As the Fed Extends COVID Vaccine Legal Protections, Some of Us Still Suffering (Opinion)

I was very disheartened to learn that the Federal Government has extended COVID vaccine legal protections through 2029, especially since many like myself are still suffering from long-term adverse effects of the vaccine.

According to OpenVAERS, which derives its data from HHS, there were 1,021,130 reports of COVID vaccine injuries through November 29, 2024. Among these reports is my own report, highlighting my neurological symptoms including brain fog, headache, and debilitating body-wide pain.

Quite honestly, this final act of the Biden administration does not surprise me, especially as it was President Biden himself who mandated the COVID vaccine for Federal employees and contractors. But it still stings, and feels like yet another slap in the face, and was the primary reason I refused to vote for any member of the Democrat party in 2024.

In August 2021, knowing that the Federal government was going to mandate the vaccine for employees and contractors, I received the J&J COVID vaccine. I don’t remember much from the following two weeks, other than being in immense pain, and being unable to think clearly. At some point a family member drove me to the ER, where they confirmed I was experiencing adverse effects of the vaccine, but were unable to provide me any relief other than “take Advil and stay hydrated”.

I’m still suffering. Three years later, I’m no longer in constant pain, but still do have bi-monthly “flashes” of pain, which is completely debilitating when it occurs. Additionally, I now occasionally suffer from “brain fog”, aka difficulty concentrating. This on occasion impacted my ability to perform my job, and ultimately led to my exiting Federal contracting completely. Fortunately this happens much less now that I’ve found supplements which work to help repair my nervous system.

I also have some permanent memory loss of events/skills prior to the vaccine, but fortunately some of these events/skills are slowly returning to me.

The worst part about all of this is that even though I took the vaccine to keep my job as a Federal contractor, I have no recourse. The company did not mandate the vaccine, the Federal government did. But I cannot open a worker’s compensation claim against the Federal government, and my worker’s compensation claim against my employer was denied (as it should be, it isn’t my employer’s fault the Federal government was requiring the vaccine for contractors).

My only possible compensation would have been my $350 copay, through the CICP. In order to obtain this copay, I would have needed to submit a full medical history, which to my knowledge no longer even exists because my doctor closed his practice years ago. I have always been extremely healthy, and because of that I never bothered to get a copy of my medical records. Never in my life did I ever expect to need a copy of my records to prove that I’ve been healthy all my life!

It is my hope that the incoming administration will work to somehow help those of us who were injured by the vaccine but unable to file claims, but I’m not going to hold my breath. The fact of the matter is, at the end of the day the government will do like they always have, and say “well nobody forced you to get the vaccine, you could have found a different job!”

And unfortunately, my only choice for treatment after the injury did result in my having to depart the Federal contracting world anyway, due to my usage of CBD.

I’ve lost a significant number of friends for speaking out about my vaccine injury, and to this day people still gaslight me and claim that I am lying about what the vaccine did to me, calling me an “anti-vaxxer” and a “conspiracy theorist”. I’m not sure how speaking about medically diagnosed injury due to a vaccine I took to keep my ability to provide for my family makes me either of those things, but okay then. The ironic part of it all is I still believe in vaccines, but believe that everyone should have informed consent, and not mandated vaccines.

As I informed Mr. Taylor Lee via email after he was recorded making his infamous “blowdart” comments, I am not just a statistic. I am a flesh and blood human being.

My life matters. And allowing the vaccine manufacturers to injure and even kill without the ability for those injured to receive any assistance or compensation, is just plain wrong.

Opinion article by Ken Buckler, President of RFHC. All opinions are his own, and do not reflect those of our clients or sponsors.

---