The New York Times published an article this week recounting the horrors some people have experienced after getting the COVID vaccine, and their inability to get help from doctors or vaccine injury compensation programs. But are these complications and side effects a result of the vaccines?
The Times article begins by acknowledging, “…even the best vaccines produce rare but serious side effects,” and that over 270 million Americans have taken the jab.
Through the course of multiple interviews, the Times investigation revealed that the harm caused by the vaccines can vary greatly. In one example, a woman with a Ph.D. in neuroscience who took the vaccine was eventually diagnosed with brain damage. She can no longer work or drive, and, at age 40, is back living with her parents. Another woman interviewed by the Times experienced Bell’s Palsy, or partial facial paralysis, and shingles on half her face.
In another instance, a nurse practitioner named Sean Barcavage said since taking the first shot, his heart now begins to race every time he stands up. He also now has tinnitus. “I went from being a 100% healthy, fully functioning nurse into a complete downward spiral of health. I had a myriad of symptoms,” said Barcavage.
LISTEN: Morning Wire’s report on vaccine injury
While each person experienced symptoms they believe were caused by the vaccine, the side effects were not uniform. What is uniform, however, is the way in which their concerns were dismissed by doctors and the federal government.
As the Daily Wire previously reported, there had been nearly 13,000 claims filed with the vaccine compensation program alleging harm caused by the pandemic response, with more than 10,000 of those claims citing the vaccine as causing injury or death.
The government, which has just 35 people looking into the claims, had only determined that 40 claims were eligible for compensation, and just 11 were actually compensated, with an average compensation of around $3,600. That was in February, and the numbers haven’t moved much since. Now, 47 have been deemed eligible and 12 have been paid out, still with that low compensation average. A very small number of people.
As the Times points out, “Some scientists fear that patients with real injuries are being denied help and believe that more needs to be done to clarify the possible risks.”
But it’s not just the New York Times talking about this issue.
Others are starting to acknowledge the harm caused by the vaccines — even some who were at the forefront of the COVID response are now acknowledging that many were in fact harmed by the vaccines. Dr. Ashish Jha, the Biden administration’s COVID coordinator in 2022 and 2023, told NewsNation that people who were harmed by the vaccines must be taken seriously.
“I worry a little bit that what has happened is we’ve gotten caught in the sort of politics of this,” said Dr. Jha. “…because as you know, there are a lot of people who’ve become very anti-vaccine. And so that means that a lot of doctors see these patients and worry that if they acknowledge that person suffering, that somehow they’re becoming anti-vaccine themselves. I’m very pro-vaccines. I got them. Everyone in my family got them. Still, I think we have to acknowledge this that is not just happening among doctors is happening inside the government. We just have to do better.”
And Chris Cuomo, who famously emerged from his basement after quarantining for COVID, also said in an interview with Barcavage that he had long-term issues from the vaccine, and admitted that people weren’t getting help because of politics. “…I think there’s really no incentive to get out in front of this because it’s just bad PR, right?” said Cuomo. “I mean, nobody’s going to get patted on the back for saying, ‘Yeah, Shaun’s right.’ There’s, there are side effects on some of the vaccines or all of the vaccines that we should be talking about and figuring out how to treat. And there is long COVID and there’s lots – nobody wants to say that because it’s all political now.”