SARS-CoV-2 mass vaccination: Urgent questions on vaccine safety that demand answers from international health agencies, regulatory authorities, governments and vaccine developers
Abstract
Since the start of the COVID-19 outbreak, the race for testing new platforms designed to confer immunity against SARS-CoV-2, has been rampant and unprecedented, leading to conditional emergency authorization of various vaccines. Despite progress on early multidrug therapy for COVID-19 patients, the current mandate is to immunize the world population as quickly as possible.The lack of thorough testing in animals prior to clinical trials, and authorization based on safety data generated during trials that lasted less than 3.5 months, raise questions regarding vaccine safety. The recently identified role of SARS-CoV-2 Spike glycoprotein for inducing endothelial damage characteristic of COVID-19, even in absence of infection, is extremely relevant given that most of the authorized vaccines induce endogenous production of Spike. Given the high rate of occurrence of adverse effects that have been reported to date, as well as the potential for vaccine-driven disease enhancement, Th2-immunopathology,autoimmunity, and immune evasion, there is a need for a better understanding of the benefits and risks of mass vaccination,particularly in groups excluded from clinical trials. Despite calls for caution, the risks of SARS-CoV-2 vaccination have been minimized or ignored by health organizations and government authorities. As for any investigational biomedical program, data safety monitoring boards (DSMB) and event adjudication committees (EAC), should be enacting risk mitigation. If DSMBs and EACs do not do so, we will call for a pause in mass vaccination. If DSMBs and EACs do not exist, then vaccination should be halted immediately, in particular for demographic groups at highest risk of vaccine-associated death or serious adverse effects, during such time as it takes to assemble these boards and commence critical and independent assessments. We urge for pluralistic dialogue in the context of health policies, emphasizing critical questions that require urgent answers, particularly if we wish to avoid a global erosion of public confidence in science and public health.
Roxana Bruno1, Peter A. McCullough2, Teresa Forcades i Vila3, Alexandra Henrion-Caude4, Teresa Garc ́ıa-Gasca5,Galina P. Zaitzeva6, Sally Priester7, Mar ́ıa J. Mart ́ınez Albarrac ́ın8, Alejandro Sousa-Escandon9, Fer-nando L ́opez Mirones10, Bartomeu Payeras Cifre11, Almudena Zaragoza Velilla10, Leopoldo M. Borini1, MarioMas1, Ramiro Salazar1, Edgardo Schinder1, Eduardo A. Yahbes1, Marcela Witt1, Mariana Salmeron1, Patri-cia Fern ́andez1, Miriam M. Marchesini1, Alberto J. Kajihara1, Marisol V. de la Riva1, Patricia J. Chimeno1,Paola A. Grellet1, Matelda Lisdero1, Pamela Mas1, Abelardo J. Gatica Baudo12, Elisabeth Retamoza12,Oscar Botta13, Chinda C. Brandolino13, Javier Sciuto14, Mario Cabrera Avivar14, Mauricio Castillo15, Pa-tricio Villarroel15, Emilia P. Poblete Rojas15, B ́arbara Aguayo15, Dan I. Mac ́ıas Flores15, Jose V. Rossell16,Julio C. Sarmiento17, Victor Andrade-Sotomayor17,Wilfredo R. Stokes Baltazar18, Virna Cede ̃no Escobar19,Ulises Arr ́ua20, Atilio Farina del R ́ıo21, Tatiana Campos Esquivel22, Patricia Callisperis23, Mar ́ıa EugeniaBarrientos24, Christian Fiala25, Karina Acevedo-Whitehouse5,*.
Discussion
The risks outlined here are a major obstacle to continuing global SARS-CoV-2 vaccination. Evidence on the safety of all SARS-CoV-2 vaccines is needed before exposing more people to the risk of these experiments,since releasing a candidate vaccine without time to fully understand the resulting impact on health could lead to an exacerbation of the current global crisis [41]. Risk-stratification of vaccine recipients is essential.According to the UK government, people below 60 years of age have an extremely low risk of dying fromCOVID-19[1]. However, according to Eudravigillance, most of the serious adverse effects following SARS-CoV-2 vaccination occur in people aged 18-64. Of particular concern is the planned vaccination schedule for children aged 6 years and older in the United States and the UK. Dr. Anthony Fauci recently anticipated that teenagers across the country will be vaccinated in the autumn and younger children in early 2022, and the UK is awaiting trial results to commence vaccination of 11 million children under 18. There is a lack of scientific justification for subjecting healthy children to experimental vaccines, given that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that they have a 99.997% survival rate if infected with SARS-CoV-2. Not only is COVID-19 irrelevant as a threat to this age group, but there is no reliable evidence to support vaccine efficacy or effectiveness in this population or to rule out harmful side effects of these experimental vaccines.In this sense, when physicians advise patients on the elective administration of COVID-19 vaccination, there is a great need to better understand the benefits and risk of administration, particularly in understudied groups.
In conclusion, in the context of the rushed emergency-use-authorization of SARS-CoV-2 vaccines, and the current gaps in our understanding of their safety, the following questions must be raised:
*Is it known whether cross-reactive antibodies from previous coronavirus infections or vaccine-induced antibodies may influence the risk of unintended pathogenesis following vaccination with COVID-19?
*What is the rationale for administering the vaccine to every individual when the risk of dying fromCOVID-19 is not equal across age groups and clinical conditions and when the phase 3 trials excluded the elderly, children and frequent specific conditions?
*What are the legal rights of patients if they are harmed by a SARS-CoV-2 vaccine? Who will cover the costs of medical treatment?
If claims were to be settled with public money, has the public been made aware that the vaccine manufacturers have been granted immunity, and their responsibility to compensate those harmed by the vaccine has been transferred to the tax-payers? If vaccination programs worldwide do not institute independent data safety monitoring boards (DSMB),event adjudication committees (EAC), and enact risk mitigation, we will call for a pause in the mass vaccination program. If DSMBs and EACs do not exist currently, as would be imperative for any investigational biomedical program, then vaccination should be immediately halted for those demographic groups at highest risk of vaccine-associated death or serious adverse effects, during the time it takes to assemble these boards and committees and commence their assessments.In the context of these concerns, we propose opening an urgent pluralistic, critical, and scientifically-based dialogue on SARS-CoV-2 vaccination among scientists, medical doctors, international health agencies, regulatory authorities, governments, and vaccine developers. This is the only way to bridge the current gap between scientific evidence and public health policy regarding the SARS-CoV-2 vaccines. We are convinced that humanity deserves a deeper understanding of the risks than what is currently touted as the official position.
An open scientific dialogue is urgent and indispensable to avoid erosion of public confidence in science and public health and to ensure that the WHO and national health authorities protect the interests of humanity during the current pandemic. Returning public health policy to evidence-based medicine, relying on a careful evaluation of the relevant scientific research, is urgent. It is imperative to follow the science.
This was just the abstract and discussion - please read and download the whole PDF
.