'Every day, 30 new multiple sclerosis diagnoses are made in Germany alone,' says Prüss. 'It happened rarely, but it was clear the vaccine had caused a very specific pattern of cerebral vein thrombosis that is otherwise unknown, because it was associated with a very specific type of antibody that developed in response to a cross-reaction with the vaccine,' Prüss says.Īll of this is complicated by the fact that people across Germany (and the world) experience headaches, chronic fatigue syndrome and cardiovascular disease on a daily basis - and not just since the pandemic and the major vaccination campaigns. Problems that occurred after the administration of the Astrazeneca vaccine offer another rare example of researchers being able to definitively conclude early on that the vaccine itself was the source of problems.

Myocarditis is considered a possible, rare side effect after vaccination with BioNTech/Pfizer and Moderna mRNA vaccines. , For example, researchers discovered a special antibody in the blood of people who had developed inflammation of the heart muscle (myocarditis) after getting vaccinated. 'There is not a single biomarker that is widely accepted by science.'Ī biomarker might be a specific antibody that the body produces in response to vaccination. The first indication that a person's headache, fatigue or muscle weakness could actually have something to do with the vaccination is the time frame: If the symptoms appear a few days to weeks after the injection, there could be a connection he says.īut even then, post-COVID vaccine syndrome is nearly impossible to prove, says the neurologist. Prüss sees many people who believe they are suffering from post-COVID vaccine syndrome during the neurological post-COVID-19 consultations he conducts at the Charité's neurology clinic. The COVID vaccine isn't the only one that has caused long-term side effects in a very small number of people Image: Christof Stache/AFP How can post-COVID vaccine syndrome be diagnosed? This wasn't the case with COVID, when millions of people were becoming infected - and getting vaccinated - more or less at once. This response to the vaccine was easier to prove, said Prüss, because fewer people were actually contracting H1N1 at the time. For example, studies show the H1N1 (swine flu) vaccine as well as the illness itself caused narcolepsy - a chronic inability to regulate sleep-wake cycles - in a very small number of patients with similar, predictable genetic factors. It is not uncommon for vaccines to cause negative side effects for a small number of people. 'Some information circulating on social media has claimed that COVID-19 vaccines could be associated with long COVID. There has been no safety signal from the very large body of data held by international regulators suggesting that long COVID is a possible side effect of COVID-19 vaccination.' Vaccine side effects not unusual 'There is no evidence to indicate that COVID-19 vaccination causes immune impairment,' said the ICMRA statement. The World Health Organization has observer status. Its members include the European Medicines Agency, the US Food and Drug Administration and national bodies in Africa, Latin America and Asia. The ICMRA, a grouping of 38 medicines regulatory authorities, had issued a public statement, citing 'evidence from the more than 13 billions of vaccine doses given worldwide.' In fact, COVID-19 vaccines have saved millions of lives.'

In early July 2023, the International Coalition of Medicines Regulatory Authorities (ICMRA) said 'there is no evidence that COVID-19 vaccines are causing excess mortality. International body says 'no evidence' of COVID vaccines causing severe illness The institute has published regular safety reports on COVID vaccines but experts like Prüss believe the vast majority of these cases are due to something other than vaccine side effects. 'Post-COVID vaccination syndrome is totally overestimated.'īy October 31, 2022, almost 51,000 suspected cases of serious side effects after the COVID vaccination had been reported to the Paul Ehrlich Institute, the federal authority responsible for vaccines and medicines in Germany. Many people think they have post-COVID vaccination syndrome because they developed such symptoms after their shot.įrom the point of view of those affected, this is completely understandable, says Harald Prüss from Berlin's Charité hospital and the German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases (DZNE). But, says Prüss, just because the symptoms occurred after the shot doesn't mean it caused them. Like long COVID, post-COVID vaccination syndrome is characterized by a wide variety of symptoms and clinical pictures including chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS/ME), migraines, muscle pain or cardiovascular diseases.Īs multifaceted as the symptoms may be, they have one thing in common: They can occur in those affected shortly after COVID vaccination.

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