Research on COVID 19 vax causing Essential Thrombocythemia?

I had the J&J vaccine in March 2021. I’m an avid runner, healthy early 40s female. I felt unwell very quickly after the vaccine (did not have Covid at the time). I had terrible abdominal pain on and off and felt weak. During summer 2021 I started having tingling/numbness in extremities, abnormally higher heart rate when exercising. I thought I was going to pass out after an easy run. Had blood work in Sept 2021 and it came back I had a high platelet count in high 500s (now hovers in 600-700s). Referred to hematologist/oncologist and went through monitoring/testing over several months. Had NGS and bone marrow biopsy confirming ET CALR Type 2. I asked if it could be attributed to the J&J vaccine and I received a shrug. Like it doesn’t matter because I have this disorder and it needs to be monitored going forward. I haven’t lived anywhere where extreme environmental factors could somehow trigger this mutation. I haven’t had any illnesses except for the occasional flu or sinus infection. I’ve had 2 babies. I have a desk job and live in the suburbs. It’s just weird there is no explanation. I opened a case with VAERS and have not heard anything.

I agree, similar history. I am 80 retired MD. I got ET after Covid shot. I had no prior history but after Covid Shots I developed ET. I am presently on Hydroxyurea 1500mg 5 days a week with platelets down to 500 . Will we ever know the TRUTH????

I wrote a comment on this website a couple of weeks ago, that I too, wondered if there might be a link between the vaccine I received (mine was Moderna) and ET. My platelets before the vaccine were just over 200 and afterwards began to increase. I have the CALR mutation. It may be just a coincidence, but hopefully there is more research and studies are being done.

I found an article on the internet published by NIH National Library of Medicine, Aug 24 with cases of autoimmune and inflammatory conditions reported after the Covid vaccine. Among them was thromcytopenia, but not Thrombocythemia was not listed.

Interesting comment. I have wondered the same thing.

I look back at different years of my CBC blood tests (which were normal) and have had all the covid shots and boosters. Then this year I was diagnosed with ET with Jack 2 results and taken by complete surprise. I have been wondering where and why all of this came from. I am not getting any other shots at this time.

Anyone else have comments?

The U.S. does very little research into what causes any kind of cancer. The VA has a presumptive list of substances assumed to be carcinogens and thus making veterans exposed to them eligible for cancer treatment benefits. An MPN group has been trying to get Agent Orange and napalm on the presumptive list for MPNs. I grew up near the factory where both were manufactured. Dad and I got ET. Mom and brother were fine.

An MPN specialist explained to me years ago that pinpointing the cause of cancers is very difficult because:

-Carcinogens usually take months or years to cause symptomatic cancers. It's almost impossible to know what you were exposed to at any given time that might have set it off.

-Some people have more predisposition to cancer than others. We all know that one person who smoked all his life, died at 90, and never got cancer. And we know people with similar smoking habits who got cancer and died at 55.

-Industries spend lots of $$ lobbying lawmakers not to investigate and regulate suspected carcinogens. Breast Cancer Alliance has had some success getting farmers not to use waste water from fracking (which contains suspected carcinogens), to irrigate crops. But consumer groups often have far less clout than industries.

-Cancer studies in animals are not always good predictors of what will cause cancers.

If doctors notice a significant increase in MPNs in patients post-covid vax, it warrants further study. But previous research indicates that the mutation lies dormant in most of us for years, even decades, before becoming symptomatic.

Me too. 😐

I think I may be one of the people with the Jak2 mutation that lay dormant for many years--at least 30 years. I was first identified with "sticky" blood at age 39. My endocrinologist told me to take one baby aspirin a day and it never came up again for 30 years. In January 2023, at age 69, after 5 COVID shots in 18 months, my platelets had gone from 400 to 700K. I do believe the COVID shots were the trigger, but I have found no evidence to support it. I even contacted MPN specialist, Dr.Reuben Mesa, who said there does not appear to be a connection at this time. I take HU, 500 mg, 2x week, daily baby aspirin, and daily iron. I am not anemic, but I have low iron in my blood work. I wish someone would collect data on this. I tried to leave this information on the CDC website as a side effect, but could not figure out how to leave the feedback. If anyone has info on leaving the feedback, I'd like to know and follow through. Thank you and I wish all of you stable health and a long life with this illness.
Karla

The VAERS (vax adverse reaction) site is here: https://vaers.hhs.gov/ It's pretty easy to use. I reported an adverse reaction to the first Shingrix shot.

Doctors are usually dismissive of correlations, but they often chart it so that if they hear it enough they report or investigate. But clinicians don't like diverting from their protocols--or the hospital systems they work for don't let them. Opens them up to lawsuits if they diverge from prescribed standard of care.

For example, I asked a dermatologist if worsening rosacea could be ET-related. He said no, gets worse with age, you're old, ergo ... Then he said I was the second patient with ET who asked him that, asked me more about ET, and wrote it down in my chart. So I planted a seed, even though his standard rosacea regime has helped a lot.

I will say that platelets can take big jumps once the proliferation starts. Dad experienced this.

Interested in what your doc saw that indicated "sticky blood."

Very interesting comments from everyone…

Having already had flu and RSV vaccines, my husband and I had the Pfizer vaccine and two days later he had two short scary seizures at a community social event. An ambulance was called and he reluctantly went to an ER. He was admitted and finally after many EKG they found he was in AFib. They moved him to the Cardiac floor. It took days to keep him in rhythm because they did not want to add another drug to what they were already giving him. He was discharged after five days, He is waiting for an appointment for a Loop device implant that will monitor what is going on.

I searched online and found a 2022 article about developing AFib after Covid vaccine. It gave statistics and it was around 2% for Pfizer. Also gave statistics for other brands. I plan on reporting it to VAERS since he will not.
He says no more Covid vaccines for him!

Eileen