Biology & biochemistry

Yale Study Links COVID Vaccines to Rare Syndrome

Published FEB 26 2025

Story

Image credit: Unsplash

The Facts

A preliminary Yale University study has identified a potential link between COVID vaccines and a rare condition called post-vaccination syndrome (PVS), characterized by symptoms including fatigue, brain fog, exercise intolerance, and dizziness in a small number of recipients.
nytimes
medRxiv
Analysis of blood samples from 42 people with PVS and 22 healthy controls from December 2022 to November 2023 found biological changes, including differences in immune cell proportions and elevated levels of coronavirus spike protein lasting up to 709 days post-vaccination.
The Times of India
Daily Mail
The study, led by immunologist Akiko Iwasaki, discovered that PVS patients showed reactivation of the Epstein-Barr virus and had significantly higher plasma levels of coronavirus spike protein compared to both healthy controls and long COVID patients.
Yale News
MedPage Today
However, co-author Harlan Krumholz said that people shouldn't "overindex" what he and Iwasaki have reported, stating the study "shouldn't be factoring into your decision [to get COVID booster shots] right now."
STAT
Meanwhile, Iwasaki told The New York Times: "It's not like this study determined what's making people sick," continuing, "it's the first kind of glimpse at what may be going on within these people." The study has not yet been peer-reviewed or published in a scientific journal.
nytimes
Au
While COVID vaccines have prevented millions of deaths globally, including 3M in the US, federal data suggests that 14K people have filed claims for injury or death allegedly caused by the vaccines as of December 2024.
Daily Mail

Sources Split

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The Spin

Narrative A

This is the first scientific investigation into potential biological mechanisms behind reported post-vaccination symptoms. The scientific community acknowledges that the benefits of COVID vaccines far outweighs the risks for the vast majority of people, yet emphasizes the need to investigate potential vaccine side effects thoroughly and transparently to maintain public trust and improve vaccine safety.

New York Post

Narrative B

The preliminary nature of these findings and their release before peer review could unnecessarily alarm the public and fuel vaccine hesitancy, potentially undermining confidence in well-established vaccine safety protocols that have saved millions of lives. These findings require validation and further investigation through larger, more carefully defined studies.