10 Ways COVID Changed How People Think About Health–Part 2

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The following is a continuation of 10 Ways COVID Changed How People Think About Health–Part 1

6. Citizen Researchers

The lack of information on COVID-19 and data on vaccine safety and efficacy has left the public with questions.

A survey in October 2021 showed that 3 in 4 Americans (76 percent) leave their doctor’s appointment on a negative note, feeling confused about their health or dissatisfied with the answers. Though this survey was on general health, respondents were surveyed during the pandemic.

Many studies highlighted the importance of transparency and trust in COVID-19 messaging (1, 2). Yet studies criticizing the transparency of health institutes including the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) have continued to emerge (1, 2).

Board certified internist and nephrologist Dr. Richard Amerling said that many people on drug advisory boards have deep ties with pharmaceutical companies. These conflicts of interest can therefore impact their judgment.

“Declaring that you have a financial conflict of interest doesn’t make it go away. You still have that conflict, and it’s still going to affect your judgment and your decision,” said Amerling.

COVID-19 has seen an increase in patients doing their own research.

Consulting toxicologist Albert Donnay said that “the most trusted and valuable data have not been collected in pharma studies but by patients themselves working together in support groups.”

Donnay gave the example of the Body Politic COVID-19 Support Group, which started some of the first patient-led research initiatives on COVID-19 and was also the first group to study long COVID as early as April 2020.

Other grassroots research organizations such as React19 were also birthed out of the necessity to provide answers to people who have suffered from adverse events after COVID-19 vaccinations.

While most media focused little on the large number of patients who reported suffering from vaccine side effects, React19 since May 2022 has been sharing treatment options some doctors were using to treat vaccine injuries and were keeping their members constantly updated with emerging research.

7. Growing Interest in Alternative Treatments

Since the early pandemic, interest in alternative treatment has increased compared to that of allopathic medicine.

A study on Google searches in Indonesia showed that people looked for natural remedies to treat and prevent COVID-19.

Claire Morton-Reynolds, senior industry analyst for Nutrition Business Journal said that sales of immunity supplements have increased from 2019 to 2022, and further increases are forecasted.

In 2019, the National Business Journal reported immunity supplement sales were around $3.4 billion. By the end of 2020, the numbers increased to almost $6 billion.

The initial interest may have come from the unavailability or unawareness of pharmaceutical products that would be beneficial in treating COVID-19, and people were desperate for any relief.

However, gastroenterologist and the CEO of Progenabiome, Dr. Sabine Hazan said that she is now seeing a “pushback” against pharmaceutical products.

“I’ve said if pharma pushes too far they will lose the trust of the population,” said Hazan, “We’re almost there now.”

Additionally, there is emerging research on the benefits of common supplements such as vitamin C, vitamin D, and zinc on treating and preventing COVID-19 (1, 2, 3)

A senior researcher from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dr. Stephanie Seneff wrote that she is glad to see a “broad awakening,” from the public who are now seeking to boost their natural immunity through supplementing and eating a good diet.

The emergence of long COVID and COVID-19 vaccine injuries has also encouraged alternative treatments given that both conditions often manifest as clusters of complicated symptoms that are difficult to treat using allopathic medicine alone. Both researchers and clinicians recommend a holistic and integrative direction in treating these conditions.

8. Appreciation of Mind and Body Health

The aftermath of the COVID-19 health policies has left a growing recognition of the importance of both mental and physical well-being.

Infectious disease expert and former medical officer and scientist at the World Health Organization (WHO), Dr. David Bell highlighted that apart from physical health, people must also be looked at from the perspective of social and mental health.

Lockdowns and social distancing have not only harmed people financially, and socially, but also mentally. Distress and loneliness as a result of lockdowns have further impaired health and immunity (1, 2)

Psychiatrist Adonis Sfera highlighted that the symptoms of COVID-19 support the concept that “the distinction between the body and the mind is imagined, not real,” as viral infections, which are something biological, can also affect the mind.

He pointed to data on post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) rates. People who are infected with viruses such as SARS-CoV-2, human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), and Ebola were associated with PTSD rates of 30 percent or more, which is almost double the rate of 16 percent in military personnel and war veterans.

“Aside from the psychological stress of being ill with a disease of unknown prognosis, viruses may directly interfere with the stress-processing pathways of the human brain,” wrote Sfera.

A study found COVID-19 survivors had larger grey matter volume and higher functional activities in the amygdala, the emotion center, and certain areas of the hippocampus as compared to the uninfected, the authors stipulated that these brain changes may have been associated with the higher levels of PTSD reported in COVID survivors.

