A new study published in the journal Rheumatology found that disease flares occurred in 1 in 10 individuals with autoimmune rheumatic diseases (AIRDs) following COVID-19 vaccination, particularly those with comorbidities and mental health disorders.1 Characterized by chronic inflammation, rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and systemic lupus erythematosis (SLE) are among the most well-known AIRDs.2
Following up on concerns among AIRDs patients about potential flares following COVID shots, the study’s researchers investigated the incidence, predictors and patterns of flares following administration of the shots in individuals diagnosed with AIRDs They used the global COVID-19 Vaccination in Autoimmune Diseases (COVAD) surveys to conduct the study.3 Symptoms of flares included the appearance of new clinical signs such as rash, muscle weakness, joint pain or swelling, digital ulcers, shortness of breath, chest pain, dysphagia (speech difficulty), fever, fatigue, and active kidney disease.
In a joint statement, researchers Kshitij Jagtap, MD, Parikshit Sen, MBBS, and Latika Gupta, MD, said:
Disease flares are one of the prominent concerns that patients with rheumatic diseases have, as these episodes are often accompanied by disabling symptoms that affect their day-to-day activities and quality of life. This has been one of the reasons why many of these patients are reluctant to get vaccinated against COVID-19, as there is a lingering fear that vaccines may precipitate these flares. Unfortunately, there were very few studies that had investigated this relationship between COVID-19 vaccines and disease flares and thus there was no credible data to alleviate these concerns.4
An earlier study conducted in 2022 to examine the association between COVID shots and AIRD flares had showed no link between the two.5 6
Moderna’s mRNA COVID Shot Caused More Disease Flare Ups
Surveys for participants in the most recent study included 36 questions regarding COVID shots and the AIRD state of each patient. Participants were asked to identify their demographic information, type of disease they had, length of disease, clinical symptoms and their current medications.
There were a total of 15,165 responses, out of which 3,453 patients reported an incidence of disease flares. The findings showed that the incidence of disease flares was 11.3 percent, with arthritis (61.6 percent) and fatigue (58.8 percent) being the most common symptoms reported by patients.
The risk factors for the development of flares were the presence of multiple comorbidities and underlying mental health disorders. The findings also showed that patients who received Moderna/NIAID’s Spikevax messenger RNA (mRNA) COVID shot flared up more than patients who received COVID shots from other vaccine manufacturers.7
The overall incidence of flares in this study was higher than that found in previous studies. In one study, an online survey of 5,619 adults with systemic rheumatic diseases reported 4.9 percent flares that required a modification in their treatment.8 Another study from the EULAR-COVAX registry had 4.4 percent physician-reported flares in 5,121 patients with rheumatic disorders.9
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Click here to view References:1 Jagtap K. et al. Flares in autoimmune rheumatic diseases in the post-COVID-19 vaccination period—a cross-sequential study based on COVAD surveys. Rheumatology Mar. 2023.
2 Anaya JM, Shoenfeld Y, Buttgereit F, Gonzalez-Gay MA. Autoimmune Rheumatic Diseases. Biomed Res Int 2014.
3 Ibid.
4 Martin E. One in 10 patients with autoimmune rheumatic disease flared after COVID-19 vaccination. Healio May. 1, 2023.
5 Nakfero G. Is vaccination against COVID-19 associated with autoimmune rheumatic disease flare? A self-controlled case series analysis. Rheumatology 2023; 62(4): 1445–1450.
6 Martin E. COVID-19 vaccine not associated with increased autoimmune rheumatic disease flares. Healio Nov. 2, 2022.
7 Jagtap K. et al. Flares in autoimmune rheumatic diseases in the post-COVID-19 vaccination period—a cross-sequential study based on COVAD surveys. Rheumatology Mar. 2023.
8 Rider LG. et al. COVID-19 Global Rheumatology Alliance Vaccine Survey Group. Baseline factors associated with self-reported disease flares following COVID-19 vaccination among adults with systemic rheumatic disease: results from the COVID-19 global rheumatology alliance vaccine survey. Rheumatology (Oxford) 2022; 61:SI143–50.
9 Machado PM. et al. Safety of vaccination against SARS-CoV-2 in people with rheumatic and musculoskeletal diseases: results from the EULAR Coronavirus Vaccine (COVAX) physician-reported registry. Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases 2022; 81:695–709.
5 Responses
May 3, 2016 Vaccines, Adjuvants and Autoimmunity
Session 14: 4th International Symposium on Vaccines in Leipzig, Germany April, 2016.
https://youtu.be/mfraYYGYDA8
Excellent. That’s the product I want. Where can I get one!?!? As the medical cartel continues to march forward unabated, capturing and creating new customers for life left and right. The idiots of the world continue to refer to these money making illness creating side effect having debilitating outcome creating substances as ‘vaccines’. Hospitals do not create cures, they create customers.
Yoru tone is obnoxious. You need to fix it. You’re not educating anyone. You’re just tearing down things. YOU’RE NOT HELPING.
All vaccines worsen autoimmune disease.
Not only do vaccines provoke an adaptive immune response to a particular antigen, they also provoke an innate immunity response which is a sensitization of the general immune system overall. It’s a double-edged sword. Increased innate immunity might be good for raising an immune system response against diseases like cancer, but at same time autoimmune symptoms will be increased as well. Unfortunately we don’t have very good education about this give-and-take of vaccines; we just grab em and jab em.
That’s where the Vaccine Reaction, safe-vaxxer and anti-vaxxer activists come in; our mission is to educate.
Also just want to add there are treatments you can try for autoimmune diseases: GAPS diet, water-only fasting (ala Joel Furhman), and the works of Dr Hans Nieper. I personally did a water-only fast for 14 days and my autoimmune hashimoto’s improved, and stayed improved for a year following the fast.