While coronavirus vaccinations are rolling out around the world, scientists have speculated that these vaccines may help fight cancer, chronic pain, and even Alzheimer’s. Some experts suggest that vaccines can “train” the immune system by strengthening it. Others say that elevated levels of stress hormones affect the cells’ ability to fight infections.
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British edition Daily Mail tells the story of 72-year-old Joan Wakefield from Stockport, who could hardly walk for almost six months. She had a knee replacement in October and has since suffered an infection in the scar tissue that causes excruciating pain. Then, in early February, the woman received the first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine. “I woke up the next morning and my leg pain and stiffness disappeared,” she says. – I couldn’t believe it. I joked with my partner about whether it had anything to do with the vaccine. Before, I couldn’t even bend my leg. Now I can stretch it completely and even put on my shoes and socks. I am optimistic that I can get back to work sooner or later. “
It seems ridiculous – a vaccine designed to protect against one virus could somehow improve other, completely unrelated elements of health, writes the Daily Mail. But Joan Wakefield is by no means alone.
In January, therapist Ellie Cannon wrote in the Mail on Sunday about a curious case in which a man with Lyme disease found his long-term fatigue evaporated just days after being vaccinated against COVID.
In tales of the effects of coronavirus vaccinations, it has been reported that persistent eczema spots on her arms, legs, and abdomen mysteriously disappear within hours of the injection. One woman claimed that the severe dizziness that she had been battling for 25 years disappeared four days after vaccination.
Another woman claims that her husband first got a full night’s sleep after being diagnosed with a sleep disorder 15 years ago. Even more bizarre, some have claimed to have improved health after being infected with the virus.
One 95-year-old resident of a nursing home, according to her daughter, suddenly became “vigorous and alive” after suffering COVID in January. “Before, my mother was very fragile, she was losing weight, her voice was losing strength. We were prepared for the end just around the corner, ”wrote Rose Ellis of Ilford, Essex. – Four weeks after recovering from the coronavirus, her voice became stronger. She stands at the window for ten minutes and has added 3 pounds. “
Most people faced with improved health assume that the vaccine – or the infection itself – caused the immune system to activate and attack other minor health problems. And they may well be right, writes the Daily Mail. Scientists have documented the unexpected benefits of vaccines for decades, known in medicine as “nonspecific effects.”
Studies from the 1970s and 1980s by Danish scientist Peter Abi showed that mass vaccination against measles in West African communities lowers the risk of infant death by a third, but only four percent of this decline is attributable to an increase in measles survivors.
Also in the 1970s, Soviet scientists found that vaccination of the population against polio reduced deaths from influenza and other infections by up to 80 percent.
More recently, Dutch and Greek researchers reported startling early results from trials examining whether vaccinating older people against bacterial tuberculosis infection can protect against other common infections that often bring the weak and vulnerable to hospital. The placebo group reported nearly twice as many infections as the vaccinated participants.
And the bacterial tuberculosis infection vaccine is already being used to treat bladder cancer patients with non-invasive tumors – it is injected directly into the bladder to help the immune system fight cancer.
What’s more, according to a recent Israeli study, bladder cancer patients who receive this therapy are less likely to develop Alzheimer’s disease. But why? Scientists are unsure of the exact mechanism. Some do suggest that vaccines can “train” the immune system by strengthening it.
But Professor Sheena Cruickshenk, an immunologist at the University of Manchester, doesn’t believe this theory and insists there is another explanation. She says, “Getting sick with measles, tuberculosis, or whatever other infections we vaccinate against can have long-term detrimental effects on our immune systems.” Research shows that they impair response to threats and provoke systemic inflammation. Over time, this increases the risk of many diseases: “People who are vaccinated against these infections, in turn, are less likely to suffer from other diseases.”
For those experiencing a miraculous recovery from the Covid-19 injection, Professor Cruikschenck believes the explanation lies in our emotional response to it. “The pandemic has caused tremendous stress and we often underestimate the impact of stress on our immune system,” she says.
She explains that elevated levels of stress hormones affect the ability of immune cells to fight infections: “This is why we often catch colds or contract bacterial infections when we are stressed and exhausted. It is also a reaction that, in vulnerable people, exacerbates inflammatory conditions such as eczema because the immune system goes down. “
Dr. Cruickshank suspects the vaccine will be a relief for many and will immediately reduce stress levels. “The beneficial effects on the immune system can be immediate. This is amazing, ”she adds, stressing that the type of vaccine used to prevent COVID-19 differs markedly from those used in previous studies:“ Vaccines against measles and tuberculosis are all that are called ‘live’ vaccines. These involve the introduction of a small amount of a weakened version of the virus or bacteria that cause the disease. This helps the immune system recognize it when it sees high doses, so it responds faster. But all COVID-19 vaccines do not work by injecting viral particles, but by using the genetic instructions our immune cells need to create a small fraction of them. It is unlikely that this will have any effect on immune cells for which they are not specifically designed. “
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