6 Reasons You Might Be at Higher Risk of Injury From a COVID Vaccine
Why do some people report adverse events after COVID-19 vaccinations while some do not? Doctors have identified several factors that contribute to an increased risk of spike protein-induced disease, specifically, post COVID-19 vaccine injury.
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By Marina Zhang
Why do some people report adverse events after COVID-19 vaccinations while some do not?
This question is central to the controversy of COVID-19 vaccine adverse events.
Doctors have identified several factors that contribute to an increased risk of spike protein-induced disease, specifically, post COVID-19 vaccine injury.
Dr. Paul Marik, Front Line COVID-19 Critical Care Alliance (FLCCC) co-founder, said at an FLCCC conference on Oct. 15 that long COVID and injury from the COVID-19 vaccines share many overlaps in their symptoms and mechanisms.
Both diseases are systemic, affecting multiple organs and tissues, and are both driven by a high load of spike protein accumulated in these organs and tissues.
These spike proteins trigger inflammation, mitochondrial dysfunction and autoimmunity.
However, not everyone will experience these symptoms.
Whether a person will suffer from vaccine injuries is dependent on both permanent factors and temporal factors impacted by actions and choices.
Spike protein exposure increases risk, severity
The best way to reduce spike protein injuries is to reduce opportunities of spike protein exposure through infections or vaccinations.
While early treatment can usually prevent spike protein injury by quickly clearing the infection, a vaccine administer spike protein genetic material into the muscles and blood vessels.
There is a dose response with the vaccine, such that the greater the number of vaccine doses, the higher the risk of spike protein injury.
“The more the patients are exposed to spike [proteins], the more severe the disease,” said Marik.
Both long COVID and injury from COVID-19 vaccines are driven by prolonged exposure to spike proteins through infection and vaccination respectively, he explained.
Dr. Flavio Cadegianni hypothesized that receiving COVID-19 vaccines after having had COVID-19 increases one’s risk of spike protein injury.
This is because vaccines likely trigger a higher amount of spike protein load in the bloodstream than a common COVID-19 infection.
In a common COVID-19 infection, it is difficult for the virus to enter the bloodstream through the lungs, but the vaccination gives spike protein mRNA and DNA a one-way ticket into the deltoid and then into the bloodstream.
The mRNA and DNA vaccines then enter the blood vessels and endothelial cells, these cells then produce spike proteins and present them on their cellular surface, resulting in an immune attack against these cells.
Spike proteins from vaccines can also be free-floating in the bloodstream and the extracellular fluid.
These spike proteins can trigger inflammatory pathways by binding to and reducing ACE2 receptors, forming complexes with antibodies and affecting immune pathways, leading to pro-inflammatory responses.
Spike proteins from vaccination have been observed to be present even at nine months following vaccination, so subsequent shots and boosters could lead to more spike protein production, increased inflammatory complexes formation and higher risk of symptom onset.
Dr. Pierre Kory, co-founder of FLCCC, who now has a clinic for treating long COVID and vaccine injury, said that he noticed his patients with either of these conditions would appear to worsen with subsequent spike exposures.
He said he recommended his long-haul and vaccine-injured patients to therefore avoid opportunities that may lead to spike protein exposure lest their symptoms go out of control.
Varied loads in vaccines
Not all vaccine vials are made the same.
How Bad is My Batch is a website that compiles data on adverse events from the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS) on COVID-19 vaccination.
By separating each adverse event into its corresponding vaccine batch, the website has shown that some vials were made different from others, as they are associated with a greater number of adverse events, deaths and disabilities.
This could be due to impurities in the vaccines.
Leaked emails from staff in the European Medicines Agency showed that the agency only asked for 50% mRNA integrity in their Pfizer vaccinations.
However, potential issues could also be due to the dosage; some vials may have a higher mRNA or DNA spike protein content than others.
Currently, doctors have no way to verify what is in the vials.
“We basically do not know what’s in these vaccines,” said Dr. Meryl Nass, an FLCCC-affiliated internal medicine specialist at the FLCCC conference. Doctors only know that some people are injured and that not all vials are made the same.
Dr. Nass had her medical license suspended by the Board of Licensure in Medicine, or BOLIM, a state agency that regulates medical licensing in Maine.
In January, she received an order to submit to a neuropsychological evaluation by a psychologist selected by BOLIM to determine whether she was competent to practice medicine, citing her online criticism of COVID-19 policies as cause for concern.
She filed a lawsuit and recently had a hearing.
Genetic factors
“There’s a genetic predisposition,” said Marik. “If someone in the family is vaccine injured, it is very common that the brothers of that individual … [will also become] vaccine injured so there are genetic factors which we don’t understand.”
Marik has observed that certain genetic mutations may also put them at a greater risk of COVID-19 vaccine injury.
This included individuals with a methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase (MTHFR) gene mutation and those with Ehlers-Danlos type syndromes.
Around 40% of people in the U.S. carry or are affected by the MTHFR mutation. It is an enzyme responsible for transforming folate (vitamin B9) into its active form.
Folate plays a role in breaking down homocysteine — an amino acid that is toxic in higher concentrations — to methionine, a useful amino acid.
