Are COVID vaccinated people sicker?

A new study has antivaxxers suggesting that COVID vaccination makes you more prone to many different kinds of illnesses.

This study relies entirely on a self-reported online survey, which is subject to recall and selection biases. Participants in the survey may describe their health differently based on what they believe and how they see things. Also, the survey showed that the vaccinated and unvaccinated groups had important differences in age and health. For example, the vaccinated group was older and more likely to be taking medications.

The analysis itself doesn’t necessarily show the conclusions the study claims In research, a number called a p-value helps show if a difference is real or just happened by chance. Usually, if the p-value is below 0.05, the difference is considered meaningful. However, some of the differences the study claims to have found have p-values higher than 0.05. For example, the claim that vaccinated people got COVID more often had a p-value of 0.103, which means there isn’t strong evidence to support that claim.

The study wrongly claims that mRNA vaccines make “cells in vital organs produce a toxic Spike protein.” This is not true. The vaccines use mRNA to tell cells at the injection site to make the spike protein. This helps the immune system recognize the virus, and then the mRNA breaks down and disappears.