Adverse reactions to COVID vaccines I have come across

Introduction

When the COVID vaccines were being developed, I felt the mRNA ones would be pushed through to open up the mRNA market (as Pharma has a dire need to develop new medications and the potential mRNA market is worth trillions), and necessary safety checks would be skipped to make sure mRNA vaccinations came into use.  I was initially worried they would prolong the epidemic (as they would prevent people from developing proper immunity to the virus and encourage mutations of the virus) and I had a fear in the future they could lead to significant neurological, autoimmune, fertility and cancer related issues (for example a concerning letter had been published regarding potential effects on fertility).  Once I was able to examine Pfizer’s trial, and observed the high rates of acute reactions they were willing to admit occurred (approximately 4x those of the influenza vaccine), I realized those potential issues were much more probable (especially as members of the trial in private groups reported adverse events that did not appear in the trial report) and I ruffled a lot of feathers as I told colleagues I knew to avoid them.

(Article republished from AMidwesternDoctor.Substack.com)

Succinctly, I (and others) felt there would likely be a significant number of people developing these chronic health issues, but the number would be small enough to sweep it under the rug.  When parts of Pfizer’s IND application to the EMA (Europe’s FDA) were leaked there were numerous red flags that jumped out to me. The most notable was Pfizer being allowed to skip performing the normally required animal studies on Fertility, Genotoxicity (cancer potential), and Autoimmunity studies of their drug.  I took this as a tacit admission Pfizer knew there would be very concerning results if these studies were conducted, so the best option they had was to never “do” them.

Before the vaccine rollout began, I also noticed that in addition to the full throttle promotion of the vaccine in the media, many outlets stated the vaccine may briefly make you feel awful, but not to worry about it.  Given that I have never seen that message provided in the past for any other vaccine, this rang an alarm bell for me, and I had an expectation the vaccine would probably have a chronic side effect profile similar to Gardasil (which was previously regarded by many to the most harmful and unnecessary vaccine on the market).

As many of my friends are in Medicine, I was able to observe the roll out from day 1 and noticed the toxicity was worse than reported by Pfizer’s study but in line with my expectations.  I immediately noticed that most of my acquaintances who had significant acute reactions had had COVID prior to the vaccine.  Similarly, as had been reported by Pfizer, reactions to the second shot were almost always much more severe than the first (this still holds true with the booster in turn producing an even worse reaction).  As the common element between the vaccine and a COVID infection were spike proteins, this led me to wonder if the spike protein was allergenic (making COVID largely an allergic disease) or it was cumulatively creating a coagulation of the blood (and other fluids in the body) that eventually hit a threshold people could not handle.  My current hypothesis is that both are occurring and exacerbating the other, although there are many other potential mechanisms for spike protein toxicity.

Once the vaccine was release to the general public, I began seeing patients appear for various acute autoimmune and neurological conditions (I would classify as “moderate”) immediately following vaccination at a much higher rate than I had expected.  Each time they told me the other doctors they saw either insisted the reaction was either not linked to vaccination, or the fact they had the reaction was a really good sign, because if they ended up getting COVID the adverse event would have been much much worse.  Shortly after, I then began having friends contact me inquiring if the vaccine could cause a fatal heart attack or stroke, something I had not anticipated would occur.

This set off major alarm bells and I tried to warn my coworkers, who would not listen, and repeated the arguments they and others had told my patients.  Before long, I realized even if I was powerless to change anything I had a duty to bear witness to what was occurring and document what I encountered.

As I began receiving more cases, I decided to try and make the best of the data being received.
The rules I settled on were:
-If at all possible, I want to avoid having more than 1 degree of separation from the injured person, that way the sample is smaller and more defined. In here I noted when I violated that.
-I cannot count reports from people who are soliciting vaccine reactions (ie. a doctor well known for treating vaccine reactions, as they will have a much larger pool of people being pulled to them)
-I cannot solicit reports from everyone I know as that inflates the sample.
-Based on my relationship with the person, and their relationship to the injured individual, I need to be reasonably confident the report is real and not fabricated.
-I need to feel there’s enough data for a tentative causality to be considered.

My primary reason for all of this is that everyone likes to say “severe reactions to vaccines are 1/1,000,000.”  My logic was there is absolutely no way I know 1,000,000 people through 1 degree of separation.  My guess is I know 50,000-100,000 people through 1 degree of separation so at the absolutely most I will hear of 10% of the cases (probably less) within this sample, so if I have at least 10 cases of severe injury within this sample that is a large red flag.

I would also like to note that due to my work situation, relative to most providers I saw a very low volume of vaccinated patients once the vaccinations became available.  Additionally, physicians I’ve spoken to who have practices that cater to vaccine injured individuals, physicians in specialties that treat the conditions vaccines can cause, reports I’ve read online, and the recently linked survey from Israel, all of which report the same results I have personally witnessed (along with the other various databases that have been leaked).

