According to a Current Population Survey of Americans, there were less than 15 million people in the United States aged 18 to 64 who had some form of handicap at the beginning of the year 2020. By September 2023, that number had risen to almost 16.5 million. And nearly two-thirds of those adding to the total had previously unreported restrictions on their cognitive abilities.

A prime factor in the increase in people with a cognitive disability appears to be COVID-19, and while the vast majority of people who contract it make full recoveries, some people who contract the virus continue to experience symptoms months or even years after the initial infection. The puzzle for scientists is what is causing this brain fog of cognitive impairment and what might be done to remediate it.

Post-acute sequelae of SARS-CoV-2 (i.e., symptoms continuing for at least 4 weeks after infection), also known as protracted COVID, include fatigue and cognitive impairment, along with other enduring neuropsychiatric (e.g., depression) and physical (e.g., dyspnea) manifestations. Working memory fluctuations would appear to be most distressing and may account for increased applications for disability. Note: Disability requires the three factors of maintaining pace, persistence, and concentration (aka PPC), and the memory impairment shown in COVID patients would increase the likelihood of receiving benefits.

For one thing, rigorous data on the incidence of the illness appears to be lacking and we do not know how many people have COVID or how many are suffering its long-lasting effects. As of December 2021, the number of confirmed cases of coronavirus illness around the world had risen to almost 275 million. However, numerous models suggest that the true number of cases is three to twenty-four times higher than the number of confirmed cases.

Researchers have proposed numerous reasons for the changes in cognition and general well-being, including viral persistence, chronic inflammation, hypercoagulability, and autonomic dysfunction. One new hypothesis is being offered for a reduction in a vital neurotransmitter, serotonin. However, most of the work is being evaluated with mouse models.

Certain structures or pathways can lead to changes in memory. One is a drop in serotonin, which can stop the vagus nerve from working properly, which in turn affects how the hippocampus responds and stores memories. The hippocampus is the brain structure most involved in memory consolidation, so anything that interferes with its functioning could result in a change in memory formation and retrieval.

For now, all we know is that there are multiple factors involved in brain fog and fatigue after being infected with the virus for COVID. There are also many physical organ systems that are also affected, so this is a virus, seemingly, unlike others scientists have encountered in the past.

The post The “Fog” Of COVID Is Disturbing and Striking the Young and Old appeared first on Medika Life.

During six weeks, we will examine all the aspects surrounding the last three years and the draconian and, at times, absurd manipulation of the media to convey a narrative that, it turns out, had little to do with your health and well-being. We’ll examine the demise of critical science, which some would argue is already long gone, but the pandemic brought it home. Covid shots and tech (mRNA) will be placed under a critical microscope and the origins of the virus that brought the world to a standstill will be discussed.

Make no mistake; if you’ve been jabbed against Covid, then you’ve been coerced into participating in the largest global medical trial ever undertaken. Good science weighs risk/benefit alongside risk/risk – the risk of the disease alongside the risk of the treatment.

Medika Life stands for objective science and exchange – proper critical science undertaken with the goal of improving lives. By that, I refer to sound critical science undertaken to improve lives, science that is open to criticism and uncensored peer review. Cautious science, designed to protect and save lives – to do no harm. A path that science currently, under the duress of politics and profit, has forsaken. Sometimes, science cannot be – should not be – rushed.

Take vaccines as an example, life-saving routine treatments critical to the safety of our children and treatments we would administer with little thought to safety. During the last two years, the “labeled” Covid vaccines have damaged the credibility of what vaccines are in many people’s minds – therapies that prevent disease and its transmission. Credibility that had taken generations to build. Ironic if you consider that the Covid products were nothing more than the equivalent of the flu jab and never a vaccine.

Each article in the coming weeks will examine a range of issues based on real hard data and facts, including the validity of the treatments (vaccines), mRNA technology, lockdowns and masks, virus origins, the actual reality of Long Covid – is it the result of long-term damage from the virus, reaction to the virus combined with the vaccine or another clinical pathway. What of people who have survived the so-called “Sudden Death” syndrome and more?

Read Medika Life and enjoy access to the most comprehensive analysis of our post-Covid lives. For more than two years, Medika has questioned numerous aspects of the pandemic, including mandates and the “vaccination” of children and healthy adults.

Facts have emerged subsequently to support these views and we’d like to provide you with an authoritative range of articles to refer to that are properly referenced and contain actual facts. Our goal is to get people thinking. Questioning is not a crime. It leads to new ideas and innovations.

Here is a list of reading to look out for. The links to these pieces will be activated as they are published and you are welcome to reach out to us with questions and suggestions.

• Welcome to The Covid Rabbit Hole: A dystopian maze filled with deception and misdirection.
• The Covid Global Clinical Trials for mRNA. Thank you for Participating.
• When is a vaccine not a vaccine?
• On the Origin of Covid, with apologies to Darwin
• Covid’s Elephant in the Room
• Sudden Death, Pure Bloods, Myocarditis and more.
• Lockdowns and Mandates, Politics, Medicine and Orwell.
• The Demise of Freedom of the Press and Censorship.
• Is Long Covid a real thing?
• Learning to trust again in a post-Covid society?

The post The Covid Files: A Series Separating Pandemic Fact from Fiction appeared first on Medika Life.

Most who suffer from a COVID-19 viral infection get better within a few days to weeks. A minority continues to experience the sequelae of an infection after four weeks, a phenomenon we call long-COVID-19. Any of us who has an infection is vulnerable.

Today we look at whether vaccination helps to reduce the risk of suffering from long-COVID-19.

“These so-called bleak times are necessary to go through to get to a much, much better place.” ― David Lynch.

What is long COVID?

Some individuals infected with the COVID-19 virus experience long-term effects from their infection, or long COVID.

