The data on vaccine safety is in

Covid vaccines, which saved the lives of millions of people around the world, were linked to small increases in neurological, blood, and heart-related conditions, per a new US government-funded study that represents the largest global vaccine safety research to date.

The CDC- and HHS-backed study, which examined 99 million vaccinated individuals in eight countries for signs of certain medical conditions, focused on collecting and comparing patient data before vaccination and also 42 days after a Covid shot was administered.

• Myocarditis, aka inflammation of the heart, was consistently identified following a first, second, and third dose of the mRNA-based vaccines developed by Moderna and Pfizer/BioNTech.
• Researchers also found a statistically significant increase in cases of myocarditis, Guillain-Barre syndrome, and cerebral venous sinus thrombosis – a type of blood clot in the brain – associated with either the first, second, or third dose of the Covid vaccine developed by Oxford University and AstraZeneca (non-mRNA vaccines).

Point of note: the study didn’t monitor for symptoms of exercise intolerance, excessive fatigue, numbness, and brain fog identified in hundreds of adults experiencing chronic post-vaccination syndrome in a separate study conducted by the Yale School of Medicine.

Big picture: Overall, the data from the CDC- and- HHS- backed study indicates that the number of people who developed serious medical conditions after receiving the Covid shot was miniscule compared to the scope of the study. Out of the 99 million vaccinated individuals, researchers found that ~150,000 – ~20,000 more than expected – developed one of the 13 medical conditions included in the study after receiving the shot.

• A total of 13.5 billion Covid vaccine doses have been administered globally over the past three years, saving between 2.4 million and 14+ million lives, according to multiple studies.

💬 Bottom line: “Both things can be true. [Vaccines] can save millions of lives, and there can be a small number of people who’ve been adversely affected,” according to Dr. Harlan Krumholz, director of the Yale New Haven Hospital Center for Outcomes Research and Evaluation.