@Danil54grl I finally had a chance to watch the video by Dr. Ryan Cole.
First, I wanted to do some research about him - his career is pretty impressive.
Dr. Ryan Cole has worked around medicine for more than 30 years, according to a resume sent to commissioners in Idaho. He attended the U.S. Air Force Academy before graduating from Brigham Young University in 1993 with a bachelor’s degree in pre-medicine/zoology. He then attended medical school at Virginia Commonwealth University, where he graduated in 1997.
He also was a resident and then a fellow of surgical pathology at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota. His professional career has largely been spent in the Treasure Valley (Idaho). He worked at Saint Alphonsus Regional Medical Center before working as the CEO and medical director of Cole Diagnostics since 2004. He has also worked as a consultant at the Boise Veteran’s Affairs Hospital, a spokesperson for the College of American Pathologists and various other consulting positions.
He has a license to practice medicine in 11 states, according to his resume. He said he’s bilingual in English and Spanish.
Possible conflict of interest:
At the start of the pandemic, his lab ordered thousands of COVID-19 antibody tests, with the goal of seeing how widespread the virus was among those without any visible symptoms.
Some have raised concerns that he’s profiting from testing as he publicly encourages alternative treatments to the vaccine.
Here are some of my low level thoughts in response to his statements:
“Coronaviruses are seasonal. They follow a six-to-nine-month life cycle, and no matter what we do, they’re going to do what they do, and then they’re going to fade. What happened to SARS, what happened to MERS? What did we do to stop them? Nothing, they did their thing.”
Disease seasonality refers to when the number of infections rise at certain times of the year, but are low at other times, and when the pattern repeats itself every year. This pattern is observed in several infectious diseases, including some common coronaviruses, but Cole’s claim seemed to imply that “a six-to-nine-month life cycle” is a rule for all coronaviruses. This is contradicted by the fact that more than a year later, COVID-19 is still actively spreading in several parts of the world, including the US and European countries.
Edridge et al. (2020) Seasonal coronavirus protective immunity is short-lasting. Nature Medicine.
Monto et al. (2020) Coronavirus Occurrence and Transmission Over 8 Years in the HIVE Cohort of Households in Michigan. Journal of Infectious Disease.
It is inaccurate to cite SARS (severe acute respiratory syndrome) and MERS (Middle East respiratory syndrome) as examples of diseases caused by seasonal coronaviruses. Neither of these viruses exhibit seasonal activity. The first outbreak of SARS began in 2003, with a 2nd smaller outbreak occurring in 2004 after researchers studying the SARS coronavirus became infected by accident. No other cases of SARS were recorded after that. If SARS was a seasonal disease, as Cole claimed, new cases would be expected each year.
MERS was first reported in 2002- Researchers studying the pattern of MERS cases between 2015 and 2017 concluded that the disease doesn’t exhibit seasonality, at least in terms of primary infections.
Al-Tawfiq and Memish. (2019) Lack of seasonal variation of Middle East Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus (MERS-CoV). Travel Medicine and Infectious Disease.
It is also false to claim that nothing was done to stop SARS and MERS. Unlike COVID-19, no community spread of SARS took place in the U.S.. As such, the country didn’t experience widespread cases of SARS. According to the CDC, there were only eight cases of SARS-CoV-1 infection, all of which were linked to travel in areas where SARS was spreading. Given the fact that there was no community spread of SARS, no control measures were imposed on the general public.
This wasn’t the case for regions that saw SARS spread, including China, Singapore, and Hong Kong. All three countries implemented significant control measures to reduce the spread of SARS, such as temperature screenings, contact tracing, school closures, and implementing quarantines of contacts and suspected cases.
Ahmad et al. (2009) Controlling SARS: a review on China’s response compared with other SARS‐affected countries. Tropical Medicine and International Health.
As with SARS, the U.S. didn’t see widespread transmission of MERS. The CDC reported that only two people in the U.S. tested positive for MERS, both in 2014. The global spread of MERS, like SARS, was largely confined to a specific geographic region, namely the Arabian Peninsula. One exception is South Korea, which saw an outbreak in 2014 that was linked to one traveller who visited the Middle East. That outbreak was brought under control thanks to public health measures, including contact tracing and quarantine and isolation of all contacts and suspected cases.
