Crickets from Media as Millions Skip 2nd Vax Dose

By all accounts, the numbers are massive. Millions of Americans who rolled up their sleeves for Dose One of a Pfizer or Moderna Covid-19 vaccine have failed to get their second dose. What’s Going On?

If the CDC numbers are to be believed, by December 19, 2021, 73.6 percent of the U.S. population had received at least one dose of a Covid-19 vaccine.  People who get the Pfizer or Moderna vaccine are instructed to get a second dose three weeks later.  Yet, six weeks later only 64.4 percent were considered “fully vaccinated.”  This means that more than 30 million Americans officially were non-compliant with the two-dose regimen and appeared intent on remaining so.

The phenomenon of 2nd dose no-shows was acknowledged by The New York Times and other members of the mainstream media last spring.[1] [2] Those reports included speculation, but no actual data, as to why so many people might be missing their second dose.  They claimed that some pharmacies from which people had obtained Dose One did not have enough vaccine available for both doses, leaving people in a lurch.  (Apparently, people who got their first jab at Walgreens were incapable of traveling a few blocks to a different Walgreens or a CVS for their second jab.) Or they surmised that people had suddenly developed apathy toward the virus between doses one and two.  

A few of those reports also casually mentioned that some people who had received their first dose “said they feared the side effects” [3] when it came time for their second dose.  Journalists apparently were afraid to ask why so many first-dose recipients suddenly were concerned about side effects.  No mention was made of the possibility that some of those first-dose recipients had actually experienced serious side effects.

Then, after July 2, 2021, the issue seemed to fall off the radar.  Beyond an occasional report in local media,[4] [5] questions about missed 2nd doses all but vanished.

Meanwhile, I was unable to identify a single published survey – by the CDC, the vaccine makers, the public health field, or the media – of first-dose recipients, asking why so many had not shown up for Dose Two. Grant money has been flowing like a raging river toward all things Covid.  Surveys of predispositions toward the Covid vaccine abound. (E.G., Democrats generally love it; Republicans are skeptical.)  Yet, curiously, I cannot find even one study of why so many Americans are skipping their second dose of the Covid-19 vaccine.

The most likely reason that public discussion of this phenomenon has been censored is because limited possibilities exist for why people are refusing Dose Two by the millions, and none of them are favorable to the vaccine:

1)      They had a bad reaction to their first dose.

2)      Someone close to them had a bad reaction to their first or second dose.

3)      They heard on social media about people having bad reactions to their first or second dose.

4)      They contracted Covid after their first dose and therefore see no point in getting a second dose, even though natural immunity is not officially recognized in the U.S.  

In view of this stark reality, a Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell policy now seems to be in place for government officials, private industry groups, and their media lapdogs.

No-Shows in New York

The 2nd dose no-show trend is particularly troubling in New York City, which implemented a strict vaccine passport system in September 2021.

“This is a miraculous place, literally full of wonders," then-Mayor Bill de Blasio told the world. "If you’re vaccinated, all that’s gonna open up to you.  If you have the key, you can open the door. If you’re unvaccinated, unfortunately, you will not be able to participate in many things."[6]

The list of venues now accessible only to the fully vaccinated in the Big Apple is a long one:

• Restaurants, bakeries, and coffee shops

• Catering halls, cafeterias, event spaces and banquet rooms

• Bars and nightclubs

• Dining spaces in grocery stores

• Fast food restaurants

• Movie and performing arts theaters

• Live music and concert venues

• Museums, exhibition halls and galleries

• Aquariums and zoos

• Sports arenas and stadiums

• Convention centers

• Bowling alleys, pool halls, game centers and arcades

• Gyms, fitness centers, workout classes and pools

• Dance studios

• Casinos

• Adult entertainment venues [7]

New York City does not recognize natural immunity.  The key to the city is offered only to those ages five and older who are fully vaccinated.  Getting one dose of the Pfizer or Moderna vaccine gains you nothing.  Yet, hundreds of thousands of New Yorkers in the five boroughs who took Dose One have been no-shows for their second dose.  The city’s no-show track record mirrors that of the rest of the state.  As of January 28, 2022, more than 1.5 million residents of New York State officially were non-compliant with the two-dose regimen.[8]

