14 January, 2023
New Beginnings
I recall a day back in March 1983, when I sat down to my typewriter and began to put out a newsletter I called the Townsend Letter for Doctors because it was printed in Port Townsend, Washington State. There was no journal, magazine, or newsletter back in the day for integrative physicians and naturopathic doctors. I had already launched one a few years earlier for the Northwest Academy of Preventive Medicine for docs in the Pacific Northwest. After that newsletter ceased, it was apparent that there was a need for some sort of forum for doctors to share cases, reports, and opinions. Sure, there were medical meetings but once the doc left the meeting there was nothing until the next meeting. Not only doctors but vitamin companies and laboratories did not have a publication to share new supplements and testing. I wasn’t surprised that after publishing a few issues a number of manufacturers and labs placed advertising with the newsletter. By 1985 the wee newsletter became a magazine. For nearly 40 years we published a print magazine that evolved with the internet and digital publishing. Now the print Townsend Letter has ceased.
Welcome to our new Townsend Letter e-newsletter. Original content that has always first been published in the print magazine will now appear first in the e-newsletter. All new e-newsletter content will be placed on our website, www.townsendletter.com, and will be searchable on the web. We will publish a new e-newsletter every two weeks; each e-newsletter will be emailed on Saturday and will be re-emailed the following Saturday. We welcome submission of papers, articles, case reports, book reviews, letters, and editorials for publication in the e-newsletter.
For companies and labs, we do welcome e-newsletter and article advertising. Of course, because this is an e-newsletter, it will not have the format of the print magazine. Our e-newsletter subscription does not require a subscription payment. However, we do welcome “subscription contributions” to support the publication. For a subscription, please email us with name/credentials to subscription@townsendletter.com. To make a subscription contribution, write to us: 911 Tyler St., Port Townsend, WA 98368 or call 360-385-6021, email us at our subscription email address above. or donate online through the link on our homepage.
Is Vaccinated Blood from the Blood Bank a Health Hazard?
Those folks who have refused to be vaccinated for Covid-19 are concerned with a myriad of consequences that they subject themselves to from an mRNA vaccine. Nearly every adverse medical event has been attributed to the Covid-19 vaccine from blood clots and cardiomyopathy to respiratory distress to unexplained fatigue and cognitive impairment and ultimately to unexplained death. The abhorrence that the unvaccinated have to the vaccinated reminds one of Superman’s fear of being paralyzed by kryptonite. At the very least the unvaccinated worry about contagion from the vaccinated “shedding virus” thought to be more dangerous than wild coronavirus. Now the new concern among the unvaccinated is the risk incurred in a severe accident or during major surgery that they may be transfused with blood from a vaccinated individual. Some have compared it to being transfused with blood before blood banks screened for hepatitis-C and HIV. There has been a clamor for some marker to be identified in blood donations from those individuals who have been vaccinated so that the blood bank would label it as mRNA vaccinated blood. (There is no such marker of blood from vaccinated individuals).
In a report from the Dec. 21 Epoch Times by Joseph Mercola, DO, cases are cited of folks demanding blood transfusions from unvaccinated individuals.1 An infant’s parents in New Zealand sought court intervention before surgery for blood from an unvaccinated individual to be administered. Instead, the health authorities intervened overstepping parental authority of the infant, proceeding with surgery with “usual” blood bank transfusions. Other attempts to secure blood from unvaccinated individuals have been met with complete refusal. Mercola has suggested that a work around for those who wish to use an unvaccinated blood supply is for the individual to bank their own blood ahead of the procedure. Or those seeking unvaccinated blood could seek a blood donation from an unvaccinated individual having the same blood type. Not explained is how such a blood donation could be arranged in a hospital setting.
As evidence that blood from vaccinated individuals is demonstrably different from the unvaccinated, Mercola cites reports that undertakers in Italy have provided in the past year. The “embalmers” have observed unusual long, tubular blood clots, which have not been seen in the past. It is unclear why this supports the claim that blood from a vaccinated individual is different from the unvaccinated.
