Early in the pandemic, the “conservative” Red Pill Expo advertised how “one of the most popular and most Internet-banned truth-tellers” would appear at the conference and “strike at the roots of the greatest medical hoax of all time” – the China virus. The promo said, “Virus? Virus? WHAT Virus? This Doctor Says There is no Such Thing!”

This kind of propaganda is cruel. Many who accepted this claim got sick and some died. More than one million Americans have died so far in a pandemic that shows no sign of ending.

In a follow-up, the speaker at that conservative conference was quoted as saying that vaccines would “decimate the world’s population” when the China virus was already doing that. But in the U.S., because of the vaccines, we have returned to a fairly normal lifestyle. In China, which lags far behind the U.S. in mRNA technology, people are still being locked up.

The vaccines have given back to the American people the freedom they claim as a birthright.

As a Reagan-style conservative, I oppose the vaccine mandates and believe in leaving this decision to people to freely decide. But they should make educated and informed decisions about the COVID shots.

If you don’t want the shots, you can avoid them or quit working for companies that require them. You can even believe the disease is a hoax.

However, Fox News medical analyst Marc Siegel, M.D., a professor of medicine and medical director of Doctor Radio at NYU Langone Medical Center, says, “As a physician, I am a big believer in the COVID vaccines, and the latest Omicron-specific booster has been shown to be even more effective at inducing a neutralizing antibody effect than was anticipated.”

He adds, “There is also evidence that the COVID mRNA vaccines decrease the risk of long COVID, that they are very safe and effective in young children and that the supposed risk of myocarditis from the vaccine in young male teens has been greatly exaggerated.”

Looking back, conservatives have to remember how they were told that COVID was a hoax and didn’t exist. Some said that Trump’s Warp Speed COVID vaccines carried Mark of the Beast microchips so you could be tracked after the jab. Others said the shot was magnetic and linked to 5G communications networks, the next generation of high-speed wireless technology.

None of this was true.

It is reminiscent of the claims that the bar code used to ring up your groceries was the Mark of the Beast.

I am used to hearing scares from the cottage industry of gloom and doom, many of them anxious to hear that the return of Jesus Christ to the earth is just around the corner. But the first generation of Christians believed that, too.

And yet here we are.

The jab has not been without side-effects, like all new drugs and medical devices, and they have not been as effective as advertised. Ominously, however, a new study shows “substantially higher excess death rates for registered Republicans when compared to registered Democrats,” as a result of people accepting sensational claims and failing to get the jab when it could have made a difference in their lives.

Rather than take the jab, some thought vitamins would save their lives. Vitamins can be beneficial under certain circumstances. When I was diagnosed with COVID, the doctor suggested vitamins C, D, and Zinc. I decided to take some vitamins, but I am still not sure about their effectiveness. Instead, I eat lots of fruits and vegetables.

Talk show host Alex Jones, notorious for claiming the Sandy Hook massacre was a hoax, went so far as to allegedly claim dietary supplements and creams would cure or prevent COVID.

That claim was pure bunk.

Jones, who claims to be a MAGA superstar, went on trial for his false claims about the Sandy Hook massacre. The first trial resulted in leveling tens of millions of dollars in damages against his “Free Speech” company. His second defamation trial resulted in a judgment of almost $1 billion.

The financial damages are related to the reported harassment and death threats by Jones’ followers against families of the victims.

Faced with bankruptcy and the loss of his five homes to pay for the damages, this multi-millionaire now says he was wrong to claim the massacre was a hoax. He’s trying to save what’s left of his empire.

It’s correct to oppose COVID mandates. At the same time, we should be rallying to the cause of those who have gotten the disease and continue to suffer from it. Many of them recently protested at the White House against Joe Biden’s false claim that the pandemic was over. Millions of Americans have what is called “long COVID” or lingering health problems associated with the disease.

COVID is definitely not the ordinary flu. That’s why 80 percent of America’s seniors have taken the vaccines and survived COVID. They believe it offers some level of protection from the virus and regard the extreme anti-vaxxers as nuts.

We all know that the government failed to protect Americans against the China virus and is implicated in its development. In the face of this onslaught, whether you like it or not, so-called “Big Pharma” can be a life-saver. Trump recognized this fact. Conservatives should respond with compassion to the victims of this deadly disease.

I will choose Big Pharma, including the mRNA vaccines authorized by Trump, over the hucksters, any day.

Remember that, despite the controversy over the COVID vaccine, we have all taken vaccines to guard against illness and death. It is likely you or your children have been inoculated against:

• Hepatitis B (HBV)

• Diphtheria-Tetanus-Pertussis (DTaP, or DT if appropriate)

• Poliomyelitis (IPV or OPV).

• Measles, Mumps, Rubella.

• Varicella.

• Hepatitis A.

General George Washington, fighting for American independence, implemented a system of inoculation against smallpox, considered at the time an “experimental” approach, like the mRNA technology of today. Some of his contemporaries feared the scheme but it helped the Revolutionary Army survive and win.

Today, the controversy is over the effect of the China virus on children and whether the vaccine will save them from hospitalization and death.

“CDC is correct in adding the COVID-19 mRNA vaccines to their list of suggested vaccines for children,” says Fox News medical analyst Dr. Marc Siegel. “The next part is up to the states, but I believe that your children would likely benefit from these shots, as mine already have.”

I choose to believe Dr. Siegel and not Alex Jones.