From Ronald Hoffman, MD
For as long as I can remember, over a 40 year career in medicine, there have existed two warring paradigms about disease: One envisions a future in which science will ultimately vanquish all disorders with ever more precisely-targeted drug and surgical interventions; the other maintains that the truth path to wellness lies in harnessing diet, lifestyle and nontoxic natural modalities to offer prevention and cures.
Covid presented an opportunity to contest the validity of these two paths. If it were conclusively demonstrated that Big Pharma could eradicate Covid with vaccines and drugs, it would strike a blow against the obstinate “refuseniks” who cling to obsolete notions that natural therapies enjoy primacy.
After all, those who once claimed that AIDS was a lifestyle disease, spawned by the dissolute habits of promiscuous gay men, were repudiated when diet, vitamins and herbal concoctions failed to save patients; it was an undoubted triumph of allopathic medicine when innovative drugs halted the virus in its tracks. Those were the years that shaped the outlook of Anthony Fauci, then head of the AIDS response, and convinced him that a similar paradigm could conquer Covid.
We are now commemorating the 3rd anniversary of the pandemic. Headlines of January 30, 2020:
“What we know now
- The latest: At least 213 people are dead and more than 9,692 cases have been confirmed in mainland China, as the virus spreads globally.
- Health emergency: World Health Organization has declared coronavirus a public health emergency of international concern.
- Global problem: There are more than 9,700 cases worldwide. The outbreak has reached 20 places outside of China, including India and the Philippines.
- China on lockdown: Nearly 60 million people have been under partial or full lockdown in Chinese cities for a week.
- Evacuations: The UK, US, Japan, and several other countries are working to fly their citizens out of Wuhan.”
And that was only the beginning of our long nightmare.
