Not to be that guy, but I have an immediate family member who got their booster and (I don’t remember what the technical term was, apologies) their immune system started attacking their nerves, which caused them to lose most control over their hands, arms, feet, and legs, and at the worst point, become bedridden and at risk of dying, had they not received the care they did (I’ve been told the docs said ‘a few more days and it would have been too late’). They are recovering, still, almost 3y later; daily care, wheelchair, walker, weekly therapy. It’s been a very slow process, and they only got the help they needed because another family member is in the medical field and was able to correctly diagnose their situation, when their main (prior, now) gp shrugged it off as the flu (???) twice, even as their condition was worsening and painfully obviously not just “the flu”. I have heard of friends of friends who seem to have had this phenomenon occur, but were not as lucky to receive (the correct) treatment in time.
Two other family members who got the booster at the same time had no issues. I got mine a couple months after, with no issues. They are usually safe… but not always. Practicing medicine, studying science; never absolutes. Healthy dose of skepticism is okay. But weigh the risks logically, not just “this can happen so I’m never going to do X”, as sometimes X can save you from Y. My mom in particular was freaking out when I got my booster - understandable, but it’s one risk over another.
I usually don’t engage in conversations like this but let’s try. The condition you are describing is an autoimmune disease known as Gillain-Barre (Also, sometimes called acute inflammatory demyelinating polyneuropathy or AIDP). It is a devastating disease and I am sorry that your loved one has had to cope with it.
This disease can be triggered by any number of exposures including vaccination not just to COVID but to any vaccine. It is truly something to be concerned about and an important thing to understand when making health decisions. Essentially, when your immune system is exposed to something it thinks is foreign (Like a virus, viral protein from a vaccine, or bacteria) you body trys to fight it by making antibodies. The anti bodies attach to it and inactive or kill the virus. Rarely (like 1 in 100000ish) the body makes antibodies that also attach to something that it should not like your own body. If that thing happens to be a spinal nerve you develop this disorder.
If you are concerned about it, you should ABSOLUTELY get the vaccine. You are orders of magnitude more likely to get AIDP (Gillain-Barre) from contracting a native virus than you are from the vaccine. Also, you are more likely to spread the virus causing death and the same low chance of AIDP (Gillain-Barre) to others.
When a vaccine is deemed “safe and effective” that is not to say it is without any risk. Any exposure carries risk. It means that our society is more likely to be healthy with it than without it. Both on an individual and population level. People are concerned about the antigens (things that generate an immune response) in vaccines but you have many more antigenic exposures in the world without vaccines than with them.
Yeah, I agree with all your points - mine boils to just giving a real-world example that “safe and effective” does not mean “completely safe” or “completely effective”. Just like if you are driving to a dealership to trade in your old beater for a 5-star safety rated car, just to be hit and killed by a F-450 on the way there; trying to protect yourself still comes with risk. Everything, everyday, is a risk. Not taking action, is a risk. Just need to evaluate the best course of action for whatever situation, and act.
Its always true that nothing is 100% safe. To decide if something is safe you have to evaluate how likely unwanted side effects are and what those Side effects are. Theres always a risk to get some reallllllly bad side effects but in the most cases this doesn’t happen.
Oh yea, Vaccines are not 100% safe, the point is that Vaccines will protect more than 99% of people, unfortunately there are cases where there are adverse reactions. My cousin had some heart problems like hours after getting the 2nd dose and and to go to the ER and had to get some surgery (idk all the details), and had to spend several days in ICU, then still have heart issues and weakness even after gettinf discharged from the hospital, have trouble even going to school. Caused a bit of vaccine skepticism amongst my extended family, not everyone gotten fully vaccinated at the time, I’m not sure if they ever got it eventually, or if that incident caused too much fear.
MRNA or viral vector vaccine (like AstraZeneca)? I’m not even in the vicinity of being knowledgeable about medicine but AFAIK that vaccine was the one causing myocarditis not the MRNA based.
I got a sample size of about 15 family members and a few acquaitances (including a cancer patient in chemo, a 90 year old and some kids) who all got Biontech/Pfizer MRNA vaccines except one who got AstraZeneca. The MRNA ones caused no side effects as per my inquiry the one with AstraZeneca was the only one with short term side effects. And another one who got a flu shot in parallel to Biontech who was ill for a few days.
