The Scottish government will no longer release weekly data on COVID cases beginning this week over concerns that it is being misinterpreted by anti-vaxxers. Public Health Scotland (PHS) will no longer publish COVID data, alleging that anti-vaxxers misinterpret it.
According to The Herald Scotland, the decision by the Scottish government came after a former Trump administration advisor testified during a U.S. Senate committee hearing that Scotland "demonstrates conclusively that the vaccine is driving massive infections in the vaccinated."
Epidemiologist and Canadian health researcher Paul E. Alexander, who previously served under the Trump administration, advocated for the mass infection of COVID to build herd immunity.
Alexander pointed to a table published by PHS that he called a "big, big problem" during an evidence session chaired by Senator Ron Johnson on January 17. The table showed that by the week beginning January 22, the COVID case rate per 100,000 people in Scotland was at 381.5 among the unvaccinated compared to 570 among those who received two shots of the COVID vaccine, and 447 per 100,000 people among those who got a third shot.
The table showed how it was the first time the COVID case rate among those who received a third or booster shot had overtaken the rate of the unvaccinated. It also showed that the case rate among those who received two shots of the COVID vaccine exceeded that of the unvaccinated group in December, during the spread of the Omicron variant.
Similar patterns have been observed in England and Ontario, Canada. PHS officials claim that their data was misunderstood.
Beginning next week, PHS will publish COVID data quarterly instead of weekly and will instead publish information on vaccine efficacy against infection based on trials and real-world studies. PHS officials claim that it will fuel a "cover-up" by vaccine skeptics as "anti-vaxxers" misinterpret the data.
A PHS spokesman remarked that the "main important point around all of the analysis is we understand whether the vaccines are working against catching it and against getting severe COVID, and that's where the vaccine effectiveness studies come in, which are a completely different methodology."
But COVID vaccine critics including investigative reporter Daniel Horowitz continue to contest that the reason why the Scottish government is hiding COVID data is because it goes against the government's "narrative," WND reported.
He cited "confounding factors," which he says "actually cut both ways." He pointed out however, that "these are age-stratified adjusted case rates per 100,000 and are completely fair game to use."
Horowitz concluded, "No vaccine that is anywhere near as effective as they make it out to be should be netting these results." He also underscored how in the latest chart, data showed a lower rate of infection among those unvaccinated people. The investigative journalist also pointed out how in the past two weeks, PHS has been placing disclaimers at the bottom of the charts.
Horowitz argued however that the charts only show what is also being observed all over the world, "namely, that the second shot has gone negative a long time ago and the third shot is gradually following in the same direction."
