- Florida Health put out a release telling doctors to issue warnings about the shots
- The release cites three studies showing potential side effects caused by the shot
- READ MORE: FDA warns against receiving Pfizer bivalent and flu shot together
Doctors in Florida are now being instructed to warn recipients of the Covid vaccine that the shot could cause adverse effects — including heart attacks.
A notice sent to the state’s medical professionals Wednesday warned that reports of adverse events following vaccination in Florida had increased 1,700 percent from 2020 to 2021 – the shot’s first year of availability.
Among them was a massive spike in life-threatening conditions linked to vaccines, including include heart attacks and other cardiovascular issues. This is despite only a 400 percent in the number of vaccines administered in Florida that year. This suggests the increase in shots administered is not the sole reason for this increase.
But, the system cited by Florida officials uses self-reported information and does not require verification. Some reports may not be true, and others could be caused by Covid itself – which is known to cause long-term heart symptoms in some sufferers.
While the Covid vaccines have serious side effects, they are so rare that health officials have decided the benefits outweigh risk.
Some have praised Florida officials for taking a different approach to their Covid response, limiting restrictions related to the virus and instead allowing for more personal choice and responsibility.
‘The COVID-19 pandemic brought many challenges that the health and medical field have never encountered,’ a notice from state officials reads.
‘Although the initial response was led by a sense of urgency and crisis management, the State Surgeon General believes it is critical that as public health professionals, responses are adapted to the present to chart a future guided by data.’
The release references reports to the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS), a system run by the US Department of Health and Human Services to log vaccine-related injuries.
In 2021, 41,473 vaccine-related injuries were reported in Florida, a massive increase from the 2,466 a year earlier.
VAERS data is self-reported, and cases submitted to the system do not need to be verified by a physician.
Still, though, it allows regulators to be alerted to potential negative trends associated with available vaccines.
The Florida Health also cites an American study published in September that found one in every 550 recipients of the Covid vaccine suffered an adverse event.
‘Which is much higher than other vaccines,’ the release says.
The study focused on clinical trials held for the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines to initially earn Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval in late-2020
Across all the trials gathered for the study – which included tens of thousands of patients – 52 Pfizer vaccine recipients and 87 who got the Moderna shot had a significant adverse reaction.
This is compared to 33 and 64, respectively, among people who did not receive the shot, indicating that the existing risk is still relatively small.
This data was considered by the FDA and Centers for Disease Control (CDC) before it issued emergency use authorization – and eventually full approval – for the shots in recent years.
Florida Health also cites a 2022 study by Israeli researchers, which found a 25 percent increase in cardiac events in the Middle-Eastern nation in the months following the shot’s rollout.
Researchers note that it is unclear whether any of these events had any link to the vaccine.
‘While not establishing causal relationships, the findings raise concerns regarding vaccine-induced undetected severe cardiovascular side-effects and underscore the already established causal relationship between vaccines and myocarditis, a frequent cause of unexpected cardiac arrest in young individuals,’ researchers wrote.
A Norwegian study cited by the Florida health department showed that the AstraZeneca vaccine was linked to blood clotting in the brain and low blood platelet counts – both of which are life-threatening.
The vaccine is not available in America, though, and could not be responsible for the uptick in VAERS reports in 2021.
The shots do not come without some relatively small risks, though.
Early in 2021, the CDC warned that young males who had received the mRNA vaccines – either the Pfizer or Moderna shot were at an increased risk of suffering heart inflammation.
The agency warned that myocarditis was appearing more frequently in males 16 and older within seven days of receiving the shot.
Despite the warning, officials also continued to recommend the vaccine to this age group.
Earlier this year, the FDA and CDC also issued a warning linking the Pfizer’s bivalent shot to ischemic stroke three to four weeks post-vaccination.
The possible link between Pfizer’s jab and the elevated stroke risk was detected by the CDC’s Vaccine Safety Datalink (VSD), a real-time surveillance system.
Two weeks later, it was noted the risk was minimal, but getting the bivalent shot on the same data as a flu shot could pose some issue.
Global health officials have given widespread approval to the Covid vaccines.
Despite existing risks, they have determined the benefits of the shots outweigh any risks.
Floridian officials have stood out among other US leaders in their continued criticism of the Covid vaccines.
In December, Gov Ron DeSantis called for a grand justy to investigate ‘wrongdoing’ related to the shots.
‘We’ll be able to get the data whether they want to give it or not,’ DeSantis said.
‘In Florida, it is illegal to mislead and misrepresent, especially when you are talking about the efficacy of a drug.’
He continued, ‘today, I’m announcing a petition with the Supreme Court of Florida to enpanel a statewide grand jury to investigate any and all wrongdoing in Florida with respect to Covid vaccines.’
Florida Surgeon General Joseph Ladapo was present too. He drew criticism last year after recommending against teens receiving the shots, despite FDA approval.
‘The data that’s coming in on this is showing for healthy kids very little benefit in terms of what the vaccine is doing and that’s weighed against the fact that they’re at very, very low risk,’ he said.
‘Individuals can make their own decision… but I think the data is in line with what the surgeon general recommended.’