With no direct queries of the 2nd Dose No-Shows to tell us what is really going with this large group of Americans, we are forced to look elsewhere for clues. Once again, published data is scarce.  However, in August 2021 the Journal of Healthcare Risk Management published a small survey of frontline healthcare workers regarding their experiences with the Covid-19 vaccine.  Among the 1,391 respondents who received the first dose of a Covid vaccine, 5.5 percent reported having "major" side effects that made it difficult for them to complete routine tasks or engage in daily activities.   

Most striking from this survey was the substantially higher rate of side effects after the second dose.  (See Table 3 from this study, below.) Overall, 29.8 percent of respondents reported suffering major side effects after Dose Two. The rate of chills increased from 15.5 percent after the first dose to 58.5 percent after the second dose.  Body aches increased by 42.1 percent between Dose One and Dose Two; fatigue by 40.5 percent; and headache by 31.8 percent.[9] [10] After the second dose, 39.1 percent of respondents reported that they missed work or considered calling in sick.  (A smaller number of workers responded to questions about Dose Two, but the study doesn’t tell us how many workers actually refused Dose Two.)

Healthcare workers in this survey were not asked about the less common but more severe side effects – including heart attack, blood clots, and stroke – for which these vaccines are now infamous.  However, other published studies have noted that myocarditis is more common after the second dose.[11]

The fact that so many Americans ditched the game of vaccination roulette after their first dose is therefore particularly troubling.  It means that however much illness and injury Americans were suffering after Dose One, the worst was yet to come.

It is possible that a small percentage of 2nd Dose No-Shows had such serious reactions to their first dose that they actually obtained a medical exemption from Dose Two. However, medical exemptions from the Covid-19 vaccines have been hard to come by. Doctors in many states have been threatened with loss of licensure for giving medical exemptions, regardless of the circumstances. Such is the scale of the dystopian nightmare in which we now find ourselves.

And now the CDC is openly contemplating changing the definition of “fully vaccinated” to three doses.  To date, fewer than half of those who are eligible to get a booster shot in the U.S. have done so.[12] Once again, the media appear to be avoiding the most obvious question:[13] How many Americans are refusing Dose Three because they had a bad experience with Dose One or Two?   

How about you?  Did any of you take Dose One but refuse Dose Two?  Or perhaps you got Dose Two but are now refusing to get a booster shot.  Please scroll down past the references to join the discussion and share your experiences.

---

[1] Why so many people are skipping their second Covid shot — and why they shouldn't - CNN

[2] Millions Are Skipping Their Second Doses of Covid-19 Vaccines - The New York Times (nytimes.com)

[3] Millions Are Skipping Their Second Doses of Covid-19 Vaccines - The New York Times (nytimes.com)

[4] Texas has nearly 2 million people overdue for second COVID-19 vaccine dose | The Texas Tribune

[5]  Virginia Beach health experts urge those who skipped second vaccine dose to take the shot | WAVY.com

[6] New York City launches vaccine passport (fox5ny.com)

[7] What to know about the city’s vaccine passport rules (ny1.com)

[8] New York COVID-19 Vaccine Tracker | democratandchronicle.com

[9] Study of COVID Vaccine Side Effects May Help Plan for Missed Work (medscape.com)

[10] Initial distribution of COVID‐19 vaccines to front‐line hospital workers and community first responders—A prospective descriptive study - Stausmire - 2021 - Journal of Healthcare Risk Management - Wiley Online Library

[11] Risk for carditis tied to second dose of Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine (medicalxpress.com)

[12] US COVID-19 vaccine booster drive slows, with 85 million eligible Americans still without their extra shot - ABC News (go.com)

[13] As Covid Surges, Experts Say U.S. Booster Effort Is Far Behind - The New York Times (nytimes.com)