Dammit!

[harm_less]

Why then does the COVID vaccine website input field have a "Member of the public" option? This is about collection of public health data and by allowing the general public to report suspected adverse reactions the MoH are casting as wide a net as possible to gather this data. Note also that the Medsafe adverse reactions data includes the following:

"An AEFI is an untoward medical event which follows immunisation and does not necessarily have a causal relationship with the administration of the vaccine. The adverse event may be an unfavourable or unintended sign, abnormal laboratory finding, symptom or disease."

By allowing patients who know their own health anomalies better than all too frequent dismissive health 'professionals', especially as GPs are being brow beaten into following the 'accentuate the positive' narrative in regard to vaccine implementation. Keep in mind also that the COVID vaccines have been released with limited historical research data and the feedback from those having them administered are a valuable part of the ongoing research being undertaken in the development of these vaccines.

How many people know enough about medicine, or even their own health, to know when something is an anomaly? I would guess that no action is taken on any self report, until professionals have evaluated it. How often does that happen?

Got to filter out all those pesky hypochondriacs eh? What about the patient who has CFS/ME, ongoing gut disbiosis causing food intolerances, lymphatic discomfort, recurring low level infections, all of which a 15 minute, pay at the counter GP visit will likely dismiss as psychosomatic or "come back if it gets worse".

Recent health issues have taught me not to put blind faith in health professionals. They are all too inclined to diagnose based on blood tests, pharmaceutical solutions and cherry picking the information they can glean from you while both you and them are painfully aware of the meter running.

Jesse Mulligan (on Radio NZ) recently recounted his reluctant doctor's visit for a collection of vague symptoms. Diagnosis: Shingles (subsequent to a COVID vaccination). Doctor's action: won't be related to the vaccination so won't report it. That attitude from our health professionals is all too common and good reason to override their actions if you see fit.

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Any survey that relies on voluntary contributions has a very unstable basis that simply cannot be relied upon.

It is one of the inherent weaknesses in democracy.

Doctors can't necessarily be relied on either so where does that put us?

And that weakness in democracy is what stops us being in a dictatorship.