You may have heard the condition called long-haul COVID, post-acute COVID-19, post-acute sequelae of SARS CoV-2 infection (PASC), long-term effects of COVID, and chronic COVID.

Long COVID-19 syndrome involves a variety of new, returning, or ongoing symptoms that individuals experience more than four weeks after getting an infection. For some, post-COVID-19 syndrome lasts months or years or causes disability.

Anyone who has had an infection can experience long COVID-19. Most who suffer from the syndrome have symptoms days after first learning that they experienced an infection. Still, some who experience post-COVID conditions do not know when they became infected.

The Mayo Clinic explains that symptoms of long COVID-19 syndrome include:

• Fatigue
• Symptoms that get worse after a physical or mental effort
• Fever
• Lung symptoms, such as shortness of breath or cough

Other symptoms associated with long COVID-19 include:

• Neurological or mental health conditions include difficulty thinking or concentrating, headache, sleep problems, dizziness upon standing, a pins-and-needles feeling, loss of taste or smell, anxiety, and depression.
• Muscle or joint pain
• Heart symptoms or conditions, including chest pain and a fast or pounding heartbeat
• Digestive symptoms, including diarrhea and stomach pain
• Blood clots and blood vessel (vascular) issues, including a blood clot that travels to the lungs from deep veins in the legs and blocks blood flow to the lungs (pulmonary embolism)
• Other symptoms, such as a rash or changes in the menstrual cycle

There is no test to diagnose post-COVID conditions. The symptoms associated with long COVID often overlap with other health problems, sometimes making it challenging to diagnose the post-COVID syndrome.

Long COVID-19 frequency

A new study analyzed data collected as part of the Lifelines COVID-19 cohort study. Researchers added a specific cohort to the established Dutch Lifelines cohort study.

Exclusion criteria included:

• “Severe mental illness.”
• Less than five years in remaining life expectancy at study enrollment.
• Not being able to visit a doctor.
• Inability to fill out questionnaires in Dutch.

Participants returned questionnaires 24 times between March 31, 2020, and August 2, 2021. The response rates ranged from 28 to 49 percent. The digital surveys included sociodemographic information and mental and physical health factors(including 23 symptoms). All had COVID-19 infections confirmed with a test or a physician’s diagnosis.

The analysis included over 76,000 participants. Symptoms reported at 90 to 150 days after COVID-19 infection (compared with pre-infection symptoms and matched controls) included chest pain, breathing difficulties, painful breathing, painful muscles, ageusia or anosmia, tingling extremities, lump in the throat, feeling hot and cold alternately, heavy arms or legs, and general tiredness.

Here are the findings:

One in eight adults (with a previous positive COVID-19 test) reported symptoms of long COVID.

Persistent symptoms in COVID-19-positive participants at 90–150 days after COVID-19 included chest pain, difficulties with breathing, pain when breathing, painful muscles, ageusia or anosmia, tingling extremities, lump in the throat, feeling hot and cold alternately, heavy arms or legs, and general tiredness.

Does vaccination lower long COVID-19 risk?

A separate study asked: How common are COVID-19 symptoms lasting longer than two months, and which adults are most likely to experience long COVID?

To examine the prevalence of long COVID and the sociodemographic factors associated with it, researchers collected data from eight waves of the COVID-19 States Project, a large-scale internet survey that collected data every six weeks between February 5, 2021, and July 6, 2022.

Respondents reported their COVID-19 test results, including the test date. Those reporting a positive test indicated when their symptoms resolved. The participants with continuing symptoms (for more than two months) filled out a checklist of common symptoms.

Study findings

The study included over 16,000 participants. Approximately 15 percent reported continuing COVID-19 symptoms for at least two months following their diagnosis. The 2,359 with long COVID symptoms reported these symptoms:

• Fatigue — 52 percent
• Poor memory — 46 percent
• Smell loss — 44 percent
• “Brain fog” — 40 percent
• Shortness of breath — 40 percent

Women appeared more likely than men to have smell loss (46 versus 35 percent), cognitive symptoms (49 versus 36 percent), anxiety (31 versus 22 percent), and sleep disruption (32 versus 23 percent).

Symptom frequencies appeared similar by the predominant COVID variant at initial infection time, except for anosmia. Smell loss was less frequent when omicron was predominant (34 percent), compared with the alpha variant (40 percent) and the delta variant (51 percent).

Completion of vaccination before infection reduced (by more than one-quarter) long COVID-19 risk.

Long COVID risk and vaccination — My take

Approximately 15 percent of those with a COVID-19 infection will develop long COVID. Long COVID is prevalent and more common among females and older individuals.

Vaccination before infection appears to reduce, but not eliminate long COVID risk. However, we need confirmation of this finding in prospective studies. I am glad I am up to date on my COVID vaccination.

The information I provided in this blog is for educational purposes only and does not substitute for professional medical advice. Please consult a medical professional or healthcare provider if you seek medical advice, diagnoses, or treatment. I am not liable for risks or issues associated with using or acting upon the information in this blog.

The post Long COVID-19: What Doctors Want You to Know appeared first on Medika Life.

The United States Centers for Disease Control offers that one in five adult Covid survivors under the age of 65 in the United States has experienced at least one health condition that is a part of so-called long-Covid.

For those 65 and older, the statistics are even more disturbing: One in four will suffer from chronic symptoms associated with a COVID-19 infection.

Today, we explore the phenomenon of long COVID. We’ll look at some of the conditions associated with the condition and new findings.

Long COVID: Scope of the problem

I increasingly hear of individuals previously infected with SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, reporting persistent symptoms (or the onset of long-term ones) four weeks or more after their acute infection.

We refer to such chronic COVID symptoms as post-COVID conditions or long COVID.Post-COVID ConditionsImportant update: Healthcare facilities CDC has updated select ways to operate healthcare systems effectively in…www.cdc.gov

The United States Centers for Disease Control evaluated electronic health record data for March 2020 through November 2021. The researchers looked at persons at least 18 years old.

