Stern reporter Bernhard Albrecht spent several months researching the possible dangers of the Covid vaccinations. His conclusion: They should be named more clearly
The response to the stern cover story “Vaccination without risk?” was great. We received numerous reports from those affected with mysterious symptoms that began shortly after the vaccination. They describe persistent numbness in the fingers and feet, chronic fatigue over weeks and months and much more. So symptoms that have so far received little attention in the statistics of the Paul Ehrlich Institute and in studies. It is still unclear how often they occur and how they are causally related to the vaccination, but one thing is clear: many people are concerned with possible side effects, wondering whether what happened to them after the vaccination had something to do with the pikes could have. People who start their emails with words like “I’m really not a vaccine skeptic, but…”. So far, too little has been reported about this. Or: The “mainstream media”, frowned upon by vaccine skeptics, have rarely examined the topic thoroughly. After more than four billion vaccinations worldwide, it no longer seemed necessary for many to catch up. On the whole everything went well, according to the attitude of many of my colleagues.
Journalists who don’t really know their craft have jumped into the gap. A private broadcaster’s two-part documentary about the side effects of vaccinations is currently making the rounds on social media, spreading fear and terror. In it lined up: one dramatic case after the other. No professional classification, not the slightest doubt as to whether there could be other explanations for the symptoms in individual cases than the Covid vaccination. That should often be the case. Even before the pandemic, 18 to 19 million people became so seriously ill every year that they called the emergency medical service or came to the emergency room of a hospital – at the moment this happens to many randomly in the days, weeks or months after the vaccination. The “expertise” in the documentary is provided by a nurse who whispers that she has seen a striking number of deaths lately. A Munich pediatrician who was among the spearheads of radical opponents of vaccination long before the pandemic appeared. In the first 24 minutes, the author of the manipulative work managed not to even hint that the disease Covid-19 in particular can result in serious complications and has cost the lives of numerous people. I didn’t look any further because it was already clear: This documentary would not provide any valuable information for my own research on the side effects of vaccinations.
Vaccination skeptics had a free rein for too long
How was such a film even made? And broadcast in a “mainstream medium”? It’s because we’ve given vaccine skeptics free rein to spread their fake news for too long. For a long time, I too was one of those who brusquely brushed off any doubts about the harmlessness of the vaccination. When vaccination skeptics from my area sent me their videos, comments and studies and demanded: “Wake up, report what the mainstream media is hiding” – then I ignored it or wrote back angrily: “Leave me alone with your conspiracy crap!” Today I treat their tips, which they continue to send me completely unimpressed, differently. I choose exactly what I pay attention to and what I don’t. Often it’s bullshit, of course, but there are always articles from high-ranking journals that I would otherwise have overlooked, and which provide valuable information that there are gaps in the recording of vaccine side effects. That 14 months after the start of the world vaccination there are still unanswered questions. That with one or the other rarely long-lasting, puzzling symptoms occur a few days after the peak, for which there is no other plausible explanation than just – the vaccination.
There was only one case that forced me to rethink: My colleague Katharina, who called me in despair because one day after being vaccinated with an mRNA vaccine, she could no longer feel her fingertips and her left foot. There was nothing about this in the information leaflet that she had signed. She couldn’t find a doctor who would take her seriously, and none were willing to report her symptoms to the health department as a side effect. When I continued to tell the case, others, friends, acquaintances, colleagues got in touch, in the end I had 16 cases of difficult to explain symptoms after the vaccination together. Some have confessed to me that they have not yet dared to speak out for fear of being cast in the vaccine skeptics’ corner. Just like many of the stern readers who wrote to us now.
We must not avoid the discussion about side effects
Are we ready? Yes, I’m convinced of that, because that’s what happened to me during the research. I often felt the need to apologize for focusing my research on vaccine side effects. Some press offices turned me down, some experts never answered me, even though I repeatedly tried to persuade them to conduct background discussions.
We can’t go on like this! We can no longer leave the discussion of what is not yet 100% certain, supported by numerous studies, to those who have no idea what they are writing or talking about. We need “open communication of scientific uncertainty”. It is particularly effective for those who are skeptical about the corona measures – according to the result of one study of the Max Planck Institute for Human Development. We must not be afraid to fuel irrational fears when writing or speaking about the terra incognita of vaccine side effects. This is my appeal to everyone who is involved in this – to doctors who see patients with mysterious symptoms that are not on the package leaflet. To us media professionals. To the press offices of university hospitals, the Paul Ehrlich Institute, to scientists who do not trust the public to deal with unknown risks. Because these risks are manageable.
Take the symptoms seriously
Finally, I come back to the Catherine case. Seven months after telling me about her mysterious symptoms, they are finally back information leaflet – but strangely only for the Biontech vaccine, not for the Moderna vaccine, although they have been around there for significantly longer leaflet to stand. Why not? Very few people are really afraid of rare side effects, but think to themselves: It won’t happen to me. I remember the long information leaflets about the risks of computer or magnetic resonance imaging, which also listed the rarest risks of the examination. As a resident, it used to be my job to talk to patients about it. Most waved it off and said something like: “Here’s my signature, maybe I’ll read it through later at leisure. But you can also die crossing the street.” So: All possible side effects belong in the information leaflets for the vaccinations. It should be left to the people themselves to deal with it or not.
Katharina has now been vaccinated three times, she experienced no new symptoms, her numbness is almost gone. A leading German neurologist explained to me that it was probably a “unilateral autoimmune reaction” that usually subsided without consequences. We can take such risks. When we know that if something really happens, we will be taken seriously with our symptoms.