Discussion
Quoting from Scorza and Finisterer (2021), “Real world data rather indicate that the spectrum of side effects to any of the commercially available SARS-CoV-2 vaccinations is broader than anticipated, underreported, and played down. Side effects need to be thoroughly elaborated to draw more real pictures than those frequently sold. Real world is more unsafe than its propagated image.” The role of vaccines in inducing autoimmune disease needs to be studied (Chen et al, 2001; Toussirot and Bereau, 2015; Principi and Esposito, 2020; Chen et al, 2022).
If we look closely at the genomes of the coronaviruses that have emerged from bats and other species, we see that these viruses can readily recombine amongst each other, in addition to the point mutations we have seen in Omicron and in other known SARS-CoV-2 variants. Recombination, we know from influenza, can lead very quickly to much more virulent variants by picking up components that our immune systems have not previously seen. SARS-CoV-2 is mutating and recombining rapidly to form new variants, with some of the variants becoming able to evade the vaccinated immune system (Pulliam et al, 2021). A “booster” vaccine against the new Omicron variant is now being designed. Instead of a vaccine inducing a supranormal antibody response measured in the blood, broader immunity induced in the respiratory tracts as well as the blood has been suggested as a new vaccine strategy (Maguire, 2022). This would mean a vaccine that induces a broader immune response than that simply aimed at the spike proteins, and delivering the vaccine IM as well as intranasally. This would elicit an immune response throughout the body, including the respiratory tracts where the virus first infects and replicates, and not simply a huge spike of antibodies in the blood. In this manner, autoantibody production may be limited relative to a supranormal antibody response elicited from a large antigen introduction to only the muscle.
The incidence of autoimmune diseases ADs, approximately 3–5% worldwide, is increasing in westernized societies, as confirmed by epidemiological studies; these suggest that multiple sclerosis (MS), type 1 diabetes (T1D), inflammatory bowel diseases (mainly Crohn’s disease), systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), primary biliary cirrhosis, myasthenia gravis, autoimmune thyroiditis, hepatitis, and rheumatic diseases are steadily increasing. The geo-epidemiological distribution of ADs, their correlation with socioeconomic status, and their rapid increase in developed countries, together with observations in migrant populations, suggest that environmental factors, rather than genetic ones, are chiefly driving these evolutionary processes (Mazzuca et al, 2021). Part of the mechanisms underlying the increase in ADs throughout Westernized societies over the last three decades may be explained by the increased intestinal permeability induced by industrial food additives (Fasano et al, 2005). Vaccine induced autoimmune disease needs to studied at multiple levels, including epidemiologically to understand it incidence and those who are susceptible, along with mechanistic studies to understand processes of the diseases, and prevention and treatment of vaccine induced autoimmune disease.