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(NewsNation) — Former President Donald Trump’s testing czar stated that Americans who voiced concerns about the COVID-19 vaccine deserve an apology from health authorities amid a new study showing rare but significant side effects, including neurological and immune reactions.
“These are legitimate concerns,” Dr. Brett Giroir, former assistant secretary of health in the Trump administration, said on NewsNation’s “On Balance.” “This very large study of about 100 million people shows that there are rare neurologic effects. There are rare immune effects, and there is heart inflammation.”
Researchers conducted the largest study to date and published their findings that confirmed vaccinated people faced slightly increased risks of several medical conditions.
According to the study, those risks include myocarditis, pericarditis, Guillain-Barré syndrome and cerebral venous sinus thrombosis.
“If you’re 25 and healthy, particularly a male, and you’ve had COVID before, that risk of myocarditis is about the same, or maybe even a little bit higher, than your risk of having a serious outcome [from COVID-19],” Giroir explained.
“On Balance” host Leland Vittert said it is now clear that politics and virtue signaling took the place of science during the pandemic, as those who expressed doubts risked getting canceled.
“So yes, people deserve an apology,” Giroir said. “I think open, honest, scientific discussion was crushed.”
Giroir said that he had a tweet banned “because I simply stated the fact, proven by data, that those who are naturally immune, who had COVID, should not lose their jobs, should not need a passport, should not eat other things, because they were equally immune as those who got the vaccine in the delta outbreak.”
Giroir emphasized the importance of transparency in communicating vaccine-related risks and benefits.
“One of the first principles of being a physician, as I am, is to be honest with your patient and to respect their autonomy,” Giroir said. “You provide the best information you can, and you let them make a decision.”