According to a study published in PLOS One, researchers have found that the COVID-19 vaccine itself causes long-term COVID-19 syndrome.
A new study indicates that those who receive two doses of the COVID-19 vaccination may have an increased risk of developing long-COVID.
In the study published in PLOS One, researchers estimated the incidence, features, and predictors of protracted COVID among patients by analyzing data from 487 and 371 individuals at four weeks and six months after SARS-CoV-2 infection, respectively. Four weeks after infection, 29.2 percent of subjects reported having prolonged COVID-19 symptoms. At six months, this percentage had fallen to 9.4%, suggesting that symptoms might go away with time.
Researchers discovered that a patient’s likelihood of having a prolonged COVID was directly correlated with the severity of their infection. At four weeks of follow-up, the incidence of extended COVID was 23.4% in patients with mild/moderate disease and 62.5% in patients with severe cases.
The incidence of protracted COVID was much decreased at six months. Only 7.2 percent of patients with mild to moderate infections reported symptoms, compared to 23.1 percent of patients with severe or critical infections. Fatigue was the most often mentioned symptom. Cough, cognitive impairment or brain fog, and loss of taste and smell were other symptoms.
A peer-reviewed paper published in the journal Cureus has found a link between COVID-19 vaccines and Takotsubo Cardiomyopathy, suggesting that they may trigger this condition.
Patients who had preexisting medical conditions, experienced more symptoms during the acute phase of COVID-19 illness, had two doses of the COVID-19 vaccine, or had a more severe infection were more likely to experience long COVID during the four-week follow-up.
The scientists could not determine “any interaction effect of COVID-19 vaccination and acute COVID-19 severity on causing Long COVID,” even though prior vaccination was linked to long COVID.
Cardiologist Dr. Peter McCullough’s explanation in a recent Substack post suggests that previous immunization “was independently associated with the occurrence of long-COVID.”
How COVID-19 Vaccines May Contribute to Long COVID
In a study conducted in 2022, nearly 7% of American individuals reported having prolonged COVID—a disorder that is typically only linked to SARS-CoV-2 infection. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention characterize long COVID as “signs, symptoms, and conditions that continue to develop after acute COVID-19 infection,” which can extend for “weeks, months, or years,” despite the fact that definitions of long COVID vary. Long-haul COVID, post-acute sequelae of COVID-19, and post-acute sequelae of SARS-CoV-2 infection are also referred to as “long COVID.”
According to US regulatory organizations, vaccination against COVID-19 can lower the chance of contracting long-term COVID. One hypothesis is that COVID-19 vaccinations prevent severe disease, and as the PLOS One study pointed out, severe disease is a predictor of the condition developing. Nevertheless, other studies indicate that the illness might be brought on by an excessive immune response to the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein, which is exploited by COVID-19 vaccinations to produce antibodies.
According to one theory, some individuals who receive vaccinations may produce a second round of antibodies that attack the first. These antibodies may work similarly to spike protein, which binds to the cell surface protein known as the angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) receptor and allows the virus to enter cells. These “rogue antibodies” may bind to the ACE2 receptor and interfere with ACE2 signaling, just like spike protein does. This can result in illnesses linked to prolonged COVID.
“In my practice, the most severe cases of long-COVID are in vaccinated patients who also had severe and or multiple episodes of SARS-CoV-2 infection,” Dr. McCullough posted on X. He stated in a recent Substack article that he thinks the reason for the prolonged COVID-19 symptoms is that after SARS-CoV-2 infection, the spike protein remains in the cells and tissues.
He stated that the mRNA COVID-19 vaccine results in a “massive additional load of full-length Spike protein” that can stay in the bloodstream for up to six months.
In 2022, researchers from the National Institutes of Health carried out an observational study on 23 people with extended COVID-19, which was released as a preprint but was never published. “A range of neuropathic symptoms may manifest after SARS-CoV-2 vaccinations and in some patients might be an immune-mediated process,” the researchers discovered.
Researchers looked at the amounts of viral RNA and spike protein in the blood of COVID-19 hospital patients with and without long-term COVID in a study that was published in the Journal of Medical Virology in February. They discovered that patients with prolonged COVID had higher odds of having spike protein and viral RNA. Thirty percent of patients with long COVID tested positive for viral RNA and spike protein, but none of the patients without long COVID tested positive for both.
Researchers analyzed the serum of 81 people with long-term COVID-19 syndrome in a 2023 study published in the European Review for Medical and Pharmacological Sciences. They discovered vaccine spike protein in two patients two months after vaccination, and viral spike protein in one patient after the infection had cleared and produced a negative COVID-19 test.
“This study, in agreement with other published investigations, demonstrates that both natural and vaccine spike protein may still be present in long-COVID patients, thus supporting the existence of a possible mechanism that causes the persistence of spike protein in the human body for much longer than predicted by early studies,” the authors wrote.
Support GreatGameIndia
