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The Virologist vs. The Surgeon:

Who Do You Trust When the Experts Declare War on Each Other?

June 13, 2025

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A Message from Dr. McMillan

The visible failures throughout the COVID-19 pandemic have deeply affected public perception and significantly eroded trust in health authorities. While some fallout was perhaps inevitable, the massive leadership changes now taking place across U.S. health institutions may be further amplifying uncertainty.

Most doctors entered medicine to care for people, not to serve industry interests. Many remain far removed from pharmaceutical influence or financial conflicts, yet they now find themselves caught in a system clouded by mistrust.

The key question is: How can they reclaim their role as trusted guides, offering clear, objective direction in a time when the public is more skeptical than ever?

Rebuilding trust will require honesty, humility, and a renewed focus on patient-centered care, not narratives. The opportunity is there. Will the profession rise to meet it?

Dr. Philip McMillan

In this week's June 13, 2025 update:

  • COVID-19: When the experts declare war on each other

  • Vejon: This week’s featured Vejon video

  • Health: Want to know your risk of getting Alzheimer’s?

  • Infographic: The virologist vs. the surgeon

  • News: Medical news in brief

  • Education: McMillan - Masterclass Live

    Read time: 6 minutes

FEATURE ARTICLE

COVID-19

  • Vanden Bossche warns mass vaccination is accelerating viral evolution and immune dysfunction, not making the virus safer.

  • Dr. Makary promotes shared decision-making, rejecting centralized vaccine mandates, but offers oversimplified messaging about COVID’s current threat.

  • The debate reflects a broader collapse in trust and credibility among public health institutions and their advisory committees.

  • While experts argue, simple therapeutic options like vitamin D remain ignored, creating a dangerous gap in COVID care guidance.

Why this is important: When expert consensus collapses, public trust falters. This clash reveals deep fractures in how we interpret COVID risk, manage evolving threats, and communicate uncertainty. It underscores the urgent need for adaptive strategies that balance population-level dynamics with individual risk, beyond binary choices and institutional dogma.

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ALZHEIMER’S DISEASE

  • 40% of older adults declined Alzheimer’s risk results due to fear, uncertainty, or traumatic personal experiences with the disease.

  • Risk predictions offer only modest accuracy and no actionable interventions exist for symptom-free individuals at high risk.

  • Black participants and those with a family history were significantly less likely to want to know their Alzheimer’s risk.

  • Scientists face ethical challenges as improved diagnostics outpace treatments, raising questions about disclosing uncertain personal risk information.

Why this is important: Knowing your future Alzheimer’s risk offers little benefit without effective treatments, and may cause emotional harm. This challenges assumptions about transparency in research and raises urgent ethical questions about whether participants should be told uncertain, distressing information simply because science can now provide it.

INFOGRAPHIC

EDUCATION

Join the live Masterclass sessions twice each month with priority Q&A access. Led by Dr McMillan, these cover a broad range of health and wellness topics. Also get unlimited access to the full library of recorded Masterclass sessions.

MEDICAL NEWS IN BRIEF

NEWS HIGHLIGHTS

🚥 Red Blood Cell Rupture, Not Clotting, Drives Vessel Blockage in COVID-19: Red blood cell fragments, not clots, may be jamming small blood vessels in COVID-19. This offers a new explanation for organ damage and clarifies why traditional anticoagulants often fail. Blocking this red cell–driven process could improve tissue perfusion, but doing so may risk bleeding and upset microvascular repair. [SOURCE]

🚥 Japanese Walking: The Benefits of This Fitness Trend: Alternating fast and slow walking in short intervals may improve blood pressure, leg strength, and fitness more effectively than traditional step goals. This makes it a time-efficient and accessible option for boosting longevity and countering age-related decline.

🚥 Use of Semaglutide Linked to Doubled Risk of Neovascular Macular Degeneration:
Long-term use of GLP-1 drugs like semaglutide may significantly increase the risk of vision-threatening eye disease in people with type 2 diabetes. While the absolute risk remains low, the clear dose-response pattern suggests a potential biological link that warrants caution and closer ophthalmic monitoring in high-risk patients. [SOURCE]

🚥Discovery of Distinct Pathway for Chronic Pain Opens Door to New Treatments: Chronic pain is now shown to follow a distinct biological pathway, separate from injury-related pain. This opens the door to targeted treatments for fibromyalgia, arthritis, and other long-misunderstood conditions that do not respond to standard painkillers. The discovery offers a precise drug target to finally address persistent, debilitating pain. [SOURCE]

🚥 Diverticular Disease: The Surprisingly Common Gut Condition You’ve Probably Never Heard Of: Diverticular disease is common yet often misunderstood. Updated guidance shows it can be managed and often prevented through simple, evidence-based changes: increasing fibre, staying hydrated, and keeping active. Dispelling old myths about diet empowers people to take practical steps toward long-term gut health and avoid serious complications like diverticulitis.

🚥 Over-the-Counter Supplement Could Prevent Heart Disease in Type 2 Diabetes Patients: A readily available antioxidant, mitoquinone, reversed early heart-failure changes in Type 2 diabetes within four months, improving cardiac energy use and relaxation without side-effects. If larger trials confirm these results, doctors could cheaply prescribe it to millions, easing a leading cause of mortality and healthcare cost.

BOOK NOOK

"Disease X: Are You Prepared?" is your comprehensive guide to navigating the uncertain future of global health. Drawing from experience and the latest scientific insights, this book offers:

  • Practical strategies for personal and community preparedness.

  • Lessons learned from COVID-19 and other outbreaks.

  • Actionable steps to boost resilience against emerging health threats.

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