;Resize=(1200,627)&impolicy=perceptual&quality=mediumHigh&hash=401b4dbffc2c4eef64cd15eabb4cd46e3b9b914b4eaaaa861892fca44443cd4a "Long Covid symptoms after vaccination? Half of all suspected cases from Germany")
Corona is long gone in people’s perception. There have been no measures for some time. The virus is still circulating in the population, but it only causes severe courses in a few cases.
According to the Robert Koch Institute (RKI), one reason for this is the now high immunity of the population due to natural infections and vaccination. The Standing Committee on Vaccination (Stiko) therefore still recommends basic immunization (two vaccinations) plus a booster for all people over the age of 18 in order to build up basic immunity that protects against serious illness and long-term consequences.
A good 340,000 spontaneous reports about vaccination side effects
How safe these vaccines are, which have been developed and approved within a very short time, is a question that will occupy us for a long time. Even if we know from the approximately 13 billion Covid vaccinations administered worldwide that serious side effects only occur very rarely. In a new report, the Paul Ehrlich Institute (PEI), which monitors the safety of medicines in Germany, once again summarized the safety data on undesirable side effects of vaccination.
According to the report, the PEI received a total of 340,282 spontaneous reports from vaccinated people about suspected side effects or a vaccination complication by March 31, 2023 – with a total of 192,208,062 Covid-19 vaccinations.
For every 1000 vaccinations, there were 1.77 suspicious reports.
Reports not necessarily meaningful
According to the PEI, these reports are important in order to identify risk signals that then have to be examined in further studies. However, they were not suitable for proving a connection between vaccination and the reported side effect.
The PEI also states that the number of suspicious activity reports does not indicate that it is actually a vaccine side effect. It is also not easy to draw conclusions about the vaccines, since many factors – not least public attention – could influence reporting rates.
Long-Covid-like complaints after vaccination – 50 percent of suspected cases from Germany reported
The PEI has also examined suspected cases of vaccination side effects with long-Covid or post-Covid-like symptoms. This includes messages that are
Long-Covid-like, Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS), Postural Tachycardia Syndrome (POTS, increased heart rate, light-headedness, dizziness when standing up), including Post-exertional Malaise (PEM, feeling unwell after mental and physical exertion) as well as “post-vac” complaints
were reported. The PEI filtered the database of reported side effects based on these and related complaints. According to the report, this went until the end of March
1452 reports from Germany a.
Worldwide but only became 2657 suspected cases reported.
And that although by no means 50 percent of all vaccine doses worldwide were administered in this country. For comparison: In Germany, more than 192 million corona vaccinations have been administered so far, worldwide there were around eleven billion, writes the PEI.
Why are there so many reported suspected cases from Germany?
Why that is, can that Paul Ehrlich Institute dont answer. When asked by FOCUS online, the institute said: “There is a lot of speculation about the reasons, but as a scientifically working institute, the Paul Ehrlich Institute does not participate in speculation. If we could offer a plausible explanation, it would have been published in the post.”
Here, too, the PEI points out that the reports of suspected post-vac syndrome are difficult to assess because important clinical information was missing and the many symptoms that were reported were difficult to assign to a syndrome.
Simple reporting system and anti-vaccination attitude as possible reasons
So why this relatively high proportion of post-vac reports from Germany? Could it be because of the PEI’s simple reporting system, where anyone can report a side effect online? Or maybe because of the fact that many people in Germany are generally critical of vaccinations? Especially when it comes to the rapidly developed corona vaccines.
He thinks it could be both Virologist Friedemann Weber quite possible: “I can only guess, but I think that it is a mixture of these factors,” says the scientist when asked by FOCUS online. Because reporting is easy and there is also a not inconsiderable number of well-organized opponents of vaccination in this country who like to attribute every new illness to the vaccination.
“It started at the beginning of 2021, when flyers were thrown into the mailboxes in a concerted action, containing all sorts of false horror stories about the vaccinations that were just starting,” Weber continues. “So I’m not surprised if Germany is the export world champion when it comes to reporting suspected cases.”
He sees it similarly Epidemiologist Timo Ulrichs from Berlin. “It is obvious that in Germany there are no more side effects after vaccination than in other countries,” he told FOCUS online. Whether it is actually due to different reporting systems or the anti-vaccination attitude of many are hypotheses that need to be tested.
The number is still very low: Less than one suspected case per 100,000 vaccinations
The PEI itself points out that the number of reports on Post-Vac is still low overall. “Measured by the number of doses of Covid-19 vaccines vaccinated to date and the number of suspected cases reported in which complaints about the above-mentioned symptom complex were reported, the reporting rate is less than one suspected case per 100,000 vaccinations (0.76: 100,000 Vaccinations),” says the report.