Have Covid vaccines released 'The Kraken'?
'I told you so' - Geert Vanden Bossche
No, it’s not a scary movie, it’s yet another Covid variant. The Daily Mail reports that new variant XBB.1.5, dubbed ‘The Kraken’ (by who? seriously), is in town and it’s transmissible as hell.
The Kraken has ripped through the US, where it is now responsible for 70% of infections, and has landed on Australian soil. This is apparently breaking news.
Of interest is this section in the article, emphasis mine:
“XBB.1.5 has gained 14 new mutations to the virus' spike proteins compared with its ancestor strains, which appear to have given it enhanced antibody-resistance.
This means people who are vaccinated or have had a previous infection are more susceptible to an infection - though not necessarily severe illness…
…Some lab tests have indicated it can better evade jab-induced immunity, although the jury is still out in the real world.”
It is believed that the F486P mutation facilitates The Kraken’s ability to bind to cells while evading immunity, thereby driving its high transmissibility.
The ring in Expert assures readers, that, “our vaccines probably do protect against it.”
Probably? Are they sure?
Here is a great place to segue to a Wall Street Journal article from several days ago, in which the author asks, Are Vaccines Fueling New Covid Variants?
The author notes that XBB’s mutations enable it to evade antibodies from prior infection and vaccines (as well as existing monoclonal antibody treatments). Mounting evidence also suggests that repeated vaccinations may make people more susceptible to XBB and could be fueling the virus’s rapid evolution.
Immune imprinting
Multiple studies now show that the theory of immune imprinting (whereby repeated vaccination in the midst of a pandemic against earlier strains, and particularly the Wuhan strain, renders the immune response less effective with each subsequent dose) is borne out in the observational, real world data. See papers referenced in the WSJ article here, here and here. The evidence of immune imprinting, taken with the marginal likelihood that bivalent boosters will provide protection against XBB, leads the author to suggest that Experts’ claims that boosters can improve protection against XBB variants are, in fact, “disinformation.”
Increased infection rate
The author then moves on the rather stunning Cleveland Clinic study,1 which found that, not only did the bivalent booster only provide only 30% protection at the peak of the BA.5 variant (the WHO stipulates a minimum efficacy rate of 50% as benchmark for Emergency Use Listing), but that risk of infection increased with additional doses of Covid vaccination.
Here is the picture of what that looks like:
The author concludes with the observation that XBB is surging in highly vaccinated regions such as Singapore and Northeast America.
Immune tolerance
Further to the WSJ piece is another recently published 'IgG4' paper2 in which the authors find that, in those vaccinated with Pfizer mRNA, the immune response against the Spike shifts increasingly to IgG4 over repeated vaccinations and infections subsequent to vaccination. This signals immune tolerance, meaning that the body makes relatively more of a class of antibody that tolerates the virus, displacing antibodies that attack the virus more aggressively and clear it from your system. The change could heighten the risk of Covid infection and could mean that people who are infected suffer longer and more serious cases.
Immune suppression
There is also the ‘PD-L1 paper’,3 which demonstrated a significant rise in PD-L1 expression in peripheral granulocytes and monocytes of vaccinated individuals as compared to unvaccinated counterparts. The authors note that this may correlate with some vaccination side-effects. Arkmedic notes the potential of elevated PD-L1 to lead to immune suppression in general but also, disturbingly, with specific reference to the body’s ability to recognise and destroy cancer cells.
These papers are but several demonstrating real world observations of association between repeated Covid vaccinations with immune imprinting, immune tolerance, increased infection rates, and immune suppression.
Geert Vanden Bossche told us so
It must be frightening, yet gratifying, for Geert Vanden Bossche (GVB, virologist and ex-GAVI program manager) to read these studies. GVB has been warning us about the risk of Covid vaccines driving immunity-evading variants and immune suppression for two years.4 GVB made multiple public calls to the WHO to stop vaccinating, which were ignored. He was ritually ‘debunked’ and professionally tarred as sacrifice for the sin of questioning the sacred vaccination program, as the religion of Scientism demands.
GVB is not the only one to draw these links and call for the halting of the vaccination program, but I highlight his case because he was one of the earliest to identify the problem and articulate it clearly, and he has been consistent over time on this. Click through below to hear a recent half hour explainer from GVB on what is unfolding and why.
Stay with me for one last segue. Casting back to the stunningly bad outcomes for the boosted in NSW Health data, is it possible that any of the above might provide explanation?
I floated this idea in a post on NSW data from earlier this year:
In that article, I considered El Gato’s thought experiment, ‘can covid vaccines cause more covid deaths while looking like they prevent them?’.
Working off the assumption that multiple doses of Covid vaccination increases one’s risk of infection5, El Gato makes a case for worse death outcomes for the vaccinated, even if the vaccines are 'effective' in other regards. I think a similar thought experiment for severe Covid could offer partial explanation for the NSW Health data. Same goes for high reporting rates of Long Covid symptoms in the highly vaccinated.
On first take, ‘The Kraken’ is a stupid made up name to usher in the fourth year of the Covid fear campaign in typically over the top style. But on further thought, The Kraken may well be the proof we have been waiting for (but hoped would never come) that Geert Vanden Bossche was right. Vaccines are driving immune-escaping variants and are causing immune imprinting and immune suppression. What are The Experts going to do about it?
Arkmedic’s explainer covers the PD-L1 paper, the IgG4 paper, and the Cleveland paper:
An assumption for which there is now a fair amount of evidence, some of which is listed in this post, and some in this article. El Gato also references his own UK data analysis in support of this assumption.
So the first time I read an article about the name of this new variant, I must not have been paying close attention, as I read "Karen" instead of "Kraken"... and now I can't think of it as anything else LOL.
Great article as always, thanks for all you do :-)
"This means people who are vaccinated or have had a previous infection are more susceptible to an infection"
I call BS on the "had a previous infection" bit. They're still trying to pretend that ADE isn't a thing.