LIST: COVID Myths Debunked by John Hopkins Doctor

John Hopkins University professor and surgeon Marty Makary wrote this op-ed: 10 myths told by COVID experts — and now debunked (2/27/2023) We added links to studies and videos to some of the myths.

NATURAL IMMUNITY MYTH: Natural immunity offers little protection compared to vaccinated immunity FACT: A Lancet review of 65 major studies in 19 countries found: Natural immunity [prior COVID infection] was at least or more effective than 2 vaccine doses.

MASKS MYTH: Masks prevent COVID transmission FACT: Cochran review of 78 randomized studies found: Wearing a mask may make little to no difference in how many people caught a flu-like illness/COVID-like illness. Link to the study and summary: Masks Don’t Stop COVID Spread: Study of 78 Randomized Controlled Trials. Randomized studies is “the greatest strength of the review! Randomized studies are considered the gold standard of medical evidence,” wrote Dr. Makary. “We had a Cochrane Review – that is the ultimate authority of high evidence in medicine. They reviewed all the studies, they found it had no impact on transmission probably because it’s so highly contagious and, when you have a mask on, the size of the virus is smaller than the size of the mask, and you breathe around the mask, so the virus is inevitable regardless,” Dr. Makary told Brian Kilmeade.

MYOCARDITIS MYTH: Myocarditis from the vaccine is less common than from the infection FACT: From JAMA Cardiology study: “[M]yocarditis [inflammation of the heart muscle] is six to 28 times more common after the COVID vaccine than after the infection among 16- to 24-year-old males,” wrote Dr. Makary. Dr. Makary retweeted details provided by epidemiologist Tracy Høeg re: JAMA study: This is the Nordic @JAMACardio study & my calculation👇he was referring to that @MartyMakary shared. It was for the pfizer moderna combo in 16-24 yo males (all details are in the quoted thread including calculations for girls)https://t.co/CfwML8aBOe — Tracy Høeg, MD, PhD (@TracyBethHoeg) February 18, 2023 This is the Nordic @JAMACardio study & my calculation👇he was referring to that @MartyMakary shared. It was for the pfizer moderna combo in 16-24 yo males (all details are in the quoted thread including calculations for girls) JAMA Study: SARS-CoV-2 Vaccination and Myocarditis in a Nordic Cohort Study of 23 Million Residents (4/20/2022)

COVID CAME FROM CHINA’S WUHAN LAB MYTH: COVID originating from the Wuhan lab is a conspiracy theory FACTS: – Dr. Makary tweeted: In Jan 2020, Top U.S. virologists Drs. Farzan and Geary told Drs. Fauci & Collins that they believed Covid came from a lab leak, documented in this EXCELLENT @BretBaier investigation: https://t.co/G2eNvi0Eta Embarrassing how Fauci & Collins worked around the Obama-instituted… https://t.co/zrcOwcTFha — Marty Makary MD, MPH (@MartyMakary) March 1, 2023 In Jan 2020, Top U.S. virologists Drs. Farzan and Geary told Drs. Fauci & Collins that they believed Covid came from a lab leak, documented in this EXCELLENT @BretBaier investigation: https://foxnews.com/video/6293658048001 Embarrassing how Fauci & Collins worked around the Obama-instituted moratorium on funding gain-of-function research. China had a lab leak in 1977 that resulted in many lives lost from an influenza virus. Why did anyone think it couldn’t happen again? Two Leading Virologists Appear to Have Been Bought off to Shut Up About Lab Leak Theory Dr. @MartyMakary: “Two leading virologists … told Dr. Fauci on his emergency call in January of 2020 when he was scrambling soon after learning that the NIH was funding the lab. They both said that it was likely from the lab. Both scientists changed their tunes days later in the media. And then both scientists received $9 million subsequent in funding from the NIH.” – Watch: Fox News’ Bret Baier investigation: COVID Origins Timeline (1/25/2022) According to the timeline of events laid out by Baier, Fauci was told on January 27, 2020 that his NIAID had been indirectly funding the Wuhan lab through EcoHealth– a US-based scientific non-profit that had been working with novel coronaviruses. On January 31, Dr. Kristian Andersen, a noted virologist at the Scripps Lab, privately told Fauci that after discussion with his colleagues some of COVID-19’s features look possibly engineered and the “genome is inconsistent with expectations from evolutionary theory.” Andersen added that the situation needed to be looked at more closely, at which point Fauci organized an all hands on deck conference call with colleagues where he was told that risky experiments with the novel coronavirus may not have gone through proper biosafety review and oversight. – WSJ: COVID Came from Lab Leak in Wuhan (China) Says Energy Dept.

Dr. Makary also debunks these myths/lies: – School closures reduce COVID transmission – Young people benefit from a vaccine booster – Vaccine mandates increased vaccination rates – It was important to get the second vaccine dose 3 or 4 weeks after the first dose – Data on the bivalent vaccine is ‘crystal clear’ – One in five people get long COVID Read the full article here.

SOURCES – Dr. Makary’s op-ed on the New York Post (2/27/2023): 10 myths told by COVID experts — and now debunked – Dr. Makary with Tucker Carlson (2/28/2022): Video: ‘The data has caught up with all of the COVID lies: Dr. Marty Makary’ – Dr. Makary with Brian Kilmeade (3/1/2023): Video | Report: Dr. Makary debunks 5 popular COVID myths: Fauci, CDC ‘were wrong on so many things’