Kim C. 🇨🇦

I had 2 Moderna vaccinations and a booster and was hospitalized for acute pericarditis last year. I was afraid for my life. The medical community minimized vaccine myopericarditis in young men early on. This we now know was a serious mistake. Back in those days, CDC would have still recommended further boosters for me, despite my pericarditis. Because I wasn't insane, I didn't get any additional shots. But some companies did mandate additional shots, based on CDC advice, even to men who experienced myopericarditis. Thankfully this advice has shifted. But this did not happen until after innumerable avoidable vaccine injuries to young men. These mistakes undermined trust in public health. I now trust public health messaging much less. The vaccines were a godsend for older, at-risk people. The data still show that, even if there is an ever-growing controversy about the effectiveness of boosters, which the public health establishment refuses to test using randomized controlled trial designs. But the CDC's messaging for young adults continues to lack nuance and undermines trust in public health authorities and harms young people. Nowhere else in the world are the booster recommendations as aggressive--and evidence-free--as they are from the CDC. I don’t know if my pericarditis was caused by the vaccine, but it is suspicious. I continue to read and learn, and I believe that for older people vaccination might be very important. This despite dissenting views by pro-vaccination figures like Paul Offit, who suggests that even older people should not get boosted. For me, it’s clear that my COVID vaccinations almost certainly caused more harm than good, and I regret having received them. I am reading to learn whether in healthy young adult men, any vaccination makes sense. It is incredibly disappointing to learn that the vaccines that I assured people were safe were not safe, and that I was wrong. When I was told in comments that the vaccine might have been responsible for my pericarditis, I blocked everyone who suggested it. I was emotional and closed-minded and wrong. I should have done better and questioned more and I am sorry.