“But if you get a coronavirus shot, historically, SARS, MERS, animal coronaviruses […] when you’re exposed to a wild-type variant of the virus […] months later, the immune system can go haywire. In the SARS vaccine trials in the ferrets and the monkeys, 100% of the animals, when exposed to wild-type virus, ended up with immune reaction.”
This is most likely a reference to the immunological phenomenon known as antibody-mediated enhancement (ADE).
ADE occurs when antibodies bind to a virus in a manner that fails to neutralize a virus’ infectivity, but instead makes it easier for the virus to infect cells. The potential danger posed by ADE is one that scientists developing vaccines are mindful of.
This is due to previous experiences with vaccine candidates for other coronaviruses, such as the virus SARS-CoV-1, which causes SARS, as well as coronaviruses that infect animals. Researchers developed a vaccine candidate for SARS-CoV-1 using inactivated (“killed”) virus, which was tested in mice. They observed that vaccinated mice showed more severe lung disease upon infection with live virus. In the case of another coronavirus, cats that were vaccinated with a recombinant virus vaccine survived for a shorter period of time compared to unvaccinated cats.
Bolles et al. (2011) A Double-Inactivated Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus Vaccine Provides Incomplete Protection in Mice and Induces Increased Eosinophilic Proinflammatory Pulmonary Response upon Challenge. Journal of Virology.
Vennema et al. (1990) Early death after feline infectious peritonitis virus challenge due to recombinant vaccinia virus immunization. Journal of Virology.
A vaccine candidate against the respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) also failed human clinical trials, as it caused more severe illness in vaccinated people.
Kim et al. (1969) Respiratory Syncytial Virus Disease in Infants Despite Prior Administration of Antigenic Inactivated Vaccine. American Journal of Epidemiology.
Because these studies highlighted the problem of ADE from vaccines, researchers are aware that this is a potential risk of COVID-19 vaccines that needs to be monitored. The vaccines authorized for emergency use by the FDA are carefully monitored for ADE and other severe side effects.
Clinical trials didn’t show any indication that ADE occurs in people who received the COVID-19 vaccines. Walter Orenstein, a professor at Emory University’s School of Medicine and associate director of the Emory Vaccine Center, stated in this Health Feedback review: “Vaccine-enhanced disease is theoretically possible with SARS-CoV-2 vaccines, but it has not been seen as of yet in the clinical trials reported.”
First, I wanted to do some research about him - his career is pretty impressive.
Dr. Ryan Cole has worked around medicine for more than 30 years, according to a resume sent to commissioners in Idaho. He attended the U.S. Air Force Academy before graduating from Brigham Young University in 1993 with a bachelor’s degree in pre-medicine/zoology. He then attended medical school at Virginia Commonwealth University, where he graduated in 1997.
He also was a resident and then a fellow of surgical pathology at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota. His professional career has largely been spent in the Treasure Valley (Idaho). He worked at Saint Alphonsus Regional Medical Center before working as the CEO and medical director of Cole Diagnostics since 2004. He has also worked as a consultant at the Boise Veteran’s Affairs Hospital, a spokesperson for the College of American Pathologists and various other consulting positions.
He has a license to practice medicine in 11 states, according to his resume. He said he’s bilingual in English and Spanish.
Possible conflict of interest:
At the start of the pandemic, his lab ordered thousands of COVID-19 antibody tests, with the goal of seeing how widespread the virus was among those without any visible symptoms.
Some have raised concerns that he’s profiting from testing as he publicly encourages alternative treatments to the vaccine.
Here are some of my low level thoughts in response to his statements:
“Coronaviruses are seasonal. They follow a six-to-nine-month life cycle, and no matter what we do, they’re going to do what they do, and then they’re going to fade. What happened to SARS, what happened to MERS? What did we do to stop them? Nothing, they did their thing.”
Disease seasonality refers to when the number of infections rise at certain times of the year, but are low at other times, and when the pattern repeats itself every year. This pattern is observed in several infectious diseases, including some common coronaviruses, but Cole’s claim seemed to imply that “a six-to-nine-month life cycle” is a rule for all coronaviruses. This is contradicted by the fact that more than a year later, COVID-19 is still actively spreading in several parts of the world, including the US and European countries.
Edridge et al. (2020) Seasonal coronavirus protective immunity is short-lasting. Nature Medicine.
Monto et al. (2020) Coronavirus Occurrence and Transmission Over 8 Years in the HIVE Cohort of Households in Michigan. Journal of Infectious Disease.