The researchers assessed the incidence of 26 conditions (often attributable to post-COVID) among those with a previous COVID-19 diagnosis and matched patients with evidence of COVID-19 in the electronic health record.

The investigators divided the population by age (18 to 64 versus 65 years or older).

Here are the study findings:

• Among adults, 28 percent experienced a condition thought to be COVID-19 infection; in the control group, 16 percent reported such symptoms.
• The conditions affected several body systems, including cardiovascular, pulmonary, hematologic, renal, endocrine, gastrointestinal, musculoskeletal, neurologic, and psychiatric.
• For both age categories in the COVID group, the highest risk ratios were for lung clots (acute pulmonary embolism) and respiratory symptoms, with over double the risk of the control group.

Long COVID: Symptoms

People who experience post-COVID conditions most commonly report:

General symptoms

• Tiredness or fatigue that interferes with daily life
• Symptoms that get worse after physical or mental effort (also known as “post-exertional malaise”)
• Fever

Respiratory and heart symptoms

• Difficulty breathing or shortness of breath
• Cough
• Chest pain
• Fast-beating or pounding heart (also known as heart palpitations)

Neurological symptoms

• Difficulty thinking or concentrating (sometimes referred to as “brain fog”)
• Headache
• Sleep problems
• Dizziness when you stand up (lightheadedness)
• Pins-and-needles feelings
• Change in smell or taste
• Depression or anxiety

Digestive symptoms

• Diarrhea
• Stomach pain

Other symptoms

• Joint or muscle pain
• Rash
• Changes in menstrual cycles

The US Centers for Disease Control warns that if you have a long COVID condition, you may develop or continue to have symptoms that are challenging to explain or manage. The symptoms may be similar to those with chronic fatigue syndrome and other poorly understood chronic conditions that happen after other types of infection.

Long COVID: Who is more likely to experience it?

Some groups may be affected more by long COVID, including those who experience more severe COVID-19 illness (especially true for those hospitalized or needing intensive care).

Those with pre-existing health conditions may also be more likely to suffer from long COVID symptoms than those who did not get a COVID-19 vaccine.

People suffering from multisystem inflammatory syndrome (MIS) during or after COVID-19 illness appear more likely to have chronic COVID-related troubles, as do those from populations suffering from health inequities.

I’ll end with this: Long COVID is one more good reason to get a COVID-19 vaccine. People who are vaccinated but experience a breakthrough infection appear less likely to report post-COVID conditions, compared to people who are unvaccinated.

The scope of the long COVID problem is shocking to me. We need to develop additional tools to reduce the risk of long Covid.

The post One in Five With Adult Covid Develop Long COVID appeared first on Medika Life.

The treatments developed in response to Covid were both necessary and bold. For many, these therapeutic mitigators (a far more accurate description than vaccine) were and are life saving, a part of humanity traversing its first modern global pandemic. This article isn’t about the medicines themselves, rather about how governments and health authorities chose to define them. It is about mandates, enforced legally, sneakily, or otherwise on the general population and how, in the aftermath of these mandates, hundreds of thousands, perhaps millions of patients, suffering from listed and unlisted side effects, are left with no where to turn. No recourse.

It is about regulatory authorities’ ethical and moral responsibility to these patients, many of whom do not possess the financial means to seek help for their conditions, and about who, ultimately, should bear the weight of the huge costs associated with compensation. It is a complex question, one that may well end up in our higher courts across the globe, as those who bear the onus, will attempt to shirk their responsibilities. Before I assign blame, for reasons I will be more than clear about, let’s first examine how we arrived here.

A time for firsts

The last two years has witnessed a lot of firsts, as the pandemic swept across the globe, crippling economies and upending our societies as it highlighted the fragile human ecosystem. We had built based on the flawed assumption that we were untouchable. SARS-CoV2 proved otherwise.

Two years and six months into the pandemic, the virus still confounds, mutating into, what fortunately appears to be, less and less virulent strains. More contagious, yes, but less deadly. A new “influenza” to add to the existing strains, but it’s a dangerous comparison to draw as Covid is proving far more debilitating in terms of it’s long term impacts on our bodies. How, where and why the virus stays on with some of us, is only now beginning to emerge. Long term after effects require, well, a long term, and it may take years to fully understand just how the SARS-CoV2 virus has affected us.

I started by saying we’ve lived through a lot of firsts since the pandemic made headlines in late December of 2019. Among those firsts was the development of multiple “vaccines” to address the virus. In reality these treatments, developed in record time, by Pfizer, Moderna, J&J have been mischaracterized as vaccines. They aren’t vaccines, not even if you stretch the definition of a vaccine.

What each of these companies had in fact developed where different versions of what proved, in many instances, to be a life saving treatment for individuals who developed severe Covid in response to contracting the virus. Particularly those individuals who lived with identified comorbidities. The new treatments reduced the risk of death for at-risk individuals and the aged by up to 90%. That’s a massive saving of life. Of equal import was the breathing space these treatments afforded our healthcare services around the globe.

Then, swiftly on its heels, came another first. Murmurings of enforcing these treatments on all members of the public. There was outrage or angst from almost every sector of society, so rather than issuing blanket mandates, governments turned to other means to enforce Covid vaccination. In strategies that medical historians will revisit, individuals had their freedom of movement, right to access and their employment held hostage in exchange for compliance. Natural immunity was ignored, an individuals state of health was ignored.

Everyone, governments decided, would be “vaccinated” with the new treatments and most members of the public complied, either from a sense of civil obedience or to ensure they could simply continue to function in society, earn a living, attend college, enter shopping malls or board public transport. The health benefit was evident – avoiding hospitalization or death. But, what was not evident were the potential side effects, many of which were still being explored.

