Joan Wakefield has barely been able to walk for the best part of six months. In Stockport, 72, he had a knee replacement in October and has since suffered from scar tissue infections, causing agonizing pain.
Then earlier this month, he received the first dose of AstraZeneca’s Covid-19 vaccine. “I woke up the next morning and the pain and stiffness in my legs was gone,” he says.
-I could not believe it. I joked with my partner about whether the vaccine had anything to do with it. Previously, I couldn’t even bend my leg. Now I can fully expand it and even put on my shoes and socks. I am optimistic that I can get back to work sooner than before.
It sounds ridiculous: a vaccine designed to protect against a virus can somehow improve other totally unrelated health elements.
But Joan Wakefield is far from alone.
A man receives vaccines against Covid-19 at Lichfield Cathedral, Staffordshire, earlier this week
Last month, Mail on Sunday GP Ellie Cannon wrote about the curious case of a man with Lyme disease who had found that long-term fatigue had evaporated just days after he had the Covid vaccine. He wrote a lot of people there to tell stories of miraculous resemblance.
One of them has seen stinging eczema spots disappear on her arms, legs and belly within hours of having the puncture. Another claimed that the dizzying vertigo he struggled with for 25 years disappeared four days after he was shot.
What to read, see and do
TO READ
The Science of Living: 219 Reasons to Rethink Your Daily Routine, by Dr. Stuart Farrimond
Does daily exercise have as many long-term benefits as we believe? A scientist reveals the truth about the daily health problems that many of us experience.
DK, £ 15.99
The Science of Living: 219 Reasons to Rethink Your Daily Routine, by Dr. Stuart Farrimond
I WILL SEE
Submissions: The Story of a Doctor
A look at the wall inside Covid’s rooms, courtesy of Dr. Saleyha Ahsan, who filmed his daily routine during the second wave. A disturbing and disturbing view of the toll of NHS workers, which reveals the degree of closeness that so many reached the breaking point.
Tomorrow, at eight o’clock in the evening, Channel 4
Submissions: A Doctor’s Story
DO
Have a pottery party
Studies show that making arts and crafts can reduce anxiety levels and that sculpting pottery has been shown to be especially soothing.
sculpd.co.uk, £ 39 for a kit for two. Larger kits are available.
Meanwhile, a woman wrote that her husband had enjoyed a full night’s sleep for the first time since she was diagnosed with a sleep disorder 15 years ago. Even more strangely, some claimed to have stayed in better health after contracting the virus.
Her daughter described a 95-year-old care home resident who had been suddenly “alert and alive” after having Covid last month.
Previously, the mother was very fragile, lost weight and the voice lost power. We were prepared for the end not to be far off, ”wrote Roz Ellis, of Ilford, Essex.
Four weeks after recovering from Covid, his voice is louder. He stays at the window for ten minutes and has put on 3 pounds.
Most readers assume that the sting (or infection itself) caused the immune system to take action and attack other health problems. And maybe they would be right. Scientists have documented the unexpected benefits of vaccines for decades, known medically as “nonspecific effects.”
Studies conducted during the 1970s and 1980s by Danish scientist Peter Aaby found that massive measles vaccination in West African communities reduced a child’s risk of death by a third, but only by four per cent. of this decline was explained by most people who survived the measles.
Also in the 1970s, Russian scientists discovered that vaccinating the population against polio reduced death from influenza and other infections by up to 80%.
More recently, Greek and Dutch researchers have reported surprising first results of trials on whether administering a vaccine against bacterial tuberculosis infection (the BGC sting) to the elderly could protect them from other common infections that often terrify most people. fragile and vulnerable in the hospital.
Almost twice as many infections were observed in the placebo group, compared with vaccinated participants.
And the BCG vaccine is already used to treat bladder cancer patients with non-invasive tumors: it is given directly to the bladder to help the immune system fight cancer.
In addition, patients with bladder cancer who receive this therapy are less likely to develop Alzheimer’s, according to a recent Israeli study. But why?
Scientists are not sure of the exact mechanism. Some in fact suggest that vaccines can “train” the immune system, strengthening it.
But Professor Sheena Cruickshank, an immunologist at the University of Manchester, does not acquire this theory and insists there is a different explanation.
She says: “The protection we see against other health problems in those who have had measles and BCG vaccines is an advantage of not having suffered from these diseases in younger years.
“Suffering from measles, tuberculosis or any other infection we vaccinate against can have long-term detrimental effects on our immune system.”
Studies show that they weaken the response to threats and cause systemic inflammation. Over time, this increases the risk of a large number of diseases.
For those experiencing miraculous recoveries after the Covid-19 blow, Professor Sheena Cruickshank, an immunologist at the University of Manchester, says the explanation lies in our emotional response.
“People vaccinated against these infections in turn will be less likely to suffer from other diseases as a result.”
As for those experiencing miraculous recoveries after the Covid-19 coup, Professor Cruickshank says the explanation lies in our emotional response. “The pandemic has been very stressful and we often underestimate the effect of stress on our immune system,” he says.
He explains that the increase in stress hormones interferes with the ability of immune cells to target infections. She says, “That’s why we tend to get colds or get bacterial infections when we’re stressed and exhausted.
“It is also this response that, in vulnerable people, causes an outbreak in inflammatory situations such as eczema, because the immune system is deteriorating.”
Dr. Cruickshank suspects the vaccine will be a relief for many, immediately reducing stress levels. The beneficial effect on the immune system can be instantaneous. It’s amazing, ”he adds.
It is also noteworthy that the type of vaccine used to prevent Covid-19 is markedly different from those used in previous studies.
“Stings against measles and tuberculosis are all so-called ‘live’ vaccines.
It involves injecting a minimal amount of a weakened version of the virus or bacteria that causes the disease.
“This helps the immune system recognize it when you see it in larger doses, so it’s faster to respond.
But all Covid-19 vaccines work, not by injecting viral particles, but by the genetic instructions our immune cells need to create a small part of them.
“It is unlikely to have any effect on immune cells to which they are not specifically designed to target.”
Joan Wakefield has no doubt about the care of her crunchy knee. She writes, “As soon as I read about other people who saw miraculous effects of the vaccine, it all made sense.
“I fully believe this is my case.”