Is the Covid vaccine really necessary?

Throughout the Covid-19 pandemic, every government has said that a vaccine would be the answer. As a result, the majority of people everywhere hoped for a scientific breakthrough, because they believed there was no alternative to this solution. Then Pfizer announced its vaccine, followed by others in the West, and Russia and China developed their own.

But there is a problem now that vaccination programs have started. Many wonder why they are getting sick even though they have received this so-called “vaccine”. The way this new type of vaccine functions is not being properly explained to the public, so obviously people are unaware of what they might be taking.  In this article, I would like to explain in a simple and comprehensive way how the “vaccine” behaves in your body, then you can decide whether you want to risk it, or not.

It’s not a vaccine as we know it

First of all, these ‘vaccines’ are not really a vaccine. The definition of vaccine means an injection into the body of a weakened form of pathogen (virus), so that it does not cause any harm in the body, but the immune system will be triggered to start making antibodies against any protein of the pathogen. This way, antibodies will be ready and prepared for in case the real harmful pathogen arrives. The COVID vaccines don’t work like this.

All of them are based on a synthetically constructed piece of genetic information called mRNA, which contains the genetic code to make a protein of the COVID virus.

What is an mRNA?

To understand this, here is a very brief and simplified explanation about molecular biology: mRNA´s are biological molecules, present in every single cell of our body, that contain the instructions to make a protein. As humans we have mRNA´s for every single protein that our body needs. Here are a few examples: we have mRNA´s that contain instructions to make the components of muscle fibre, hair, nails, blood vessels, digestive enzymes, neurotransmitters, etc. Within our cells, these mRNA´s carry the information, like a recipe for making banana bread. So, when we say the mRNA is being “translated” it means that the cell “reads the recipe” and produces the protein that corresponds to the information.

How our immune system reacts to non-human proteins

Our immune system is a finely tuned operation. It knows not to react to the proteins in our body that are there from birth unless you have an auto-immune disease. The immune system detects when there is a protein present that is not normally present in our body, and any “abnormal” protein activates a number of defence systems: our body will do all it can to search for the “intruder”, attack it, and destroy infected cells. Symptoms of this defence system are fever, inflammation and excessive production of bodily fluids. These typical flu-like symptoms are the result of our own immune system trying to get rid of the pathogen.

The Covid “vaccine” contains a piece of mRNA carrying the recipe for a protein of the virus. When this mRNA is injected, it will find its way into our cells, where it will be translated into a protein. However, this is a protein that our own cells don’t make: it isn’t a human protein, it is a piece of the virus. On its own, this protein is just a small piece of the real virus, but because our immune system sees it is an “abnormal” protein, it triggers it into reacting.

A synthetic piece of genetic information

These kinds of “vaccines” are synthetically constructed pieces of genetic information that have not been used in the past. It is a completely new technique, and we cannot yet know how fiercely it will trigger the immune defence system, how long it will keep on doing that, and what the consequences on the body will be on longer term. Once the mRNA has been injected into your body, you cannot stop it: your cells will start making this abnormal viral protein. And once your cells are producing this ‘stranger’, there is a possibility that your immune system will have a dramatic reaction to it, causing severe symptoms, or even worse, it can lead to a fatal allergic reaction.  

The healthy body has its own protection

A healthy body that is well nourished and in good shape naturally has a strong immune system. It is perfectly capable of coping with a range of infections in a natural and balanced way. Now that greater numbers of people have already been given their first injections, we are seeing a number of adverse reactions to this vaccine., and the symptoms are often far worse than the people might have experienced if they had caught Covid-19. It is up to you whether you want to take this ‘vaccine’, but please consider your options carefully, as its long-term effects are not yet known to us, and the pharmaceutical companies have been given immunity against future class actions, which is another aspect of it to think about with care.

Bitcoin buying made easy

There have been some grumbles in the crypto media recently about the difficulties people are encountering when trying to buy Bitcoin. This excellent article by Bailey Reutzel summarises his problems, which is surprising considering he is a seasoned cryptocurrency owner who has been buying it for years. He found that at a number of exchanges he was locked out because of his New York location. In the end he went to PayPal, and after he’d discovered that you can’t buy Bitcoin from a PayPal business account, he set up a personal account and successfully completed a transaction.

PayPal entered the crypto market recently, making it easier for the regular Joe to buy BTC, and it appears to have paid off. According to Martin Young at Cointelegraph, “$242 million worth of digital assets changed hands on the platform during 11th Jan.” PayPal’s recent record was $129 million on 6th January. And, since 1st January, its daily volume has increased by 950%.

This is a moment to reflect on, because as Nuggets News’ Alex Saunders tweeted, “retail has arrived.” That is important for achieving mass adoption.

There is a downside to using PayPal the critics say, because PayPal is like a ‘gated community’ that doesn’t “support withdrawal functionality.” Twitter user Toomas Zobel suggested that the surge in PayPal volume maybe have resulted from retail capitulation, and that there was no way to see if this was a buy or sell volume. He remarked that retail buyers were probably rushing to realise profits when BTC hit $40,000.

