COVID shot study finds 'alterations similar to those we observe for brain cancer'

Once the initial euphoria of the COVID shots passed and the drawbacks started to emerge, the mainstream narrative was forced to adapt. One of the key tactics used has been to claim that whatever nasty side-effects the shots might have were simply attenuated versions of what COVID infection itself produced. (That was quite curious, given that the Pfizer-et al shots weren’t supposed to contain attenuated virus, but that’s a different topic.) 

So it was, for instance, that when the first cases of myocarditis were reported following injection with COVID shots, the mainstream response was to insist that the risk was extremely low and that furthermore, the risk of fatal blood clots and so forth was far higher from COVID itself.

(This was subsequently disproved by numerous studies.)

A recent headline in The Guardian, however, opened up a new front in the COVID war. The headline reads, “COVID can shrink brain and damage its tissue, finds research”.

Losing the ability to smell was an early sign that COVID caused changes to take place in the brain, and also an early sign that any changes were likely short-lived, as the vast majority of people affected regained their full faculties after some time. A number of researchers at the University of Oxford set out to investigate; they compared brain scans of people before and after infection, matched them with controls, and found significant changes, even months after subjects first tested positive:

We identified significant longitudinal effects when comparing the two groups, including: (i) greater reduction in grey matter thickness and tissue-contrast in the orbitofrontal cortex and parahippocampal gyrus, (ii) greater changes in markers of tissue damage in regions functionally-connected to the primary olfactory cortex, and (iii) greater reduction in global brain size. The infected participants also showed on average larger cognitive decline between the two timepoints. Importantly, these imaging and cognitive longitudinal effects were still seen after excluding the 15 cases who had been hospitalized. These mainly limbic brain imaging results may be the in vivo hallmarks of a degenerative spread of the disease via olfactory pathways, of neuroinflammatory events, or of the loss of sensory input due to anosmia. Whether this deleterious impact can be partially reversed, or whether these effects will persist in the long term, remains to be investigated with additional follow up.[fn]https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-022-04569-5_reference.pdf[/fn]

However worrying this sounds, there were various limitations to the study that the authors noted:

• “... the relatively small range in duration of infection at the time of this study ... with less than 20% of these participants having been infected for over 6 months...”
• “... we found no signs of memory impairment...”
• “... the lack of stratification of severity of the cases...”
• “... no information of vaccination status...”

Furthermore, the actual amount of lost parahippocampal gyrus as compared to controls was only 1.8%; for the cerebellum, the figure was just 0.8%.

Commenting on the study, Professor Alan Carson, a neuropsychiatrist at the University of Edinburgh, noted that it was based on an unproven hypothesis. 

“My main concern with the study is that it is based on a hypothesis that SARS-CoV-2 enters the brain via the olfactory nerve,” he wrote in Science Media Centre. “However, there is now widespread agreement that this is not the case … the brain may be affected by other mechanisms such as immune, inflammatory, vascular or psychological/behavioral change… 

“The loss of sense of smell seems to be down to damage in support cells in the nose not the brain,” he continued. “I am very concerned by the alarming use of language in the report with terms such as ‘neurodegenerative’. The size and magnitude of brain changes found is very modest and such changes can be caused by a simple change in mental experience, e.g. bigger changes were reported in the now famous study of cab drivers as they took the knowledge test. What this study almost certainly shows is the impact, in terms of neural changes, of being disconnected from one’s sense of smell.  It serves to highlight that the brain connects to the body in a bidirectional relationship that is both structurally and functionally dynamic. We may in that regard use the metaphor of the brain as a muscle.  But I don’t think it helps us understand the mechanisms underpinning cognitive change after COVID infection.”

Prof. Carson’s highlighting of the impact of “being disconnected from one’s sense of smell” on the brain also suggests another factor that was not accounted for in the study – namely, the impact on the brain of being in quarantine, probably socially isolated, and probably also worried about one’s health, due to COVID infection. 

In addition, given what we know about the brain’s capacity to recover from far more devastating damage and restore full functioning to the entire body, there seems little reason for alarm at the very modest findings of this study, as Professor Gwenaëlle Douaud of the University of Oxford noted, “The brain is plastic, which means that it can re-organize and heal itself to some extent, even in older people. Further scans are needed to determine whether these brain changes are permanent or partially reversible.”

Now for part two.  A study entitled, “Decoding COVID-19 mRNA Vaccine Immunometabolism in Central Nervous System: human brain normal glial and glioma cells by Raman imaging”, was conducted by researchers from Lodz University of Technology, a Polish institute.  The researchers were interested in finding out, among other things, how to “optimize vaccinations to stimulate the conditions of adaptive immune system.” 

The study’s authors note in their paper that, “The Pfizer/BioNT vaccine (BNT162b2) is more than 90% effective against COVID-19."  They also call the Pfizer shot “effective and safe,” which suggests that the study was not motivated by a desire to find problems with the Pfizer shots. 

They decided to “concentrate on normal and tumor glial cells upon incubation with mRNA vaccine. The reason is that cancer diseases are the most serious cause of death, exceeding heart disease, strokes, pneumonia and COVID-19. Although at the moment there is no vaccine against most cancers, rapid development of mRNA vaccines may help in development anticancer vaccines.”

And here is what they found (emphases added):

The paper presents the effect of COVID-19 mRNA (Pfizer/BioNT) vaccine on in vitro glial cells of the brain studied by means of Raman spectroscopy and imaging. The results obtained for human brain normal and tumor glial cells of astrocytes, astrocytoma, glioblastoma incubated with the Covid-19 mRNA vaccine Pfizer/BioNT vaccine show alterations in the reduction-oxidation pathways associated with Cytochrome c.

We found that the Pfizer/BioNT vaccine down regulate the concentration of cytochrome c in mitochondria upon incubation with normal and tumorous glial cells. Concentration of oxidized form of cytochrome c in brain cells has been shown to decrease upon incubation the mRNA vaccine. Lower concentration of oxidized cytochrome c results in lower effectiveness of oxidative phosphorylation (respiration), reduced apoptosis and lessened ATP production. Alteration of Amide I concentration, which may reflect the decrease of mRNA adenine nucleotide translocator. Moreover, mRNA vaccine leads to alterations in biochemical composition of lipids that suggest the increasing role of signaling. mRNA vaccine produces statistically significant changes in cell nucleus due to histone alterations. The results obtained for mitochondria, lipid droplets, cytoplasm may suggest that COVID-19 mRNA (Pfizer/BioNT) vaccine reprograms immune responses. The observed alterations in biochemical profiles upon incubation with COVID-19 mRNA in the specific organelles of the glial cells are similar to those we observe for brain cancer vs grade of aggressiveness.[fn]https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2022.03.02.482639v1.full[/fn] 

The Guardian has not showcased this study.