NewsBreak Original

As a Malaysian, I’m surprised that Malaysia is one of the top countries whose people believe vaccines cause autism (Figure 1). Perhaps we are just not as vocal in voicing this issue, giving the illusion that vaccine hesitancy isn’t prevalent here.

If we see someone healthy or with a stable medical condition drop dead a few days or weeks after getting a vaccine, we would be very suspicious of the vaccine, provided no other obvious explanations exist. After all, what else could explain such a mysterious death other than the vaccine?

Earlier this year, an opinionarticle in The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) argued that the Covid-19 vaccines might have been driving the evolution of XBB. XBB is the latest successful Omicron subvariant, which has taken hold in numerous countries, including countries with high vaccination and boosting rates. Is there any truth in this hypothesis, though? Let’s evaluate both sides of the argument and see.

In a recent study, Shrestha et al. from Cleveland Clinic, one of the largest academic medical center in the U.S., analyzed the effectiveness of the bivalent mRNA vaccine, which targets both Omicron and original Wuhan variants of SARS-CoV-2, against Covid.

In a daring yet transparent move, a new study from Cleveland Clinic — a non-profit academic medical center and one of America’s best hospitals —  produced a disturbing figure showing that the more vaccine shots you get, the higher your risk of Covid (Figure 1):

A newly published autopsy study of vaccinees — by respected German pathologists— has been heraldedby the antivaccine community as the definitive proof that mRNA vaccines can kill. While there is some element of truth in that, the German autopsy study has been put out of context. But having said that, it may also be time to consider personalized vaccination, given what the German autopsy and other autopsy studies have found.

One of the main drivers of vaccine hesitancy is the potential effects on fertility and pregnancy outcomes, a common fear women especially share. But is such concern true? No, they are not true, as far as what existing research has shown.

I was appalled when I first read the news about the analysis published by the Florida Department of Health recently, finding a staggering 84% increased risk of cardiac-related death among 18–39-year-old males within 28 days of getting the Covid-19 mRNA vaccine.

When Covid vaccine booster shots were proposed last year, people debated their practicality and risk-benefit ratio, especially among the younger populations. Every vaccine shot has side effects and risks, which must not outweigh their protective benefits.

A paradigm shift is how we view vaccines. The design of biological systems is highly intricate, with embedded components that somehow know how to interact with each other, seemingly based on instincts programmed by the genetic code.

If there’s anything unusual about the current monkeypox outbreak — now over 79,000 cases in more than 100 countries — it’s its diverse yet limited spread worldwide. This had never happened before, ever since monkeypox was discovered and known to be endemic in Africa only.

It’s rather uncomfortable to admit that vaccines have health risks, however safe they are in the vast majority. For influenza vaccines, febrile seizures (convulsions), Guillain–Barré syndrome (autoimmune nerve disorder), and anaphylaxis (severe allergic reaction) can happen. For Covid-19, anaphylaxis can occur frommanyvaccines, severe and fatal blood clots from AstraZeneca and J&J DNA vaccines, and mild-to-severe heart inflammation from Pfizer and Moderna mRNA vaccines.

Most of us are familiar with long-Covid, where Covid survivors may suffer persistent symptoms — usually fatigue, breathlessness, and brain fog — for months and, sometimes, years.

Evaluating the claims of unsafe Covid-19 vaccines based on what has been reported to VAERS objectively. Vaccine safety is a polarized topic. Many either stay on the side of safe or unsafe vaccines when the reality isn’t so black and white. A vaccine is a type of drug. Like antibiotics, birth control pills, statins, and antidepressants, they all come with risks and hopefully more benefits.

There’re only a few documented cases worldwide, but anti-vaccine activists will tell you this is evidence that the mRNA vaccine causes cancer. Last year, I wrote a controversial article about five unique situations representing statistical outliers when the Covid-19 vaccine may be unsafe. One such situation is certain types of cancer.