COVID-19 Vaccine Linked to Another Rare Blood Disease: Israeli Study; But Researchers stress that the study shouldn't deter people from getting the vaccine

Israeli researchers on Monday said that they discovered a link between Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine and a rare blood disease called thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura (TTP).

Scientists with the Institute of Hematology at Shamir Medical Center said they began researching the possible link after reports of a sudden increase in TTP across Israel.

The team said they discovered a “chronological connection” between when the Pfizer shot was administered to the patient and the onset of symptoms of the blood disease. They said that four cases were detected.

“Physicians and patients need to be alert to the clinical symptoms: weakness fatigue, neurological disorders, hemorrhage and chest pain,” the Institute of Hematology at Shamir Medical Center told The Jerusalem Post.

A spokesperson from the facility told the paper that the study is very small and should not deter individuals from getting the COVID-19 vaccine, and they added that Israelis who haven’t received the vaccine should still get inoculated.

The researchers also noted there were four cases of TTP detected in one month as opposed to two to three TPP cases normally reported per year.

The Israeli Ministry of Health is currently reviewing the team’s findings, they said.

According to the U.S. National Library of Medicine, TTP is a rare disorder that causes blood clots to form in small blood vessels in the body.

“These clots can cause serious medical problems if they block vessels and restrict blood flow to organs such as the brain, kidneys, and heart,” the federal agency says on its website. “Complications resulting from these clots can include neurological problems (such as personality changes, headaches, confusion, and slurred speech), fever, abnormal kidney function, abdominal pain, and heart problems.

The Epoch Times has contacted the Israeli Ministry of Health and Pfizer for comment.

On June 1, Israel’s Health Ministry reported that it discovered a small number of heart inflammation cases, known as myocarditis, observed mainly in young men who received Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine, saying it was likely linked to their inoculation.

A U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) committee on Wednesday is slated to discuss rare cases of myocarditis among young people who received the Moderna or Pfizer vaccines. The agency was supposed to hold the emergency discussion last week but it was postponed.

It came about a month after the CDC said it was investigating several dozen cases of the rare heart inflammation.

The reports of myocarditis have been mostly in adolescents and young adults—and are more likely to occur in males. The symptoms also show up after the second dose, about four days after vaccination, the CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices said in a statement dated May 17.

OK,I’ll bite and admit the 600,000 exaggerates the DIRECT Covid death numbers. But by how much?? Let’s say 300,000 of them were coded wrongly, does that diminish the seriousness of the disease? What in your estimation is the closest number for deaths DUE TO COVID ?

So you're admitting that the numbers are probably cooked or at least highly suspicious and that it is thus legitimate for two random FReepers with no real background in statistics or credentials as actuarial experts to "spit-ball" and attempt to perform their own "back-of-the-envelope" calculations here on an Internet forum?!

Case closed!

Regards,

RE: Case Closed Nope. I still want to know what in your personal estimate is the number of deaths due directly to Covid. Even if exaggerated, I still want to know by how much. I want to know how lethal and serious this disease is. And please don’t give me the occasional motorcycle death with Covid. I know about it and that’s few and far between.

I'm sure you're a really nice fellah in real life, SeekAndFind, but the "line of reasoning" you are pursuing here is unsound / fallacious.

By admitting that it is entirely reasonable to doubt the "official figures," you have essentially admitted defeat.

"We've already established what your profession is - Now, we're just negotiating the price!"

It is not now incumbent upon your argumentative opponents to provide more-reliable figures.

xhrist and I merely challenged the "official figures" upon which your entire argument stands or falls. You almost immediately "backed down."

Q.E.D.

Regards,

RE: By admitting that it is entirely reasonable to doubt the “official figures,” you have essentially admitted defeat

My interest is not in winning or losing an argument but to get at the truth. If I’m wrong, I’m wrong and my knowledge would be the better for it.

So, let me repeat my question since you haven’t come close to even answering it... assuming the official figures exaggerate the number of deaths due directly to Covid, what in your estimation is the more accurate number?

You don’t have to give me an exact figure, just an estimate and better still, your reason for believing in this estimate.

My interest is not in winning or losing an argument but to get at the truth. If I’m wrong, I’m wrong and my knowledge would be the better for it.

I'm afraid that I have my doubts about that, SeekAndFind! Your posts here give rather the impression that you are spoiling for a fight.

So, let me repeat my question since you haven’t come close to even answering it...

That's true: I have made absolutely no attempt to provide you with the estimate you have requested. That's because I'm not an epidemiologist (NOTE: You don't have to be a chicken to judge an egg, and you don't have to be a nautical engineer to say that the sinking of the Titanic was a disaster attributable largely to human stupidity and hubris), and don't want to simply pull a number out of my *ss. You should instead do some research yourself (why would you be particularly interested in my personal estimate, anyway?).

[...] assuming the official figures exaggerate the number of deaths due directly to Covid, what in your estimation is the more accurate number?

Please do some research yourself! The "ballpark" estimates of some random FReeper should not concern you. (Though the reasons for his skepticism regarding "official figures" - which he has backed up with valid arguments or at least legitimate questions - are certainly worthy of serious consideration.)

Please consult an Epidemiologist in whom you have trust.

Regards,

That’s not what the CDC actually said. The CDC statement you’re referring to was with regards to how some death certificates were filled out. In short, where COVID-19 is listed on the last line of Section 32 Part I of a US Standard Certificate of Death, COVID-19 was the Underlying Cause of Death (UCoD) and the death is listed as COVID-19 in the statistics. You don’t die of multiple things. The other items listed in Section 32 Part I are all a consequence of the UCoD. That includes ARDS, pneumonia, hypoexmia, etc. Anything listed in Section 32 Part II may complicate survival, but they are NOT the cause of death. A person may live for decades with diabetes or hypertension. If they get COVID-19, those decades may be reduced to days or weeks because of COVID-19. Diabetes and hypertension can make it more difficult for the person to survive COVID-19, but they were on track to live many years later until COVID-19 came along and killed them. And yes, their deaths matter.

But I’m glad you brought up the increase in the total number of deaths. Unfortunately, you’ve got the wrong number. It isn’t 5%; it’s an over 18% increase from 2019:

Number of deaths in the US in 2018: 2,839,205 (https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/products/databriefs/db355.htm)
Number of deaths in the US in 2019: 2,854,838 (https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/products/databriefs/db395.htm)
Number of deaths in the US in 2020: 3,389,700 (https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/nvss/vsrr/COVID19/index.htm)

So in 2020, there was an increase of 534,862 total deaths. You’ll notice that from 2018 to 2019, there was a 0.5% increase in total deaths in the United States. The normal range is 0.3% - 0.7%. In 2020, there was an 18.7% increase over 2019. That’s unheard of outside of incredibly extreme situations. Like World War II.

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