In an ideal world, these new treatments would have simply achieved their desired goal, and either persisted in our bodies as part of our viral record, or disappeared along with the defeated virus. In reality, these treatments had, and still have, side effects, some of which are fatal. The argument that listed side effects impact a very small segment of the population has been rendered all but moot by scale. Inject billions and that small percentage grows into a much larger problem, millions in fact, as we show below. These affected patients face very real health challenges in the short term, and we can only pray that long term side effects that are yet to manifest are not significant in nature.

Getting a drug or vaccine approved for release to the public can take years and years of safety and efficacy testing and clinical trials. The reasoning is simple. Long term side effects take years to manifest, so in the interests of public safety, we wait out this period to ensure we aren’t endangering the public. It’s terribly frustrating; however, scientifically important.

Covid, or rather Governments responding to the virus globally, unilaterally decided to toss the historic scientific rule book. Emergency Use Authorization was granted off the back of shortened clinical trials and in less than a year Covid was under attack, from not one, but multiple treatments relying in some instances on novel delivery techniques that had, up till that point, been restricted to end of life patients. Desperate times call for desperate measures.

Never before had we attempted to vaccinate entire populations and the scale and enormity of the task that lay ahead was enough to overwhelm even the most efficient of healthcare services. Perhaps, with hindsight, some politicians might argue they were oversold on the efficacy or safety of these new treatments, many not fully understanding that these vaccines were in point of fact not vaccines, but desperately needed treatments to reduce mortality. By late 2020, it was all really pretty irrelevant. Lockdowns, financial pressures, healthcare pressures and outcries from every corner of society for a return to normalcy threatened to unseat any regime that didn’t act, and act swiftly.

The “vaccines” were the obvious panacea.

Now, 18 months later, most of the planet has been vaccinated, with some patients having received multiple doses and boosters, often from differing companies (something I’ll address below). Most recent WHO estimates put current global treatments at around an eyewatering 11,655,356,423 vaccine doses that have been administered. To understand how this extrapolates in real terms to people who’ve experienced side effects, lets take figures quoted by Pfizer themselves. In their initial trials, 0.6% of candidates aged 18 and older experienced a serious adverse reaction to the vaccine.

In fairness, companies have a hard time distinguishing which serious adverse events (SAE’s) are as a result of the medication being administered and which are just normal run of the mill events that would have impacted someone anyway. Control groups indicate just how often this happens. In the same trial Pfizer reported 0.5% SAE’s in their control group (placebo administered).

To quote their clinical trial, “The proportions of participants who reported at least 1 serious adverse event were 0.6% in the vaccine group”. Let’s half that figure and be conservative. Extrapolate it to the number of vaccinated individuals above, assuming that adverse events are as common among the other brands of vaccine. It works out at around 35 million people, who have potentially experienced one serious side effect or another. It’s a staggering figure.

In Europe alone, where Pfizer has administered 611 million doses, this would account for 1.8 million individuals (0.35%) who’ve experienced a potential serious adverse event. Scale is everything.

Accountability, Pharma and Government

In terms of the vaccines, limited accountability exists for the pharmaceutical industry. In almost all instances, access to the treatments meant governments shouldering lengthy legal waivers that have effectively render pharmaceutical companies immune to any fallout (read side effects) experienced by patients. You can understand the desire of the companies to protect themselves, given the scale of treatments. One look at that figure above from the WHO and you can imagine the scale of liability had things gone wrong.

It may also explain why the industry was eager to have these new treatments sold under the “vaccine” label as the vaccine industry boasts rigorous legal precedent to virtually indemnify manufacturers against any legal action.

Sadly, for a small sector of the global population that received the vaccines, things have gone wrong. In some instances fatal blood clots have claimed lives, heart conditions have affected healthy teenagers, some patients have suffered perhaps irreversible hair loss, the listed side effects are numerous and vary from vaccine to vaccine, further complicating the issue of who is to blame. The use above of the term “small” is again only relevant when measured against the global population. Tens of millions of people tend to become statistically insignificant when you’re dealing with billions.

The approved use of multiple vaccine brands in a single patient has further muddied the water. If you’ve had vaccines administered from Pfizer, Moderna and Johnson & Johnson, whose to say which vaccine caused you to experience side effects. The more delayed the onset of symptoms, the more difficult it becomes to impart blame to a single manufacturer. Proving these treatments are to blame for a new wave of disease or a particular condition becomes even more complex if you lack a control group (unvaccinated) for comparison, something that will prove more and more challenging as vaccination rates rise globally.

What is not open to debate however, is that almost all patients suffering from conditions directly ascribed to the administration of a Covid vaccine, face an uphill battle on almost every front.

Healthcare and its providers are reticent to lay the blame for conditions at the door of treatments that were heralded as life saving. Eroding the public’s confidence in the Covid vaccines can be a death knell for any medical practitioner. We are still reliant on the Covid vaccines, a dependency that will continue no doubt for the foreseeable future, and the fact that follow up shots (boosters) are not being utilized, even in at risk populations, is worrying. Creating fear in the public’s mind is frowned on, both within and outside of the industry. The publicly acceptable narrative (which seeks to minimize the risk of adverse events) must be preserved at all costs.

Ignorance within healthcare as to the potential side effects of the vaccines and how these manifest in patients is also still an issue. More needs to be done to educate doctors, enabling them to accurately diagnose Covid vaccine related conditions. It’s an unenviable task, given that the medical sector is not in possession of any long term data from the original trials. We’re learning on the fly here, far from ideal in clinical terms and definitely not helpful for patients.

The VAERS system, active within the US for reporting adverse events, is possibly the most flawed system created by the NIH. Instead of limiting the systems input to trained medical professionals, anyone can access it, casting more than a little plausible doubt on the data’s integrity. The tool is in desperate need of an overhaul to legitimize the data it provides. Healthcare providers now have access to new codes through ICD 11 to identify Covid vaccine side effects, so by extension, repurposing VAERS doesn’t seem like a huge reach.

