The peer-reviewed study “Facemasks in the COVID-19 era: A health hypothesis” by Dr Baruch Vainshelboim has been retracted by the journal Medical Hypotheses on the instruction of the Editor-in-Chief.
The study argues that neither medical nor non-medical facemasks are effective in blocking transmission of viral and infectious disease such as SARS-CoV-2, and that in the long run they are likely to damage individual health.
The retraction notice reads:
This article has been retracted at the request of the Editor-in-Chief.
Medical Hypotheses serves as a forum for innovative and often disruptive ideas in medicine and related biomedical sciences. However, our strict editorial policy is that we do not publish misleading or inaccurate citations to advance any hypotheses.
The Editorial Committee concluded that the author’s hypothesis is misleading on the following basis:
1. A broader review of existing scientific evidence clearly shows that approved masks with correct certification, and worn in compliance with guidelines, are an effective prevention of COVID-19 transmission.
2. The manuscript misquotes and selectively cites published papers. References #16, 17, 25 and 26 are all misquoted.
3. Table 1. Physiological and Psychological Effects of Wearing Facemask and Their Potential Health Consequences, generated by the author. All data in the table is unverified, and there are several speculative statements.
4. The author submitted that he is currently affiliated to Stanford University, and VA Palo Alto Health Care System. However, both institutions have confirmed that Dr Vainshelboim ended his connection with them in 2016.
A subsequent internal investigation by the Editor-in-Chief and the Publisher have determined that this article was externally peer reviewed but not with our customary standards of rigour prior to publication. The journal has re-designed its editorial and review workflow to ensure that this will not happen again in future.
If there are errors in the paper, the question is why these were not picked up and addressed with the author prior to publication in the usual manner. If some were missed and subsequently came to light, the journal could have asked for revisions to the paper to address the criticisms. That it chose to retract it completely suggests the move is political (though the allegations of dishonesty in affiliations may have played a part). There is no indication in the notice of any correspondence with the author in the matter.
The strangest criticism is the first: “A broader review of existing scientific evidence clearly shows that approved masks with correct certification, and worn in compliance with guidelines, are an effective prevention of COVID-19 transmission.” This is just a restatement, without references, of mask orthodoxy. Given that Dr Vainshelboim had provided a wide range of references in his review of the evidence, a rebuttal should surely have come in the form of a similar rigorous academic exercise, marshalling further evidence, not a bald 28-word sentence about what the evidence “clearly shows”. This is not the way robust academic research happens or science advances. The editors could have published a response, or another study drawing on further evidence that comes to a different conclusion. That they instead retract the article on account of criticisms from unnamed correspondents, drawing on unspecified evidence, is a disgraceful way to treat peer-reviewed scientific research and the scientists who produce it.
What exactly is this uncited evidence that “clearly shows” masks reduce transmission? Certainly not the only randomised controlled trial, Danmask-19, which found no significant protection for the wearers of surgical masks. And certainly not the real-world evidence comparing countries or states with mask mandates to those without.
Last week I noted a peer-reviewed study that claimed surgical masks filter out 95-99% of aerosol droplets. Yet the two papers it cited to back up this claim said nothing of the sort, with one concluding: “None of these surgical masks exhibited adequate filter performance and facial fit characteristics to be considered respiratory protection devices.” Perhaps this paper should be retracted as well for misquoting the studies it cites?
What about SAGE? What evidence do they draw on in their advice to the Government which underpins the UK mask mandates, including in schools?
It is a little known fact that SAGE admitted in January that masks give no protection to the wearer. As for protecting others, they cite a study which suggests masks prevent 6-15% of transmission. That’s all – a marginal amount. And that’s the official “Science” from the Government’s own advisers. A sceptical take would look at the real-world evidence from winter surges despite mask mandates and suspect that even 6% was too high.
One independent researcher wrote about SAGE’s evidence previously for Lockdown Sceptics:
SAGE released a document in January prepared by a sub-committee, which it endorsed, saying that masks were primarily a source control (cloth and surgical masks are thought to offer the wearer little protection) and citing an estimate for their typical impact on transmission of 6-15% (possibly as high as 45%).
