I was recently denied life insurance because I had the covid vaccine and ended up with POTS.

Like so many, I was anxious when my employer mandated that I receive the covid vaccine or resign from my position. I consider myself a person who will almost always do what is best for my community, and I was afraid of contracting covid and giving it to someone who might not have a strong immune system, so reluctantly, I complied with the mandate. Yet, I was dealing with my own health issues at the time of Valley Fever and Fibromyalgia, which also made my immune system compromised. However, I also felt the vaccine was rushed through testing and there was not enough time to see what the long-term side effects of the mRNA vaccine might be.

One of the requirements of biomedical ethics is to anticipate unknown ramifications of a proposed medication or treatment. However, I am proof that someone failed in their job to anticipate the side effects I suffered. I had a reaction with the first vaccine which left me in severe pain all over for several weeks after the vaccine. Despite the experience of the first, I was not given a pass for the second vaccine and within 10 minutes of having the injection, I had a reaction which started with a tickle in my throat and ended up with me receiving an IV. I was released to go home and within a few hours developed left sided numbness from my face to my feet. I called my doctor several times during the weeks to come and was told to take Benadryl. When that side effect began to wear off, I then developed severe physical pain and my esophagus closed for two months. This was followed by bladder spasms and dizziness on standing. Due to the dizziness, I ended up passing out at the top of my stairs and falling down, which resulted in having to walk with a cane for a year while my bruised hip healed. I was diagnosed with POTS (Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome). I would stand up and my heart rate would go up to 160 or 170 beats per minute. I had never heard of this before and struggled to make sense of it all. Additionally, when my esophagus closed, I was also told in the urgent care that I had heart failure, as my echocardiogram showed I had decreased function.

Prior to this, I had been working 12-14 hour days as an assistant director in behavioral health, but once the domino effects were revealed, I was no longer able to work full time. In fact, I was barely able to stand without the support of my cane for a few minutes at a time without getting lightheaded and feeling faint.

Luckily, I was still able to provide for my family by starting a therapy practice online, which allowed me to work fewer hours and from the comfort of my home. As long as I could make it from my bed to my desk, I could work. However, having left a corporate job, I also forfeited my access to life insurance. I have applied for and been denied life insurance from two different companies based on my medical records.

As a mother to a son who is neurodivergent and learning disabled, I am terrified that I will not be able to leave my family with anything to assist with my burial let alone leaving them a means to be supported once I am no longer here to provide for them.

Bioethically speaking, it can be dangerous when we use a utilitarian approach and issue mandates to those who are sacrificing their own safety and showing up to work daily to provide services and treatment to those in need. While the goal was to ensure we didn’t contract covid so that we wouldn’t pass it on to others, that sadly was not my own outcome. I was made to sacrifice my own health and wellbeing and for what? Many who were vaccinated still contracted the virus and passed it to others. My own mother-in-law contracted covid 5 times despite having the vaccine and boosters.

I would propose a more balanced approach to vaccines and rather than mandating them, have an open discussion with those who are warry of the possible ramifications. Rather than just touting that we should trust the science, let the public weigh in and decide for themselves.

My life will never be the same since having that vaccine, as I am prescribed a medication to slow my heart rate that I must take twice per day, or my heart rate will not regulate on its own. I battle fatigue, dizziness, and migraines, when I did not have to deal with this prior to covid.

Looking at the principles of bioethics, was autonomy sacrificed in the name of distributive justice and beneficence? What about nonmaleficence? Harm was done to me and many others, yet when we tried to search out those who had been harmed by the covid vaccine, the government denied it or censored it as “false information”. It wasn’t until people started posting videos of themselves discussing the harms they suffered that we started to notice that those of us who were suffering, were not alone.