“Our Lives Are Not Misinformation

COVID-19 vaccines are safe for the vast majority of people. That's small consolation for the few who fall between the cracks

- JOANNA BRODER

ON NOVEMBER 4, 2020, BRIANNE DRESSEN walked into a clinic in West Jordan, Utah to take part in a clinical trial for AstraZeneca's COVID19 vaccine. A few minutes after getting the shot, her arm began to tingle and her eyes felt "weird,” she says. Her symptoms soon got worse. She developed a fever and chills and her arm went numb. At one point she grew so sensitive to light and sound that she sought relief in a dark room wearing earmuffs.

By the time she got to the emergency room at the University of Utah Hospital in Salt Lake City, the numbness had spread from her feet upward to her legs. She had lost the ability to walk and could no longer control her bladder and bowels. “It was really scary," she says.

What followed was a long nightmare of seeking care for debilitating symptoms from doctors who she says were dismissive of her symptoms and dubious that a vaccine could be the cause. Although adverse effects from COVID-19 vaccines are rare, some of those who fall into that group say they have gotten short shrift by the medical establishment.

That may be due in part to the rarity of their conditions and the newness of the vaccines. The extreme politicization of the COVID-19 pandemic has also played a role. Many doctors, worried about spreading misinformation and contributing to vaccine hesitancy, have been reluctant to take complaints about severe vaccine side effects seriously, according to some people who have suffered post-COVID-19 vaccine complications. Discussion among group members about severe vaccine side-effects has been flagged as misinformation by social media platforms, particularly Facebook, making it difficult for these individuals to gather and share information with one another.

“From top-down, we are not allowed to be heard in any way, shape or form,” wrote Dressen in an email. "Our lives are not misinformation,” she added at a different point in time.