Eve is here. There are significant changes in the previous code, but Omerta I’m all for the side effects of the coronavirus, but this piece still irritates me. We’re still repeating the well-worn, and arguably false, metaphor that side effects from coronavirus vaccines are rare.
Consider what “rare” means in U.S. medical terminology. This text is johnson & johnson Similar to those on other sites:
What makes a disease rare is how prevalent it is, that is, the number of people living with it. In the United States, a rare disease is one that affects fewer than 200,000 people. (In other words, 60 people per 100,000 people.)
Around the world, rare diseases are identified and addressed in a variety of ways. The European Union considers a disease to be rare if it affects fewer than 50 people per 100,000 people. The World Health Organization, on the other hand, defines rare diseases as diseases that affect fewer than 65 people per 100,000 people.
Other medical sites refer to “rare diseases” as if they were “rare diseases.”
I personally know four people who have had serious side effects from the COVID-19 vaccination (these are direct contacts, not commentator members). One person who went to the ER for treatment was told that if he had arrived later, he would have suffered severe and lasting effects.
If it takes a population of 100,000 people to cause 60 side effects of the coronavirus, which is what it means to use the term, but in order for me to know the 4 side effects, my personal (extended) The population of contacts should be something (rather than something personal). Something like 6,667. If only to limit the “severe” cases that I know of that require medical intervention. 3, the population would need to be 5,000 to expect this many incidents. In reality, it’s probably an order of magnitude lower than that. No, my case was not old or sick.
IM Doc’s data from a much larger patient population (he sent many detailed examples of side effects to the Covid Brain Trust, which were also surprisingly diverse) is better than my personal witnessing. I think it will become even more dramatic.
The second issue not acknowledged below is that discussion about the side effects of Covid was not only actively suppressed, but also reported to VAERS. IM Doc once again told us the harrowing details of the long battle to get VAERS to accept the case it was looking at, including inevitably unsuccessful efforts to overturn the denial. Of the 4 cases I mentioned, I’m sure 2 were not reported to VAERS, and I’m sure the other 2 weren’t either (even though the ER staff in the cases above They volunteered that the emergency was a result of Covid vaccination, meaning this was not the first case of this kind they had seen).
The confusing issue, of course, is that anti-vaxxers have a bias against health problems that are outside the scope of vaccination. If the vaccination was not given immediately before vaccination or if the infection is confirmed, these symptoms may occur, as well as menstrual changes that are persistent enough to suggest changes in fertility (which the medical community tends to ignore). are much more likely to be the result of long-term coronavirus health problems.
The topic of coronavirus vaccines has become so deeply politicized that the issue of their unapproved status has led to widespread vaccination hesitancy, even for older vaccines with very good safety profiles. So we’re sure to see pent-up anger against the coronavirus vaccine (questionable vaccine results, punitive mandates) creating a full-throttle critique under Trump 2.0. However, the lack of proper data means that the demonization is less fact-based than previous, perfunctory defenses.
Written by Anthony Flint, a writer based in Brookline, Massachusetts. It was first published in harvard public health Cross posted from magazine; underdark
3 and 1 Six months ago, I contracted Guillain-Barre syndrome after receiving the novel coronavirus vector vaccine manufactured by Johnson & Johnson (Janssen). Because of my neuropathy, I am hobbled by numbness in my limbs, wobble off balance, and struggle with debilitating fatigue. And I, and thousands of others, feel ignored and unheard by governments and public health agencies.
For 2021 experiences, boston globeafter the FDA attached a warning. J&J shotcites unacceptable occurrences of this negative impact. At the time, I lamented how difficult it was to talk about vaccine side effects and argued that governments and public health authorities should face them honestly. I said everyone would benefit because people would be able to deal with the truth, and recognizing the rare cases where things go wrong would allow vaccine makers to design better products.
Three years later, that still hasn’t happened. Public health officials, frightened by anti-vaxxer crowds, stuck to their claims that coronavirus vaccines are safe and effective. And the existing system for dealing with people injured by vaccines, established under President Ronald Reagan, has been largely abandoned.
Of course, vaccines save lives. But the “we don’t see anything here” attitude about side effects of legitimate vaccines means that governments are telling us the same way they did when romaine lettuce and lunch meat were contaminated and airbags were contaminated. It prevents us from working together to track product defects. It doesn’t work properly.