When describing the reactions, I’ve tried to roughly describe how I knew the person who reported it to me without revealing too much identifying issues as I feel that adds a useful dimension to this (so I’ve just labeled everyone as a “friend”).  As a lot of my friends are in medicine, I’ve broken them into 2 categories, Physician (MD or DO), and all other health care workers.  The majority of people reported 1-2 cases to me.  As far as I know, the most I received from one person was 4 cases.  I would estimate I have recorded about 85% of the significant, severe, and critical cases I was told about.  While I have many friends in the medical field I’ve met since medical school, give or take every physician I met who was comfortable confiding these stories with me were people I knew before they graduated and became doctors (as there is a different type of bond that forms).

I do not think every case listed in here was caused by vaccination, but I suspect most were.  To protect the identities of individuals within here, while the information I was provided was very specific, but I’ve made much of the information in this article fairly vague.

I’ve sorted the reactions by type, with each having its own section.  Also PMH stands for past medical history, which is relevant since it’s unusual for complex illnesses to emerge without a past history of similar things.  Additionally, the blood clots described in many of these cases are highly unusual (rapid near occlusion of blood vessels previously showing no signs of partial occlusion, a wide range typically effective anticoagulants not preventing the clot, clots reforming in the same location after removal, and clots forming in areas you rarely see them).

I also must note that I only know one of case listed in here (a non-fatal but permanently debilitating one) which made it to VAERS.  This was partly due to me being very close to the injured individual, her whole family working in health care (herself included), and me being on her case to get it in.  While it’s possible some other cases made it to VAERS, I do not know of any other that did and I frequently asked this question, so I have no doubt the side effects are being under-reported. In many cases I do not know if they received Pfizer or Moderna, and in those cases I just leave it unspecified.

I have also seen numerous cases of severe injuries happening to a husband and wife, which has led me to suspect they were vaccinated at the same time and more reactive vaccine lots exist, which they both received at the time of vaccination. Lastly, there is a designation for the severity of the event.  The reason for that being included will be discussed in a conclusion following the specific adverse events.

The adverse events are broken into the following sections:
Strokes, likely Strokes and Blood Clots
Hemorrhages
Heart Conditions
Sudden Death (unknown cause)
Anaphylaxis and Allergies
Other Neurological Conditions
Psychiatric
Autoimmunity and Chronic Fatigue
Immune Suppression and Cancer
Menstrual Irregularities and Miscarriages
Birth Defects
Miscellaneous:

Followed by a Conclusion

Additionally, I have observed some very strange effects from the COVID vaccines I cannot explain the mechanism for.  With each of these, I’ve made an effort to document and establish it definitely occurred (such as bringing another physician with me to evaluate the individual).  However, since these events are so peculiar, I am not mentioning them here as I feel they will take more away from this than they will add to it.

Lastly, at one of my current jobs, there are 7 people I regular speak to, most of whom are physicians. Of those people: 2 who are very pro-vaccine had significant reactions to the vaccine (one took a while to admit to me) that are still impairing their lives a year later and each is almost certainly tied to the vaccine, while 3 other coworkers know numerous people who have had adverse reactions but they themselves have not been vaccinated, and 1 of them refused vaccination. I don’t think 33% of people who are vaccinated have significant chronic complications, but it’s very disconcerting when you see small data sets like this. I have also seen a lot of odd issues come up with people I don’t know as well at my work I suspect are linked but have no way to prove and hence are excluded from documentation.

The major issue in all of this is that despite the fact there was supposed to be one, there is presently no data set which is actually monitoring for all the adverse reactions occurring, so we have to make do with all these assorted data sets instead. Similarly, when a suspected vaccine injury or side effect occurs, the burden of proof has been put on individuals to prove the vaccine was harmful, rather than the vaccine to prove it did was safe and not cause the injury. This is unacceptable for an experimental mandated therapy.

Strokes, likely strokes and blood clots:

Critical-(Health care worker I was introduced to while staying at a small hotel who works at a rural hospital in the neurological unit) Since the COVID vaccine started, we have been seeing a large influx of young patients with strokes (and have never previously seen patients in this age group with strokes).  In most cases we do not ask if they had received the COVID vaccine during intake, but I know of one patient who did (~60 year old male) with no significant PMH who was admitted for a stroke and reported recently receiving the COVID vaccine.  He kept on clotting and developing PEs and DVTs.  The clots did not respond to heparin, so we had to give agratroban which partially but not fully stop the clots, and we transferred him to a larger hospital.  He passed away shortly after.

