Contaminated AstraZeneca batches may have caused Adverse Reactions and reduced Effectiveness

Article in eLife Sciences

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A new peer-reviewed study in eLife Sciences, conducted by the Department of Gene Therapy at the University of Ulm, Germany, was published in July this year. It found concerning evidence of contamination of AstraZeneca vaccine batches by proteins derived from the human cell lines in which they were produced. This may have reduced the effectiveness of the vaccine by lowering the immune response. Moreover, it may have caused a variety of adverse reactions.

The editor of the journal correctly notes that “this paper is important because lot purity and processing of vaccines is rarely scrutinized in the scientific realm, and instead is typically analyzed only by the companies themselves.”

Protein content and protein composition of the AstraZeneca vaccine were analysed and the authors found that four out of four (4/4) lots contained significantly higher than expected levels of host cell proteins (HCPs) and free viral proteins.

The most abundant contaminating HCPs belonged to the heat-shock protein and cytoskeletal protein families. The HCP content exceeded the 400 ng specification limit per vaccine dose, as set by the European Medicines Agency (EMA) for this vaccine, by at least 25-fold and the manufacturer’s batch-release data in some of the lots by several hundred-fold.

The authors conclude that the vast majority of the proteins detected are in low abundance so would not cause adverse effects. However, they speculated that some of the contaminants may enhance vaccine reactions such as flu-like symptoms. Furthermore, some HSPs can exacerbate pre-existing inflammatory conditions, have been associated with autoimmunity and can even become targets of the autoimmune response itself.

They finish by saying that the detection of different contaminants in the vaccine poses the question as to whether or not they might have long term immune-related side effects in some of the vaccinees.

One of the peer-reviewers of the the article comments:

It is highly astonishing that no response by authorities (EMA) or manufacturer (Astra) is found in the manuscript. To the reader, this indicates that those bodies either are not aware of the study data or that they did not respond. It might therefore be of high general interest to add a short statement to the discussion.

This is another example of why ‘warp speeding’ vaccines isn’t the most sensible idea. It might sound exciting and like something out of science fiction to the geeks but in reality it means steps are skipped, things are missed or not checked and ultimately mistakes are made. Mistakes which cause harm and deaths.

If ‘warp speeding’ was truly necessary then only those most at risk should have been offered the vaccine. Young and healthy individuals should have been warned of the risks and given the choice whether to take the vaccine or not. Adverse events should not have been brushed under the carpet and any talk about them supressed. Governments and the media should not have used mandates and guilt tactics to force people to have something they did not need.

A full, thorough and transparent investigation needs to be undertaken into these contaminated vaccines, otherwise it will further the distrust in big pharma and public health that has exponentially increased over the last two years.

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