Thousands say the US ignored the effects of the covid vaccine

Thousands of Americans who claim to have suffered adverse effects from Covid-19 vaccines say they have been neglected by the US government and health authorities. According to an investigation by the newspaper New York Timesof the 270 million people vaccinated by April 2024, around 13,000 sought compensation for injuries possibly related to the vaccine, but only 47 were considered eligible.

Concern about serious side effects resulting from coronavirus vaccines resurfaced this week, when pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca recognized in a court case the possibility of rare adverse effects linked to its vaccine.

The vaccine, which has been authorized in Brazil since January 17, 2021, is not permitted in the USA. In the country, 677 million doses of covid vaccines were administered, with approval from the FDA (Food and Drug Administration) for only 5 variations: Comirnaty, Moderna, Novavax, Pfizer-BioNTech and Spikevax.

According to the newspaper, federal health officials assured that serious side effects were rare and that surveillance was effective in detecting problems. However, professionals in the field now express regret at the lack of transparency regarding the adverse effects of vaccines. Janet Woodcock, acting FDA commissioner in 2021, said she believes some vaccine recipients have suffered unusual reactions, but that “that changed their lives”.

For more than a year, the New York Times interviewed 30 people who claimed to have suffered adverse effects from covid vaccines. They reported a variety of symptoms, some neurological, autoimmune and cardiovascular.

Read some reports:

• Shaun Barcavage (54 years old): had an increase in heart rate when standing after the 1st dose of the covid vaccine, indicating postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome. He also felt pain in his eyes, mouth and genitals, and continued to have ringing in his ears;
• Renee France (49 years old): developed Bell’s palsy – a form of facial paralysis, usually temporary – and a rash after vaccination, with doctors dismissing the connection with Covid vaccines. The rash, an outbreak of shingles, left her weak for 3 weeks;
• Michelle Zimmerman (37 years old): felt intense pain radiating from his left arm to his ear and fingertips after receiving the Janssen vaccine. Within days, she became extremely sensitive to light and had difficulty remembering simple facts, and was later diagnosed with brain damage.

According to the newspaper, US federal health authorities still do not believe that Covid vaccines caused the reported illnesses.

Although they can cause transient reactions such as fatigue and fever, the CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, in Portuguese) has officially documented only 4 serious and rare side effects, including Guillain-Barré syndrome and blood clotting disorders associated with the Janssen vaccine. . Heart inflammation linked to the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna vaccines has also been reported.

But US authorities face difficulties in identifying possible side effects of vaccines because of the fragmentation of the healthcare system in the US, which complicates the detection of extremely rare reactions.

O New York Times analyzed how countries with centralized healthcare systems addressed reports of serious side effects from Covid-19 vaccines. For example, in Hong Kong, the government reviewed patients’ medical records after vaccination and encouraged people to report any problems, including offering financial compensation.

Experts say this approach has resulted in the identification of adverse reactions that might otherwise go unnoticed.