In the wake of the rollout of the mRNA vaccines from Pfizer/BioNTeck and Moderna, concerns are growing about the safety of the shots in the wake of allergic reactions and even potentially suspicious deaths.
On Wednesday, according to Reuters, the CDC told reporters on a conference call that “allergic reactions are occurring at a rate of 11.1 per 1 million vaccinations.”
That, said Reuters, compares to the flu vaccine “in which such reactions occur at a rate of 1.3 per 1 million shots.” Still, said the news agency, such incidents are “exceedingly rare.”
As to the “rarity” of the reactions, Reuters noted, “A study published on Wednesday in the CDC’s weekly report on death and disease looking at cases between Dec. 14 and Dec. 23, identified 21 cases of anaphylaxis after the administration of 1,893,360 doses of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine. Of these, 71% occurred within the first 15 minutes after vaccine administration.”
That’s still a fairly low number of adverse reactions, consistent with the formulation of the Pfizer /BioNTech vaccine’s rather simple formulation which contains mRNA and a lipid nanoparticle. It is this latter bit that might be implicated in allergic reactions.
More concerning are the reports of a few mysterious deaths. On January 7, the New York Post reported that “Norway has launched an investigation into the deaths of two nursing home residents after they received Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine.” The Norwegian Medicines Agency noted, according to the Post, that the deaths happened “a few days” after the shots were given to the residents.
Steiner Madsen, the medical director of the Norwegian agency, cautioned, “There will probably be deaths close to the time of vaccination. We must then assess whether it is the vaccine that is the cause of the death, or whether it is a coincidence that it happens so soon after vaccination.”
In addition to the deaths in Norway, another death raised eyebrows in the United States. Two weeks after receiving the shot, Dr. Gregory Michael, an OB-GYN in Miami Beach, “died after suffering a hemorrhagic stroke apparently resulting from a lack of platelets,” according to the Palm Beach Post.
In that case, too, the death, though suspiciously close to the date of delivery of the vaccine, is not clearly tied to the jab. Vaccine makers indicated that they were looking into the death of Dr. Michael: “We are actively investigating this case, but we don’t believe at this time that there is any direct connection to the vaccine,” they said.
Further, they continued, “It is important to note that serious adverse events, including deaths that are unrelated to the vaccine are unfortunately likely to occur at a similar rate as they would in the general population.”
Still, Dr. Michael’s wife believes the vaccine caused the death of her husband. In a heart-wrenching post on Facebook, Heidi Neckelman blamed the vaccine:
The love of my life, my husband Gregory Michael MD an Obstetrician that had his office in Mount Sinai Medical Center in Miami Beach Died the day before yesterday due to a strong reaction to the COVID vaccine. He was a very healthy 56 year old, loved by everyone in the community delivered hundreds of healthy babies and worked tireless through the pandemic. He was vaccinated with the Pfizer vaccine at MSMC on December 18, 3 days later he saw a strong set of petechiae on his feet and hands which made him seek attention at the emergency room at MSMC.
https://www.facebook.com/heidi.neckelmann/posts/10157817790183977
She continued: “Experts from all over the country were involved in his care. No matter what they did, the platelets count refused to go up. He was conscious and energetic through the whole process but 2 days before a last resort surgery, he got a hemorrhagic stroke caused by the lack of platelets that took his life in a matter of minutes. He was a pro vaccine advocate that is why he got it himself. I believe that people should be aware that side effects can happen, that it is not good for everyone and in this case destroyed a beautiful life, a perfect family, and has affected so many people in the community.”
Is the vaccine safe? Did the vaccine cause these deaths?
Experts insist that the new COVID-19 vaccines are safe.
But, that the vaccine rollout was unusually fast is not debated, and some have wondered if safety was sacrificed as a result.
In June, former Harvard Medical School professor William A. Haseltine warned of the risk of rushing vaccine development in Scientific American.
“There is no doubt we need an urgent end to the pandemic. Economies around the world are crashing. Governments are piling up trillions of dollars in debt. And, in the US alone, tens of millions are without work or income,” Haseltine wrote. “But there are still costs that are too great, even when compared to such numbers. When we have solutions to the pandemic in hand we cannot risk the potential lives lost of rushing a COVID vaccine to market. We must hold dear the central dictum of the medical community, first, do no harm.”
Unfortunately, with so much of medical and public health policy during the COVID panic, “first do no harm” seems to have been the first thing to perish.
It is past time for it to be resuscitated.
