McGeachin: Those shots can kill you

Breaking news from Lt. Gov. (and Republican gubernatorial candidate) Janice McGeachin:

If you received a COVID vaccine within the last 28 days, there’s a good chance that you will die soon. So, get your estate planning in order, your life insurance policy paid up and make a visit to your local funeral-home director for final arrangements.

Dearly beloved, we are gathered here … Yikes!

That’s no joke, according to McGeachin’s recent newsletter. She says that 69.49 percent of people who have died within 28 days of a positive COVID test were fully vaccinated and she’s calling on Gov. Brad Little to pay attention to those numbers.

Of course, this isn’t something coming from the Centers for Disease Control or the National Institutes of Health — government agencies that those of McGeachin’s ilk think are controlled by communists and socialists. Her findings don’t come from health experts such as Dr. Anthony Fauci, who obviously doesn’t know what he’s talking about. And there’s no consultation with the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare, or Idaho hospital administrators who have been dealing with the coronavirus for the last year and a half.

McGeachin’s “study” comes from the British Health Ministry, which bases its numbers on just over 1,000 fully-vaccinated patients in the U.K. — with almost 70 percent dying after a positive COVID test. Her release doesn’t say they died as a result of COVID, or a vaccine — they just died. The Post Register found several health and research experts who lampooned the lieutenant governor’s findings, calling them “misleading.”

But those numbers from far-away lands is enough for McGeachin to issue a call to action, which starts with the governor bringing the Legislature back into session to stop companies (and hospital administrators) from forcing employees to get vaccines.

“Governor Little, you’ve now been given notice of this issue,” she says. “The CDC is planning to release updated guidance on a third dose of the vaccine, because its efficiency is rapidly declining. The consequences of this are playing out in a nightmare scenario in Israel. What good is a vaccine if you need to take boosters every six to 12 months?”

Lately, the governor has been involved with other tasks — such as directing the National Guard to help hospitals that are overwhelmed with unvaccinated COVID patients. He also gives a pitch to Idahoans to get vaccinated.

“Idaho hospitals are beyond constrained,” Little says. “Our health care system is designed to deal with the everyday realities of life. Our health care system is not designed to withstand the prolonged strain caused by an unrestrained global pandemic. It is simply not sustainable. Please choose to receive the vaccine now to support your fellow Idahoans who need you.”

Those words are no comfort to McGeachin, who labels the governor’s pitch as “shameful.” She points to another study that suggests that natural COVID immunity is “far superior” to the immunity gained by the vaccine.

“Now for the big question: Why is Governor Little allowing companies to force-vaccinate Idahoans when the data is clear that they may be significantly worse off health-wise if they get vaccinated? People have a right to be skeptical about getting vaxxed. It’s a personal choice and I don’t believe the government, or any other private entity, should be forcing people to take a chance that bypassed all the normal safety and testing procedures, which often take years to properly conduct,” McGeachin says.

“If we allow these companies to force-vaccinate their employees, and we know the vaccine could increase mortality over that of an unvaccinated person, then every politician who allows this should be made accountable. Government’s job is to stop such an injustice and now it appears our governor is allowing it to happen with his blessing.”

For those who have been vaccinated, she says, “we need to monitor their health and make sure they are properly taken care of like we do for any other Idaho citizen.”

It’s easy to sneer and jeer at McGeachin, if you have been vaccinated and have no regrets. She isn’t going to win arguments with that crowd, which doesn’t necessarily vote in primaries.

The base that she is playing to — those who put her a heartbeat from the governor’s office in 2018 — vote religiously in primary elections.

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Chuck Malloy, a longtime Idaho journalist and Silver Valley native, is a columnist with Idaho Politics Weekly. He may be reached at ctmalloy@outlook.com.