Teen hospitalized with brain blood clots after first dose of Pfizer vaccine
A Utah teen remains hospitalized with three blood clots in and near his brain that developed after he received the first dose of Pfizer’s COVID vaccine.
Everest Romney, 17, received the vaccine April 21 and began experiencing neck pain, fever and severe headaches one day later. His mother, Cherie Romney, said her son’s pediatrician initially dismissed the symptoms as a pulled neck muscle. However, she was convinced it was something else, ABC4 News reported.
After more than a week of symptoms and being unable to freely move his neck, the family got this diagnosis: two blood clots inside his brain, and one on the outside.
“In a million years, I never expected it,” Romney said. “The worst thing, the worst thing, is to have the doctor come in and say, ‘OK, well, we found two blood clots inside his brain.’ The hardest thing was I let him get that shot. And he was healthy and well before. But you question it, you can’t help but question it when it all goes wrong.”
Everest was released from the ICU May 5, but has a long way to go. His mother said it’s unclear how long he will be in the hospital. “We needed a miracle, we still still do. But we believe in miracles,” she said.
Romney doesn’t want to discourage parents from letting their kids get the vaccine because she believes each parent must make the decision for their children, but she wished her choice had been a different one.
The Utah Department of Health told FOX 13 the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is tasked with investigating possible vaccine side-effects.
“In weighing the risk and benefits with COVID as opposed to COVID vaccinations, we strongly encourage our patients to become vaccinated because the risk is much less than the risk of the disease,” said University of Utah Health’s Dr. Richard Orlandi in a press conference.
After administering nearly 100 million doses of Pfizer’s vaccine, the CDC reported there hasn’t been a single related case of a blood clot forming in the brain as of April 12.
The CDC’s statement contradicts numerous news reports, studies, scientists and the agency’s own system for monitoring adverse reactions, the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS).
Utilizing a search criteria that included reports of blood clots associated with blood clotting disorders, VAERS yielded a total of 2,808 reports for all three vaccines from Dec. 14, 2020, through April 30. Of the 2,808 cases reported, there were 1,043 reports of blood clotting disorders attributed to Pfizer.
As The Defender reported in April, scientists warned U.S regulatory officials as far back as December 2020 that Pfizer and Moderna COVID vaccines pose similar blood clot risks as the Johnson & Johnson. By Megan Redshaw
