@lacy2- Good morning Lacy- There are a lot of people who have multiple diseases and illnesses. We definitely need to figure out if ingredients in each of the COVID-19 vaccines are compatible with what medicines we take and what might set off a reaction. And it's all terribly confusing.

Have you discussed your uncertainty with your Neurologist and your PCP?

Good morning Lacy, I'm sorry you are feeling so confused - there is so much information floating around, it is no surprise.

First, Polyethylene Glycol is only an ingredient in liquid versions of Clonazepam, used for IVs. It is used to keep the drug suspended in the liquid, the same as it is in the Pfizer vaccine.

Second, the quantity of Polyethylene Glycol used as a laxative, for colonoscopy prep or as a stool softener is hundreds of times greater than the amount in the tiny syringe that dispenses a vaccine.

Third, the Janssen/Johnson & Johnson vaccine does not contain Polyehtylene Glycol.

Finally, as I always do when these questions arise, I dove into the numbers. Here is the data from VAERS, where all physicians and medical facilities are required to report serious events - hospitalization, ER visit, life threatening reaction or death. (https://wonder.cdc.gov/vaers.html) The data covers entire period of Covid vaccination from testing to current, about 11-12 months.

To date, 333,000,000 doses of vaccine have been administered in the US to about 184,000,000 people and 413,000 adverse events have been reported. That amount to 124 events for every 100,000 shots (.00124%.) There were 5200 deaths reported, or 1.6 per 100,000 (.0000157%)

There are about 3.4 million in the US with epilepsy, roughly 1% of the population or 1000 per 100,000 people and about 3000 deaths or 88/100,000 people with epilepsy (.00088%). There is no medical or scientific literature suggesting people with epilepsy not be vaccinated.

In VAERS there were 374 reports of seizures, and 6 reported deaths - about 1 in a million, or ten in 10,0000 of people with epilepsy - this is not proof that the vaccine caused the death, only that the person was recently vaccinated. It is unknown how many of these people reported epilepsy as an underlying condition at the time of vaccination or in VAERS.

In contrast, here are the stats for Covid cases and deaths:
- 34 million cases of Covid in the US - one in every 10 of the total population, so changes of contracting Covid are 10,000 per 100,000.
- 600,000 deaths - If you get Covid, your chance of death is 1700/100,000 (.01764%). Since you have a 10% chance of contracting Covid, that means you have a chance of death of 177/100,000 (.001764%)
- In other words, 5.5 times more people have had the vaccine than had Covid, but 115 times more people have died from Covid than from the vaccine.

Vaccines are being shown to be nearly 90% effective against contracting Covid, and nearly 100% effective against getting severe Covid or dying. That is among the highest vaccine effectiveness for illnesses like influenza, shingles, herpes, etc.

Here is my takeaway:
I have underlying conditions. That means my risk of severe illness or death is higher than average.
I knew I would experience a reaction - my immune system goes into overdrive from every vaccine - but I chose to get it anyway, and I dealt with the extreme inflammatory flare, which was definitely unpleasant.
So I trade a risk of adverse reaction (124/100,000) or death (1.6/100,000) to the vaccine over the chance of contracting Covid (10,000/100,000) or dying from it (177/100,000.)

In addition, being vaccinated protects those in my circle - young children especially - and limits the hosts for spreading the disease.

I know this is a frightening and emotional issue for many people, but I believe that the numbers are now here to assure us that, absent a very rare condition, it is safe to be vaccinated.

Sue