Fatal and Debilitating Smallpox Vaccine Induced Myocarditis
Fatal and Debilitating Smallpox Vaccine Induced Myocarditis
Department of Defense Relies on VAERS System to Study Symptomatic Heart Damage from Vaccine
By Peter A. McCullough, MD, MPH
Over the course of the COVID-19 crisis we have heard from government officials and those supporting the mass vaccination campaign that the CDC Vaccine Adverse Event System (VAERS) is not reliable and that patient/family/healthcare provider reports into the system may not be accurate and thus cannot be used to assess causality. I can tell you as an epidemiologist, analyses VAERS are invalid if they attempt to calculate incidence or declare an outcome is “rare”—that is because VAERS represents a gross under-reporting of the actual numbers of side effects.
I found this paper from Engler et al, US Department of Defense, which relied upon VAERS do to research approved by an Institutional Review Board to assess the smallpox vaccine utilized in the US military. After vaccinating more than a million personnel from the theoretical threat of smallpox bioterrorism with the old-fashioned type of smallpox vaccine grown on the skin of calves, the US military switched to a second-generation vaccine that's grown in laboratory cell cultures.
The Department of Defense (DoD) announced in 2008 that it was beginning the change from Dryvax, made by Wyeth, to ACAM2000, which is made by Acambis and was approved by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
The authors found 276 cases of myocarditis, 72 with pericarditis, with a mean age of 24 years and 96% men. A total of 31% of cases had reduction in left ventricular function (by echo or MRI) and 84% of the aggregate cases presented with an elevation in cardiac troponin. There was sparse use of cardiac MRI and when it was performed only 46% reported abnormalities. A total of 13% did not fully recover and there were four deaths. The ACAM2000 was selectively used in the military as of 2021 and additionally, the Department of Defense announced in 2022 it is increasing its supply of the approved smallpox/monkeypox vaccine, JYNNEOS which also carries a risk of heart damage.
The major lessons from this study are: 1) VAERS is an excellent source of data for vaccine safety research, 2) the modern smallpox vaccines used in the military had serious side effects including cardiac disability and death, 3) cardiac MRI when used did not identify a large fraction of abnormalities suggesting either late or inappropriate utilization without MRI contrast and assessment for late gadolinium enhancement.
Findings from this study apply to COVID-19 vaccine induced myocarditis which appears to be far more frequent and dangerous. Fortunately COVID-19 vaccination is no longer mandated. In young men, vaccines with a proven record of myopericarditis (smallpox, monkeypox, and SARS-CoV-2 vaccines) carry a real risk of debilitating and fatal heart damage. Young military personnel with prior heart disease and or autoimmunity (ANA blood test positive) may be at heightened myocarditis risk with the smallpox vaccine and should carefully weigh out the risks and benefits of smallpox vaccination.
Please subscribe to the Courageous Discourse Substack as a paying or founder member to support our work.
I doubt I will ever take another vaccine
Thank you, this is just the dose of reliable information that we all need!