When a fatal risk materializes close to home, statistical probabilities and presidential safety assurances are of little comfort.
===========
From the get-go, I have been concerned about the long-term health risks of the covid vaccines … but, I’ve been very sanguine about the short-term risks and appreciative of the short-term benefits.
Accordingly, I’ve been vaxed and boosted … and, have advocated the same for my fellow seniors.
But, my confidence level has waned.
Here’s why…
=============
As I’ve previously posted, up to now, I’ve been blessed (or “lucky”, if you prefer) to be in the 64% of Americans who don’t “personally know anyone who has died due to complications from covid-19”.
My closest covid-related death or hospitalization has been at 5 or 6 “degrees of separation” or more.
That changed last week when…
A very close relative of an immediate family member (think: 1-degree of separation) dutifully “did the right thing” and got a covid booster shot
The lady was in her early 60s … very active … in good health with no covid-risky co-morbidities … no history of head aches or heart problems.
The morning after her booster, she she woke up with a head ache that got worse over the next couple of days.
On the 3rd day, she went into cardiac arrest …and on the 4th day, she died.
==============
The official cause-of-death: cardiac arrest attributed to a previously undiagnosed brain aneurism.
English translation: The booster shot was coincidental, not causal.
I’m having a hard time believing that.
Strikes me that, even if the shot wasn’t a direct cause, it likely accelerated and enhanced the fatal effect of the aneurism.
But, of course, I’m not a doctor … so draw your own conclusion.
==============
I always counseled my students not to generalize from a single data point or from their personal experiences.
Easier said than done!
When a fatal risk materializes close to home, it stops being a statistical rarity.
Today, I personally can’t help but think that Biden’s cavalier “free and safe” is more free than it is safe.
Maybe I’m not alone since “fully vaxed” people — even seniors — aren’t breaking down the doors to get booster shots.
=============
P.S. I don’t know which vaccine the lady took initially or whether the booster was the same brand as the initial doses. I won’t ask, but I’ll report if I hear any thing.
The Homa Files 
December 23, 2021 at 10:19 am |
There are similar anecdotes on twitter. But something more respectable on the possibility of myocarditis is at https://t.co/d0Pu1xaFks. TL;DR: The rate of myocarditis or myopericarditis for the Pfizer vaccine was 1.4 per 100k people (or ~1 case per 71,400), and for Moderna was 4.2 per 100k (or ~1 case per 23,800).