Significant-(Close friend I’ve known since early in my medical career who is a well-known physician)-My mid 70s patient developed a chronic blood clot in the left saphenous vein that responded poorly to anticoagulants and created shortness of breath for him (I, the author, also ran into someone else who had this exact same condition occur after the initial vaccines and had it worsen after the booster). After my patient received the booster, he and another patient developed an inability to tell up from down down (which was very disorienting) and I had not seen in my 50 year career.

Moderate-My patient was a healthy mid 40s male who had flashes and a temporary loss of vision in one eye after first vaccine.  Ophthalmology could not find signs of a retinal detachment and concluded it must have been an ocular migraine (I suspect this was due to a small clot).  Patient had an acute reaction to the second vaccine (a week of severe diffuse muscle pain and joint pains) which resolved following treatment.

Significant-(Good friend I’ve known since medical school works at a fairly famous hospital): I had a patient who developed a blood clot in the vasculature leading to one of his eyes after the vaccine and permanently damaged his vision in that eye.

Severe-(Acquaintance and health care worker I worked with for a few years at my last job)-A few days after the second vaccine, my elderly mother suffered a rapid cognitive decline and now just isn’t really there anymore.  When I last checked with my acquaintance, this had persisted for over a year.

Critical-(Friend and health care provider I’ve known since medical school)-My elderly mother lost ability to speak right after her second vaccine.  Health and cognition then immediately declined rapidly and she died 2 weeks later.  The person who told me this story was ardently pro-vaccine until she suffered a severe reaction to the Moderna, and then confided this and a few other cases to me as everyone in her family got the vaccine at the first chance they could.

Critical-(Friend and health care provider I’ve known since medical school)-

My friend’s mom I knew quite well who was elderly and frail had an immediate cognitive decline following the vaccine, and died about a week later.

Critical-(Friend and health care provider I’ve known since medical school)-
My good friend’s mom who had baseline dementia died a week after the vaccine.

Significant-(Good friend, health care provider, and family friend I’ve known since medical school): My husband’s brother’s wife I see periodically had a stroke one week after the shot (Pfizer) and lost use of her arm.  The function slowly returned but did not come back 100%.

Severe-(Close friend I’ve known for 7 years): My close friend’s stepmom I’d spent time with had a stroke not even 12 hours after the second Pfizer and was hospitalized for cerebral edema.  I do not know if this person survived.

Critical-(Close family friend I have known since I was in Kindergarten)-
My mother in nursing home received the vaccine, had a stroke and died.

Severe-(Good friend I’ve known for 10 years and a health care provider)-My stepdad is 88 and had some existing neuropathy prior to vaccination. He has been dizzy and has had several falls since he got the vaccine.  Something is very different now with his cognition now. For example the other day and his expression just went blank, and then he fell and was confused for a while afterwards.

Severe-(Good friend I’ve known for 5 years): My aunt’s hairdresser friend’s can’t speak correctly after her 2nd dose & also gets lost now. She can’t find her way home.
<This violates the 1 degree of separation rule>

Severe-(Good friend I have known for 22 years):  My close friend was an active healthy male in his late 30’s with no health issues.  He developed a stroke a day after receiving the vaccine and was hospitalized for weeks.  We do not know which shot he got as he has been unable to communicate. His parents had to travel ~1500 miles cross country to come get him in Texas and bring him back to home where they’re helping him recover. He can’t work, and lost everything from this.  He still has trouble speaking and lost the use of one arm.

Critical-(Wife of one mentors I’ve spent some time with)  My father is a mid 70s male who had excellent memory.  He got the first 2 vaccines when they were first available.  He used to have excellent memory.  Since he got the 2nd vaccine his long-term memory has significantly declined, and rather than having crystal clear memory he often can’t remember things.  He just got the 3rd booster, and last week after getting it, he was so dizzy, he could only crawl to bathroom and was super fatigued throughout the week.  He also has pre-existing metastatic pancreatic cancer he has been receiving treatment for.  At some point I will try to follow up on what happened to him, although it may be a while before I see her again.

Critical-(A good friend forwarded me this text from her good friend to ask if this can happen)  “I visited my daughter in law’s family to take care of them and found out her mother in law died from blood clots she developed after the vaccine.
<This violated the 1 degree of separation rule>

Critical-(Health care provider I’ve known since medical school)-My close friend’s brother I somewhat knew died of a stroke after the COVID Vaccine. He was in his 50s, previously healthy and active. He had recently purchased new skis as he was looking forward to the winter season. I actually don’t know how long after the vaccination the stroke happened and the family has not been willing to tell me as they are very pro-vaccine.

