Researchers from Oxford University in the United Kingdom published a study in The Lancet finding that those who received two doses of COVID-19 shot were 44 percent more likely to be infected with the SARS-CoV-2 virus than those who were unvaccinated.1 2
The study, published on June 30 2022, collected data from Dec. 8, 2020 to Nov. 17, 2021. The research was focused on effectiveness of COVID vaccination in overweight individuals, but data listed on a supplementary appendix within the study reveals that, out of the nine million patients in a British national registry, infection was more prevalent among those who had received the COVID vaccine.1 2
The appendix figures demonstrate that, in the two weeks following the initial shot, individuals were three to four times more likely to test positive for COVID. Two weeks or more after the second COVID shot, individuals demonstrated a 44 percent higher likelihood of infection.1 2
Boosters May Weaken Immune System
European health regulators have voiced concern that getting too many COVID booster shots may weaken the immune response. Earlier this year, the Head of Biological Threats and Vaccines Strategy at the European Medicines Agency (EMA), pharmacologist Marco Cavaleri, stated:
If we have a strategy in which we give boosters, let’s say every four months, we will end up potentially having a problem with the immune response, and the immune response may end up not being as good as we would like it to be. So we should be careful in not overloading the immune system with repeated immunization.3
Japanese Researcher Believes Boosters Should End
In June 2022, Japanese cardiologist and researcher Kenji Yamamoto, MD published a letter in Virology Journal commenting on the Oxford study. He concluded that, “As a safety measure, further booster vaccinations should be discontinued,” adding that “COVID-19 vaccination is a major risk factor for infections in critically ill patients.”4 He listed what he believed to be potential causes of decreased immune function in COVID vaccinated individuals, including the spike protein, lipid nanoparticles, antibody-dependent enhancement and original antigenic stimulus.
Dr. Yamomoto suggested that the modified spike protein contained in COVID vaccine may induce the activation of regulatory T-cells, which decreases cellular immunity. He stated that, “the spike proteins do not immediately decay following the administration of mRNA vaccines,” but go on to circulate throughout the body for more than four months.
He pointed out that in vivo studies have shown that the highly inflammatory lipid nanoparticles, which encapsulate the mRNA in the mRNA COVID vaccine that delivers genetic information to the body’s cells to produce the spike protein, accumulate in the liver, spleen, adrenal glands, and ovaries. Dr. Yamamoto concludes that “newly generated antibodies of the spike protein damage the cells and tissues that are primed to produce spike proteins,” and thus can damage the vascular system, which carries blood and lymph through the body.5 He added that the adrenal gland, which is an immune system organ modulating immune function, may also be damaged.6
CDC and FDA Recommend Fourth Booster Despite No Human Studies
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) currently recommends that individuals receive a fourth booster shot as soon as they are eligible. Currently, adults aged 50 or older fall into this category, as well as those who are immunocompromised and over the age of 12 years.7
The reformulated bivalent boosters, designed to target the BA.4 and BA.5 Omicron subvariants, were not studied in human trials before the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) granted an Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) to the two mRNA COVID vaccine manufacturers, Pfizer and Moderna, to distribute the boosters in the U.S.8 9
There has been public criticism of the FDA’s decision to move forward with fast tracking approval of yet another COVID booster under an EUA, this time only considering evidence from a tiny animal study in mice, rather than evidence from human clinical trials. Most of the concern is not focused on the vaccine safety and efficacy science gaps, but on how the FDA’s action may contribute to eroding public trust in federal health agencies that regulate and make policy for vaccine use, contributing to “vaccine hesitancy.”10 11
If you would like to receive an e-mail notice of the most recent articles published in The Vaccine Reaction each week, click here.
Click here to view References:
No comments:
Post a Comment