For the first time ever, Australia’s highest rating mainstream media, 7News, has dared to air a segment highlighting COVID-19 vaccine side effects, a topic largely censored over the past three years. The segment, named "After COVID," has brought to light the adverse effects many have suffered in the aftermath of receiving the COVID-19 vaccines, with testimonials from prominent individuals who experienced significant health complications.
The discussion regarding COVID vaccine side effects began with a striking revelation for many mainstream media consumers:
"Now, with vaccinations being rushed through, there was no time to properly test for some of the side effects. We've been discussing that and that led to ongoing health problems for some who got the jab. In fact, over 140,000 people suffered adverse effects related to COVID vaccines. That's according to the Therapeutic Goods Administration. 22,000 of those were classified as serious."
Professor Kerryn Phelps is an Australian medical practitioner, public health advocate, and a celebrity figure in the medical community. With an illustrious career spanning over three decades, she has served not only as a physician but also as a former President of the Australian Medical Association. She emphasized that these numbers are just the tip of the iceberg:
"There is so much to learn. The TGA takes the reports. Apparently, there have been 144,000 adverse reaction reports. But that's a drop in the ocean compared to the number of actual adverse reactions that there are, because a lot of them aren't being reported, because certainly in the early days, they weren't being recognized."
Based on the population of Australia, which is approximately 25.7 million, the 144,000 adverse reaction reports represent approximately 0.56% of the population, equating to about 1 in every 179 people. When considering the 22,000 serious adverse reactions (such as deaths, permanent disabilities, hospitalizations, miscarriages, etc.), this represents approximately 0.086% of the population, or about 1 in every 1,168 people. While I am making a broad assumption that one adverse event affects one person (which is not always the case), and that everyone in Australia is vaccinated (which is not the case, as approximately 3% of the population, including myself, a former pharma senior executive with JnJ and Pfizer, remain unvaccinated), these figures still illustrate that a significant number of individuals have experienced adverse reactions. According to Prof. Kerryn Phelps, these numbers are likely underreported.
Both Professor Phelps and her wife, Jackie, suffered debilitating side effects from the Pfizer vaccine. Professor Phelps shared her harrowing experience:
"A week after I had the vaccine, having never had any problems with my heart or my blood pressure, my blood pressure went extremely high, my pulse rate went extremely high. I woke in the night with my heart pounding, being able to hear my pulse in my ears, something called pulsatile tinnitus. I lost some hearing in my left ear. I became very breathless just walking across a room... I had testing for dysautonomia which is a problem of the nervous system and the way it interacts with the heart and the vascular system. And that is one of the recognized side effects of Pfizer."
Her partner Jackie’s story was equally, if not more, distressing. Describing her reaction, she said:
"Within five minutes, my head nearly blew off my body. My face went bright red, my vision was impaired, I couldn't hear, my feet went numb, my hands went numb. I had paresthesia all over my body. From that minute, my hair started falling out. For the next three years, it's ruined my life. I've had to have a chairlift put into my house because I can't walk up and down stairs anymore."
Jackie continued to emphasize the severity of the issues:
"It has made me hide away from people because my specialists have said if I catch COVID that'll be the end of me. It's neurological, rheumatological; it's caused ongoing problems for me
…So I can't have any more vaccines and I wouldn't go near them with a ten foot barge pole.”
It's important to consider the implications of Dr. Phelps and her partner both experiencing serious side effects from the COVID vaccine. The probability of two individuals, both from the same household and one being a prominent doctor, suffering significant adverse reactions calls into question the common belief that such side effects are rare. It suggests that the risk of serious side effects may be more prevalent than initially reported, highlighting potential gaps in the surveillance and reporting processes of vaccine reactions.
A tense exchange with members of the audience
As the discussion about COVID vaccine side effects continued, the atmosphere grew tense when an audience member raised a pressing question. One participant from the legal sector, known for tackling government and medical corruption, captured attention with a pointed inquiry:
"I was one of the few people in the legal sector who took on the TGA and the rest of the government establishment for government corruption and medical corruption. My question to you is, as a person who is not vaccinated, who did not take a single COVID-19 vaccine, why isn't there research done three years in now comparing the immune systems of those who got the first dose, the second dose, and the third dose, and the aftermath and latency periods in comparison to how the non-vaccinated are faring? Right now, we have a society that is chronically ill in the winter season, and it is not the unvaccinated."
The host promptly directed the question to Prof. Robert Booy who started defending the vaccines:
"Australia has among the best immunologists in the world and we've won two Nobel prizes. We do take that seriously. We do look at the responses to vaccination. We do look at people who have had no exposure to COVID or vaccination, and their immune systems are compared," explained Prof. Booy. "So you're wrong. And as to being healthy, that's great. I'm really pleased for you. But the people who've had COVID who haven't been vaccinated get more severe disease and they're more likely to get long COVID."
Adding to the discussion, Associate Professor Sanjaya Senanayake emphasized the extensive ongoing research despite the widespread rollout of vaccines.
"Once the vaccines get rolled out, and now we've had over 12-13 billion doses given worldwide, the research doesn't stop. We've got to phase three. Let's roll it out. We've got phase four trials, and data is being collected and collected and collected. If we're going to see really rare side effects, we've had 7-10 billion doses to see those, and we haven't heard of anything unusual at this point. We'll keep looking."
However, the exchange took a dramatic turn when another audience member shouted, "(inaudible)…not a controled manner. That's not a test, that's just giving it to everybody!”
I am going to reserve my views on these two establishment professors because Professor Gigi Foster responded really well below. However, I did a quick search on Disclosure Australia to check for any financial conflicts of interest, and here is what I found. Unless he is a different Dr. Robert Booy, I would suggest that 7News look for financial conflicts of interest before inviting people onto a panel who appear to be neutral but are not. (If it is a different Dr. Robert Booy, I apologize in advance.)
It reminded me of the condescending Dr. Daniel Goldstein, whom you can read about here. I think doctors who take money from pharmaceutical companies need to completely recuse themselves from this conversation.
Anyway, Prof. Gigi Foster offered a very good perspective on the situation, highlighting a discrepancy between decision-makers and the general public.
"What we're seeing here is a symptom of a modern problem that we have with people who are often making decisions in positions of authority, trying to do the right thing, I think, are usually very separated from the people on the street. The people on the street are getting their information from sources other than the mainstream news, other than the health head of the department in various states, other than the mainstream peer-reviewed journals. They're getting information from a lot of independent media, from a lot of independent scholars, some of whom are extremely good. I would very strongly recommend that you guys have a look at non-mainstream sources of information. You may discover something."
Anyway, this segment vividly illustrated the fiery debate over vaccine safety and transparency, revealing the deep divisions and varied perspectives that exist within the community.
UPDATE: A follow up on the story here:
Signing off for now
A17
JUST IN: Mainstream Media 7News Australia Airs Groundbreaking Segment highlighting COVID Vaccine Reactions