I got most of the boosters up to JN.1 and I haven’t even had the mild aches at the injection point.
Seems correct. Didn’t even get approval at all in the US and the company withdrew their application. So yeah. I don’t want to doubt the experiences of your relative especially when it was so close to the vaccination. Could’ve actually been a serious side effect. I just never heard of it in my circles. What I heard of were friends who got covid multiple times and contracting more illnesses like respiratory viruses or stomach bugs over time aka wrecking their immune system.
It was the only change in their day-to-day life (they, and myself, are both housebound due to disabilities), and is a known risk of any injection, afaik. I’m not into the med field myself so this is all secondary knowledge, but I found the name of the condition: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guillain–Barré_syndrome (jeez that’s a mangled url).
Doubt all you want, but I watched it unfold over the course of a week before they were admitted to the hospital, and stayed there for over a month before being able to return home. I watched the difficulties grow, and I went to see them in the hospital a couple weeks after being admitted. It was absolutely heartbreaking. They already had enough to deal with before it occurred (physical and cognitive impairments, from birth) and it was just… just really trying, showing strength and being positive while scared I was going to lose a sibling.
E: paragraph two, “Sometimes this immune dysfunction is triggered by an infection or, less commonly, by surgery, and by vaccination.”
People can be potentially allergic to ingredients they put in vaccines. Have you ever gotten a vaccine where they ask you if you’re allergic to eggs beforehand? And that’s a more common ingredient.
If you have an allergy, even a tiny amount of the substance you are allergic to can cause a severe reaction. That’s why single bee stings have killed people.
That too, though they (and myself) have no known allergies.
I’ve thinking about getting tested, as I know my mother is deathly allergic to seafood, for example. Found that out as her windpipe constructed at a restaurant, apparently (before my time). I don’t want to find out that my body doesn’t jive with something as I’m rushing to the ER…
To piggyback off this:
Not to be that guy, but I have an immediate family member who got their booster and (I don’t remember what the technical term was, apologies) their immune system started attacking their nerves, which caused them to lose most control over their hands, arms, feet, and legs, and at the worst point, become bedridden and at risk of dying, had they not received the care they did (I’ve been told the docs said ‘a few more days and it would have been too late’). They are recovering, still, almost 3y later; daily care, wheelchair, walker, weekly therapy. It’s been a very slow process, and they only got the help they needed because another family member is in the medical field and was able to correctly diagnose their situation, when their main (prior, now) gp shrugged it off as the flu (???) twice, even as their condition was worsening and painfully obviously not just “the flu”. I have heard of friends of friends who seem to have had this phenomenon occur, but were not as lucky to receive (the correct) treatment in time.
Two other family members who got the booster at the same time had no issues. I got mine a couple months after, with no issues. They are usually safe… but not always. Practicing medicine, studying science; never absolutes. Healthy dose of skepticism is okay. But weigh the risks logically, not just “this can happen so I’m never going to do X”, as sometimes X can save you from Y. My mom in particular was freaking out when I got my booster - understandable, but it’s one risk over another.
E: autocorrect shenanigans
I usually don’t engage in conversations like this but let’s try. The condition you are describing is an autoimmune disease known as Gillain-Barre (Also, sometimes called acute inflammatory demyelinating polyneuropathy or AIDP). It is a devastating disease and I am sorry that your loved one has had to cope with it.
This disease can be triggered by any number of exposures including vaccination not just to COVID but to any vaccine. It is truly something to be concerned about and an important thing to understand when making health decisions. Essentially, when your immune system is exposed to something it thinks is foreign (Like a virus, viral protein from a vaccine, or bacteria) you body trys to fight it by making antibodies. The anti bodies attach to it and inactive or kill the virus. Rarely (like 1 in 100000ish) the body makes antibodies that also attach to something that it should not like your own body. If that thing happens to be a spinal nerve you develop this disorder.
If you are concerned about it, you should ABSOLUTELY get the vaccine. You are orders of magnitude more likely to get AIDP (Gillain-Barre) from contracting a native virus than you are from the vaccine. Also, you are more likely to spread the virus causing death and the same low chance of AIDP (Gillain-Barre) to others.