That document says in relation to source control: “Analysis of regional level data in several countries suggest this impact is typically around 6-15% (Cowling and Leung, 2020, Public Health England 2021) but could be as high as 45% (Mitze et al., 2020).”
A 6-15% reduction seems to be a lot lower than NERVTAG, SAGE and the Government have previously suggested – barely relevant. Moreover, the Cowling & Leung paper says: “While most research on face masks has involved surgical type face masks, it should be presumed that reusable cloth masks could provide similar benefits if they have a sufficient number of layers and preferably a filter.” So the 6-15% estimate seems to be for surgical masks. Cloth masks in reality usually have few layers (maybe only one) and no filter. So their effect is likely smaller still.
The Cowling & Leung paper is here. It is an editorial not a research paper in its own right.
The 6-15% estimate actually comes from a December 2020 review paper by Brainard et al.
They say: “Conclusion: Wearing face masks may reduce primary respiratory infection risk, probably by 6-15%. It is important to balance evidence from RCTs and observational studies when their conclusions widely differ and both are at risk of significant bias. COVID-19-specific studies are required.” They also say “The environmental and economic costs of regularly using face masks are notable, and only partly abated by reuse.”
Not exactly strong support for wearing masks!
If there is evidence which “clearly shows” masks work then perhaps the Editor-in-Chief of Medical Hypotheses would be kind enough to publish a review of it, in the traditional fashion, so we can all benefit from it. While he’s at it, he might let SAGE have a copy, as they seem not to be aware of it either. But could that be because it doesn’t exist?
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More lies, more psychological warfare
So a lockdown Christmas is a certainty. Lying bastard.
Only if you want a lockdown or up or any other way
Vaxxports macht frei.
what would be the point though no one wants it and they cant justify it …. wont happen
Oh Dijas, why greet us with a kiss?
Do you notice how these smug evil criminals always have a particular kind of smirk? You could call it ‘dupers delight’. They are openly mocking you and I, and they think they are oh so superior. But they are not and there is a reckoning coming.
I will not be taking any booster jab, nor will I abide by any unlawful lockdown (house arrest) restrictions. So get lost Javid.
“So? How about you show a Government Minister some respect . . .”.
Hiw about we shoe him something that isn’t respect? I think it’s called ‘mooning’ in polite society.
I like to think of it as a guilty grimace.
In general you wait until the first official denial.
As this is now the third official denial (I think) I’d imagine we’ll get plan B coming along before Christmas.
They’re doing it so they can later claim that they did everything they possibly could, but it’s all because of those dirty, diseased, anti-vaxxer cockroaches. And then people in the year 2100 will sit and wonder how could such evil be allowed to rise to power and abuse human rights so blatantly, all as they’re voting a new tyrant into power because the other guy is a bit mean.
This is consistent with Kim Jong Johnson not ruling out lockdown.
These bastards are evil.
Yes but the rest of us ARE ruling out voting Tory in the next election .I think they might have a little think about things
Oh, and who to vote for?
Still… they’ve got away with it for months on end, and they are still getting away with it.
Yes, thanks to the opposition in parliament being non-existent.
Evil bald headed little c*nt who told a double-jabbed Pfizer f*ckwit to “show some respect to the NHS” after the double-jabbed f*ckwit was complaining about getting (another mRNA) Moderna instead of Pfizer for his booster. Mad c*nts deserve each other!
So successful that “cases” are higher in the spiked than the unspiked…
Indeed. The “cases” are predominantly in those who have been double injected.
I spoke with a nurse yesterday. She’s had two injections (not happy) but she’s a single parent and she was adamant not having a “booster.”
A nine year old daughter:
“No duckin way are they injecting her.”
I hope that she hasn’t read the Sunday Times main editorial today, whose title “Keep jabbing and Britain can reap the rewards of its success” may perhaps give a clue to its hysterical, “jab” advertorial content and slavish admiration of Javid. The Letters page is equally off-putting.
The Times is always one of the worst pushers of establishment Covidian propaganda – only surpassed by the BBC and the Guardian.
That’s why I unsubscribed from them, ST, and DT over a year ago after years of ‘keeping me abreast’. They lost any idea of what journalism is about. They aren’t interested in keeping their readers….informed, only in pandering to the diktats laid down by their paymasters and by parroting the official narrative. Pointless read unless you are in their particular echo chamber.