Activities that improve mindfulness such as meditation and yoga have also been suggested to help with long COVID, (1, 2) since these activities have helped with other conditions that share very similar symptoms.

9. Doubting the Pandemic Response

The management of the COVID-19 pandemic has made many people lose faith in the ability of the public health system to handle pandemics.

Yet, infectious disease expert Dr. David Bell said that guidelines on pandemic management have long existed, but health agencies and government bodies went against previous public health knowledge for COVID-19 instead.

Bell criticized the authoritarian lockdown, masking, and social distancing policies. He said that it was not new knowledge that lockdown cannot control a respiratory virus and that such measures would impair the immune system if prolonged.

“Any sort of lockdown that allows us to function as humans is not going to control an aerosolized virus that has a high reproductive rate,” said Bell.

Previous WHO guidelines on pandemics alluded to the ethical implications of isolation and media broadcasting of school closures, indicating that such actions may instill fear and panic in people and rob them of comfort during such critical times.

This can be seen with the protests against lockdowns in China, which has led the Chinese government to remove zero COVID policies on Dec. 7.

Critical care expert Dr. Paul Marik said that it was expected that the lockdown policies would have to be rescinded as people cannot be under zero COVID policies forever.

“They lifted the lockdown because Chinese people didn’t want to be imprisoned [under lockdown] anymore,” said Marik, “You can imprison people for so long and then they go to rebel.”

Curiously, despite that most other countries are now coping with COVID-19 the same as with any other virus, media reports of COVID-19 in China suggest that the infection and death rates are much more severe than reported, with morgues and hospitals overwhelmed with sick and dying patients.

Doctors on Chinese social media are already talking about patients presenting with “white lungs,” including young people. This is a sign of severe COVID, typically seen in the earlier and more virulent strains of COVID-19 rather than Omicron.

Marik reasoned that the years of lockdown and zero COVID policy have impaired people’s immunity. Most people have no natural immunity against the virus and are immune-impaired.

He said that humans would naturally mingle once the restrictions were lifted, and naturally start spreading the virus.

“This [the increase in cases and deaths] was going to happen. It was just when it happened,” said Marik.

Bell said that given most of the world initially followed China by employing zero COVID policies, what is going on in China now should really make policymakers and the mainstream media take a good look at themselves.

10. Rebuilding the System

Besides trauma, there may be hope.

COVID-19 has served as a catalyst, accelerating the process of “a real healthcare reset.” said integrative medicine physician Dr. Yusuf Saleeby.

For the public and many health professionals, COVID-19 was the turning point to find that health institutions and agencies were politically and financially motivated rather than placing patients first.

The FDA for example has 65 percent of its budget coming from the pharmaceutical industry which the drug agency regulates.

Expedited drug approvals have increased over the years and since the pandemic, a concerning number of more than 600 emergency use authorizations were approved, with Bell expressing the FDA’s actions as an erosion of previous regulatory standards.

Health experts are now proposing a complete rebuilding or the establishment of parallel agencies to balance the power and authority of health institutions.

Prof. Linda Wastila from the University of Maryland, whose expertise is in pharmaceutical safety and policy, proposed the establishment of independent drug evaluators to provide unbiased drug analysis.

Oncologist Dr. Stephen Iacoboni expressed that the pandemic revealed physicians’ lack of autonomy in practicing medicine.

Doctors could not prescribe ivermectin to treat COVID, due to negative broadcasts from health agencies, despite the numerous studies documenting its effectiveness.

Most doctors do not work for their patients but are employees of the government or insurance companies. They are paid through Medicare or insurance and are therefore restrained by treatment guidelines and recommendations dictated by institutions and companies.

Clinicians have also expressed disillusionment and disappointment at the medical institutions with the censorship, and penalization of healthcare professionals who questioned or held opinions contrary to the mainstream narrative.

“Many of my friends have decided to quit medicine as they can not practice comfortably without the constant threat to their medical licenses,” wrote critical care specialist Dr. Joseph Varon.

“Practicing medicine is no longer what it used to be.”

Saleeby wrote that there must be a paradigm shift to a more integrative model where doctors receive direct pay from their patients rather than being funded through the government or insurances.

“We are in dire need of a parallel healthcare system as the current mainstream medical system is really beyond repair,” Saleeby wrote.

“We must create our own journals and organizations to challenge and eventually replace the mainstream medical system of sick-care system organizations that exist today.”

Views expressed in this article are the opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times. Epoch Health welcomes professional discussion and friendly debate. To submit an opinion piece, please follow these guidelines and submit through our form here.