Depending on the type of the MTHFR mutation and the number of copies a person carries, the function of MTHFR enzyme can be moderately or severely reduced, leading to folate deficiencies.
People with MTHFR mutations generally have a higher risk of cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, hypertension, blood clotting disorders, pregnancy loss and certain types of cancer.
Folate deficiencies increase a person’s risk of severe COVID-19; homocysteine levels have been directly predictive for worsened COVID-19 outcomes.
There have been testimonies from people with relatives who carry MTHFR mutations who have experienced adverse events following vaccination, though the actual mechanism behind this gene and elevated risk of COVID-19 and possible vaccine injury is not well understood.
Ehlers-Danlos type syndrome is a disorder of connective tissue primarily affecting the skin, joints and blood vessels. People with these conditions often report joint dislocation, chronic pain and chronic fatigue.
This condition is also often associated with inflammation — a primary driver of long COVID and spike protein-induced disease.
Underlying chronic diseases and immune deficiencies
Metabolic diseases, especially high blood pressure and type 2 diabetes, have been associated with severe symptoms in COVID-19 infections and vaccination.
Dr. Aseem Malhotra, a renowned cardiologist, wrote in his paper that even “a single high blood glucose reading in non-diabetics admitted to hospital [for COVID-19] has been shown to be associated with worse outcomes.”
Many metabolic diseases including obesity, diabetes, hypertension and cardiovascular disease are driven by inflammation.
The spike proteins also trigger many inflammatory pathways, which may be why people with these chronic diseases are at a greater risk.
Spike proteins both from the virus and the vaccine can bind to ACE2 receptors
displayed on cells across any tissue it comes into contact with. ACE2 is responsible for reducing inflammation, but this binding reduces ACE2 receptors and therefore increases inflammation across the tissues.
“We’re talking about mononuclear cells in the brain, in the heart, in the liver, the spleen in the ovaries, so it results in a systemic disease,” said Marik.
Spike proteins are also highly autoimmune, meaning that it is able to trigger the immune system to mount attacks against self-tissues.
Studies led by Dr. Aristo Vojdani showed that antibodies made against SARS-CoV-2 spike proteins reacted “with various tissue antigens including the muscles, joints, thyroid, brain, skin, gastrointestinal tract, almost any antigen taken from different parts of the body,” said Vojdani to The Epoch Times.
A significant finding Marik and Kory observed was that individuals suffering from vaccine injury have a higher concentration of autoantibodies than those with long COVID.
Many studies have observed onset or a relapse of autoimmune diseases after COVID-19 vaccination.
Documented cases include multiple sclerosis, neuromyelitis, arthritis, type 1 diabetes and many more.
Those with a relapse of autoimmune diseases often experienced symptoms of greater severities.
These are all suggestive that people with underlying chronic diseases that compromise their health and immune system are at a greater risk of possible vaccine injury.
Vitamin deficiencies
Deficiencies in folate, cobalamin (vitamin B12) and vitamin D have been associated with an elevated risk of COVID-19 infection.
A pre-print study authored by UK researchers funded by the National Health Service found that supplementation in vitamin D and vitamin B12 relieved neurological symptoms caused by COVID-19 vaccination.
Vitamin D is anti-inflammatory and can boost immune action, while vitamin B12 is critical for neural health as it helps to produce myeline, which is a fatty coat wrapped around neurons, that helps protect neurons against scarring and improves neural messaging.
“Vaccines, including the COVID-19 vaccines, are known to cause severe and/or chronic neurological reactions in rare cases. We support screening for vitamin B12 deficiency prior to vaccination in high-risk groups,” wrote the study authors.
Folate deficiencies have also been observed in patients hospitalized with COVID-19. The vitamin plays a role in the formation of DNA and RNA for cellular protein.
Age and sex
Marik said that women are generally more at risk of injury from COVID-19 vaccination.
He based this statement on the results from a survey conducted by React19, a website that provides advice on vaccine injuries and early treatment.
There were 508 patients suffering from post-vaccination injury evaluated in October 2021 as part of the questionnaire.
The survey found that 81% of people reporting vaccine injury were females. Between the two sexes, patients aged between 30 to 50 were the most prevalent.
Data from VAERS also showed that women constituted around 65% of the adverse event reports; 41% of these reports came from women aged 18 to 49 at the time of the report
Women in the 50 to 59 age bracket and the 65 to 79 age bracket also constituted a large fraction of the adverse event reports, taking up almost 35% of all reports in females.
Spike proteins trigger inflammation through many pathways.
One pathway is through binding to ACE2 receptors on cell surfaces. This receptor is important for reducing inflammation, and a reduction of ACE2 through spike protein interaction thus increases inflammation.
Though ACE2 receptors are found across many organs, studies show that it is particularly abundant in the ovaries and the eggs.
Since the rollout of vaccines, many women have reported menstrual irregularities.
A study published on My Cycle Story compiled survey results from more than 6,000 women.
The study found alarming results: while fewer than 40 cases of decidual cast shedding have been documented over the past 100 years, after the COVID-19 vaccine rollout, 292 women experienced decidual cast shedding.
Reprinted with permission from The Epoch Times.
Marina Zhang is based in New York and covers health and science.
The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of Children's Health Defense.