When a vaccine is deemed “safe and effective” that is not to say it is without any risk. Any exposure carries risk. It means that our society is more likely to be healthy with it than without it. Both on an individual and population level. People are concerned about the antigens (things that generate an immune response) in vaccines but you have many more antigenic exposures in the world without vaccines than with them.
Yeah, I agree with all your points - mine boils to just giving a real-world example that “safe and effective” does not mean “completely safe” or “completely effective”. Just like if you are driving to a dealership to trade in your old beater for a 5-star safety rated car, just to be hit and killed by a F-450 on the way there; trying to protect yourself still comes with risk. Everything, everyday, is a risk. Not taking action, is a risk. Just need to evaluate the best course of action for whatever situation, and act.
It’s like that freak accident where someone lived because they didn’t have the seatbelt attached.
Also, when you vaccinate 100 million, people still get MS (for example) but they like to blame the vaccine for it.
Its always true that nothing is 100% safe. To decide if something is safe you have to evaluate how likely unwanted side effects are and what those Side effects are. Theres always a risk to get some reallllllly bad side effects but in the most cases this doesn’t happen.
Exactly - my sibling just got dealt a shitty hand in trying to stay safe. There’s no absolutes in life, unfortunately.
Oh yea, Vaccines are not 100% safe, the point is that Vaccines will protect more than 99% of people, unfortunately there are cases where there are adverse reactions. My cousin had some heart problems like hours after getting the 2nd dose and and to go to the ER and had to get some surgery (idk all the details), and had to spend several days in ICU, then still have heart issues and weakness even after gettinf discharged from the hospital, have trouble even going to school. Caused a bit of vaccine skepticism amongst my extended family, not everyone gotten fully vaccinated at the time, I’m not sure if they ever got it eventually, or if that incident caused too much fear.
MRNA or viral vector vaccine (like AstraZeneca)? I’m not even in the vicinity of being knowledgeable about medicine but AFAIK that vaccine was the one causing myocarditis not the MRNA based.
I got a sample size of about 15 family members and a few acquaitances (including a cancer patient in chemo, a 90 year old and some kids) who all got Biontech/Pfizer MRNA vaccines except one who got AstraZeneca. The MRNA ones caused no side effects as per my inquiry the one with AstraZeneca was the only one with short term side effects. And another one who got a flu shot in parallel to Biontech who was ill for a few days.
I got most of the boosters up to JN.1 and I haven’t even had the mild aches at the injection point.
This is in the US during those early days, at the time, the only approved ones are all MRNA 2-dose vaccines, very likely Pfizer.
Seems correct. Didn’t even get approval at all in the US and the company withdrew their application. So yeah. I don’t want to doubt the experiences of your relative especially when it was so close to the vaccination. Could’ve actually been a serious side effect. I just never heard of it in my circles. What I heard of were friends who got covid multiple times and contracting more illnesses like respiratory viruses or stomach bugs over time aka wrecking their immune system.
Even if any of this is true, which I very much doubt, what evidence do you have that your relative’s illness was caused by the vaccine?
It was the only change in their day-to-day life (they, and myself, are both housebound due to disabilities), and is a known risk of any injection, afaik. I’m not into the med field myself so this is all secondary knowledge, but I found the name of the condition: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guillain–Barré_syndrome (jeez that’s a mangled url).
Doubt all you want, but I watched it unfold over the course of a week before they were admitted to the hospital, and stayed there for over a month before being able to return home. I watched the difficulties grow, and I went to see them in the hospital a couple weeks after being admitted. It was absolutely heartbreaking. They already had enough to deal with before it occurred (physical and cognitive impairments, from birth) and it was just… just really trying, showing strength and being positive while scared I was going to lose a sibling.
E: paragraph two, “Sometimes this immune dysfunction is triggered by an infection or, less commonly, by surgery, and by vaccination.”
People can be potentially allergic to ingredients they put in vaccines. Have you ever gotten a vaccine where they ask you if you’re allergic to eggs beforehand? And that’s a more common ingredient.
If you have an allergy, even a tiny amount of the substance you are allergic to can cause a severe reaction. That’s why single bee stings have killed people.
That too, though they (and myself) have no known allergies.
I’ve thinking about getting tested, as I know my mother is deathly allergic to seafood, for example. Found that out as her windpipe constructed at a restaurant, apparently (before my time). I don’t want to find out that my body doesn’t jive with something as I’m rushing to the ER…