For some individuals, they are fortunate enough to have health cover. Many patients don’t and they are the ones who stand to lose the most. Currently, they have absolutely no options on the table other than to live with or die with, depending on the severity, the vaccine related conditions that have afflicted them. Consider the following for a moment.

Your government legally forced, cajoled, bullied or shamed you into accepting the vaccine. If you don’t agree with this statement I suggest you consult government workers, policemen, firefighters and frontline staff whose jobs were threatened by one simple statement. Vaccinate, or resign. I suggest you speak to people whose access to their workplace, schools and other public spaces was revoked, pending the production of a vaccine certificate. Bullying tactics from governments to afraid to resort to legitimate and open legal enforcement in the event things went wrong.

Governments engaged in these tactics knowing full well they had insulated the manufacturers against any claims arising from harm. They did this, knowing full well that the trials for the treatments they were mandating were far from conclusive or complete. I was recently vaccinated in the Philippines after already having contracted Covid. Part of the process involved signing a waiver that indemnified the government against all claims stemming from the administration of the vaccine. Ironic, considering the government’s insistence on vaccination with a product they were ensuring the public was absolutely safe.

Almost all governments globally were and are in the same boat and how they choose to respond now to a growing problem may well determine their futures.

Doing right by Joe Public

So to recap, countries are now faced with countless “vaccine victims”. People who have reacted negatively to, or in the worst instances, died from the administration of the Covid vaccines. Many of these individuals were coerced into taking the treatment. Given the choice, some may have declined, but policies advocated and initiated by governments globally left them with no choice. Vaccinate or be excluded from society. For this segment of the population, their current condition leaves a particularly bitter aftertaste.

Of course many did what they considered to be their civic duty and happily volunteered themselves at clinics across the globe to be vaccinated. No mention was made of naturally acquired immunity, no distinctions were drawn between the at-risk and healthy segment of the population. Everyone was encouraged to get vaccinated with a treatment that did not reduce the risk of transmission or infection, it simply reduced the risk of death. And obviously, here too, patients encountered side effects.

An ethical government, seeking to repair and restore credibility in both its healthcare systems and scientific community would at this point hold up its hands and extend an olive branch. At the very least, blanket coverage to those individuals whose health may have been compromised by the vaccines. Failure to act now will have long lasting implications for almost all of society and without much thought, I can suggest a few consequences right off the cuff.

• Hugely expensive and protracted legal battles will ensue, with class actions filed on behalf of the affected. In the US for instance, legally mandating any form of EUA drug is in direct contradiction to existing FDA and Federal guidelines. The issue is also highly politicized and will at some stage be weaponized for political gain.
• The cost to healthcare systems will in many ways emulate the burdens placed on them by the pandemic. Vaccination continues unabated across the globe and it is not unrealistic to expect patients encountering adverse reactions to exceed 50 million or more in number. This is another pandemic, one of our own creation.
• The cost to the labor markets in terms of manhours lost couldn’t come at a worse time, considering the fragility of economies across the globe. 12 months down the road, we may find ourselves in a position where funds to assist this group are simply not available, as talk or recessions and stock market implosions permeate the media.

The perfect storm

Coupled to an emergent and growing “long Covid” group, vaccine victims present a self created challenge to the medical industry and our societies. We have an ethical obligation to ensure these patients receive access to care. Any other course of action will leave the industry and the power bases that wield it, looking yet more callous and disassociated from their patients and electorate.

More importantly, as we spread across the planet in ever increasing numbers, living in closer and closer proximity to each other and our food sources, the next pandemic could be just around the corner. Add global warming to the mix and the associated melting permafrost threatens us with a new source of pathogens, frozen in the soil for thousands and thousands of years. Pathogens that could potentially prove far more damaging than Covid.

Trust and a blind belief in governments, scientists and healthcare systems has been eroded, some would suggest irreparably. Our failure to address current issues within healthcare that affect millions will not escape the watchful eye of the public. Round 2 in our challenge against global pathogens may turn out to be the decisive round if we do not get our act together now.

And please, let’s stop calling these important treatments vaccines. They are, in the words of a colleague, therapeutic mitigators, . Reducing hospitalization or death is an incredible feat of medicine. We honor this scientific achievement by calling them what they are – breakthrough treatments that mitigate a clear and present viral danger. I’ll leave you with an extract from the Vaccine Alliance to consider, directly from GAVI itself. Bold added for emphasis.

Vaccines differ from other medical drugs in two important ways. The first is that they are designed to prevent disease, rather than treat it. They do this by priming a person’s immune system to recognise a specific disease-causing bacteria, virus or other pathogen. This “memory” can last years, or in some cases for life, which is why vaccination can be so effective, stopping people from getting sick rather than waiting until disease occurs.

Gavi Website, gavi.org

A far cry from the method of action of current Covid “vaccines” which are designed to mitigate symptoms that develop as a result of a serious Covid infection. Life saving yes, a vaccine? Absolutely not.

The post Up to 35 Million People May Already Have Had Adverse Vaccine Reactions appeared first on Medika Life.

How long do these syndromes last? The answer is unclear but it certainly can persist for months and they can range from a mildly annoying to literal incapacitation.

What are the symptoms? They are protean and include fatigue, “brain fog,” other cognitive difficulties, shortness of breath, sleep disorders, fevers, anxiety and depression, a persistent loss of taste and smell or headaches. Some symptoms that were initially thought to be very uncommon include tremors which now appear to occur in about 40% of affected people and a sense of vibrations in about 30%. Some develop symptoms of circulatory imbalances and various cardiovascular dysfunctions (See my following article.)

