The COVID Response. What We Got Wrong.

Part XIV: Do Booster Shots Cause Strokes?! 

I wonder…

Was the stroke I had in September caused by the Pfizer vaccines I took?

In January, the CDC released a warning, saying that they have evidence that getting a Pfizer booster shot puts people 65 and older (Me!) at an increased risk for stroke.

From Reuters:

“A safety monitoring system flagged that US drugmaker Pfizer Inc. and German partner BioNTech’s updated COVID-19 shot could be linked to a type of brain stroke in older adults, according to preliminary data analyzed by US health authorities.

“The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said on Friday that a CDC vaccine database had uncovered a possible safety issue in which people 65 and older were more likely to have an ischemic stroke… after receiving the vaccine booster.”

And from Bloomberg, the same story.

Now, “increased risk” doesn’t mean “definitely risky.” But still. Sometime after I got my shots, including two boosters, I had a stroke. The same sort of stroke, with the same symptoms reported by the CDC in that announcement.

What’s more interesting (to me, at least) is how the different media reported this. Reuters and Bloomberg reported the CDC statement literally, as in there is some additional risk of stroke. Whereas, The New York Times took the opposite approach. (Note the italics below.)

“Fears that the COVID booster shots made by Pfizer-BioNTech may increase the risk of strokes in people aged 65 and older were not borne out by an intensive scientific investigation…”

Read the whole NYT article here.

What to make of this?

It’s too early to draw definitive conclusions. The study was relatively small, and the differences recorded were small, too. But the reportage by the NYT reminds me that we cannot rely on the mainstream media to tell us the truth about anything that has political overtones.

If you are really concerned about COVID or our role in the Ukraine, you should go to primary sources to gather your information. Then draw your own conclusions.