Immunity Strong by Robert G. Lahita

Author:Robert G. Lahita
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Humanix Books

THERE ARE SIDE EFFECTS TO VACCINES—ISN’T THAT BAD?

As I have and will say throughout this book, there are trade-offs to any medications and treatments and vaccines are no exception: There are side effects and always will be, and they are totally understandable and expected to some degree in everyone, like the sore arm at the site of the injection many of us experience. In the COVID-19 vaccinations, most side effects ran from rashes to muscle and joint pain to a feverish, sleepless night. As with most side effects, those were, by and large, short-lived and relieved with acetaminophen, aspirin, or antihistamines. While some people have severe allergic reactions to vaccines, just as they do to eggs or shellfish, many of these can be avoided or are instantly recognized and treated.

But here’s the most important thing to know about those and all those vaccine side effects: They are good. They are signs of your immune system working.

Yes, even those rare blood clots that temporarily halted the use of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine in the United States and caused panic over the AstraZeneca vaccine in Europe are now explained. Those clots commanded headlines worldwide, and they were bad. But they were also the immune system in action. Though the reason or reasons for these abrupt reactions are unclear, we should herald them as proof that the biological soul is working—alerting you to danger and providing information to doctors that could save you and others.

Let’s break down that side effect that caused so much concern in 2021: vaccine-induced immune thrombotic thrombocytopenia or the loss of platelets and the formation of small clots in the veins of the brain a week to two weeks after receiving the Johnson & Johnson vaccine. Platelets have a substance on their surface called platelet factor 4, and this appears to be the “antigen” that the Johnson & Johnson vaccine patients who experienced the severe side effect saw as foreign. (We do see this antiplatelet factor 4 randomly in patients treated with regular molecular weight heparin, the most common blood thinning medication, which is why you might have heard stories of doctors being asked not to treat patients that might be suffering from this vaccine reaction with heparin.) The reaction is exceedingly rare.

Another reversible reaction to the viral vector vaccine from Johnson & Johnson is the exceptionally rare Guillain Barre Syndrome or transient immune attack on peripheral nerves with resulting paralysis.

Platelets, or thrombocytes, are particles that come from cells called megakaryocytes that help blood clot. If they fall to extremely low levels, it can lead to bleeding that won’t stop and can be serious even with a simple nosebleed or a cut when shaving. The thrombocytopenia at the heart of vaccine-induced immune thrombotic thrombocytopenia means a low blood platelet count, which is rare in adults and a common aspect of many autoimmune diseases. The autoimmune form of thrombocytopenia is called immune thrombocytopenic purpura or ITP, which affects kids and adults, and most parents know is something that requires the assistance of a pediatrician.

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