Graham Hetrick has a minority view on pandemic response, and he can’t shut up about it

Graham Hetrick has made a career of signing off on cause of death reports as Dauphin County coroner.

But lately, he’s been authoring an evolving minority report if you will on the coronavirus pandemic, one that clashes loudly with the medical establishment on issues such as the effectiveness of vaccines and the usefulness of masking.

“I’m a little surprised that a public official would think he knows better than all of these organizations,” a UPMC infectious disease specialist told ABC27 Wednesday. “A result of these kinds of conspiracy theories are people who got sick, people who ended up in the hospital and there are people who died.”

In Dauphin County, it’s become an inflection point for questions like when is science truly settled, and in a country that honors freedom speech and expression, can we still accommodate different opinions about that.

Hetrick, who is not a medical doctor but has worked as a death investigator now for 31 years, gave an eight-minute presentation to the Central Dauphin School Board on Monday night where he argued against a masking mandate for district students and staff, and challenged public health orthodoxy on masking, vaccines and even broader societal approaches to the pandemic like last spring’s economic shutdowns.

Even though some of the claims flew in the face of widely-reported data, Hetrick cited varied sources including peer-reviewed research, the back of a box of paper masks, and his own common sense.

1, That sustained mask-wearing raises carbon dioxide levels in the bloodstream and contributes to other changes in heart rates, body temperatures. At the same time, Hetrick said, reading from the back of a box of paper masks, the makers go out of their way to make sure the buyer knows they aren’t guaranteeing against contagious disease or infection.

Hetrick cited a peer-reviewed study for the American Association of Physicians and Surgeons. AAPS is known as a conservative-oriented group known for opposing government involvement in medicine and that in the past has viewed federal vaccine mandates as a violation of human rights.

Last November, it was rated as an “extreme right questionable source” by the website mediabias/factcheck.

It is also true that one major Centers for Disease Control and Prevention study reported last May, however, found that some common mitigation strategies in schools - including student masking - were found to not have a statistically significant benefit in stopping the spread of the virus in schools.

Even so, major groups like the CDC and the American Academy of Pediatricians have called for universal masking in schools, in large part because vaccines are not available for children under 12. Most educators and parents, meanwhile, are interested in any measure that could help preserve the return to in-person instruction.

But Dr. John Goldman, an infectious disease specialist and vice president of medical affairs for UPMC in central Pennsylvania, told PennLive recently that in his personal experience at the hospital there is no evidence showing that masks are harmful to the wearer or that they compromise job performance or learning.

“One of the things we know is that people often wear masks long term while doing very demanding physical and mental work in hospitals,” he said. “There are surgeries where surgeons wear surgical masks that last 8 to 12 hours. A surgeon does the most demanding kind of mental work with a mask on for a long period of time. We have never had any physical or mental issues because of the masks.”

it is true that through the course of the pandemic thus far, pediatric hospitalizations and deaths from COVID have been minuscule compared with the at-large population.

But this summer, as the delta variant has raged through areas where vaccine uptake is low, there have been reports of increasing numbers of pediatric cases requiring hospitalization, and some public health experts are worried that trend will continue as the children go back to school across the nation.

Many children’s hospitals, The Wall Street Journal reported this week, are also preparing staff for an uptick in multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children. MIS-C, as it is sometimes known, is a rare condition that can occur several weeks after COVID-19 infection, and if not properly diagnosed or treated it can lead to organ damage or even death.

4, That the COVID vaccines in use in the United States aren’t as effective as advertised, and may be dangerous. Hetrick cited increased rates of hospitalization of vaccinated persons in Israel this summer, and some incidents of deaths reported among vaccine recipients.

The FDA, in approving the Pfizer vaccine this week, found that its efficacy rate in stopping the disease is 91 percent - meaning that if a group of unvaccinated people had 100 cases of COVID disease over time, in a same-sized group of vaccinated people there should only be nine cases.

The agency also stated while there have been increased reports of heart inflammation after the second dose of the Pfizer vaccine - particularly in male adolescents and young adults 16 and older (about 1 for every 15,000 recipients for males age 12-17) - under a “most likely” scenario of case counts and vaccine efficacy the benefits of getting the shot “clearly outweigh” any excess risk.

The FDA also said in most cases, the myocarditis patients have recovered with “conservative management,” in some cases intensive care support was needed. The agency has mandated warnings and ongoing study of the myocarditis issue.

As for deaths, the FDA said that the only death registered among vaccine recipients this far with a plausible connection to vaccines is a blood clotting condition that has been observed in six recipients of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine. In those cases, all found among women ages 18-48, one patient died.

That caused the FDA to temporarily suspend use of that vaccine earlier this year but it has since resumed.

In the other deaths reported among vaccine recipients, reviews of available clinical information, including death certificates, autopsy, and medical records, have not established a causal link to COVID-19 vaccines,” said agency spokeswoman Abby Capobianco.

