"The spike protein from SARS-CoV-2 has the potential to damage cells in the body"

Executive Summary + Pages 20-21 extracted from full report located here:

https://www.canadiancovidcarealliance.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/2021-06
-15-children_and_covid-19_vaccines_full_guide.pdf

COVID-19 Vaccines and Children:

A Scientist’s Guide for Parents

by

Dr. Byram W. Bridle, PhD

Associate Professor of Viral Immunology
June 15, 2021

https://www.canadiancovidcarealliance.org/
 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Pfizer BioNTech’s COVID-19 mRNA vaccine has been Authorized under an Interim Order by Health
Canada for use in Canadians as young as 12 years old, with mandatory commitments for the monitoring
of long-term safety and efficacy. Authorization under an Interim Order means additional information is
needed on the safety, efficacy, and quality of the vaccine, including in children and adolescents, to
support the future full market approval and licensing of the vaccine.
There is some uncertainty regarding the long-term safety of Pfizer BioNTech’s COVID-19 vaccine in all
individuals, and especially in children, youth, and younger adults of child-bearing age. Indeed, some key
safety studies appear to have been missed in the rush to roll out the vaccines, and more is being learned
about the vaccines every day. For example, there was a previously wide-held assumption that
vaccination with the mRNA vaccines is safe because it is a localized event in the body, with the vaccine
remaining limited to the shoulder muscle following injection and triggering an immune response in the
local lymph nodes. However, there is evidence that Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine does not remain at the
injection site. In fact, once injected, the vaccine contents appear to travel extensively throughout the
body, to the brain and other sensitive tissues, such as bone marrow, spleen, liver, adrenal glands, ovaries
etc. Whether these body sites are involved in producing the spike protein is not known, as this was never
studied. Nonetheless, new data have been published that, following vaccination with the Moderna
vaccine (an mRNA vaccine very similar to Pfizer’s mRNA vaccine), the spike protein can enter the
circulatory system. Presumably, this means the spike protein can travel extensively throughout the body.
It is important to understand which organs are producing the spike protein, what factors result in the
spike protein entering the circulation, how long the spike protein circulates, and in which body fluids
(e.g., semen, saliva, breast milk, urine) the spike protein is present. This information is incredibly
important because recent data have come to light that the spike protein is “biologically active”. This
means that the spike protein is not just an antigen that is recognized by the immune system as being
foreign. It means that the spike protein, itself, can interact with receptors throughout the body, called
ACE2 receptors, potentially causing undesirable effects such as damage to the heart and cardiovascular
system, blood clots, bleeding, and neurological effects. Although some might argue that the risk of the
spike protein causing this type of damage is only a theoretical risk, when we are mass vaccinating a
population of predominantly healthy people, including children, adolescents, and adults of child-bearing
age, there is absolutely no room for avoidable error.
The current scientific uncertainties demand that the administration of Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine to
children, adolescents, and young adults of child-bearing age be paused until proper scientific studies
that focus on the safety and pharmacokinetics and biodistribution of the vaccines and the vaccine-
encoded spike protein can be conducted. Halting the vaccination can be done safely because:
• The risk of severe and potentially lethal COVID-19 in these specific populations is so low that we
need to be very certain that risks associated with mass vaccination are not higher;
• Asymptomatic members of this population are not a substantial risk for passing COVID-19 to
others; and

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 • There are effective early-treatment strategies for the very few children, adolescents, and young
adults of child-bearing age who may be at risk of developing severe COVID-19, such as ivermectin,
fluvoxamine, and budesonide.
It is not appropriate to use an “experimental” vaccine in a population group unless the benefit of
vaccination exceeds the risk of vaccination in that population group. With risk of severe COVID-19 in
children, adolescents, and young adults of child-bearing age already so low, the benefit of vaccinating
these population groups with a vaccine for which neither the long-term safety nor efficacy is known
cannot be concluded to exceed the risk. In other words, the risk of serious COVID-19 is so low in children,
adolescents, and young adults of child-bearing age that the standards for safety must be set much higher
for them.

