On August 18, Times of Malta carried an article with the headline ‘15 medical associations refute Dr Jean Karl Soler’s vaccine claims’.
I have already replied in kind, but it is essential to dispel any remaining doubts, especially in the light of recent developments. I cherish my reputation and do not take such issues lightly.
The principal bone of contention was my argument that healthy children under 16 may not benefit from routine COVID-19 vaccination, and may actually be harmed. In fact, I quoted the WHO as not recommending the routine vaccination of healthy children under 16 years of age, a position that still stands today. The WHO is also not recommending COVID-19 vaccination under 12 years of age, at all.
The letter published by 15 associations, including the Malta Paediatric Association and the Malta College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, contradicted the WHO position and claimed that I was either incorrect or misleading: “Vaccination in this cohort is therefore paramount. On the other hand, side effects from the vaccine, while occurring in 1 per 100,000, are typically minor events,” they said.
The doctors said a study of 3,000 people aged 18 to 34 years who contracted COVID-19 found that “21 per cent ended up in intensive care, 10 per cent were placed on a ventilator and 2.7 per cent died”.
However, in two recent articles in Times of Malta, Prof. Simon Attard Montalto, chair of the Department of Paediatrics at the University of Malta, declared: “So far in Malta, about five children have been hospitalised with serious post-COVID complications. All have recovered. A small number, less than five, have had moderate adverse events after being vaccinated and all have been resolved.”
I cannot but note that the rate of hospitalisation after COVID infection and the rate of ‘moderate’ adverse events seem to approximate each other, which was precisely the gist of my argument. Small wonder the WHO and various national scientific advisory bodies still do not recommend COVID-19 vaccination in healthy children under 16, including the UK and German vaccine advisory groups.
Additionally, I cannot reconcile the claim made by the 15 associations in August that “side effects from the vaccine, while occurring in 1 per 100,000, are typically minor events” with Attard Montalto’s recent statements.
How many children have been vaccinated in Malta? I would assume that far fewer than 100,000 vaccine doses have been administered to local children, and in such case, the rate of adverse events observed is much higher than one per 100,000, and they are “moderate” not “minor”.
Finally, do the 15 medical associations still consider it appropriate to have quoted a mortality rate of 2.7 per cent, when Attard Montalto has declared that no one child has died of COVID-19 in Malta?
Another signatory of the declaration by 15 medical associations was the Malta College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists. Just prior to that, on August 1, the college issued a press release advising universal COVID-19 vaccination after the 12th week of pregnancy “in view of the recent increase in COVID-19 complications that we are seeing in pregnant women”.
I cannot but note that the rate of hospitalisation after COVID infection and the rate of ‘moderate’ adverse events seem to approximate each other- Jean Karl Soler
However, an article carried in Times of Malta on November 29, titled ‘Malta study shows COVID had no impact on health in pregnancy’, explains that observations on 5,398 deliveries registered between March 2020 and May 2021 revealed that “no significant difference was found with regard to antenatal complications including gestational hypertension, pre-eclampsia, eclampsia and suspected intrauterine growth retardation IUGR”.
The study also showed that while for the general population, the rate of elective and emergency caesareans was 33 per cent, for the COVID-positive women it was 30 per cent. The average maternal length of stay in hospital was found to be similar between both those women who had contracted the novel coronavirus and those who had not.
Personally, I follow the current WHO guidelines, recommending COVID-19 vaccination only when the benefits to the pregnant woman outweigh the potential risks. The Malta College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, on the other hand, has seemingly not updated its strong recommendation to vaccinate all women after the 12th week of pregnancy.
In light of the recent study on over 5,000 pregnancies in Malta, it is interesting to understand whether the position of the college has changed. If so, why have they not retracted their press release of August 1, or issued a new one?
I trust the 15 medical associations had the best intentions in issuing the letter countering claims I made in an interview with Times of Malta. However, every claim I made was based on peer-reviewed evidence, and still stands today.
Ironically, their claim that I was incorrect or misleading seems not to be sustained by recent data on COVID-19 infections in local children, and a local study has contradicted claims made by the Malta College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists in a press release about the dangers of COVID-19 infection in pregnancy.
I would like to close by making a recommendation which may help improve the safety of current COVID-19 vaccines.
All such vaccines available today are intended for intramuscular injection. It is important to follow the correct procedure for such administration, since the action of the DNA or mRNA material in a site other than the upper arm may be associated with rare serious adverse events post-vaccination.
As such, it is essential that the process to inject the vaccine includes a step where the operator draws back on the syringe plunger, immediately before injecting the vaccine, to ensure that the needle has not penetrated a blood vessel.
I would advise people to kindly ask for such when subjecting to vaccination.