It is inaccurate to cite SARS (severe acute respiratory syndrome) and MERS (Middle East respiratory syndrome) as examples of diseases caused by seasonal coronaviruses. Neither of these viruses exhibit seasonal activity. The first outbreak of SARS began in 2003, with a 2nd smaller outbreak occurring in 2004 after researchers studying the SARS coronavirus became infected by accident. No other cases of SARS were recorded after that. If SARS was a seasonal disease, as Cole claimed, new cases would be expected each year.
MERS was first reported in 2002- Researchers studying the pattern of MERS cases between 2015 and 2017 concluded that the disease doesn’t exhibit seasonality, at least in terms of primary infections.
Al-Tawfiq and Memish. (2019) Lack of seasonal variation of Middle East Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus (MERS-CoV). Travel Medicine and Infectious Disease.
It is also false to claim that nothing was done to stop SARS and MERS. Unlike COVID-19, no community spread of SARS took place in the U.S.. As such, the country didn’t experience widespread cases of SARS. According to the CDC, there were only eight cases of SARS-CoV-1 infection, all of which were linked to travel in areas where SARS was spreading. Given the fact that there was no community spread of SARS, no control measures were imposed on the general public.
This wasn’t the case for regions that saw SARS spread, including China, Singapore, and Hong Kong. All three countries implemented significant control measures to reduce the spread of SARS, such as temperature screenings, contact tracing, school closures, and implementing quarantines of contacts and suspected cases.
Ahmad et al. (2009) Controlling SARS: a review on China’s response compared with other SARS‐affected countries. Tropical Medicine and International Health.
As with SARS, the U.S. didn’t see widespread transmission of MERS. The CDC reported that only two people in the U.S. tested positive for MERS, both in 2014. The global spread of MERS, like SARS, was largely confined to a specific geographic region, namely the Arabian Peninsula. One exception is South Korea, which saw an outbreak in 2014 that was linked to one traveller who visited the Middle East. That outbreak was brought under control thanks to public health measures, including contact tracing and quarantine and isolation of all contacts and suspected cases.
“But if you get a coronavirus shot, historically, SARS, MERS, animal coronaviruses […] when you’re exposed to a wild-type variant of the virus […] months later, the immune system can go haywire. In the SARS vaccine trials in the ferrets and the monkeys, 100% of the animals, when exposed to wild-type virus, ended up with immune reaction.”
This is most likely a reference to the immunological phenomenon known as antibody-mediated enhancement (ADE).
ADE occurs when antibodies bind to a virus in a manner that fails to neutralize a virus’ infectivity, but instead makes it easier for the virus to infect cells. The potential danger posed by ADE is one that scientists developing vaccines are mindful of.
This is due to previous experiences with vaccine candidates for other coronaviruses, such as the virus SARS-CoV-1, which causes SARS, as well as coronaviruses that infect animals. Researchers developed a vaccine candidate for SARS-CoV-1 using inactivated (“killed”) virus, which was tested in mice. They observed that vaccinated mice showed more severe lung disease upon infection with live virus. In the case of another coronavirus, cats that were vaccinated with a recombinant virus vaccine survived for a shorter period of time compared to unvaccinated cats.
Bolles et al. (2011) A Double-Inactivated Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus Vaccine Provides Incomplete Protection in Mice and Induces Increased Eosinophilic Proinflammatory Pulmonary Response upon Challenge. Journal of Virology.
Vennema et al. (1990) Early death after feline infectious peritonitis virus challenge due to recombinant vaccinia virus immunization. Journal of Virology.
A vaccine candidate against the respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) also failed human clinical trials, as it caused more severe illness in vaccinated people.
Kim et al. (1969) Respiratory Syncytial Virus Disease in Infants Despite Prior Administration of Antigenic Inactivated Vaccine. American Journal of Epidemiology.
Because these studies highlighted the problem of ADE from vaccines, researchers are aware that this is a potential risk of COVID-19 vaccines that needs to be monitored. The vaccines authorized for emergency use by the FDA are carefully monitored for ADE and other severe side effects.
Clinical trials didn’t show any indication that ADE occurs in people who received the COVID-19 vaccines. Walter Orenstein, a professor at Emory University’s School of Medicine and associate director of the Emory Vaccine Center, stated in this Health Feedback review: “Vaccine-enhanced disease is theoretically possible with SARS-CoV-2 vaccines, but it has not been seen as of yet in the clinical trials reported.”