Apparently, one-fifth of them don’t fully recover at 3 months, and how this changes the risk-benefit profile of mRNA vaccines. — Only after the Covid-19 mRNA vaccines were distributed to the public did we learn it can cause myocarditis (inflammation of heart muscles) in rare cases. It was rare enough that it escaped statistical detection in the initial randomized clinical trials (RCTs). Because we lack gold-standard RCT data on mRNA vaccine-induced…

A newsletter providing a short account of the articles published in the previous month. — Hi everyone! It’s time for me to send another monthly update on what has been published in Microbial Instincts, an independent publication about infectious diseases and vaccines, in April 2023. As usual, here is a short list (friend-linked, no paywall) that I hope will keep you more scientifically informed: Vaccines

The imperfections of vaccine quality control, and what is being done to overcome it. — I came across an intriguing study recently, titled “Batch-dependent safety of the BNT162b2 mRNA COVID-19 vaccine,” published in the reputable European Journal of Clinical Investigation just last month. …

What theoretical mathematics and human studies show. — Ever since vaccines were invented and introduced, childhood deaths from infectious diseases have plummeted drastically. If vaccines didn’t exist, we would see 37 million more deaths from 2000 to 2019, mostly in children younger than 5 years. Vaccines are, therefore, a necessity. But some people still doubt vaccines. Before the…

Aside from a few cases and theoretical concerns of post-vaccine cancer progression, the vaccines are safe. — On the one hand, cancer patients are advised to get more shots of the Covid-19 vaccine because of their weakened immune systems. On the other hand, precisely because of their weakened immunity, unnecessary vaccinations may put more burden on the immune system, a few experts theorized. A meta-analysis of 29…

A newsletter providing a short account of the articles published in the previous month. — Hello everyone! It’s time for me to send another monthly update on what has been published in Microbial Instincts, an independent publication about infectious diseases and vaccines, in March 2023. As usual, here is the list (friend-linked, no paywall) that I hope will keep you more scientifically informed: Covid’s Origin

Not only did China not regulate wildlife trade for decades, but China has also misled us from unearthing Covid’s origin. — Almost all news outlets are talking about the latest evidence of Covid-19 origin, the natural origin in particular, which I condensed in this article. The lab leak proponents remain unconvinced, however, and perhaps rightly so. …

If the authorities really want to hide something, why would they even make VAERS publicly available in the first place? — Within the first year of the distribution of Covid-19 vaccines, reports of post-vaccine deaths spiked in the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS) database. This was incorrectly used to prove that Covid-19 vaccines are dangerous by tapping into people’s fears and uncertainty.

Was there even a shred of scientific truth to this belief? — As a Malaysian, I’m surprised that Malaysia is one of the top countries whose people believe vaccines cause autism (Figure 1). Perhaps we are just not as vocal in voicing this issue, giving the illusion that vaccine hesitancy isn’t prevalent here. The Ipsos Mori Perils of Perception Survey conducted 29,133…