Critical-(Family friend and health care provider)-An 80 year old female with no PMH was a friend of mine and a very close friend of an immediate family member who spent who was with her throughout her hospitalization.  I do not sure what happened to my friend after the 1st vaccine, but after 2nd vaccine, she could not stand up on her legs because she had severe myalgia in her hips and legs and collapsed onto herself when she tried to stand.  24 hours after the vaccination, she went to the ER, and was diagnosed with blood clots throughout her legs.  She also then developed a severe fever that would not stop, tested positive for COVID and as she decompensated, was put onto a ventilator, and within a week passed.  Of note, this case could be diagnosed as an unvaccinated COVID death, as she was less than 2 weeks from her second vaccine and thus did not have “full vaccination status,” but my family member believes at the hospital, at least while alive she was not treated as a COVID case because there were no isolation precautions on her room and they were able to be with her.

Critical-(Family friend and other health care provider): An almost 50 year old male with no past medical history, was one of my clients.  Immediately after the first moderna he tested negative for COVID.  A week later he presented to the ER, tested positive for COVID and was diagnosed with blood clots throughout his body.  He received multiple transfusions in the hospital (I am not sure of what) and 3 weeks after presenting to the ER passed away in the hospital.

Critical-(Close friend and college professor I’ve known since the start of medical school) A ~60 year woman (my neighbor and friend) was in good health got 2nd shot, then 2 weeks later passed at home and pulmonary embolism was diagnosed on autopsy.
(It is entirely possible some of deaths I’ve classified as likely heart attacks were actually pulmonary embolisms as per federal directives, autopsies are almost never performed on possible vaccine deaths).

Critical-(My mother’s friend I’ve known since highschool): My mentally handicapped sister (early 50s) had breast cancer 11 years ago, and was treated for a while with a breast cancer medication known for causing uterine cancer.  She subsequently developed uterine cancer, shortly before the COVID lockdowns started.  She was admitted to a hospital without acute signs of illness to begin inpatient treatment (and her family was not allowed to be there) about 2 months after the diagnosis.  Shortly before her admission the COVID vaccine was made available, and at the start of the admission, she was told by the supervising physician she needed to take the vaccine and within 24 hours of receiving it died from a pulmonary embolism.

Severe-(Close friend and physician I’ve known since medical school): My patient’s husband is a pilot for a major commercial airline (I am not listing the airline).  In January he got the COVID vaccine.  Since that time, he has had severe headaches, blurred vision and dizziness that have persisted for 10 months.  He has become unable to fly is permanently grounded himself.
<This technically violates 1 degree of separation>

Significant-(My patient): My grandmother is an early 80s female with no PMH.  She received the booster (moderna of prfizer) and had a mini-stroke (slurred speech plus tingling and numbness of hands) a few days later.  She was observed at the hospital for 2 nights and then sent home on anticoagulant medication. She has now recovered completely.

Significant-(Close friend I’ve known since early in my medical career who is a well-known physician): A sister of my physician colleague had a non-fatal stroke shortly after COVID-vaccination.
<This technically violates 1 degree of separation>

Significant-(Physician and good friend I know from my medical residency)-My patient developed recurrent blood clots after the COVID vaccine, and also developed chronic testicular swelling which has persisted since vaccination.  (Of note, this is also what Nicki Manaj tweeted about happening to her relative in trinidad)

Significant-A physician I know well developed persistent blood clots in a leg and periodic difficulty breathing after vaccination which persisted for at least 9 months and worsened after the booster. Like many of the other clots I’ve heard of (both from covid and the vaccines), it only had a partial response to traditional anticoagulant therapy.

Critical-(One of my patients who is the mayor of a somewhat well known town) An almost 80 year male was a close friend of mine.  He was in excellent health and regularly engaged in outdoor activity.  He was vaccinated for COVID early in the vaccine roll out.  6 months ago after that vaccination, he had a small stroke.  A few days ago, my patient saw him and he did not seem to be doing well (first time my patient every observed that).  3 days later he was admitted to a hospital and told my friend the doctors said he would be in the hospital for a few weeks.  He passed on the 3rd day of his hospitalization.

Significant-(Close friend I’ve known for a long time)-The assistant manager of my condo (50 years old) developed a stroke shortly after the booster and is not currently at my condo because she is undergoing rehabilitation for the stroke.

Severe-(Very close friend and physician colleague)-I had a male in his 80s, otherwise healthy, severe cognitive decline following vaccination. He fortunately did recover with extensive integrative therapies (typically they do not).

Hemorrhages:

Severe-(Health care worker and friend I’ve known since medical school)
My elderly friend had a near fatal GI bleed a week after the vaccine.  He ended up on a vent and eventually needed the plug to be pulled.  I am not sure if it was related to the vaccine as he was on a heavy NSAID dose for his knee arthritis, but it was notable he’d been on it for years and the fatal bleed was immediately after the vaccine

Severe-(Health care provider and good friend from college): My patient’s mother had a hemorrhagic stroke from a ruptured aneurysm and was hospitalized for it shortly after the vaccine.  I was not able to get any additional information from her.

