We are all aware that the Covid 19 vaccine wanes in effectiveness over time. Indeed so sharply does it decline over a three to six month period that it has been acknowledged that those vaccinated individuals are more likely to get Covid 19 than their unvaccinated counterparts. Hence the need for boosters guys.
Now a study published in the Annals of Internal Medicine concluded that not only was the vaccine not effective against Omicron it found people vaccinated with the COVID-19 boosters in 2023-2024 were more likely to get COVID-19 that the unvaccinated.
The researchers state as their background;
Monovalent COVID-19 vaccines targeting the XBB.1.5 Omicron variant were introduced in September 2023. In the absence of randomized controlled trials demonstrating their efficacy, information on real-world vaccine effectiveness (VE) is needed.
The study, conducted through the U.S. Veterans Health Administration (VHA), analyzed data from VHA’s comprehensive electronic health record system to compare outcomes between people who had received the booster in 2023-24, and those who hadn’t.
The authors analyzed the VHA electronic health record data system, which has data on over 9 million veterans, most of whom are older and have “a high burden of underlying medical conditions.”
They identified people in the database who had taken the boosters and compared their outcomes with similar people who had not. They analyzed data collected between Oct. 2, 2023, and Jan. 3, 2024.
The authors identified approximately 590,000 people out of the 9 million records who took the XBB.1.5 booster. The researchers then used a statistical algorithm to choose the same number of people from the unvaccinated cohort who they thought best matched the vaccinated cohort according to measured variables using a statistical algorithm.
Writing on Peter McCullough's substack Nicolas Hulscher notes the researchers found that vaccine efficacy against COVID-19 infection was -3.26%, indicating;
a statistically significant higher infection rate in vaccinated individuals compared to the unvaccinated control group
They also found low and rapidly waning efficacy against hospitalization and death among those who had taken the vaccine.
It is true that those who chose to get vaccinated were older and chronically sicker.
The authors found that over a mean follow-up of 176 days, vaccine efficacy was -3.26 against SARS-CoV-2 infection, 16.64% against SARS-CoV-2-associated hospitalization and 26.61% against SARS-CoV-2-associated death. They noted the “relatively low” efficacy against hospitalization and death “declined rapidly over time.”
The authors however did not explain why efficacy may have been negative.
According to Senior Research Scientist Karl Jablonowski, of the Children's Health Defense;
Either the vaccinated group is getting more unhealthy, or the unvaccinated group is getting healthier. The vaccine could diminish the immune system, allowing for an infection to take hold of the host more than in an unvaccinated person. The unvaccinated comparator group acquires the infection and gains natural immunity, which, in every known instance, is more protective than vaccine-induced immunity.
In either scenario, it is preposterous to recommend any medical intervention that will leave a person worse off. That is the opposite of medicine.
Speaking personally, I know I haven’t got any healthier but lots of people around me are definitely more unhealthy than they were. How about you guys?
This is now the sixth peer reviewed paper showing negative efficacy of the Covid 19 vaccines. The other five are:
A paper published in Cureus in December 2024 found that vaccinated people had an 85% greater chance of developing COVID-19 infection relative to their unvaccinated peers.
Another study of people in Iceland during the Omicron wave published in JAMA Network Open in 2022 the odds of reinfection were 42% higher for those who received two or more doses compared to those with one dose or less.
A paper published in Nature Communications in June 2022 reported that the effectiveness of both Pfizer and Moderna against Omicron strains waned to negative efficacy after one to three months
A 2023 Cleveland Clinic study found the risk of COVID-19 infection increased with the number of vaccine doses. This was an observational study.
A Centers for Disease Control and Prevention study found that vaccinated children without prior infection were more likely to get infected and to develop symptomatic COVID-19 than their unvaccinated counterparts.
So rather than ‘safe and effective’ as the mantra goes, a little more nuanced approach is necessary. They are effective up to a point, in some cases only weeks, then they turn into their opposite. A situation arises where vaccinated people become more susceptible to catch the virus than unvaccinated people.
Making getting the shot somewhat of a gamble.