San Diego’s medical community is responding to an explosive San Diego County Board of Supervisors meeting that saw dozens of speakers rip the county’s COVID-19 response and potential mask mandates.
Many of the speakers called into question the validity of coronavirus, COVID-19 vaccines and face masks, during the board meeting that lasted almost six hours.
Among the statements:
“There is no proof that the COVID-19 shots administered are safe or effective.”
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“There are reports from fertility clinics all across the country that sperm counts and motility is way down after the shot.”
“My name is Jeff and I have two teenagers I’m trying to keep alive through this genocidal scam you all are running.”
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Clips of many of the incendiary comments were posted on social media and drew an immediate reaction from San Diego’s Medical community.
In a tweet, Dr. Christian Ramers, a well-known pro-vaccination voice said, in part, "Listening to the cultish, misinformed, culture rants was exhausting and infuriating to us trying to get us out of this mess."
Other doctors called the comments hurtful for families devastated by the virus and pointed to the toll COVID-19 continues to take.
“As health care providers, We see these patients coming in, we see these patients who are now younger ending up on a ventilator and some ending up with severe -- if they survive -- severe compromise,” said Francesca Torriani, Director of Infection Prevention and Clinical Epidemiology at UC San Diego Health.
The comments at Tuesday’s meeting came moments after the county reported 1,738 new cases in San Diego, the highest count since January as the Delta variant of the disease continues its rapid spread. Not that it mattered to the speakers.
“The people have spoken, COVID is over. The numbers you stated are propaganda,” said a speaker.
Torriani had this blunt piece of advice for anyone listening to the speakers.
“We absolutely need to ignore them. And face the reality and believe that as a community, we can beat this. We’re better than this. We can beat this pandemic,” said Torriani.
It should be noted not everyone agreed with the majority of speakers. One caller praised the county's efforts, calling the group “unhinged maniacs.”