Emotional health has been affected among Long Covid sufferers with increases in anxiety, increased frequency of depression, and many sleep disturbances. In many individuals, perhaps especially in older people, there is mild but real brain damage. This causes pervasive yet subtle cognitive, behavioral and psychological problems.

What is most common? Chronic fatigue is perhaps the most common symptom. Its degree varies from person to person but certainly can be truly debilitating. Individuals report feeling “rundown” and tired. They find they can’t exercise or do even simple tasks without feeling truly exhausted. This can persist for weeks, months or over a year.

What exacerbates symptoms? Some people have symptoms that get worse after physical or even mental exertion. This was initially unrecognized as related to Long Covid but now it’s appreciated to be common and is termed “post-exertional malaise.”

Do individuals with Long Covid have the same symptoms as they did with their initial infection? Not necessarily. Symptoms can be a continuation of the original ones but often are entirely different or can be some combination. Symptoms don’t necessarily persist unchanged. They can wax and wane, disappear and reappear. Patients can feel better for a while and then relapse with symptoms and this can be repeated ad infinitum.

Who is at risk? Just about anyone but women seem to be a bit more affected than men, as are older than younger adults, as are those with more symptoms at the time of initial infection. One study suggests that those with an unhealthy microbiome, meaning a loss of bacterial diversity in the GI tract, compared to the typical healthy microbiology, adds to the risk of developing Long Covid.

Another report suggested those more likely to develop Long Covid had a lower level of immunoglobulins in the blood tested after initial infection but before Long Covid developed, those with low levels of autoimmune antibodies (low enough not to have caused an autoimmune disease,) those with Coronavirus particles in the bloodstream, or those with reactivation of the Epstein-Barr virus. Just what all of this means is unclear and it is important to remember that these are all correlations and correlation does not necessarily equal causation.

How frequent is Long Covid? The answer is unclear but certainly, 10 to 30% of people with mild Covid develop Long Covid, quite possibly it’s more. It’s suspected that those with asymptomatic Covid-19 can also develop Long Covid.

What about kids? It’s probably less common among children, perhaps 4 to 10% but one report found a much higher incidence. Whatever the incidence, it is stressful, to say the least, for the child who is affected.

Does vaccination prevent Long Covid? Unvaccinated people have the highest incidence of Long Covid. Those who are vaccinated and get a breakthrough infection can definitely develop Long Covid although the incidence is lower. Those who are vaccinated and boosted and then get a breakthrough infection have the lowest incidence. But for the individual who develops Long Covid, it’s a problem of significance no matter their vaccination status as Arthur found with his fatigue and brain fog syndromes.

How long does Long Covid last? It can vary extensively — from weeks to months to over a year. In one international survey of some 3762 participants with Long Covid, 91% had symptoms that persisted for greater than 35 weeks (seven months, the length of observation.) Among these individuals, 86% had relapses that were triggered by physical exercise, mental exercise or just stress. At the time of the survey, 46% required a reduced workload compared to their pre-infection employment status. Twenty-three percent had not worked since developing Long Covid. The survey concluded that “by seven months, many had not yet recovered, had not returned to previous levels of work, and continued to experience significant symptom burden.”

Bottom line — Just one more reason why you want to avoid becoming infected. And it definitely tells us that getting infected to build immunity is not at all-wise.

In the next article in this multi-part series, I will do a deep dive into Long Covid heart damage following mild Covid. Please join me.

Stephen C Schimpff, MD, MACP, is a quasi-retired internist, professor of medicine, former CEO of the University of Maryland Medical Center, and author of Longevity Decoded — The 7 Keys to Healthy Aging and his co-authored book with Dr. Harry Oken BOOM — Boost Our Own Metabolism.

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That’s the recent conclusion of researchers from Harvard, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), and Massachusetts General Hospital (USA).

In the journal Cell, the scientists report that traditional dosing regimens of COVID-19 vaccines available in the United States don’t produce antibodies that recognize and neutralize the Omicron variant.

If you want to see how your country is doing in the pandemic, check out this valuable resource from the World Health Organization:WHO Coronavirus (COVID-19) DashboardWorld Health Organization Coronavirus disease situation dashboard presents official daily counts of COVID-19 cases and…covid19.who.int

COVID19 — Omicron variant

On November 24, 2021, researchers reported a new variant of SARS-CoV-2, B.1.1.529, to the World Health Organization (WHO). Scientists detected the mutated virus in specimens collected on November 11, 2021, in Botswana and on November 14, 2021, in South Africa.

Two days later, the World Health Organization named the B.1.1.529 Omicron and classified it as a Variant of Concern (VOC). At the end of November, the United States designated Omicron as a VOC. On December 1, 2021, scientists confirmed the first U.S. case of Omicron.

The Omicron variant of COVID-19 appears to spread more quickly than the original SARS-CoV-2 virus. We are still learning about how Omicron compares to the Delta variant, but the United States Centers for Disease Control explains that:

Anyone with Omicron infection can spread the virus to others, even if the carrier is vaccinated or does not have symptoms.

We need more data to know if Omicron infections (and especially reinfections and breakthrough infections) in people who have fully vaccinated cause more severe illness or death than infection with other variants. My impression is that Omicron appears “milder,” at least among those who have had a COVID-19 booster shot.

Omicron: You need the Covid booster

Scientists are still determining how well current management tools for Omicron work. While a third “booster” shot provides reasonable protection against death from the disease, I am surprised to see how much the booster is needed. Here’s why I am a bit startled:

Researchers looked at individuals who had gotten their primary vaccine series recently (less than three months), distantly (six to 12 months), or an additional “booster” dose while accounting for prior Covid-19 infection.

Neutralization of Omicron appeared undetectable in most vaccine recipients. However, for those who had had an mRNA booster vaccine, there appeared to be potent neutralization of Omicron.

To the study authors, the findings highlight the importance of additional mRNA doses to broaden neutralizing antibody responses against highly divergent SARS-CoV-2 variants.

