What We Must Learn From The Death of General Colin Powell: An American Hero’s Death From COVID-19 Complications, Despite Being Vaccinated.

The death of Colin Powell from complications of COVID-19 is a tragedy. But there is a loud and clear message in his death from COVID-19 complications, despite being vaccinated: We must use our COVID-19 vaccines intelligently.

General Colin Powell served America to the best of his abilities, despite his self-awareness of errors he had made in the run up to the Iraq war. He was a public servant of the highest caliber and is an American hero. But even at this moment of peril for America, there is an important message in his death from COVID-19 complications, despite being vaccinated.

I always admired General Colin Powell.

He was a principled American, a heroic one, who embodied the progress that is possible in an imperfectly perfect nation with a complex past.

General Powell was aware of his station in history and of his own errors — most notably the one he made on the military intelligence leading to the Iraq war. He was, in my opinion, an imperfectly perfect public servant with a complex life story and enough intelligence and humility to love America despite her blemishes.

His death yesterday from complications of COVID-19 is an American tragedy.

To me, the death of this high level military leader and American diplomat, is symbolic of the assault unleashed on our nation by a virus from a far away land that, amazingly, itself is not doing terribly badly. China has not suffered as we have.

But, more importantly, the general’s death is a loud and clear public health signal to us Americans and our public health agencies. Because General Powell died of “complications of COVID-19”, despite being fully vaccinated.

Now, the medical details of his death are not a matter of public record — so only his doctors and his family will know what is true.

Nevertheless, there are a finite set of questions and possibilities leading to his death, all of which, it is my intent to set out in this writing for the public benefit and record.

I believe that even in his death, General Powell is serve our nation — if only the president and his public health agencies could have sufficient humility to look with care — and see what they are missing.

Here are the facts we know:

1. The General was Fully vaccinated against COVID-19,
2. It is generally stated that the General died of “complications of COVID-19”,
3. The General was over the age of 80 and in the high risk age demographic.

Here is what we do not know:

1. Did the General have a confirmed COVID-19 infection at the time of his illness?
2. Was the General adequately immunized by his vaccine?
3. Did the General receive a booster shot — and did the booster trigger him to become ill?

There are only two possibilities in interpreting the public statement that the general, despite being fully vaccinated against COVID-19, died of “complications of COVID-19”:

1. That he contracted a COVID-19 infection despite being vaccinated, because he was not adequately immunized by his vaccination. Either because to begin with he was inadequately immune, or because his antibody immunity level waned.
2. That he was already highly immune to COVID-19 from his prior immunization, yet he underwent a “one-size-fit-all” booster shot, which triggered a deadly hyper-inflammatory response in his body.

From a medical and immunological perspective there are no other explanations. One or the other of the above will be true — and irrespective of the General history of multiple myeloma.

And irrespective of which explanation is true, the whole catastrophe and the tragedy of General Powell’s death could have been averted if our public health officials were intelligent and clear-sighted enough to encourage ALL Americans to evaluate the status of their immunity to COVID-19 using serological antibody testing routinely — and especially those who are in the high risk age demographic.

If Mr. Powell had been given the opportunity and health insight by our FDA and CDC to actually test his COVID-19 antibody levels in a timely fashion, it is highly likely that he would have been able to avert this disaster.

To be clear, If Mr. Powell had undergone antibody testing in a timely fashion two things would become clear:

1. whether his antibody levels from vaccination are adequate to protect him from an infection,
2. whether his antibody levels are low enough to necessitate a booster shot.

Unfortunately, it is highly unlikely that General Powell was offered the benefit of assessing the status of immunity to COVID-19.

The General was literally flying blind in a storm with the false assurance that either : a) his vaccine is adequately protecting him, or b) he is adequately immunized and does not need a booster shot.

Either way, the General’s death is an extremely ominous sign for Dr. Fauci and the rest of our public health leaders in the Biden administration, because on May 19, 2021, the US Food and Drug Administration and the CDC actively discouraged Americans and their physicians from assessing COVID-19 antibodies.

As I have written previously, THIS FDA ADVISORY is a clear and present danger to the national health and economic security of the United States — and it has been installed by the Biden administration’s public health agencies based on a terribly incorrect public health calculus.

This advisory is simply one of the most dramatic public health blunders being committed by our federal agencies in this pandemic, because it prevents most Americans from accessing their personal immunity status to a pandemic virus that has killed over 700,000 of us and maimed many more.

General Powell’s tragic death ought not simply be accepted as another unfortunate COVID death. Because it is not only highly symbolic of the attack the United States has sustained, but more importantly the General’s tragic and untimely sacrifice is providing us a clear path forward: The Biden Administration MUST focus squarely on allowing Americans access to their personal immunity status with all urgency and IMMEDIATELY rescind the FDA’s May 19, 2021 advisory.

I pray that General Powell’s soul rests in peace and that we are wise enough, as a nation, to see that his death as the guidepost that it is….Like every other American hero’s who came before him.

Hooman Noorchashm MD, PhD

Fall 2021.