Now doctors say COVID-19 is like the common cold?

OPINION:

It’s back.

The federal government has approved new shots from Moderna and Pfizer as officials warn of the spread of several new variants of COVID-19.

“CDC is now recommending updated COVID-19 vaccination for everyone 6 months and older to better protect you and your loved ones,” said Dr. Mandy Cohen, director of the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention.

President Biden really wants everyone — unless you’re an infant — to get the shot. Moderna and the other COVID-19 vaccine makers, Novavax, Pfizer and German partner BioNTech SE, really want you to get the shot, too.

Moderna is running new commercials seeking to scare Americans so we’ll do it.

But over the weekend, a report came out from NBC News that said the symptoms of the latest strains of the once-deadly virus (if you were old or fat, that is) are just like those of the common cold.

“Doctors say they’re finding it increasingly difficult to distinguish Covid from allergies or the common cold, even as hospitalizations tick up,” said the story, which featured a sub-headline that read: “Doctors who treat Covid describe the ways the illness has gotten milder and shifted over time to mostly affect the upper respiratory tract.”

“The illness’ past hallmarks, such as a dry cough or the loss of sense of taste or smell, have become less common. Instead, doctors are observing milder disease, mostly concentrated in the upper respiratory tract,” the NBC piece said.

“Just about everyone who I’ve seen has had really mild symptoms,” said Dr. Erick Eiting, vice chair of operations for emergency medicine at Mount Sinai Downtown in New York City. “The only way that we knew that it was Covid was because we happened to be testing them.”

Not exactly cause to rush to the doctor, is it?

And guess what? This time around, the cost of the vaccination might not be covered, even if you have insurance. That’s what Glen Cote of Boston found out when he went to CVS for the new COVID-19 vaccine, only to receive a text saying the shot would cost $190.99.

“Nightmare is the first word that comes to mind,” Mr. Cote told WBZ-TV. He is covered by MassHealth, the state’s program for Medicaid.

Other posts on social media show people nationwide being charged $125 to $190 per shot.

So this time, is it all just a money grab? If the latest variant is indistinguishable from the common cold, why would anyone spend over $200 for the shot?

Before the online arbiters of truth send this column in the dank black hole from whence no light emerges, let me say everyone should follow their doctors’ advice: They say get the shot, you might want to get the shot.

But what’s weird is that Moderna is running ads that urge everyone to take the new vaccine. In January, the mRNA juggernaut reported that Spikevax, Moderna’s COVID-19 vaccine, generated more than $18 billion in revenue in 2022. That followed a haul of $17.7 billion in 2021.

And remember, you paid for that. The federal government offered Americans the “free” shot, and then it turned around and sent the big pharmaceutical companies our tax money to pay for it.

Pfizer cashed in big time, too. “The ongoing Covid-19 pandemic propelled pharmaceutical company Pfizer’s earnings to a record $100 billion last year, almost $57 billion of which was driven by its vaccine and antiviral pill Paxlovid,” the company said in January, according to NBC News.

The big pharmaceutical companies claim that no one will pay for the vaccine. But radio shock jock Howard Stern said on his Sirius XM show on Monday that he spent more than $300 for shots for his wife and himself.

So maybe don’t trust the pharmaceutical companies?

• Joseph Curl covered the White House and politics for a decade for The Washington Times. He can be reached at josephcurl@gmail.com and on X @josephcurl.