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vaccines currently being used in Canada instruct our cells to manufacture the spike protein in
order to trigger our bodies to mount an immune response against this protein with the hope that
the ensuing antibodies will get into our lungs and airways and block the virus, should we be
infected in the future.

What should we know about the SARS-CoV2 spike protein?

Before we go any further with the story about COVID-19 vaccines, there is important
information that you need to know about the spike protein from SARS-CoV-2.

The spike protein from SARS-CoV-2 has the potential to damage cells in the body

In cases of severe COVID-19, problems can extend

well beyond pneumonia and the associated inflammation in
the lungs. The disease can progress beyond the lungs and into
other parts of the body. In severe infections, SARS-CoV-2 can
cause damage to the cardiovascular system (i.e. heart and
blood vessels). In fact, some have referred to severe COVID-
19 as largely being a vascular disease29, 30, 31. Blood clots,
bleeding and/or damage to the heart have all been linked to
severe COVID-19. Severe COVID-19 can also cause
neurological problems (i.e. damage in the brain). A series of
recent scientific publications provide some evidence that this
damage throughout the body may not require an intact SARS-
CoV-2 particle. Instead, the spike protein from SARS-CoV-2
might be responsible for at least some of the damage that
occurs in severe cases of COVID-1932. This is because there
are many cells other than those in the lungs and airways that feature the receptor for the spike
protein, known as the ACE2 receptor. Most notably, platelets and cells lining blood vessels can
express high concentrations of this receptor. Importantly, autopsies performed on patients who
died from severe COVID-19 revealed that free spike protein from SARS-CoV-2, not the intact virus,
was responsible for substantial damage throughout the body. Notably, blood vessels in the skin,
fat, and the brain were found to express high concentrations of the ACE2 receptor that the spike
protein binds to. There was a lot of spike protein found in these tissues, with little to no evidence
of the intact virus being present. Indeed, the authors of the study that described these autopsies
concluded “COVID-19 represents a viral infection with limited sites of infectious virions but
deadly sequelae due to the effective manner in which pseudovirions in the context of released
viral proteins activate synergistic microvascular pathways of tissue destruction throughout the
body.”33 In lay language, proteins like the spike protein, not the intact virus, appear to mediate

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much of the damage in the body in people who suffer from severe COVID-19. When the spike
protein binds to these receptors, there are several events that can take place:

1. Proteins (called ‘complement proteins’) that are part of our innate immune system can
get activated, causing inflammation that can damage or destroy the cells lining blood
vessels and/or platelets34. Platelets that are required for clotting of blood also express
ACE2 receptors that can bind with spike protein with dire consequences. Damage and
destruction of platelets can cause their numbers to go down (a condition known as
"thrombocytopenia"), and if platelet counts get too low and blood vessels are damaged,
bleeding cannot be stopped. Therefore, the spike protein can potentiate bleeding.

2. Binding of the spike protein to platelets can also cause the platelets to become
activated35. Activated platelets tend to clump, which can lead to the formation of clots.
There is evidence that the spike protein can interact with other proteins in the blood to
promote clotting36. As such, the spike protein can promote blood clotting.

3. Spike proteins binding to the cells that line our blood vessels can cause these cells to
express proteins (known as ‘caspases’) that can cause the cells to die33. This is similar to
findings from the 2002-2004 SARS outbreak where the spike protein from the original
SARS-CoV could cause cells to die when it was being manufactured inside of them37. Dying
cells that have been manufacturing the vaccine-encoded spike protein would release free
spike protein or portions thereof.

4. Spike proteins binding to the cells that line our blood vessels can cause these cells to over-
produce cell-signalling cytokines that can potentially contribute to dangerous ‘cytokine
storms’ (overly robust and severe inflammation)33, 38.

Of additional concern is the knowledge that the spike protein is capable of dissociating into
two parts and these smaller subunits (S1 and S2) can cross the blood-brain barrier where they
can potentially cause damage in the brain39. Indeed, people who have died from severe COVID-
19 with neurological signs were found to have the spike proteins but not the intact virus in their
brains40. These neurological signs could be seen in laboratory studies when spike proteins were
injected into the blood of mice.

Conclusion: The spike protein, if it gets into circulation, has the potential to cause damage to the
cardiovascular system and other tissues.

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