrong. I respect his effort and humility. But I sent him a message on his form a long time ago and he didn't answer me. Neither have you, Steve, despite numerous attempts on my part. Nevertheless, both of you are ranked fairly in my upcoming book, "Heroes and Villains: The COVID-19 Book of Lists"

I'm one of those people "who deserves to be heard" according to his op-ed.

Why am I one who deserves to be heard? Because I was the first or only on 15+ major calls /insights during the early part of the pandemic and beyond. I'm also the only person (as far as I know) who has not been wrong on anything yet. I know this is in the way of boasting and I apologize for that. But you have to allow me to defend myself.

How could that be? when there us not a single other person who has even been first on even 2 major calls? It's because I reason from first principles while the others have wait for data to come in. I was too early, in a way. Even by March, people were complaining, "Why should we believe you over the CDC?"

"Because they've been wrong on every call and I've been right," I answered.

You might say, "He and I didn't answer you because you are not a prestigious doctor and he doesn't know who you are."

He is a hematology, oncology doctor, public health expert and epidemiologist. I am a general and plastic and reconstructive surgeon, and, recently completed training in cardiothoracic surgery, specializing in the repair of congenital defects in children. Ask any doctor who has more stature in the medical community.

I started a charity 22 years ago and, without the help of donations, I've performed 1511 free operations on children who could not afford to pay anything, again without donations save for $1500 from one of our fellow MIT alums who was passing through Cambodia about ten years ago, came to see the clinic, and insisted on paying for a child he saw there. I've paid for the OR time and anesthesia fees out of my own pocket from profits earned in my private practice. I don't believe you or he can justify shunning me because I am not a substantial doctor.

I was inquiring with Dr. Prasad because we differ on some important topics and I thought it would be informative for the public if we recorded a friendly discussion/debate that we could post for everyone's edification, including our own. For the record, I also wrote to Dr. Ioannidis with the same request but didn't hear from him either. Jay Bhattacharya has been the only person to answer my call. Ask him if it's been worthwhile

Dr. Prasad doesn't let people make comments on his substack posts unless they are paid subscribers so I'm left having to make comments below his videos which is fine. He probably never sees them which is also fine. A tiny number of people will read them and I hope they will learn something.

But a real debate where he gets to defend my criticisms would be better. You should know all about that, Steve, as someone who has pushed strongly for open debate and very generously has put your money where your mouth is. I commend you for that.`

But to say in this post that "No one in the medical community will support what he wrote", is just flat wrong. I would. Dr. Bhattacharya would. In fact, Jay has participated in 24 hours of discussions/debates with me so far- a person with a following who has been generous with his time debating someone who does not agree with him on everything, and that's putting it mildly. I'm very grateful for him doing this for me because no-one else would.

I've lost a brother and a cousin over this pandemic- they didn't believe me either and shamed me on social media for something that turned out to be right- and I should have been front and center explaining this to everyone when they didn't understand. Imagine the lives I could have saved if someone had answered me. I wrote the White House and4 major network TV hosts after the lockdowns were announced but before they were put in place, asking for 3 minutes to explain why they wouldn't work and that they would cause death and destruction on a 'biblical scale". Do you think they might have thought twice about it after I had explained to them that the IFR was really .1%, not 40 x higher at 4% like the "experts" were telling everyone it was? What, 150 million lives?

What about when I was the first to show by data that the vaccines weren't blocking transmission. I did it in mid-January, 2021. Drs. Fauci and Walensky were still saying that it blocked transmission SEVEN MONTHS LATER! YouTube had taken down my video explaining it all within 10 minutes of it going up. Good thing I had learned how screenshot worked by then, eh? You think maybe some people wouldn't have risked taking the vaccine if they had known the vaccine didn't block transmission, or that we had already reached herd immunity to the wild type on January 11, 2021, without the help of a single person fully-vaccinated after the experts told us we had to have 60 - 70 %, then 90%, then 98% of the population vaccinated before we reached herd immunity? You think that's kind of important, Steve, reaching herd immunity without a single person- not 1%, a single person- benefitting fully from being vaccinated? YouTube must have thought so. They took my video down presto-pronto; within minutes. YouTube got better and better at this, you know. They took one of my videos down with 4 views and 2 likes, one of which was mine!

I've already started on my second COVID-19 book. It's going to be called "If Only They Had Listened: How I Cracked the Most Egregious Crime in Medical History" with the word "Medical" crossed out so you can still read it.

I don't know Steve. Maybe Dr. Prasad didn't answer me because I majored in physics at MIT, scored 99th %-ile on the National Medical Boards and the American Board of Surgery In-training exam, reasoned from first principles and figured out everything months before the people who waited for data to come in.

It is a competitive world out there.

Expand full comment
292 more comments...

No posts