And, as the medical industry is well aware, it is flawed in practice. Some vaccines have problems with Guillain-Barre syndrome, also known as GBS. In 1976, swine flu vaccine It caused so many incidents that it had to be stopped. The flu shot is associated with a “slightly increased risk.” During the pandemic, the J&J vaccine was effectively shut down in the US for causing at least 100 GBS cases, and the AstraZeneca vaccine was linked to hundreds more cases. Recently, roofing board manufacturers and RSV The vaccine should have come with a warning about GBS.
Intuitively it makes sense. GBS is essentially an autoimmune reaction. Vaccines work by tricking the immune system into attacking targets like the coronavirus. In some people, rogue antibodies can take the fight too far and start attacking the body’s peripheral nervous system. This is a frightening and thoroughly damaging case of friendly fire.
One would think that authorities would not want to hide anything that could further raise doubts about the vaccine. But unlike some other countries (Canada comes to mind), the United States has not managed this issue as simply and dispassionately as it deserves. And while that’s a tiny fraction of the 230 million people who have contracted COVID-19, thousands of people are suffering because of it.
It doesn’t have to be this way. We have a process in place to handle this issue. The Childhood Vaccine Injuries Act of 1986 provided immunity from lawsuits to vaccine manufacturers to expedite product development. National Vaccine Injury Compensation Programor NVICP. The program allows individuals harmed by vaccines to share what happened to them and receive compensation, funded by a small excise tax on vaccines. Covered vaccinations include tetanus, measles, mumps, rubella, polio, hepatitis B, and influenza. These cases are decided by special judges of the United States Court of Federal Claims.
Unfortunately, that perfectly sensible system was overshadowed by a flawed and hastily prepared program put in place after the 9/11 terrorist attacks. Countermeasure injury compensation systemor CICP. If someone suffers side effects during a public health emergency, for example from mass smallpox vaccination, that person can make a claim to cover (at least) lost wages and medical costs.
CICP seems like common sense liability protection, but after the greatest public health emergency of our lifetimes, it became clear that it was not up to the task. Many claims are summarily dismissed and, barring recent major awards, administrative masters compensated A total of 15 people made less than $60,000, and in the case of Guillain-Barre, none.
So why not cover COVID-19 vaccines under NVICP, a program that is working very well? It would require an act of Congress to do so. politics of pandemic I stopped everything.
Democrats appear to want to include public health agencies and avoid a dangerous situation. criticize vaccines. Republicans, on the other hand, talk a lot about the downsides of vaccination, but won’t approve an excise tax on drug companies to fund compensation for victims. of Vaccine Injury Compensation Modernization ActA bill to add COVID-19 vaccinations to the NVICP is currently languishing, along with other bills that would improve reporting protocols and add a special corps of masters to adjudicate claims.
“We are entitled to reasonable remedies in lieu of litigation,” said Director of Legal Affairs Christopher A. Dreisbach. reaction 19an organization that supports approximately 20,000 people suffering from the negative effects of the new coronavirus vaccine. Dreisbach, who was diagnosed with chronic inflammatory demyelinating polyneuropathy (essentially a relapsed version of Guillain-Barre) after receiving the Pfizer vaccine, said he didn’t expect much to happen in Washington before Election Day. There wasn’t, he said. But at least two currents lawsuit They argue that the government’s current procedures for people injured by vaccination violate their constitutional rights. The lawsuits are concerning enough for drug companies that they may need to work more actively with Congress and reform advocates.
It’s been three years since my essay called for an honest discussion about vaccine side effects, and what’s most disappointing to me is that some medical and public health experts still refuse to acknowledge the empirical truth. and thereby giving lawmakers and public health officials the cover to do nothing. . To this day, some doctors, including my own at a well-known local hospital, deny that Guillain-Barre is a side effect of the J&J injection. At a conference for GBS survivors, another participant told the audience they should feel safe getting vaccinated. When I objected – I have been told that I should not risk receiving any type of injection for the rest of my life – he responded with an obvious response, as if I were an anti-vaxxer. He looked at me with disdain and rattled off what seemed to be a prepared statement. Here are some tips for dealing with crazy people. Meanwhile, my fellow journalists have mostly stuck to pro-vaccine orthodoxy, with The New York Times braveexception.
I assure you, I’m not wearing a tinfoil hat. I simply believe that as a society we have a duty to be fair and transparent. I am seeking the ability to publicly document what happened to me in hopes of providing data that medical institutions and pharmaceutical companies can use to create better vaccines.
