In a new interview with Rocking With Jam Man, legendary drummer Carmine Appice was asked if he ever thought anything as crazy as the coronavirus lockdown and the pandemic would happen during his lifetime. He responded (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "No. I think it's all political. But we won't get into that. It went to the election. I think it was all planned. But anyway, we won't get into that." Asked if he enjoyed having a break from playing shows during the pandemic, the 74-year-old musician said: "No. I made do of it. But I didn't enjoy it. I would have rather been playing gigs. I used to do 60 gigs a year, and last year I did four. This year [I will end up playing] maybe 18, if they all happen. We still don't know. Like when we did me and my brother's gig, we had one gig in the middle that was blown out because of COVID. So, hopefully they won't be blown out, and everybody's getting vaccinated. And nobody even knows if the vaccination is really a vaccination or something to kill everybody. "I had to get vaccinated to travel," he revealed. "But it's crazy; it's all crazy. This is the craziest thing I've ever seen in my life. In all my years, I've never seen anything this crazy." Dr. Arturo Casadevall, chair of molecular microbiology and immunology at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, told CNBC that COVID-19 vaccines "are extremely safe," noting that the risks of the side effects from the vaccines are significantly lower than the health risks posed by the virus. "COVID, on the other hand, is deadly, unpredictable." COVID-19 vaccines have been studied in humans for more than a year now, and more than 185 million people have been fully vaccinated in the United States alone. There are several robust safety monitoring systems in place for these vaccines that can detect the very rare adverse events. Fully vaccinated people are 29 times less likely to be hospitalized because of the virus compared to those are unvaccinated, according to a study released by the CDC. Research shows that fully vaccinated people experience milder symptoms and are half as likely to develop several symptoms in the first week of illness compared to unvaccinated people. Appice is the original drummer of VANILLA FUDGE, with whom he still records and performs today. He has also played with CACTUS and BECK, BOGERT & APPICE, in addition to spending stints in the bands of Ozzy Osbourne and Rod Stewart, co-writing the latter's No. 1 hit "Da Ya Think I'm Sexy?" Carmine was named the 28th greatest drummer of all time by Rolling Stone magazine. Appice is widely considered to be one of the most accomplished showmen in rock and is the recipient of numerous awards, including dozens of gold- and platinum-selling records. Carmine has broken new ground in every aspect of his career as a performer, as a teacher, and as a writer, and he continues to inspire drummers and listeners throughout the world with his originality and his unwavering dedication to the art of drumming. Carmine's autobiography, "Stick It!: My Life Of Sex, Drums, And Rock 'N' Roll", was released in May 2016 by Chicago Review Press. Under the moniker APPICE, Carmine and his brother Vinny released "Sinister", their first joint studio album, in October 2017 through SPV/Steamhammer.
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