say that to the whoever ends up coming down with narcolepsy, thrombocytopenia, acute peri/myo-carditis, shingles reactivation, etc.
For example, see: "The Incidence of Myocarditis and Pericarditis in Post COVID-19 Unvaccinated Patients-A Large Population-Based Study"
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/35456309/
Above-normal levels of myocarditis and pericarditis were associated with vaccination (Pfizer has been used in Israel where the study originates) but not with covid-19 infection.
Studies in the UK [1] and US [2] have shown that while, yes, there is an increased risk for myocarditis in vaccinated people, the risk of myocarditis in infected people is way higher.
[1] https://www.ahajournals.org/doi/full/10.1161/CIRCULATIONAHA....
https://doi.org/10.1093/cid/ciab941
... What? Here in Germany, that's like one of the basic things that people who deal with needles on anything alive learn.
https://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/hcp/acip-recs/general-recs/admi...
In practice there is a wide variance between US healthcare providers depending on where they work and how they were trained. Some aspirate, some don't, some try but use the wrong technique.
From the first one, it actually says for men younger than 40, myocarditis is actually higher in vaccinated, whereas for women it's similar to infection:
"In men younger than 40 years old, the number of excess myocarditis events per million people was higher after a second dose of mRNA-1273 than after a positive SARS-CoV-2 test (97 [95% CI, 91–99] versus 16 [95% CI, 12–18]). In women younger than 40 years, the number of excess events per million was similar after a second dose of mRNA-1273 and a positive test (7 [95% CI, 1–9] versus 8 [95% CI, 6–8])."
That supports my belief that vaccination should be voluntary for everyone but especially young people.
I haven't read it beyond the abstract.
We estimated an extra two (95% confidence interval (CI) 0, 3), one (95% CI 0, 2) and six (95% CI 2, 8) myocarditis events per 1 million people vaccinated with ChAdOx1, BNT162b2 and mRNA-1273, respectively, in the 28 days following a first dose and an extra ten (95% CI 7, 11) myocarditis events per 1 million vaccinated in the 28 days after a second dose of mRNA-1273. This compares with an extra 40 (95% CI 38, 41) myocarditis events per 1 million patients in the 28 days following a SARS-CoV-2 positive test.
Putting strain on the already overwhelmed healthcare system is a voluntary choice? Especially antisocial: the person who made the voluntary choice to attend the hospital now chooses to infect the healthcare personnel. If that's not evil it's hard to say what would be.
We are seeing the fallout in the labour participation rate - it's partly due to people retiring instead of risking catching a potentially disabling disease and partly due to people unable to work because of Covid sequelae. One hopes that the government catches on.
In other words, all of the participants received covid vaccines.
The second paper you've linked studied unvaccinated persons (mRNA-vax recipients were specifically excluded) and its claim of higher rates of myocarditis for covid infection is based other researchers' values of myocarditis incidence post-vax and, as alluded to in the Discussion section, skewed by relatively low 2nd-shot uptake among the American participants (myocarditis risk associated with mRNA shots goes up with each successive dose).
The Israeli paper looks at myocarditis in persons before the vaccines became available (March 2020) and then afterwards. In Israel, 2nd shot and further shot uptake was much higher than in many other places.
You have my sincere sympathy with regards to your mother-in-law's condition.
I have heard similar and worse anecdotes in which covid vaccines (especially boosters i.e. nth shots) have been the culprits and seen some severe adverse reactions in close acquaintances.
It's no different than parents blaming their child's autism on the vaccines they got, it's not exactly a rigorous examination of the evidence. It's wishful and directed thinking.
I do not deny that vaccines can cause adverse effects - but outside of vaccine trials and Army experimental vaccines, the rate of adverse effects is vastly lower than the rate of the same adverse effect that people experience who get infected.
There's enough discussion about this happening after vaccination: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/34579250/
"Conclusion: This study indicates that the occurrence of VZV reactivation is clinically relevant. However, our findings suggest that COVID-19 vaccination is safe, and remains strongly recommended." https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/35931613/
Of course there's the obligatory, robotic, throat-clearing that vaccines should still be taken even when they find evidence of a side-effect.
Covid has only been around for a couple of years.
I mean, yes, but only because that's one of our criteria for approving a new vaccine.
Humanity's betrayal by Science™ is complete.
In an ideal world, we'd vaccinate children against RSV. Acquiring immunity by suffering through an actual infection is always, always worse than acquiring it by a vaccine. About 100k children die from RSV each year!
Thankfully, there are vaccines in the pipeline [1], and I seriously hope that mRNA technology will increase both the development speed and the availability of vaccines in general.
[1] https://www.pfizer.com/news/press-release/press-release-deta...