More “correlation coopted to causation”- the cases were going down before boosters were initiated.
There’s a lampost reserved for Jabbit
We will need a lot of lamp posts.
It’s the only way these lying, treasonous, murdering, bastards will ‘see the light!‘
Indeed it is.
We have plenty. Failing that there are a lot of gargoyles around the house of parliament…and the scaffolding.
NB. For those who don’t remember, “parliament ” used to be where our democracy was practiced before the single cabinet state.
A gibbet for Jabbit?
https://members.parliament.uk/member/3945/contact
Perhaps a tree branch instead to keep all those climate fanatics happy?
https://members.parliament.uk/member/3945/contact
I am calling on all parents to consider this call to action. We have to draw a line in the sand. We have to do something about this tyranny, but we have to do it peacefully.
ALL AWAKE PARENTS SHOULD REMOVE THEIR CHILDREN FROM SCHOOLS IMMEDIATELY.
I honestly cannot understand why anyone would send them there in these circumstances, but surely now that they are actually murdering kids under the guise of a health emergency which is clearly fraudulent, it is time to remove from harm. By sending your kids to school, you are putting them in harms way. You are allowing these disgusting entities, to influence and shape YOUR children. Why would you want to do that. Why would you want to send your kids to school to be masked and gagged, to the detriment of their health. Why would you send them to a place where they are literally murdering kids and setting them up for a lifetime of illness and disease and boosters forever.
GET YOUR KIDS OUT OF SCHOOL NOW.
DONE RIGHT, THIS HAS THE POTENTIAL TO MAKE WAVES AND SEND A CLEAR MESSAGE TO THESE CRIMINALS – WE DONT SEND CHILDREN TO PLACES WHERE THEY KILL CHILDREN.
Or just keep them off on the day of the jabs.
Why not name and shame the ‘school nurses’ (from a private company) who are doing the jabbing? Does no-one know who they are?
The evil savage cabbage head opens his nasty little Goldman Sachs trained lying flaphole and treats the people like a bunch of mugs.
Hell is too good a place for this slab of flesh.
The real power behind the thrones of western politicians and their lockstep lockdown responses to covid? Naturally their investment portfolio includes shares in the ‘vaccine’ manufacturers.
https://hannenabintuherland.com/news/blackrock-unregulated-investment-firm-now-rules-the-world/?utm_source=mailpoet&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=herland-report-independent-cultural-analysis-week-46-2019_70
Coercion and Bullying is illegal, Gov.UK.
Illegal means nothing to these creatures. The law no longer applies other than in their interpretation of it and the judiciary simply rules in their favour every time with the odd exception (for show) before being overruled.
Can we go the Singapore route, that is, unjabbed have to pay for covid treatment? And of course, allow the unjabbed to chose their treatment freely.
That really tests all hypotheses.
It verifies whether those of us who think the jabs are worthless really believe it.
It verifies whether those of us who think ivermectin and hydroxychloroquine are effective treatments really believe it, because they are very cheap.
It also verifies whether the government really believes the jabs help because if they do there will be no danger of the NHS being overwhelmed.
It really is the best solution. We all get our freedom back to chose how to live our lives and the government doesn’t have to fight a bunch of “anti-vaxxers” to save the NHS.
I’ll go along with that if people who’s body mass index is above average pay for any treatment that is at all attributible to weight, if people who consue more alcohol than the recommended weekly allowance have to pay for any treatment related to alcohol, if people who are injured in sports also have to pay for treatment, if anyone who refuses to exercise pays for treatment related to lack of exercise, the list could go on and on.
anybody that doesn’t eat 5 lots of vegetables a day to be denied medical treatment
the government could make a ‘vegpass’ app where we upload photos of our dinners each day
Does 5 portions of chips count?
yes the potato is a vegatable of course fine
As is the consumer.
Dont joke son
Joke about vegetables removed.
I am 100% with you.
The problem we have created is that the NHS has been presented to us as free medical service. What we really pay for though is medical insurance. A state-mandated medical insurance plan.
But it’s a disaster because it doesn’t put any limits on people. I am absolutely in favour of our government medical insurance limiting coverage under certain conditions – like for example obesity would limit certain types of treatment required as a result of the obesity. Or over-drinking. Or indeed risky sports. Or you have to pay a higher premium in those cases.