One of my friends had a friend who experienced a fatal ruptured aneurysm shortly after the COVID vaccination.  I was not able to get additional information on this case so I am not listing it beyond this mention.

Severe, Severe, Severe-A pediatric hospitalist I know through acquaintances told me that in the middle of the vaccination campaign, when mothers were receiving the COVID vaccine, she had 3 infants in the NICU in one week who had an autoimmune response to their platelets such as ITP leading to significant bleeding.  Previously, at most she had seen one case like this per year.  She attempted to sound an alarm on this but it went nowhere.  Issues like this have been reported with other immunogenic vaccinations, and I have read of cases of people developing fatal bleeding after the vaccination.

Heart Conditions:

The first 2 stories came from a physician has been a good friend of mine since we went to medical school.  As he put it, I have seen a lot of very weird things happen after the COVID vaccination which may or may not have been linked, but in these 2 cases it was very hard for me consider any other possible explanation.

Critical-(Close friend, physician, known since medical school):
I had a ~50yo Male with PMHx of new onset Chest Pain and PMH of Coronary Artery Disease with some other chronic medical conditions (ie. he was a smoker) who was very dear to me.  About a year ago, he had an epiphany and radically changed his life around to address his health issues.  He was under my direct care for nearly 9 months during which we were able to make huge gains in his health with nearly full resolution of most his existing chronic medical conditions.  During one of the healthiest periods in his life where he had no signs of heart disease, he decided to take the first Moderna.  5 days later he was admitted to my hospital.  Cardiology attempted to open a 99% stenosed vital coronary artery, however this was not possible to and he was sent home with the alternative medical management.  He passed away the next day at home after discharge.

Severe-(Close friend, physician, known since medical school)-A ~50 year old male presented with new onset severe atrial fibrillation at a clinic and was sent by the doctor to my ER.  He ran numerous times each day, looked in great health, had no PMH (beyond a history of strokes in his father) and never needed a doctor.  He was an appropriate body weight and traveled quite frequently with his wife.  He had a modestly symptomatic Covid infection in late 2020 and both Pfizers before I saw him.  Workup revealed new onset heart failure (and a severely reduced ejection fracture; how the heart pumps blood) with unremarkable labs.  During his 1st day he had a stroke in one of the most important arteries in the brain, and but they were able to manually remove the clot from the brain (this is a complex procedure many hospitals can’t do).  Ten days after showing up to the hospital, while on anticoagulants to prevent further strokes, he had a second progressive stroke in the same area.    Symptomatic recovery occurred within a few days after the first stroke and a week after the second.  When we looked at his heart, we also found a blood clot in its main chamber.  As far as I know this patient eventually recovered, and after completing rehabilitation we did not hear further from him,

Severe-(Good friend, health care provider I have known since medical school): My uncle had a heart attack give or take a week after the vaccine (I think it was Pfizer but I’m not positive).  It was a difficult process, but he ultimately survived.

Severe-(Friend I’ve known for over a decade)-My father-in-law was a healthy ~60 year old male who exercised regularly and was a retired firefighter.  He had no previous cardiovascular medical conditions (not even hypertension).  30 days after his second Pfizer vaccine he died suddenly from a heart attack.

Significant (Friend I’ve known for a few years): A 50 yr old colonel I know from the military who is my commander told me he was diagnosed with myocarditis 4 months after Pfizer #2 after he sought medical care for new onset cardiac issues.  He was fit beforehand with no PMH.  I don’t know how much is physical stamina has been affected because we have not had to do anything significant physical assessments recently.

Severe-(Friend I’ve known for over a decade)-My friend is a ~30 year old healthy male with no heart issues, who had had symptoms highly suggestive of COVID-19 well before he received the pfizer vaccine.  After vaccination, he was hospitalized for 4 days for a heart attack that required invasive medical intervention at the hospital.  He told me doctors thought based on the timeline and his age it was likely due to the COVID-19 vaccine but they could not definitively rule it in or out.

One of my colleagues who is a very close friend has told me they have observed vaccinated individuals they know (primarily patients) seem to be having a significant decline in their health about 6 months after vaccination, although in many cases it’s not possible to determine the exact time they very vaccinated or if this was actually due to the booster (which you get 1 year after vaccination), so while the range could be anywhere from 3 months to 1 year, their guess was 6 months. The next 3 cases, the one of rapid cognitive decline that was treated and that of the glioblastoma were from my colleague.

Critical-(Above colleague) I had a patient in their mid 70s who had been completely stable with multiple comorbidities for many years who suddenly had acute onset heart failure approximately 6 months – 1 year after vaccination and is now in hospice (which means they will die soon).

