Could there be a simple solution (or two) to reduce Covid deaths in older Americans?

My good friends Julie and David McCullough sent me a very interesting email this weekend. It contained links to two articles (here and here. The first of these provides far more detail) about a recent study that asked a simple question: Why is it so much more likely that people aged 50 and over will die of Covid-19 than younger people? This pattern hasn’t been evident in other viral diseases.

The researchers who asked this question wondered if the difference might be explained by other vaccinations. They noted specifically that the MMR (measles, mumps, rubella) vaccine became available in 1971. This means that adults who were born before then are much less likely to have received the vaccine. Someone born in 1970 would be 50 this year.

Of course, just the above facts don’t explain anything in themselves, since there could be all sorts of other reasons why people over 50 die of Covid at higher rates than those under 50. However, there are some countries that have tried to vaccinate all citizens in recent years; if the hypothesis is correct, those countries should have much lower Covid death rates among citizens over 50 than others. So the researchers did some comparisons of different countries – and what they found was really striking.

I’ll let you read the articles, but the most striking comparison is between Hong Kong and Belgium. Hong Kong has one of the lowest Covid death rates in the world, with just 4 deaths so far – out of a population of 7.5 million (i.e. about the size of New York City). They have been vaccinating adults for a long time, so a substantial portion of their population has had the MMR vaccine.

On the other hand, Belgium, with a population of about 12 million, has the highest rate of Covid deaths in the world. They didn’t even begin giving the full MMR vaccination (two doses 30 days apart) to children until 1995, and they don’t give it to adults, at least not unless they ask for it. They have had 7,844 deaths from Covid so far.

The researchers cite a host of other countries – almost all on the smaller side – that have vaccinated adults with MMR, who have all experienced few (and in a couple cases zero) Covid deaths.

I don’t usually jump at a particular study, but today I’ll call my doctor to see if he has any objections; then I’ll call my pharmacy to get the first MMR vaccine (I know I got a measles vaccine as a boy, but I doubt I got the MMR, since I was 19 when it came out. The study says that there are some resemblances between the rubella virus and the coronavirus, so the measles protection I have may be irrelevant for Covid protection).  

And while I’m on the subject of protections, you also ought to look at this article (coincidentally, by a doctor who is also a graduate of the same school in India that I and Dave McCullough attended – I for just my senior year of HS, he for most of his childhood). It discusses vitamin K2, and why it most likely will help prevent a Covid case from becoming serious – plus it seems to have some very good benefits in general. Since it’s cheap, I just ordered a bottle from Amazon. 

I would love to hear any comments or questions you have on this post. Drop me an email at tom@tomalrich.com.