If in addition you allow people to opt out and purchase a different type of insurance, that would generate competition. And then we would really see whether covid jabs help or not as the insurance company would have to take the actual facts into consideration, not the propaganda of whether they work or not.
We currently have an unaffordable, unsustainable medical service that is only going to be more overwhelmed as the population ages. Let’s start demanding personal responsibility from each other.
And then we would really see whether covid jabs help or not as the insurance company would have to take the actual facts into consideration, not the propaganda of whether they work or not.
How’s that working in other countries that have gone down the insurance route? We already know the jabs are dangerous and have negative impact on Covid, whatever it is. Insurance companies are part of the ruling cabal and they will be of no help in fighting this dirty business.
Even payment of a nominal amount for each visit is a deterrent. Some years back, son’s Irish girlfriend hada contact lens move from the front of the eye and she at first refused to go to A&E thinking she would have to cough up 30 Euros (she was a student) and would put up with the discomfort until it sorted itself out. She agreed to go when she knew it was free.
yes but i would have to pay for the headache tablets for the migraine caused by listening to all the superior shits in creation who dont smoke ,drink,over eat etc and that woud seem unfair
On the other hand, these fatties and tobacco-addicts and piss-artists have paid through taxes for the roads you drive on. If you drove only along the length of road you’ve paid for, would you even make it to the shops?
Same with railways – everyone else has contributed to the train you sit on.
We live in a complex society.
And talk about living ‘off-grid’ is a nonsense.
I’ll have a course of ivermectin tablets, please … that wd probably cost the NHS 70p-£1. Early treatment appears essential though otherwise you might also need other (also cheap) drugs.
Decades ago the NHS was going on endlessly about the need for doctors to prescribe cheap generic drugs when possible to save money. Funny how that got reversed.
*
I watched this doctor analysing patients’ blood before and after
https://www.bitchute.com/video/NmhFesU2aPue/
Shows the depression in a person’s immune system.
I assume this is the phenomenan making people more susceptible to viruses for 2-3 weeks, after which they may or may not get 2-3 months of elevated immunity.
On top of which the non-injected would qualify for tax refunds. And could elect to be treated by injection free individuals.
There is merit in the suggestion
Introduce choice and market discipline? Sounds great to me.
Another classic unworkable idea from those in charge .I love em
BIG FUCK UP CANT SAY SORRY SO JUST KEEP THIS SHIT UP No more no less
Uncle Fester can go fπck himself!
Slum landlord
Pacing and leading.
Jabid is positioning himself as the voice of liberalism. He’s against restrictions, he wants to gift us some freedoms back that were stolen by the Chinese virus, and the unvaxxed.
Follow me, he cries, just get a few more jabs, and I’ll lead you to liberty.
Then he’ll turn around and say “Ackchyually, followers, I’ve been thinking about it, and…”
Meanwhile he sacks pureblood care home workers, and is preparing to sack NHS purebloods.
His words are meaningless. Only actions matter.
Fcuk off Jabber
Sajid and pals
No, the Government is not complacent. It’s following Agenda 30.
“What has made a real difference here in the UK is our booster programme, our hugely successful booster programme.”
What has made a real difference here in the UK is our general administrative incompetence, combined with a large part of the populations liberal instincts and behaviour and their common sense, aka not giving a fig about ‘the rules’.
This has led to us being able to let the virus do its work in the beginning, let the young catch it in the summer and thereby build up long lasting natural immunity and avoid OAS in the majoriry of our people, cushioning the effects of the against Covid19 useless, SARS-Cov2 proliferating and otherwise sickening vaccines and boosters, which we peddled and continue to peddle for no discernible and defensible reason.
To be treated with caution but interesting – Alex Berenson saying all cause death rate is more than double in England for the vaccinated over 6 months.
https://alexberenson.substack.com/p/vaccinated-english-adults-under-60
perhaps WJ will take a look.
see great comments in other comments section earlier today, here…
https://dailysceptic.org/todays-update/#comment-640006
Also
https://stevekirsch.substack.com/p/new-study-from-germany-confirms-higher
Thinking of alternative Christmas song titles
Santa Covid’s coming to town
Last Christmas I gave you Covid
Just a COVID’s tale
covid this Christmas
im dreaming of a Covid Christmas
Merry Covid everyone
Devi Sridhar says the vaccines are 100% safe.