Severe-(Above colleague) I had a patient in their mid 60s with chronic atrial fibrillation (this is a problematic but relatively manageable heart condition) who had acute heart failure develop approximately 6 months following vaccination.  I expect their condition to be terminal.

Critical-(Above colleague):
One of my family friends with in relatively good health, received the vaccine, had 12 hrs of worsening shortness of breath and then was found dead at home, autopsy showed cardiomegaly and pulmonary edema.  I know the death happened after vaccination, but I was not able to get an exact timeline.

Severe-(Good friend I have known decades): My ~50 ex-husband had a heart attack 3 months after J&J.  2 months prior to the vaccine, he had a full physical and was given a clean bill of health (he takes excellent care of his health, teaches martial arts for a living, and is in top physical shape).  He became fatigued after the vaccine, and a few weeks before the heart attack had trouble breathing and developed all over body pain.  I brought him to the ER in cardiopulmonary arrest where he was successfully resuscitated.  He was in the hospital for four days. He had a stent put in one artery. They also had to perform chest compressions on him during his hospital state even after stent was in for a subsequent episode of cardiac arrest.

Critical-(Close friend from highschool, works as an executive for a large company): A longtime close family friend of mine (almost 80) was well known in his area because had been repeatedly elected to an important state political office.  He developed heart failure immediately after his second mRNA shot and 8 days later died from a heart attack.

Severe-(Close friend from highschool, works as an executive for a Fortune 500 company): Another family friend is a judge had a series of severe heart problems develop immediately after the 2nd dose of his mRNA shot that eventually resulted in him amongst other things requiring a pacemaker.

Significant-(Good friend I have known decades): My ~80 year old mother developed heart issues 2 weeks after the second Pfizer vaccine that were formally diagnosed as myocarditis.  She is now on permanent medical therapy for her newly diagnosed heart condition.

Critical-(Acquaintance and health care coworker): One of the patients I did the intake on today told me their friend passed shortly after receiving the vaccine and is hence not willing to take it.

Moderate-(Longtime family friend, health care provider): An almost 20 year old younger relative in my immediate family was in great health, with great athletic and respiratory function.  He had previously experienced covid a year prior to receiving the vaccine (including having a positive test).  After the 1st moderna he had short term rashes, exhaustion and joint soreness.  After the 2nd moderna he had similar but much more severe rashes, massive exhaustion and joint soreness, and then a few months later required ER care for palpitations and hypertension.
Like many other cases, I never got a subsequent follow up on how this person was doing from the friend who told me (as they aren’t my patients it is not feasible for me to repeatedly check in and follow up on what’s happening).

Significant-(Good friend I’ve known since medical school and a physician who works at a famous hospital):  I had a patient who was a young healthy athlete who developed palpitations after the vaccine and lost the ability to play the rest of his college season.

Critical-(A patient): My good friend (older woman) had an adverse reaction to the first vaccine.  After the second vaccine, she died shortly after from cardiac arrest.  A doctor on the case who I had seen previously aggressively promote vaccines told me he believed the vaccine killed her.

Critical-(Good friend and part of a family I am very close to I’ve known years): My best friend’s dad I used to hang out with passed from a heart attack.  He found out at the funeral that he died a few days after his second vaccine dose.  His father was ~70 years old, in good health, and had just moved into his dream house he’d worked years to be able to move into.

Severe-(Close friend and professor I’ve known for 7 years) ~80 male who was a very good friend of mine and no PMH besides a brief period of kidney failure the recovered with hydration over a hospitalization.   After Moderna, 2 to 3 weeks later, he developed CHF and extreme difficulty breathing and significant difficulty exerting himself which has persisted for 2 months (I was not able to find out what happened after this).  He also developed other issues such as trouble eating and extreme diarrhea.

Severe-(Good friend and physician I met in medical school)-A close family member I’ve known since childhood (mid 60s) had no history of heart disease, but was on general medicine to prevent it, including a stronger anticlotting agent. After he got his second Pfizer, he had an occlusion in a heart artery and a heart attack. I am not sure if they were linked, but I was helping him stay on top of his medical care, and this it was a very surprising event.  Additionally, the type of heart attack he had is not that common.

Significant-(An almost 30 year old male who was working at a farm stand I visited who I had spent a bit of time with 7 years prior): I got pericarditis after the 2nd Moderna was injected in my left arm and could not move or take any type of pressure on my chest for about a week.  I think I am fine now and have not noticed any further issues, but I am never going to get the booster.

Critical-(Family Friend I have known since highschool): A ~50 year old carpet dealer in my spiritual community was in moderately good health and lived in India I would regularly order carpets from him and periodically correspond with him.  He received the vaccine.  Within 24 hours, he became very ill and his family attempted to get him to an emergency room.  As the emergency rooms were full, it took a few tries to be admitted to one, and he died in the car before being admitted. I am almost certain he received the Astrazeneca vaccine (based on the timing of the rollouts and the availability of vaccines at the time he was vaccinated) However, there are 2 other vaccines in India (India’s and Russia’s) so it could have been those. Astrazeneca is very similar to J&J.

