"Abstract
... Currently, the side effects of COVID-19 vaccines are increasingly being noted and studied. Here, we summarise the currently available indications and discuss our conclusions that (i) these side effects have specific similarities and differences to acute COVID-19 and PACS [post-acute COVID-19 syndrome], that (ii) a new term should be used to refer to these side effects (post-COVID-19 vaccination syndrome, PCVS, colloquially 'post-COVIDvac-syndrome'), and that (iii) there is a need to distinguish between acute COVID-19 vaccination syndrome (ACVS) and post-acute COVID-19 vaccination syndrome (PACVS)... Moreover, we address mixed forms of disease caused by natural SARS-CoV-2 infection and COVID-19 vaccination... The article also serves to address the current problem of 'medical gaslighting' in relation to PACS and PCVS by raising awareness among the medical professionals and supplying appropriate terminology for disease...
1. Introduction
... Currently the global COVID-19 vaccine campaign faces two challenges: a decrease in the vaccine’s efficacy in preventing a more severe COVID-19 disease course and/or death, and in parallel an increased recognition and awareness in relation to possible problems with the vaccine’s safety...
The protection gained from a COVID-19 vaccination booster dose diminishes with increasing number of booster doses received, as recently found. Repeated vaccination and confrontation with novel antigen variants are associated with the immune memory phenomenon of 'original antigenic sin' (leading to less efficient immune responses in comparison to the original antigen variant) and 'immune imprinting' (leading to a progressively narrowed immune response towards a new antigen variant... Also the 'antibody dependent enhancement' (ADE) mechanism becomes relevant, as demonstrated by new results showing the 'possible emergence of adverse effects caused by these [antibodies] in addition to the therapeutic or preventive effect'...
With regard to the safety of the vaccines, adverse effects following COVID-19 vaccination are increasingly being noticed and studied, including cardiovascular, neurological, as well as autoimmune and inflammatory disorders...
4. Summary, conclusion and outlook
... [M]ore research is urgently needed to further define and characterise the vaccine-induced syndromes. The similarities and differences of the symptoms of these syndromes with COVID-19 and PACS need to be studied in detail... In general, four cases can be defined and should be distinguished (see Fig. 7): (i) COVID-19/ACVS (i.e. COVID-19 + ACVS), (ii) COVID-19/PACVS (i.e. COVID-19 + PACVS), (iii) PACS/ACVS (i.e. PACS + ACVS), and (iv) PACS/PACVS (i.e. PACS + PACVS). Unfortunately, there is almost no research on these second-order syndromes."
© 2023 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier GmbH.
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