I know someone who claims 3 of their closest friends – in their 40s – died of covid in 2019
If you take my mum’s claims seriously, there is literally no-one alive in East Sussex
What a load of old bollocks.
Devi Sridhar is a sales person for the pharmaceutical industry and cannot be trusted – she is a dangerous individual
Sajid Javid said earlier today that he was called a P*ki when he was growing up (Britain has taken decades to get rid of ‘shade of skin’-ism and we are certainly not perfect now) – yet he is promoting discrimination against people who decline an unproven medical experimental drug.
Hypocrisy from members of government.
Well I never.
Well he is one!
I believe the Politically Correct term nowadays is ‘Parking Stanley’.
Ha, I’ll stick with using adjectives I understand to describe people. He’s a Paki.
That last paragraph of his is pure oily, sick-making putrescence and anyone who falls for it needs sectioning for their own sake and ours.
I was going to say it’s unbelievable that he, or a minion, could put that out, but then I realised it isn’t.
Are the boosters different to the jabs that are ‘waning’ (a.k.a. not working after a short period)? – NO
Will a booster produce a different result? – NO
Does a ‘fully jabbed (3 jabs so far and counting)’ person develop a long lasting immunity after vaccination – NO
Do the frail with weak immune systems generate a strong immune response from vaccination? – NO
Do any of the vaccines prevent infection? – NO
Are the fully vaccinated less likely to spread the virus? – NO [latest data from the CDC and US Prison service testing shows there is no difference between vaxed and unvaxed]
So, Javid, when are you going to justify your spurious claims that boosters will save Xmas?
I really think this this guy is very dangerous .As an inept ex banker he assumes total compliance to whatever his department say.
The government is probably closely watching events unfold in Europe where protests are not only growing but becoming more violent. Unfortunately its seems that this is only language politicians understand – when they themselves feel threatened then they finally listen and decide to do something.
I hope it never comes to violence and conflict like we saw in some eastern European countries and the fall of communist regimes … but there are times when you feel as if there is not going to be any other way.
Freedom is never voluntarily given by oppressors especially new tyrants addicted to their newfound powers … it is demanded and then if need be taken by the oppressed..
Won’t be long now? Plan “b” AKA agenda 2030
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10226551/Now-Germany-says-set-make-Covid-vaccinations-COMPULSORY-unavoidable-move.html
The idiots saying good don’t realise its setting a precedent.
What’s “making the difference” in Kenya, Nigeria and other African countries Mr Javed? Shouldn’t we be learning from them?
Can’t afford Pfizer poison?
Jabbit “get your boosters now or Santa won’t come”
Hang this Cunt!!!!
He needs to rule it out full stop. We are constantly looking over our shoulder waiting for them to implement it all. It’s coming… we all know that but when? It’s mental torture. Can you imagine what would happen if you treated your partner like this?
If he wants to see a duplicate of the unrest on the streets we see in other countries, he had better drop all these plans, permanently.
He also needs to understand that Pfizer have nothing in their plans or protocols for any boosters, none. They’re is no scientific support for them, and likely to (i) wane just as the double vax has, and (ii) end up killing many more people.
There is growing evidence that these mRNA non-vaccines are severely impairing the natural immune system, making those vaxed (let’s now call them victims) open to/prone to/unprotected against/causing all sorts of other conditions. In Canada, the all-cause death rate has just jumped by 600%!
For Now twat
why is it SAD to see cases rising .Did you ever think it was SAD when more and then more people got the flu in 2011 or something .Its just a constant hype How is being off work for a few days worthy of the term sad .The fact is any one who will die of Covid would also certainly die of the next virus ,bug,flu,cold,pneumonia that came along especially the 89 year old with COPD .These government people will NOT for some reason differentiate between cases and fuck all to worry about .Really what does 50000 cases a day really mean .?? 500000 dead,49576 recovered its just empty plastic language that only fuckwits cant interpret.This guy could be the fucking housing/education.agriculture /transport minister this time next year utterly pointless entity lining his own expensive pockets
I was quite hopeful the rubbish would end when Javid was made Health Secretary, I saw him as a strong/decent type who wouldn’t let that odious little rat and his cabal (Cummings) dictate policy when he was Chancellor.