Critical-(Physician and close friend I’ve known since medical school) A close friend of my husband I spent some time with was in his early 40s and had no PMH.  My partner’s close friend I hung out with in his late 30s.  He had no PMH and died from a heart attack a week and half after the vaccine.

Severe-(Close friend I’ve known for almost a decade)-My friend’s father got Pfizer.  Shortly before coming into get his second shot (so I know it was a bit less than 2 weeks) he had a heart attack that required a lot of medical care but he ultimately survived.

Significant-(Physician and good friend from medschool): My boyfriend developed pericarditis and chronic chest pain along with brainfog, depression, and frequent fatigue after the moderna vaccine.  It has persisted for about 9 months. We separated and I have not since followed up on him.

Critical, Critical-(Physician and close friend from medschool): One of my patients is a lawyer who works for the military.  She knows of 2 people in the military who died from cardiac arrest less than 24 hours after receiving the vaccination.  In both cases, a VAERS report was filed, and then later it was manually deleted and removed from VAERS.  As a result, neither of their deaths are now registered.
<Technically this violated 1 degree of separation>

Severe-(Family friend and an acquaintance of mine): A ~70 year old male, and close friend, had a PMH of asthma in the past but was in good health and had no other PMH.  I know he either got pfizer or moderna.  After the first shot, 2 days later he had a heart attack and required urgent transport to another hospital for quadruple bypass.  He has mostly recovered but has some fatigue and weakness now.

Severe-(A good friend of my mother and an acquaintance of mine): One of my clients got the booster and 2 weeks later he had a heart attack that required bypass surgery.

Significant-(Good friend, PhD who deeply believes in vaccines, ~50 years old): They got the vaccine when it was first available and then developed all the signs and symptoms of endocarditis after the first dose, something they’d never experienced anything similar to.  After a few days, they were started on steroids and blood thinners and when they got the second dose they did not have a severe reaction, leading them to suspect the steroids suppressed the adverse response.  They have not felt well or normal for 10 months since this happened. They subsequently got the booster, and called me up to tell me they and had prolonged period (roughly a month) of severe brain fog where they could not perform basic work.

Significant-(Good friend, acupuncturist I’ve known for a few years): I had a patient who developed documented myocarditis following vaccination.

Significant-(Patient, ~30 years old) My patient developed pericarditis like symptoms after the second moderna vaccination that have so far persisted for 8 months.  When I last spoke to them, they had not seen a cardiologist for a full evaluation as I advised them to do.

Critical-(Good friend I’ve known for 9 years): A guy I know who was also a very close friend of my stepdad was a ~70 year old healthy male with no PMH who was frequently engaged in extensive physical activity (long distance biking trips, skiing the in alps etc).  He got pretty sick from COVID about a year before he got the vaccine.  He got the vaccine to travel, went on a trip to Europe, flew home, felt ill after flying home, a week later had a heart attack, was diagnosed with some type of heart issue beyond the heart attack and died a week later in the hospital.

Critical-(Physician I spent time with who is a friend of my mother’s friend): There was a healthy teenager who developed Myocarditis after the vaccination I saw when they were in the ICU.  Considering my experience, that of colleagues, and the patient populations we work with, I believe the incidence of myocarditis is around 1/5000 vaccinations administered (I felt he had a good rationale for this estimate).

Significant-(Passenger I sat by on my plane): A middle aged woman on my plane with no past medical history had an episode of syncope on the plane after standing.  Once we landed, she was escorted off to be seen by paramedics who gave her fairly standard emergent medical care for a suspected heart issue, after which she had a second episode of syncope.  As I was not involved in her care (another person on the plane took charge of it), I don’t know most of the details, but I know she had very low blood pressure and was taken the hospital shortly after leaving the plane, and I overheard someone else on the plane tell their friend this passenger had recently been boosted (so I ultimately don’t know if it’s true).  I fly a lot, but I have never seen something like this happen before, and I don’t personally know anyone who has witnessed paramedics get someone from their plane.  However, I have heard of pilots having severe reactions while flying and detailed a case in this.

Moderate-(Acquaintance and physician I have known for a year): My friend who did not want the vaccine was forced to get the vaccination to continue her medical program.  After the first dose she developed significant dysmenhorrea, chest pain, difficulty sleeping and recurrent bouts of sudden tachycardia, sometimes waking up at night with a highly elevated heart rate.  6 months later, the issues have not improved and she is experiencing significant changes in her quality of life because of this issue.  So far she has not gotten the second dose.

