In addition to investigating the decision-making around pandemic campus policies, RECOVER19 co-PI Dr. Claudia Chaufan also examines drug safety and the medical and ethical side of the COVID-19 vaccines (Case Study 2). A protocol for a scoping review of evidence regarding “COVID-19 vaccines and autoimmune disorders” was first posted as a preprint in September and was now published after peer review in AIMS Medical Science.
Here is the abstract of the publication co-authored with Laurie Manwell, Camila Heredia, and Jennifer McDonald:
Two years into the global vaccination campaign, important questions about COVID-19 vaccines and autoimmune disorders have arisen. A growing number of reports have documented associations between vaccination and autoimmunity, and research is needed to elucidate the nature of these linkages as well as the mechanisms and causal directions (i.e., whether persons with no history of autoimmune disorders may experience them upon vaccination or persons with autoimmune disorders may experience exacerbation or new adverse events, autoimmune or not, post-vaccination). This scoping review will follow Arksey and O’Malley’s framework, which is enhanced by Levac et al.’s team-based approach, to address the relationship between COVID-19 vaccinations and autoimmune disorders. Moreover, it will explore the evidence informing the consensus of care concerning COVID-19 vaccinations in people experiencing these disorders. Data from refereed articles and preprints will be synthesized through a thematic analysis. A subgroup analysis will compare the findings according to the previous existence of autoimmune disorders, presence of co-morbidities, vaccine type, and other potentially relevant factors. COVID-19 has triggered the largest vaccination campaign in history. Drug safety is critical to properly assess the balance of risks and benefits of any medical intervention. Our investigation should yield information useful to assist in clinical decision-making, policy development, and ethical medical practices.
Source: https://www.aimspress.com/article/doi/10.3934/medsci.2023025
The 11-page protocol introduces the debate about “Long COVID” vs. “Long Vax” and the “dearth of ongoing research on persons experiencing autoimmune disorder” in conjunction with the mRNA injections. In addition to reported adverse events, possible mechanisms linking the jabs to autoimmunity and the neuroimmunoendocrine system are discussed. The overall scoping protocol design, research objectives and questions, as well as the approach to selecting from the published literature are presented. Lastly, data charting, synthesis, and subgroup analysis techniques are defined.
The authors summarize their ongoing work as follows (references removed, see publication for details):
…the “Post-COVID” or “Long COVID” and the “Long Vax” syndromes share a range of symptoms, such as persistent cough, shortness of breath, and chest pain, severe and chronic fatigue, sleep disorders, headaches, and cognitive impairments, including compromised concentration and memory loss. In both cases, these symptoms could be related to the accumulation of the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein in the blood vessel epithelium which comprise the blood-brain-barrier (BBB) and further lead to signs of encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS). It follows that COVID-19 vaccinations could operate through spike protein production that further compromises neuroimmunoendocrine function by producing novel autoantibodies.
The article concludes with a reminder of the importance of drug safety, balancing risks and benefits of medical interventions, and the hope that this research will contribute to “improve[d] medical and public health practice in multiple ways, including assisting in clinical decision-making, policy development, and ethical medical practice.”
RECOVER19 