But within weeks of getting the role it was like he had been brainwashed too into becoming one of these power hungry covid zealots we have in cabinet.
There is a pandemic alright, but it’s not a virus, it’s a pandemic of morons across the world running countries.
For all my faults, I couldn’t believe people were really thinking Javid was going to be some saviour.
Funny how the issue of Hancock giving contracts to the Italian slut’s brother has been hushed up. Never mind all the elderly people you killed, Matt, let’s have a grope. And in front of the camera. All staged to give Matt an excuse to slink off and to wheel the Rabid Jabber in.
This should not be a surprise, since the British are famous lovers of tradition. It all shows that the trust between the British and the government and all the traditional information sources are still strong , while the trust of most alternative sources of information is quite weak.
This also explains why the sceptics have struggled to land many hits against the establishment over the last two years.
What are the criteria for implementing Plan B? Is it if hospitalisations and/or deaths reach an as yet undisclosed threshold? Or maybe when ‘cases’ breach some unspecified level? Or if vaccinations fail to reach some arbitrary target? Or when Whitty and Valence re-emerge from wherever they are currently hidden to scare the shit out of us?
There is an ivermectin panic on the big tech and MSM right now. Massive articles from MSM on Ivermectin trying to push a danger narrative and also negative press on Americans Frontline Dr’s, again, to keep the Covid narrative alive. Just go to the Goog and type ivermectin then look at all the panic news articles. We are over the target. Big-Pharma is panicking. This medicine has been widely used by humans without any problems for 40 years. It’s inventor won a Nobel Prize after 20 years of successful use and after 100 million people were cured of a broad spectrum of problems without any side effects. Get your Ivermectin while you still can! https://ivmpharmacy.com
The virus is a wisp of DNA.
It does not love winter. It does not love or hate anybody or anything.
But by God, everything evil in the human(?) race loves the virus.
600,000 deaths per year approx, since covid began 1 million deaths, Covid, with/OF 142,000
Threats threats and more threats. Will they won’t they. As per SAGE scientists, exhaust them, break them down, then they will accept anything.
I emailed Javid with a polite request for justification for some of his key claims made in past months. No surprise – no response. I asked my MP to invite Javid to respond. No surprise – no response. By default, proving that on the balance of probabilities there is no evidence to prove any of the claims as being honest and grounded in medicine and science. In other words more of the Big Lie narrative
MPs generally tend to be very big on assertion and very light on evidence. Mine is the same. Even when I’ve provided real-world deployment evidence of the safety and overwhelming success of Ivermectin, it’s still “well, err, no data, no approved, mumble, mumble, excuse, excuse”, etc., all lies of course. My next letter to him is to inform him that Ivermectin is approved by the US NIH for treatment of covid-19, considering all these politicians are rabidly trying to avoid medicines, as they would destroy the vaccine narrative. The NIH page is here: https://www.covid19treatmentguidelines.nih.gov/tables/table-2e/ (below Remdesivir) and is quite recent, so not an artefact.
“Sajid Javid has said that the Government does not need to trigger ‘Plan B’, which would see the return of mask mandates and the introduction of vaccine passports for certain venues, …”
In Wales we never lost those mandates (Labour Welsh government) and look how well they brought down infections – not! Perhaps Javid has also noticed that it’s not made a damn difference in Wales (and Scotland), but then again…..
“Urged members of the public to take up the offer of a booster jab”
What an absolute Cxnt!
The Center for Disease Control (CDC) Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) Sept 2nd, 2021 about the risks non-jabbed pose to others, bearing in mind it is an accepted fact that the jabbed can and do spread it and can and do still get it!
Yet it is the naturally immune who are being locked away, sacked, and demonized!
OK so because there is no data doesn’t mean it’s never happened but NO RESEARCH into something as critical as this. Even the most fanatical COVIDIOT Jab zealot would have to wonder WTF is going on here?
Worth a look at this, it’s covered in the first few minutes.
https://www.bitchute.com/video/EhYBHZlIRyv2/