Thank you for joining me at this look at why you need the Covid booster. It may not transmission of Covid-19, but there is a very good chance it will keep you from dying of the novel coronavirus. Oh, one more thing (a Covid-19 tracker):

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But what tips an individual into life-threatening severe pneumonia, also known as acute respiratory distress syndrome, or ARDS? I want to share with you some possibilities, as nicely articulated in a piece from the University of California, San Francisco (USA).

“Chaos was the law of nature; Order was the dream of man.”
― Henry Adams, The Education of Henry Adams

Ariel Bleicher begins with this observation: “What we still don’t know, however, is what tips one COVID-19 victim toward ARDS but not another.” Moreover, those with the novel coronavirus had a peculiar clinical course compared with those with ARDS who did not have the virus.

Those harboring COVID-19 developed the syndrome more slowly and typically recovered more slowly as well. Their immune system goes on a rampage, one against its own body, wreaking havoc on the lungs and depriving them of vital oxygen. This process continues even after COVID-19 has cleared out.

But COVID-19 does not limit itself to the lungs. The virus can also attack our heart, gut, brain, blood vessels, and more. Like in the lungs, the patients’ immune response can be more problematic than the direct damage caused by the virus. Inflammation abounds.

I have recently written about how COVID-19 microclots may play a role in facilitating long-term symptoms from the infection, a phenomenon colloquially referred to as long COVID:Long Covid: Could This Be Why?MICROCLOTS. COULD THEY EXPLAIN the mystery of why some who get a COVID19 infection suffer for long periods? Three…medium.com

COVID-19 unhinges the immune system

We next turn to the COMET (COVID-19 Multi-Phenotyping for Effective Therapies), a study that collects blood and other body substances from the hospitalized patient for genes, immune cells, and other molecules.

Researchers sequenced RNA, indicating which genes (DNA) are activated. In this fashion, they could see what genetic programs a patient’s immune cells used in response to the COVID-19 infection.

Here are the findings:

Immune cells from patients with mild COVID-19 ran a crucial virus defense program without a problem. On the other hand, those with severe COVID-19 (admitted to the ICU, often with ARDS) had no cells running an essential response centered around interferon.

Bleicher breaks it down. Our immune cells deploy several programs to combat viruses. A potent one is the interferon response. We have some immune cells that are sentries at our borders, including in the skin and the lining of our noses.

When one of these sentinel soldier cells detects a virus attack, it releases warning proteins — interferons — as a siren. Cells in the vicinity respond by activating anti-viral genes, slowing the reproduction of the virus. The genetic activation also promotes cell suicide among the cells that have become infected.

Professor Matthew “Max” Krummel, Ph.D., UCSF’s Smith Professor of Experimental Pathology, and co-lead of the COMET study, explains that we see this lack of an interferon response unfold across the entire immune system.

Cytokine storm

With no interference response to contain the virus, the COVID-19 invader spreads freely and rapidly. As the virus attacks more and more cells, the cells call for reinforcements by releasing inflammatory proteins (cytokines) into the bloodstream.

Things heat up even more as white cells and antibodies join the war, striving to eliminate the COVID virus via biological carpet bombing. Perhaps not surprisingly, extensive inflammation and tissue damage ensues.

What’s shutting down the interferon response?

Approximately ten percent of those with severe COVID-19 have antibodies in their blood that attack interferons. For others with severe infections, there may be a host of yet discovered antibodies binding to a cell receptor that overrides the interferon signal.

The researchers came to this unbelievable conclusion: Hidden autoimmunity may turn an otherwise benign infection deadly. And antibodies against interferon may be the tip of the iceberg. As we learn more about antibodies and their effect on COVID-19, we are likely to understand better who is more likely to become severely ill.

Thank you for joining me in exploring this exciting research.

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“The purpose of literature is to turn blood into ink.”
― T.S. Eliot

The numbers are staggering. But it doesn’t end there — Upwards of 100 million people worldwide already suffer from so-called long Covid. This number is almost certainly a significant underestimate.

A meta-analysis suggests that worldwide, long Covid (to be more precise, post-acute sequelae of COVID-19) represents a significant fraction of cases. Approximately 43 percent of COVID-19 tested positive cases (and more than half of those hospitalized with COVID-19) suffer from it.

There may be some geographic differences. In North America, the proportion is just under one-third (30 percent) compared with half of the cases in Asia. Admittedly, researchers based these estimates on more severe cases, but you get the point — Long COVID is a significant problem.

Today we explore long Covid before turning to a potential explanation for why the phenomenon occurs.

Long COVID — What is it?

Fortunately, most of us who get coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) will recover completely, often within a few weeks. On the other hand, some individuals (including some who have had only mild episodes of the disease) continue to have symptoms after the initial recovery.

These so-called long haulers have long COVID-19, living with COVID-19 effects that last for more than a month after you have been diagnosed with the virus.

The Mayo Clinic (USA) offers these insights: Older folks and those with many severe medical conditions are the most likely to suffer long-term from COVID-19 symptoms. But even young and healthy individuals can feel unwell for long periods. Here are some common symptoms:

• Fatigue
• Shortness of breath or difficulty breathing, cough, chest pain
• Joint or muscle pain
• Memory, concentration, or sleep problems
• Headache
• Fast or pounding heartbeat
• Loss of smell or taste
• Depression or anxiety
• Fever
• Dizziness when you stand
• Worsened symptoms after physical or mental activities

Long COVID — Organ damage

Think COVID-19, and lung probably come to mind. But we need to think more broadly — the novel coronavirus can attack many organs, including the kidneys, heart, and brain.

Chronic problems can include breathing problems, heart issues, kidney impairment, stroke, temporary paralysis, etc. Moreover, some suffer from multisystem inflammatory syndrome, with some organs and tissues severely inflamed.

