HomeMy WebLinkAbout2021_12_19 SSchumacher_MisinformationFrom:Stephen Schumacher
To:jeffbocc
Cc:Board of Health; Allison Berry, Health Officer; news@ptleader.com; news@peninsuladailynews.com
Subject:Public comment: misinformation threat
Date:Sunday, December 19, 2021 10:33:50 PM
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Dear Jefferson Board of Commissioners,
Public comments were truncated from 3 to 2 minutes each at the lasttwo Board of Health meetings, despite only having 2-3 localcommentators on queue. Both meetings included a ringer fromout-of-county during the public comment period, which is your call,but shouldn't detract from comment opportunities for actual county residents.
So my own comment had to be fast-talked before being cut off by thechair. To recapitulate, I was asking Health Officer Berry forclarification of her confusing public accusation that a Port TownsendFree Press "article claims that a person in Jefferson County hassuffered a long-term disability because of their vaccine, and that isactually not true. We have not had any cases of that."https://media.avcaptureall.cloud/meeting/ff87cb9d-7fa4-4f1f-a457-a606cf1df03chttps://www.peninsuladailynews.com/news/three-die-from-covid-19-in-clallam-county/
But a 27-year-old Port Townsend resident is on record with
documentary evidence from Virginia Mason that she had 2 heart attacksand 70% loss of function caused by Covid vaccination. So I'm tryingto understand precisely what Dr. Berry is attacking as "trulyfalse". Is she claiming this event didn't happen? Or is she parsingwords and claiming loss of heart function doesn't constitute"long-term disability"? Contrary to her mistaken statement, neither"long-term" nor "disability" appears in the original article.https://www.porttownsendfreepress.com/2021/11/21/young-heart-damaged-by-pfizer-vaxpt-woman-27-now-has-heart-of-an-80-year-old/
https://www.clarkcountytoday.com/news/report-part-ii-young-womans-heart-believed-to-have-been-damaged-by-
pfizer-vaccine/
I also find troubling Dr. Berry saying she "can't confirm or deny any
individual patient's experience" due to "very stringent rules aroundpatient privacy", but then goes on to say "what we do know" is thatthe "long-term disability" experienced by an individual patient is"truly false". Frankly, I don't know what to make of herself-contradictory statements, but it appears that Dr. Berry istrying to have it both ways by publicly accusing a patient of being aliar while pretending it would violate "patient privacy" to presentany evidence for her privacy-violating accusation.
Dr. Berry regularly campaigns against what she calls"misinformation", but from what I've seen, she may be the number onemisinformation super-spreader on the peninsula.https://www.porttownsendfreepress.com/2021/10/03/health-enforcers-catch-misinformation-fever/
Commissioners, it is not good enough simply to say you "back Dr.
Berry" regardless of whatever she says or does. Please attend to thespecifics of the questions I have raised. I am trying to give youand your employee an opportunity to clarify or retract statementsthat on their face appear to be actionable slander, violation ofHIPAA privacy rights, and abuse of public office.
Yours truly,Stephen SchumacherPort Townsend, WA