Introduction The COVID-19 pandemic prompted countries everywhere to take measures to reduce the spread of the disease. One of these measures, which has proven to be effective (as covered in several Health Feedback claim reviews here, here, and here) but hasn’t been without controversy, is lockdown. Lockdowns consist of limiting certain activities by the general … Continued
COVID-19 is a real pandemic that has caused more than 545,000 excess deaths in the U.S. as of 17 June 2021. PCR tests are a very reliable tool to monitor the spread of the virus because they are highly specific for SARS-CoV-2 and detect tiny amounts of virus in infected individuals. Although no tests are 100% accurate, most positive COVID-19 PCR test results are true positives.
Clinical trials and ongoing monitoring of COVID-19 vaccination campaigns showed that people vaccinated against COVID-19 are less likely to get infected. Given that no vaccine effectiveness is 100% effective, some vaccinated people are expected to get infected nonetheless. Vaccines are still useful even for infected persons as they prevent serious illness and hospitalization.
Myocarditis is a condition in which the heart muscle becomes inflamed. Viral infections are a leading cause of myocarditis, and COVID-19 itself is known to cause heart inflammation. Data from clinical trials and ongoing monitoring of COVID-19 vaccination campaigns show that the benefits of the COVID-19 RNA vaccines outweigh their risks. Health authorities recommend that everyone aged 12 and above get vaccinated, because the risks posed by COVID-19, such as health complications and death, are greater than that posed by the vaccines.
Adverse event reporting systems, such as the Yellow Card scheme in the U.K. or VAERS in the U.S., are designed to help health authorities monitor the safety of medical products such as the COVID-19 vaccines. However, the databases contain unverified information and cannot demonstrate that COVID-19 vaccines caused adverse events. The reports can be a starting point for a detailed investigation into potential side effects, which happened for rare cases of blood clotting and anaphylaxis. Overall, the U.K. regulatory body, the MHRA, still concludes that the benefits of the COVID-19 vaccines outweigh their known risks.
A study of adolescents hospitalized with COVID-19 found that one-third required intensive care and five percent required invasive mechanical ventilation. Although the mortality rate for adolescents is relatively low, survivors can face persistent health problems due to issues such as long COVID, which is detrimental to their quality of life. The CDC has stressed the importance of vaccination for this age group. The benefits of COVID-19 vaccines were shown to outweigh any potential risks. Reports of deaths on the U.S. Vaccine Adverse Events Reporting System alone don’t prove that COVID-19 vaccines were the cause of death.
Pregnant women have an increased risk of serious illness or death from COVID-19 relative to non-pregnant women. As a result, pregnant people are included in vaccination priority lists in several countries, such as Belgium and Israel. Though the COVID-19 vaccines were not tested in pregnant people during clinical trials, preliminary results from both research and ongoing monitoring of people who have received the COVID-19 vaccines have not identified any safety concerns for pregnant people or their babies.
Studies showed that masks reduce the spread of viral respiratory infections like COVID-19. Clinical trials found that hydroxychloroquine didn’t offer any meaningful benefit to COVID-19 patients. There is evidence showing that most people who had COVID-19 develop some level of immunity. But individual variability in immunity and virus variants mean that vaccination can still benefit a person who already had the disease. Scientific studies of the virus’ genome to date haven’t shown evidence that the virus was engineered in a laboratory. There is a lack of evidence that allows us to accept or reject the hypothesis of a laboratory accident with a high degree of certainty. At the moment, both zoonosis and laboratory escape remain plausible scenarios.
The spike protein of SARS-CoV-2 allows the virus to bind to and infect cells, making it an ideal target for vaccine development. Recent studies suggested that the spike protein produced during infection alone might cause cardiovascular damage in COVID-19 patients. While the three COVID-19 vaccines authorized for emergency use in the U.S. induce the cells to produce the spike protein, the protein generated through vaccination behaves differently from the spike protein produced in infection. Clinical trials and ongoing vaccination campaigns, which have vaccinated more than 890 million people worldwide, demonstrated that COVID-19 vaccines are very safe and effective at preventing the disease.
Clinical trials and ongoing monitoring of the vaccination campaigns showed that people vaccinated against COVID-19 are less likely to get infected and transmit the virus than unvaccinated individuals. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention lifted mask-wearing recommendations for vaccinated individuals, although local laws may still apply. The relaxed mask recommendations don’t apply to unvaccinated people, since they are much more likely to get infected and spread the disease, particularly to other unvaccinated people.