However we should be mindful that the PayPal and crypto relationship is just beginning, and that it has plans to extend cryptocurrency services to its 26 million merchants in the coming months. Undoubtedly this will fuel further demand for cryptocurrency and for PayPal’s services. Above all, for the inexperienced crypto buyer, it is a far easier proposition to set up a PayPal account and buy crypto there than venture into the exchanges such as Binance and Coinbase. When you make buying crypto easier for those who have never invested in stocks, you open up the market to the mainstream: something that crypto has been waiting to happen for years. Let’s see if 2021 advances the buying and use of crypto even further.

Why this bull run is not a repeat of 2017

Do you remember the last months of 2017 in the cryptocurrency market? It was everywhere. Even the MSM started talking about it, although its journalists tended to get it all wrong. The ‘haters’ compared it to the Tulip Fever of the 1600s, and when Bitcoin crashed after reaching an ATH of $20,000, perhaps they felt vindicated.

It has taken three years for Bitcoin and the altcoins to retake their 2017 positions, and who would have guessed that it would happen at the same time as the world was mostly staying at home due to a rampaging virus. But that is what has happened, and in the last few days we have seen Bitcoin break through the $40,000 barrier to become ‘virtual gold’.

The question most cryptocurrency owners must be asking themselves is this: is this bull run the same as in 2017? Jeff Wilser has taken a look at it, starting by saying, “for some reason this bull run feels different – not as mainstream, not as talked about, not as Paris Hilton-y.” Dare I suggest this is because people are more hooked on Covid numbers right now?

As Wilser says, there are ways to measure a bull run by looking at the frequency of Google searches for ‘Bitcoin’, and expert market analyses. However, what he has done is take a qualitative approach, to see how it ‘feels’, particularly to those he calls the “OG Bitcoin HODLers.”

One example is Erik Finman, the ‘Teenage Bitcoin Millionaire’, who bought 100 Bitcoin in 2011 with money his grandmother had given him. He dropped out of school at 15 and set up a crypto payments company, Metal Pay. Oh yeah, he also launched a satellite with Taylor Swift. He has a theory about why this new cycle is going relatively unnoticed: “The cultural space that was once occupied by crypto is now gobbled up by politics (Trump) and the coronavirus pandemic.” What did I say earlier?

“[Donald] Trump gets more clicks than crypto,” says Finman. Exactly! He thinks the Biden presidency may change that. Not because he dislikes Biden, but because he believes Bitcoin may be more interesting. And, if Covid-19 becomes about as interesting as the common cold that too will make space for crypto. It’s worth noting that during the shocking scenes of rioting at the Capitol on 6th January, Bitcoin surged by 10%.

Erik Voorhees, the CEO of ShapeShift, takes another view on it. He says: “You see the bull and the bust cycles that repeat several times over the last decade, and you see that each time bitcoin “crashes” the new level is higher than the prior cycle.” So, why the quiet now? Because, “We’re not in the real bubble yet,” Voorhees claims. It needs to get more exciting before the media starts shouting.

Others, such as Jill Carlson of Slow Ventures, says that with 20% of US dollars printed in 2020, Bitcoin has become a hedge against inflation. That doesn’t have quite the same ring for retail buyers as ‘When Lambo!’

There’s less hype this time round, but surely that is a sign that the market is maturing, and those of us who have owned crypto for some time are less anxious about the inherent volatility, while still quietly excited to see where this bull run goes.

Crypto market surges as Capitol burns

Yesterday, 6th January, was a jaw-dropping day for a couple of reasons. American politics reached a new low, as Trump incited his supporters to violence, resulting in a full-scale mob assault on the Capitol building itself, shocking the rest of the world as we looked on.

But, if that was the downside of yesterday, there was also a remarkable upside: the entire cryptocurrency market cap broke through $1 trillion, as Bitcoin and Ethereum continued their upward trajectory. The saying, ‘Maybe the moon’ is not looking so far-fetched right now?

As I write, Bitcoin has tumbled over the $37,000 mark: a remarkable recovery seeing as it was at around $31,000 on Monday. As Cointelegraph reports, “Measured by market cap, the crypto asset class has virtually doubled over the past month,” and BTC and ETH have seen new ATHs. ETH in particular is looking interesting, as it cleared $1,100 for the first time in three years, and now alongside BTC, the two account for two-thirds of the market.

Of course, they are not the only cryptocurrencies seeing exceptional gains, as “dozens, if not hundreds, of cryptocurrencies, report double-digit percentage returns this past week.” However, we must acknowledge that Bitcoin retains its market dominance, and is unlikely to be surpassed in value soon, even though altcoins may make bigger percentage gains.

To reach a $1 trillion market cap is remarkable, and it came only a matter of days after the leading crypto’s passed the highs of the 2017 bull run. Back then, the combined market cap hit roughly $830 billion, according to CoinMarketCap, and we thought that was huge at the time.

It is worth keeping an eye on the smaller altcoins though, if you’re thinking of investing. As Sam Bourgi at Cointelegraph says: “Bitcoin’s bull cycles pave the way for a subsequent altcoin rally, which is often larger than the initial BTC mark-up. Dubbed ‘altseason’ by the crypto community, the parabolic rise in altcoins can happen quickly, leaving investors with little time to prepare. “

Naturally, the current sentiment for cryptocurrency in 2021 is very bullish among crypto analysts and supporters, and those of us who hold crypto will no doubt hope their views are what come to pass. Crypto has often taken us into a beautiful dream, but as those of us who have been involved with it for years know only too well, it’s an edifice that can collapse with the same shocking speed, as a so-called peaceful protestors turn into an angry mob.