Long COVID Symptoms Linked to Vaccines

Facts

• Researchers at Harvard and Yale have begun probing a new phenomenon dubbed "long vax," where patients experience symptoms of long COVID for up to months after receiving the vaccine. These include headaches, extreme fatigue, an abnormal heart rate, and blood pressure fluctuations.¹
• Patients also cite tingling, electric shock-like sensations, burning pain, and blood circulation issues that appear as soon as hours after receiving the shot. While rarer than long COVID itself, Yale cardiologist Dr. Harlan Krumholz said, "It’s my obligation... to have an open mind."²
• Cardiologists Alan Kwan and Susan Cheng at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center analyzed data from 285K people in the Los Angeles area. They found that within 90 days after taking the vaccine, symptoms were 33% higher than the three months prior, though this was 19% less than unvaccinated patients who contracted COVID itself.³
• While the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) says adverse effects are rare and typically involve temporary muscle soreness, a growing number of doctors globally are describing patients with postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome (POTS), which includes dizziness, fatigue, and rapid heart rate.²
• One of the going theories is that since the vaccines use the COVID spike protein to induce protective antibodies, some people generate another round of antibodies targeting the first. They might then latch on to the ACE2 receptor, which, if disrupted, can cause high heart rates and blood pressure swings.³
• Despite both US and European regulators finding no definitive links between the vaccines and conditions like small fiber neuropathy or POTS, researchers believe it should be studied while also cautioning against using such cases to fuel vaccine criticisms.¹

Sources: ¹The Statesman, ²New York Post, and ³Archive.

Narratives

• Left narrative, as provided by USA Today. Symptoms like myocarditis, fatigue, and lung problems have certainly been found after inoculation, but they are found far more often and to a much greater degree after contracting the virus. Anti-vaxxers are using the same anecdotal arguments for the COVID vaccine that they did for previous ones, but the science is not on their side. Since the side effects are worse from the virus than the vaccine — which has saved countless lives — the benefits of vaccination undeniably outweigh the risks.
• Right narrative, as provided by The Daily Sceptic. If the data were on their side, the pro-COVID vaccine establishment wouldn't be censoring studies from world-renowned scientists. But that's exactly what happened to leading cardiologist Dr. Peter McCullough and Yale epidemiologist Dr. Harvey Risch's paper in the Lancet. What they found after analyzing 678 studies and 44 papers containing 325 autopsy cases after vaccination was that 74% of the deaths were caused by the vaccine. No one is saying the vaccine kills everybody or has no benefits, but there are sufficient red flags and anecdotal evidence to make its safety worth further investigation.