Significant-(Close friend I’ve known since the start of college, I somewhat know their father): My dad is a ~60 year old male in pristine health.  After he got his second vaccine, he developed gradually worsening heart issues but I have not been able to get a clear diagnosis of what is occurring and he recently needed a stent.  He is very pro-vaccine so he will not discuss the potential association with me.

Critical-(A friend who is a mayor): A good friend of mine with no PMH except vision problems was a ~60 year old woman in good health about a week after vaccination developed significant edema (swelling) in her legs, went to the hospital, was diagnosed with heart failure, and passed the next morning in the hospital.

Critical-(A patient) My friend was a mid-twenties woman with no past medical history.  About a week after she was vaccinated, she was driving her kids to school and while in the car with them, had a heart attack and died.

Severe-(A patient)-A very good friend of mine’s daughter got vaccine to continue be on the swim team, and developed numbness in her hands and wrists immediately afterwards. She then subsequently developed myocarditis.

Severe-(A friend of mine who is a healthy young adult)-I was required to get the vaccine by the military. I went through an almost year long process to apply for an exemption. It was approved by someone high up, and then for some reason vetoed by someone higher up. I considered quitting, but felt I had a duty given my responsibilities and took the J&J vaccine (and picked a “safe” lot) which I believed to be the least harmful option, and immediately afterwards got ill (heart rate going up to 170) and was hospitalized where I was diagnosed with a vaccine reaction and severe sepsis (although there was no identifiable source of infection). I now have significant circulatory problems and had a prolonged period where I cannot not stand up. Presently if I exert myself, I have a very high rate and I cannot do most physical activities.

Severe, Severe?, Severe?-(A close friend and healthcare worker I know from college)- They contacted me to tell me to tell me the following:
Hey, I wanted you to know that right now on my cardiology unit we have 3 younger patients (35-45) with new onset heart failure or cardiomyopathies without significant past medical histories (this is not typical, especially given the age). I only know the vaccine history of one, he got 2 doses of Moderna 6 months ago. I wanted to find out if the other 2 were but there was no way for me to ask without getting outed as an anti-vaxxer.

(Close friend’s romantic partner who is a medical student): I know multiple people in Israel including a neighbor who died immediately after the Pfizer or Moderna vaccine, some who were of younger age.  Many of them link the death to vaccination and are extremely upset with how their government is handling this and covering everything up. As I was only able to speak with him briefly (I primarily spoke to my friend), and these cases are more vague I am not including in the total but am mentioning it here. The main point he emphasized is that while Israel has largely been used as Pfizer’s test site for the vaccine (and much of our policy has been based off their results) since all the posts on social media are in Hebrew, very few people outside of Israel have any idea what’s going on since they can’t translate it.

There are also cases that are hard for me to decide what to do with. For example, with someone I regularly buy food from I had this conversation recently (I’m very deliberate with how I bring this up):
Other person in line: Where have you been?
Him: Sorry I’ve been gone for the last month, I was sick.
Me: Oh I’m sorry, what happened? I’m a doctor so I find these things interesting.
Him: I was in the hospital for heart failure. I had to be there for a week and be put on oxygen.
Me: Did they put you on meds?
Him: Yes, that’s helped me a lot.
Me: Oh no, did you get COVID?
Him: No
Me: Are you sure you didn’t? Were you vaccinated? Sometimes people who weren’t vaccinated don’t realize they had COVID.
Him: Yeah I was vaccinated and I never got COVID.
Me: Ah I see. For whatever it’s worth, I’ve met a lot of people who had heart failure after the vaccine.
Other person in line: I have heard of that happening to a lot of people too.
Him: I had my first heart failure episode a year and a half ago, so I don’t think it was related to the vaccine.

The logic that is tricky here is that if you have a pre-existing heart condition, you are much more likely to have a heart complication develop from the vaccine than if you don’t (for clarity, I am referring to the absolute risk comparing if you had vaccinated vs never vaccinated here). But at the same time, if you have someone with no risk factors for heart failure with no past history of heart failure suddenly develop heart failure vaccine failure, the odds are higher this effect was definitely caused by the vaccine, whereas in the previous case it could have happened spontaneously independent of vaccination. Sometimes you can tease this out based on the broader picture (such as them suddenly developing highly unusual clots in the heart or coronary arteries), but in many times you can’t. Things like this are what you need randomized trials that test these patients (those with pre-existing heart conditions) that are correctly conducted and honestly report the results or large honest databases to detect what is occurring but as we have neither. Thus for cases like this they ultimately fall on the observer to intuitively decide if casualty exists and in most cases doctors will default to saying no. I personally felt it was likely enough there was a correlation to list this and prior to the vaccines it was so rare for me to run into stories like this, but I did not include it in my tally because I really have no way to know.

Read more at: AMidwesternDoctor.Substack.com