The abhorrence of some unvaccinated individuals for those who have been vaccinated has risen to such an extent that marriage with those vaccinated has become taboo. It is extraordinary that the polarization that we encounter daily is now complicated by the unvaccinated shunning the vaccinated.
1. Mercola, J. Unvaccinated blood is now in very high demand. The Epoch Times. Dec. 21, 2022. https://www.theepochtimes.com/health/unvaccinated-blood-is-now-in-very-high-demand_4934809.html
Myopericarditis After mRNA Vaccination Is Rare
The claim has been made that mRNA vaccination for Covid-19 poses a major risk for an adverse event to the heart leading to long-standing cardiac disease and sudden death. To support this claim, anti-mRNA-vaccination proponents point to the “high” incidence of myocarditis in adolescents who have received the vaccination. What is ignored is that a bout of coronavirus illness poses a much higher risk of developing myocarditis. A recent study, a meta-analysis, of young adults reveals that the incidence of myopericarditis after mRNA vaccination is estimated to be between 0.3 to 5 in 100,000 vaccinations.2 While this is significant, it is not a high risk compared to actually having a Covid infection.
The meta-analysis found that myopericarditis occurred more frequently following the second dose of the mRNA vaccine. The time that elapsed between vaccination and onset of the myopericarditis was 2.6 days. Chest pain, fever, and headache were the most common symptoms. The electrocardiogram demonstrated ST wave changes in 53%; troponin elevations were observed in 85%. Only 15% had left ventricular dysfunction; only 1% had severe dysfunction. Myocardial edema was observed in 58%. Ninety-two percent of patients were hospitalized for an average of 2.8 days. No deaths were reported. With limited follow-up some studies reported improvement in ejection fraction at three months.
Some anti-vax commentators have taken to attributing unexplained deaths reported daily in celebrities, politicians, journalists, and others as being caused by the mRNA Covid-19 vaccination series. The assumption is that those individuals who died at relatively young ages (below 60) were vaccinated. Additionally, it is assumed that if no health condition is made in reporting about the celebrity’s death that it was a cardiac event that developed following a blood clot, for example, that led to the sudden death. One would think that before the pandemic and vaccinations no young individuals ever died suddenly.
2. Yasuhara, J. et al. Myopericarditis after Covid-19 mRNA vaccination among adolescents and young adults: A systematic review and meta-analysis. JAMA Pediatrics. Dec. 5, 2022. http://jamanetwork.com/article.aspx?doi=10.1001/jamapediatrics.2022.4768
Curmudgeon’s Corner
For those of you who have not read the Curmudgeon’s Corner column in the print version of the Townsend Letter, let me introduce you to Jacob Schor, ND. Schor retired from his naturopathic practice in Denver several years ago and is enjoying his retirement with his wife, Rena, in the woods by a lake with the occasional loon in Maine. While he was a generalist, his specialty focused on cancer care; and he participated actively with the naturopathic oncology association (OncANP) and their annual society meetings. Schor also presented at the AANP’s annual conventions and contributed to the writings of the Natural Medicine Journal. Schor embraced his curmudgeon column often reviewing the medical literature, finding journal articles that countered “mainstream” naturopathic thinking; his writing upset or challenged the tried-and-true beliefs that naturopathic and integrative practitioners considered proven in their practices.
From a more personal perspective, Jacob has supported the Townsend Letter over the years, encouraging colleagues to write for the publication and has offered me encouragement and guidance as we have transitioned from the print magazine. (See Schor’s article on repurposed drugs for cancer in the Aug/Sept 2020 issue on the website: www.townsendletter.com).
Schor’s article in this e-newsletter is not going to overturn any shibboleths or conventional medical advice. He examines “sleeping cold,” which he thinks of in Goldilocks’ terms—not too cold and not too warm. He also discusses how over the past few years weighted blankets have become a “thing” to not only help people sleep but also to support disabled children. Unfortunately, following a few toddlers becoming asphyxiated while sleeping with a weighted blanket, Target has recalled the blankets in December and advised parents to stop their use.
