Definitions matter.
@WHO defines health as “a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity.”
Is "COMPLETE" health a realistic expectation?
Does it lead to irrealistic strategies like #ZeroCovid?
1/n

https://www.bmj.com/content/343/bmj.d4163
You can access the paper here.
https://sci-hub.se/https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.d4163
2/n

Aiming for 'COMPLETE' has its own ills.
1)"medicalisation of society"=>MASS testing
"New screening technologies detect abnormalities at levels that might never cause illness and pharmaceutical companies produce drugs for “conditions” not previously defined as health problems."3/n

"New screening technologies detect abnormalities at levels that might never cause illness and pharmaceutical companies produce drugs for “conditions” not previously defined as health problems." 4/n

PCR tests are so sensitive they can detect small sequences of RNA even as a dead virus leading to a false positive result where the person is not really sick. 5/n

"Thresholds for intervention tend to be lowered...[leading] to large groups of people becoming eligible for screening or for expensive interventions even when only one person might benefit" => using erroneous strategies: testing individuals without symptoms 6/n

2) "WHO definition becomes counterproductive as it declares people with chronic diseases and disabilities definitively ill."
Anyone with a (+) PCR test is declared a case and considered sick and if death ensues for any reason, it is counted as a COVID death - inflating deaths 7/n

3) How is 'COMPLETE' health measured?
At which point, people who recover from COVID are considered healthy? Does everyone suffer from Long COVID? Do they have long-term immunity? Can they be reinfected? At which point you are no longer a threat to others? 8/n

A new conceptual framework states that health is “the ability to adapt and to self-manage.”
Based on this framework, we must adapt to the presence of a new virus in our environment & learn to live with it. 9/n

The principal of self-management puts the responsibility of decision-making on the individual.
Umbrella strategies have no place in need-based approaches.
Strategies of suppression and elimination are in opposition to adaptation and thus are not sustainable or realistic. 10/n

"communication with patients ... focuses on [the] empowerment of the patient (for example, by changing a lifestyle), which the doctor can explain instead of just removing symptoms by a drug." 11/n

Offering vaccines as a silver bullet is not in line with the new conceptualisation of health. Health is complex and can not be achieved with simplistic solutions such as a pill or a jab. 12/n

Given the high risk associated with comorbidities in developing severe disease from SARSCov2, public health campaigns must aim at improving metabolic function and chronic diseases in the population through healthier lifestyles. This is more complex! 13/n

Herd immunity is most efficiently achieved through a combination of ways:
1) vaccinating the vulnerable following informed consent
2) natural infection of the young and healthy
3) pre-existing cross-immunity from related coronaviruses.
This is complexity!
14/n

The #ZeroCovid strategy is oversimplistic and too myopic.
It doesn't take into account the full spectrum of health. It also jeopardises our progress on many other health indicators for the sake of just one. 15/n

The #ZeroCovid strategy involves:
1) shutting down borders indefinitely
2) endless vicious cycle of lockdowns and school closures
3) eliminating all entertainment, the arts and sports
4) overmedicalization of the population
5) restricting freedoms unnecessarily

16/n

It involves a full hijack of life itself for the sake of staying alive.

#ZeroCovid has #ZeroCompassion, #ZeroSustainability, and #ZeroHumanity.

#ZeroCovid makes #Zerosense.
17/n

#ZeroCovid is a blunt, blind and a blatantly ignorant approach that will take more lives than it will save.
We would be committing a horrendous blunder if we pursue it.
It's time to make the right decision.
18/18

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