Could YOU have Covid vaccine syndrome? As a study claims the jabs may have triggered brain fog, tinnitus and dizziness, here’s the truth about those long-term side-effects

The Covid vaccines have, unquestionably, prevented millions of deaths. But last week researchers from the respected Yale University suggested some jabs may have triggered debilitating, long-lasting side-effects including brain fog, tinnitus, dizziness, insomnia and heart palpitations.

They even gave the phenomenon a name: post-vaccination syndrome.

The study has come under intense criticism from some experts, who argue its methods are unscientific and its findings inconclusive. However, others argue it raises important questions about the safety of these vaccines.

So what’s the truth? The Mail spoke to vaccine experts to answer the most burning questions.

Isn’t this all just a conspiracy theory? Surely if post-vaccination syndrome existed, millions of us would have it?

The scientists behind this study should be taken seriously. The lead researcher, Akiko Iwasaki, Professor of Immunobiology at Yale School of Medicine, is one of the top vaccine scientists in the US.

However, the study involved just 42 patients – most medical studies involve thousands – with a variety of symptoms that arose after having the Covid jab.

It is also what is called a ‘pre-print’ – it has not yet been published in a scientific journal, nor forensically scrutinised by other scientists in a peer review.

However, it is entirely feasible that these patients – and others – are suffering from a vaccine-induced illness.

It would not be the first complication linked to the Covid vaccines. The first one rolled out in the UK, by AstraZeneca, was found to trigger dangerous blood clots – albeit in very rare cases. About 70 deaths were linked to it.

Meanwhile, the Pfizer and Moderna jabs – the focus of the latest study – were shown in rare cases to lead to myocarditis, or inflammation of the heart.

‘Some people do react badly to vaccines,’ says Professor Lawrence Young, a virus expert at the University of Warwick. ‘There’s a lot we still do not know about post-vaccination syndrome, but if it exists then it’s certainly a rare effect. Otherwise we would have seen more of it by now.’

I have some of the symptoms – could I have post-vaccination syndrome?

Not necessarily. One of the main criticisms of the study is that the patients have such a wide variety of symptoms that it is hard to know whether they all suffer from the same problem. Many of these symptoms could be triggered by everyday issues, such as a cold or even the menopause. They could also be down to long Covid, which has affected more than two million people in the UK.

Another possible cause may be myalgic encephalomyelitis (ME), also known as chronic fatigue syndrome. This poorly understood condition is often characterised by fatigue, brain fog and difficulty exercising. Research suggests that – like long Covid – it is often triggered by a viral infection such as a cold or the flu.

‘It’s possible, perhaps, that some participants had long Covid or chronic fatigue, and the vaccine led to a flare up in their symptoms,’ says Professor Peter Openshaw, an immunologist at Imperial College London.

Do we know how many people have been affected – or why they got it while others didn’t?

No, and this study is too small to draw any conclusions. Professor Iwasaki and her team collected blood samples from the patients between December 2022 and November 2023.

The study concluded that people with the syndrome appear to be in poorer health than the average American. The participants also appeared to have lower levels of immune cells than healthy adults, suggesting they were less capable of fighting off an infection.

Many of them also appeared to be battling a bad bout of a virus called Epstein-Barr. More than 95 per cent of people carry the virus, but usually the immune system keeps it in check.

However, experts say it is impossible to know whether the vaccines triggered these problems or if the patients had them beforehand.

Are there other vaccines which might trigger these side-effects?

Researchers are developing vaccines using the genetic technology behind Covid jabs, known as messenger RNA, or mRNA, but only Covid jabs are currently approved to use it.

One of the concerns raised by the US study is some participants appeared to have raised levels of Covid ‘spike proteins’ – which are produced by the vaccine to combat the virus, but which should disappear from the patient’s blood within weeks of their jab. ‘This raises the question: is there something about these vaccines which means these virus proteins remain in the body for longer than we expected?’ says Professor Young.

I’m pretty certain I have post-vaccination syndrome – what can I do?

Unfortunately there is no treatment available. The Yale experts say they hope their findings will lead to a medical intervention that can relieve symptoms.

One option would be to give drugs that combat Epstein-Barr. ‘There are antivirals which block the effects,’ says Professor Young. ‘That would be a good place to start.’

However, if post-vaccination syndrome is similar to chronic fatigue syndrome, then finding an effective treatment could prove difficult. ‘I opened an ME clinic some years ago, but it didn’t last long because we had nothing to offer patients,’ says Professor Openshaw. ‘It’s not clear what we could do with post-vaccination syndrome patients if they came forward.’

DID IT TRIGGER MY MIGRAINES?

Meike Leonard writes: The idea of post-vaccination syndrome is a scary one. But as a science journalist, it is my job to be sceptical.

The symptoms it allegedly causes are among the most common for all sorts of ailments.

Yet there are so many people who write to us still convinced that the Covid vaccine damaged their health. One particularly resonated with me a few months ago – a man said that two days after receiving the Covid jab, he began to suffer migraines. It made me wonder if my own migraines, which began a few months after my last dose, could be linked.

It’s not a connection I had made before and I still doubt it’s the case, but I now understand why some might link new, unexplained health issues to the jab.

In the same way it’s hard to prove a connection, it is just as difficult to rule one out.