A study has revealed the truth about the Covid-19 vaccinations, with Stanford University releasing its final verdict on the controversial jabs.
There have been a lot of debates about the Covid-19 vaccines since they were rolled out during the pandemic to help people survive Covid-19 and improve their immunity against it.
With Covid being attributed to causing the deaths of over 3.4 million people in 2020 alone, per the World Health Organization, the situation was in dire need of intervention.
Eventually, the vaccinations were distributed around the globe, but people online began to speculate that some side-effects were not worth the protection from Covid-19.
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Now, more than five years on from the start of the pandemic, a new study was able to crunch the numbers to find out the true impact of the Covid vaccine.
Was catching Covid better than taking the vaccine? (Getty Stock Images)
What are the risks involved in the Covid-19 vaccination?
The new study from Stanford Medicine looked into cases of vaccine-associated myocarditis, which left a portion of vaccinated people hospitalized, or even dead due to heart-related issues.
Myocarditis, per the Mayo Clinic, occurs when the heart becomes inflamed and unable to pump blood effectively.
The issue can lead to a weakened heart, which can then increase the risk of developing blood clots and heart attacks.
The study found that the risk of myocarditis occurs in one out of every 140,000 vaccinated people after a first dose, but increases to one in every 32,000 after a second dose.
It explained that the instances typically happen in men aged 30 or below in around one in every 16,750 vaccinated people.
But it can be treated if monitored and caught early, Wu said.
He revealed: “It’s not a heart attack in the traditional sense.
"There’s no blockage of blood vessels as found in most common heart attacks. When symptoms are mild and the inflammation hasn’t caused structural damage to the heart, we just observe these patients to make sure they recover.”
However, Wu said in rare cases, it can lead to death.
What are the long term health risks of catching Covid?
According to Cleveland Clinic, post-Covid conditions like Long Covid affect around five to ten per cent of those who catch the virus.
With this, sufferers may go on to experience:
- Loss of or altered sense of smell or taste
- Trouble thinking or focusing
- Chronic cough
- Headaches
- Difficulty sleeping or insomnia
- Depression
- Anxiety
- Chest pain
- Heart palpitations
- Diarrhea
Sadly, this can go on for some time, with people still reporting they experience these issues years later.
Catching Covid is also 10 times more likely to result in myocarditis than taking the Covid vaccine.
Joseph Wu, MD, PhD, the director of the Stanford Cardiovascular Institute, said: "Medical scientists are quite aware that Covid itself can cause myocarditis. To a lesser extent, so can the mRNA vaccines."
What are the health benefits of taking the Covid-19 vaccination?
One 2022 study found that between December 2020-December 2021, the Covid-19 vaccination prevented an estimated 19.8 million deaths out of 31.4 million potential deaths that would have occurred without vaccination.
This comes at a reduction of 63 percent of deaths after two thirds of the world population had at least the first dose administered.
So on the whole, though there is a very small risk of health complications in taking a Covid vaccine, the benefits almost certainly outweigh the risks.
Topics: Coronavirus, Health
Britt Jones