Data published by Israel’s Ministry of Health in late July suggested that the Pfizer shot was just 39 percent effective against preventing infection in the country in late June and early July, compared with 95 percent from January to early April. In both periods, however, the shot was more than 90 percent effective in preventing severe disease.

That report helped generate global interest in booster shots, but some epidemiologists cautioned the latest study was much smaller than earlier reviews and as such has a much higher degree of uncertainty.

What it all boils down to, Hetrick said in a follow-up interview with PennLive on Wednesday, is that he strongly believes “people – they’re called American citizens – should be able to make a choice of what they put in their body, and what they wear as a medical device. It’s your choice.”

UPMC’s Goldman, in an interview with ABC27 News on Tuesday, urged people to trust the mainstream medical organizations.

The Dauphin County commissioners issued a statement making clear that Hetrick is not speaking for them or setting county policy when it comes to COVID.

As a board, county spokesman Brett Hambright said, they have advised department heads to follow CDC guidance regarding masking. “The commissioners have been supportive of programs and ongoing efforts to educate the public on vaccination, and we have partnered with providers to offer the vaccine to those who wish to have it,” he added.

At the same time, the board said, the coroner is an independently elected official and they cannot control what he says.

Central Dauphin School Board member Eric Epstein noted that while Hetrick’s “Covidian cult arguments” Monday night got all the attention, Hetrick was soundly rebutted “by several physicians who did not receive the same amount of attention but possess medical credentials and vast experience treating victims of the pandemic.”

Epstein was part of a 7-2 majority to vote to require face masks for students and staff in Central Dauphin at the start of the new school year, with the policy to be reviewed monthly as the school year progresses.

Hetrick, a Republican who had his own bout with COVID and said he is now “naturally vaccinated” with antibodies as a result, makes no apologies for starting the debate, and said he hopes more people will take the time to educate themselves and make their own informed choices as the pandemic progresses.

In the past, for example, Hetrick has also argued that the public health community in general should have pushed measures such as getting people of color – a group that has had worse outcomes with COVID – to take Vitamin D and other supplements to put themselves in a better position to fight the disease, and the doctors should have been allowed to try more kinds of drugs to help with treatment in early stages of the disease.

“It’s certainly painful. It’s depressing that I can’t have a conversation without being called a conspiracy theorist or something like that,” Hetrick said. “Do you think I like this? I’m going through living hell right now. But the last time I checked Americans were in charge of their bodies, their health – even though they don’t do a very good job of it – their speech and their opinions.

“I can look at peer-reviewed papers and I can have an opinion. Somebody else can look at peer-reviewed papers and for some reason or another, they might live in a different perspective, and they say: ‘No, I don’t agree with you.’ That’s fine. But that doesn’t make enemies. It makes us have a better conversation because we’re looking at all the evidence, not just that which is affiliated with a cause.”

What it all boils down to, Hetrick said in a follow-up interview with PennLive on Wednesday, is that he strongly believes “people – they’re called American citizens – should be able to make a choice of what they put in their body, and what they wear as a medical device. It’s your choice.”

Pennsylvania Ping!

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What about....

Died peacefully in his/her sleep?

Or, .... Died unexpectedly.

Sings of sudden heart issues.

Are you still seeing the same amount of .... after a courageous battle with..... ?

Or, Donations can be made to the ________ Association?

Just something to look at.

“Unexpectedly” is generally the genteel coding of ODs a/o suicides in Obituaries in these parts.

Used to be, here, too. Pretty much a rarity....as in a very low number.

Until this past year....

Yep.

Cancer is cancer, unfortunately.

Maybe even more so, with folks not getting their check ups/treatments, this past year.

🤷‍♀️

In Dauphin County, it's become an inflection point for questions like when is science truly settled,

Never. Science is never settled because Science is a process not a religious faith. Although you would never know that by the way some people are throwing the word around.

and in a country that honors freedom speech and expression, can we still accommodate different opinions about that.

Only if you actually are in favor of Science and Civilization.

I am personally a fan of both but they rest on the foundation of freedom of expression.

13 posted on 08/25/2021 9:40:34 PM PDT by Harmless Teddy Bear (I refuse to be afraid. I refuse to bow. I refuse to take any job I do not wish to. So BUZZ OFF!)

There used to be a show about him on Investigation Discovery…a true crime station…called The Coroner IIRC.

It’s useful to know what the enemy is thinking & doing. ‘Pennlive’ is the biggest bunch of Leftist propaganda in Pennsylvania. I include the ‘Philly Stinkquire’ when I say that.

“I’m a little surprised that a public official would think he knows better than all of these organizations,”
"...and all their lawyers." That's what's wrong with government, mass media, the medical industry, hell, even the factory I work at. Lawyers. Turning everyday responsibility into liability.

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