By David Blyweiss, M.D., Advanced Natural Wellness

January 13, 2021

If you’ve watched the news lately, then you know the new COVID-19 vaccine is finally here.

Are you going to take it?

Recently, I’ve had people ask me whether or not they should.  My answer is… it depends.

For some groups of people, it makes perfect sense to take the new COVID vaccine.  Others might want to consider carefully whether it’s worth the risk.  Because there is some small risk.

Normally, when anything comes out on the drug market, I let things run their course for the first two or three years.  I wait for there to be a follow up study with a large number of people to watch for any issues.

Then, after one or two million people have had success with the drug, I’ll decide the risk vs benefit of taking it myself.

In this particular case, the whole process has been accelerated.

It helps if you understand a little bit about how vaccines work.  Usually, a vaccine contains a form of the virus that has been weakened.  It’s not enough to get you sick, but it does train your body’s immune system so you are protected when the real thing comes around.

Any vaccine you’ve gotten over your lifetime — a flu vaccine, typhoid fever, polio, and others — worked this way.

With this coronavirus vaccine, the shot doesn’t contain a killed or weakened form of the virus.  Instead, it contains dead outer protein shells of the virus which cause you to get sick.

Your body’s immune system will be introduced to those famous coronavirus spike proteins so you can build immunity.  It will be trained how to deal with those spike proteins when the actual virus causes infection.

Because of the way this vaccine works, some people are going to have a reaction to it.^[1]  It will be worse for a few people and better for others.   Lots of folks will have no reaction at all.

After you have the vaccine, if the coronavirus infects you, your body will have a memory of how to fight it.  Your adaptive immune system will trigger and your body’s cavalry will come to kill the actual virus.

Now, the million dollar question…

Is the COVID Vaccine Safe or Not?

I can’t answer that.  Only God knows…

There hasn’t been enough time to do long term safety studies on this new vaccine.  There hasn’t been enough time to do multiple phase clinical trials over the course of years.  Instead, the entire vaccine was developed in a matter of months.

So, I can’t say whether it’s safe or not.  We can’t know that yet.  We also can’t ignore the horrible toll this disease has taken on our world’s population.  Back in April, one researcher predicted a worldwide case count of 20 million by year’s end.^[2]

At the time of this writing, the CDC is reporting over 325,000 deaths in the United States alone.^[3]

Should You Take the New COVID Vaccine?

First off, I don’t want you to think I’m antivax.  I’m definitely not against using vaccinations to protect your body from dangerous diseases.  I’ve had my own share of vaccinations over the years.

Years ago, when I was going to do stem cell work in the Congo, in Gabon, Africa, I had to get a whole cocktail of vaccinations all at once.  I think they gave us ten vaccinations all at once — yellow fever, typhoid, typhus, salmonella, you name it!

Lots of people got sick after their shots.  They had four or five days with a fever, joint pains, aching bodies and a general feeling of misery.

Personally, I didn’t have a big problem.  I was already doing enough with my own body by keeping my immune system strong, so I didn’t feel negative effects from the shots.

Now, when speaking of the COVID vaccine, it makes sense for some groups of people but not for others…

Some folks are already so at risk that it makes absolute sense for them to protect themselves with the vaccine.  These are people who are older in age or have lots of weight to lose.  They have heart disease or diabetes that has been plaguing them for years.

Other at risk groups include health care workers who are exposed daily to patients who are sick with COVID.  Nursing staff in retirement homes will want to protect themselves from the disease so they don’t unknowingly transfer it to highly at risk elderly people in their care.

But then, there are other groups who may want to think twice before taking the new COVID vaccine.  If you have autoimmune disease or if you are hypersensitive with many allergies you may want to wait.

Or, if you don’t take vaccines for religious reasons because you are a Jehovah’s Witness or a Christian Scientist, you likely won’t be getting the vaccine.

Then, think about your children or grandkids who are only 8, 10, or 12 years old.  They are otherwise very healthy kids who play outside and eat nutritious meals.  Do these kids really need to risk a new vaccine?

My best personal medical advice is this… If you came to me and said, “Hi, I’m 78 with high blood pressure, multiple heart attacks and diabetes.  I’m not willing to sit in my house anymore.”

I would say, “Yes, of course.  Go get the vaccine.”

Natural Ways to Boost Your Immunity

Overall, it’s going to take a couple of years for this disease to cycle into the population as a seasonal thing.  At that point, we may be recommending at risk groups like the elderly get their seasonal vaccine just like we do with the flu.

Right now, COVID is much more dangerous than the flu.  Still, the seasonal flu kills up to 650,000 people worldwide each year — most of whom are over the age of 65.^[4]

There are some ways you can protect yourself from COVID naturally.  I recommend you take your daily vitamins to keep your immune system strong.  Take vitamin C, vitamin A, vitamin D3, zinc, silver, and selenium.

High doses of vitamin C have had a positive effect on treating this disease.^[5] There was one study in China where megadoses of vitamin C successfully cured 50 moderate to severe cases of COVID-19.  Each patient received between 10 to 20g per day over the course of 8 to 10 hours.^[6]

Then, eating gut-healthy foods is another great way to keep your immune system strong.^[7]  Probiotics can be a great way to support a healthy gut so you can lessen the severity of a viral infection.

Honey and garlic are also great foods to add to your daily routine.  Honey has antioxidant properties and antimicrobial effects.  Garlic can strengthen your immunity and help you recover from sickness faster.^[8]

As for me, I won’t be needing to take the vaccine.

That’s because I actually already had COVID, so my body should have some natural immunity at this point. I was able to knock the sickness into about two days because I knew exactly what to do to get better.

(Call those the benefits of being a doc.)

My body was already primed for the fight because I keep my immune system strong with the natural remedies listed above.  I recommend you do the same.

Sources:

^[1] Wall Street Journal: Covid-19 vaccine trial volunteers note occasional harsh side effects. Available Online: https://www.wsj.com/articles/covid-19-vaccine-trial-volunteers-note-occasional-harsh-side-effects-11608114601

^[2] Walker PGT, Whittaker C, Watson O, et al.  The global impact of COVID-19 and strategies for mitigation and suppression. London, UK: Imperial College London, 2020. https://doi.org/10.25561/77735. Accessed 1 April 2020.

^[3] CDC: Provisional Death Counts for Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19). Available Online: https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/nvss/vsrr/covid19/index.htm

^[4] WHO. (2020). Seasonal Influenza, http://www.euro.who.int/en/health-topics/communicable-diseases/influenza/seasonal-influenza, accessed Apr. 17, 2020.

^[5] Cheng, Richard Z. “Can early and high intravenous dose of vitamin C prevent and treat coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19)?.” Medicine in drug discovery vol. 5 (2020): 100028. doi:10.1016/j.medidd.2020.100028

^[6] Shanghai Expert Panel, cited on Mar 23 2020. http://mp.weixin.qq.com/s?__biz=MzA3Nzk5Mzc5MQ==&mid=2653620168&idx=1&sn=2352823b79a3cc42e48229a0c38f65e0&chksm=84962598b3e1ac8effb763e3ddb4858435dc7aa947a8f41790e8df2bca34c20e6ffea64cd191#rd

^[7] 2014, May 15). The Importance of Microbial Diversity in Gut Health and Disease). Retrieved from http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2014/05/15/microbial-diversity-gut-flora.aspx

^[8] Gebreyohannes, Gebreselema and Gebreyohannes, Mebrahtu, “Medicinal values of garlic: A review,” International Journal of Medicine and Medical Sciences, Vol.5(0), pp 401-408, Sept 2013.