Many of those who have severe lung problems acutely develop chronic fatigue syndrome. This syndrome involves extreme tiredness that worsens with mental or physical activity, and rest is not palliative.

Long Covid — Psychological problems

Perhaps not surprisingly, those who suffer severe symptoms requiring a stay in a hospital intensive care unit (ICU) may later have anxiety, depression, or post-traumatic stress syndrome (PTSD).

I want to emphasize that most people who have COVID-19 recover within weeks. Still, the potential long-term problems from the virus make it even more critical to reduce the spread of the disease. We still have much to learn about the long-term implications of COVID-19 infection.

Long COVID — Why?

In an insightful piece published in The Guardian, Dr. Resia Pretorius reminds us of this: COVID-19 is not simply a lung disease but affects blood flow and coagulation (blood clotting) systems. Dr. Pretorius is the head of the physiological sciences department at Stellenbosch University (South Africa).

Now, this:

“My lab has found significant microclot formation in patients with acute Covid-19 and those with long Covid-19. Unfortunately, routine blood tests miss these signs.”

We all typically form clots, for example, after cutting ourselves. The body then efficiently breaks down those clots via fibrinolysis. Fibrin is the central substance in that process.

Persistent microclots in the blood of those with long COVID-19 are resistant to fibrinolysis or clot destruction. Dr. Pretorious and her research team discovered high levels of various inflammatory molecules trapped in the microclots. These substances included:

• plasminogen (a precursor or plasmin — which breaks clot down by attacking fibrin)
• fibrinogen (forms fibrin, the main protein in a blood clot that helps stop bleeding)
• von Willebrand factor (works by affecting the adherence of clot-related platelets to one another)
• alpha-2 antiplasmin (a molecule preventing microclot breakdown)

Our tissues may not get enough oxygen with persistent microclots and hyperactivated platelets (also a key to clotting). A significant lack of oxygen can lead to troubling symptoms. Unfortunately, the researcher reminds us that there are no routine pathology tests to diagnose such patients. The usual tests do not find the inflammatory molecules described above.

Long COVID — What to do

Someday, we may routinely use strategies targeting clot-causing platelets and other clot-causing substances. Perhaps we will use dialysis-style treatment to filter our microclots and inflammatory substances. Here’s a video on this approach from the British Broadcasting Corporation:

In addition, there is hope that we will find a biomarker for long Covid.

“The blood jet is poetry,
There is no stopping it.

“Kindness” written 01 February 1963.
– Sylvia Plath, Ariel

Thank you for joining me today.

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Washington University School of Medicine announced a new clinic specifically targeting patients who recovered from Covid-19 but continue to suffer from a wide range of symptoms. Covid Long Haulers in St. Louis and the surrounding area will have access to top-notch care in this multispecialty service line.

The Care and Recovery After COVID-19 (CARE) Clinic recognize people with long Covid presents with diverse issues and complications. Patients often complain about problems in the heart, lungs, kidneys, brain, blood, insomnia, sleep, and mood disorders. To facilitate care coordination, the CARE clinic has access to specialists in Cardiology, Endocrinology, Gastroenterology, Hematology, Infectious Disease, Nephrology, Neurology, Occupational Therapy, Physical Therapy, and Pulmonology.

The team of specialists addresses each patient’s needs by providing a comprehensive individual assessment. Referrals, testing, and recommendations are coordinate from the central hub of the CARE Clinic.

The St. Louis Washington University CARE Clinic will schedule patients with Long Covid symptoms who have had a confirmed positive case of COVID-19 by a nasal swab test, a saliva test, or a blood antibody test.

Washington University is not the only institute launching post-Covid care clinics. The National Institute of Health (NIH) announced a new initiative to study the causes of the post-Covid condition. The influx of a $1.15 billion investment in new medical research funding will hopefully open the doors to preventative steps and, ultimately, treatment options.

Scientists continue to learn more about persistent symptoms after a Covid-19 infection. Popular terms for the condition include “long Covid” or “Covid long haulers.” The CDC uses the more descriptive term post-COVID condition to cover the set of post-infection signs and symptoms experienced more than four weeks after infection with SARS-CoV-2.

We know that SARS-CoV-2 enters the brain and causes inflammation. Scientists in Bethesda, Maryland, published a paper in the New England Journal of Medicine evaluating the brains of people who died from Covid-19. They noted inflammation and evidence of leaky blood vessels in the postmortem brain tissue.

Despite these findings, we do not know the specific reasons the virus causes persistent symptoms in some patients. Long Covid symptoms appear in some patients with severe Covid disease and those with mild or asymptomatic infections.

The CDC lists common symptoms of post-Covid complaints.

• Tiredness or fatigue
• Difficulty thinking or concentrating (sometimes referred to as “brain fog”)
• Headache
• Loss of smell or taste
• Dizziness on standing
• Fast-beating or pounding heart (also known as heart palpitations)
• Chest pain
• Difficulty breathing or shortness of breath
• Cough
• Joint or muscle pain
• Depression or anxiety
• Fever
• Symptoms that get worse after physical or mental activities

FIGURE. Self-reported symptoms at the time of positive SARS-CoV-2 reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) testing results and unresolved symptoms 14–21 days later among outpatients (N = 274)* — 14 academic health care systems,† United States, March–June 2020

A recent study published in the Lancet evaluated patients six months after hospital discharge. Approximately 75% of the 1,655 hospitalized COVID-19 patients in Wuhan, China, continued to have at least one symptom six months after discharge.

Another Lancet study evaluated the neurolgic and psychiatric outcomes in 236 379 Covid-19 survivors six months after infection. One third met criteria for a neurological or psychiatric diagnosis within six months of infection. Anxiety, depression, muscle pain, substance abuse and insomnia were the most common reported conditions.

Patients in St. Louis and the surrounding area with post-Covid condition symptoms can find more information here.

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