BREAKING: Peer-Reviewed Study Finds COVID-19 "Vaccines" Linked to 63 Serious Brain and Spinal Cord Adverse Events

63 CDC/FDA safety thresholds breached as mRNA shots disrupt the blood–brain barrier, unleashing meningitis, encephalitis, prion disease, brain abscesses, herpes reactivations, and more.

By Nicolas Hulscher, MPH

The study titled “COVID-19 mRNA Vaccination: Implications for the Central Nervous System,” authored by Kirstin Cosgrove, BM, CCRA; James A. Thorp, MD; Claire Rogers, MSPAS, PA-C; Steven Hatfill, MD; Nicolas Hulscher, MPH; and Peter A. McCullough, MD, MPH, was just published after successful peer-review in the International Journal of Research in Medical Sciences.

Using VAERS data from January 1990 through November 2024, we compared adverse events reported after COVID-19 vaccination to those after influenza vaccination and all other vaccines combined. We focused specifically on the central nervous system (CNS) — the brain and spinal cord, which control everything from memory and thought to movement and vital body functions. In total, we identified 63 serious safety signals involving the brain and nervous system, ranging from meningitis and encephalitis to brain abscesses, herpesvirus reactivations, demyelinating syndromes, and even prion diseases — each breaching CDC/FDA thresholds that are supposed to trigger immediate safety investigations.

The mechanism is clear: lipid nanoparticles deliver mRNA into brain blood vessels, where spike protein is produced and drives vascular inflammation. This damages the blood–brain barrier (BBB), the brain’s protective shield, and allows pathogens and latent viruses to penetrate, bacteria to seed abscesses, and immune responses to misfire against neural tissue. Spike protein itself can also cross into the brain, where it disrupts neurons and glial cells and promotes abnormal protein misfolding — a prion-like process resembling Creutzfeldt–Jakob disease and “mad cow disease.” Together, these effects explain why COVID-19 vaccination is associated with such a broad spectrum of severe neurological injuries.

Here are some of the conditions we found to be far more likely to be reported after COVID-19 vaccination compared to flu or other vaccines:

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Central Nervous System Infections

• Meningitis (all types) — OR 34.2 (23.7–50.0), p<0.0001 → 34× more likely than after flu vaccination

• Aseptic meningitis — OR 52.8 (33.5–83.1), p<0.0001 → 53× more likely

• Bacterial meningitis — OR 35.7 (16.7–76.0), p<0.0001 → 36× more likely

• Autoimmune encephalitis — OR 78.9 (45.4–137), p<0.0001 → 79× more likely

• Limbic encephalitis — OR 146 (43.7–485), p<0.0001 → 146× more likely

• Bickerstaff’s encephalitis — OR 68.3 (19.8–236), p<0.0001 → 68× more likely

• Neuroborreliosis (Lyme CNS infection) — OR 321 (43.0–2390), p<0.0001 → 321× more likely

• Toxic encephalopathy — OR 157 (69.1–355), p<0.0001 → 157× more likely

• Progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy (PML) — OR 44.6 (9.48–210), p<0.0001 → 45× more likely

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Herpetic CNS Reactivations

• Herpes zoster meningitis — OR 1,260 (77.0–20,700), p<0.0001 → over 1,200× more likely

• Herpes zoster meningoencephalitis — OR 339 (45.5–2,520), p<0.0001 → 339× more likely

• Herpes zoster neurological disease — OR 680 (41.1–11,200), p<0.0001 → 680× more likely

• Herpes simplex meningitis — OR 132 (7.45–2,360), p=0.0009 → 132× more likely

• Herpetic meningoencephalitis — OR 136 (47.3–391), p<0.0001 → 136× more likely

• Varicella meningitis — OR 168 (9.61–2,930), p=0.0004 → 168× more likely

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Brain & Spinal Abscesses

• Brain abscess — OR 120 (27.7–522), p<0.0001 → 120× more likely

• Extradural abscess — OR 169 (22.2–1,290), p<0.0001 → 169× more likely

• Spinal cord abscess — OR 89.1 (11.2–712), p<0.0001 → 89× more likely

• Subdural abscess — OR 35.7 (3.90–326), p=0.0015 → 36× more likely

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Rare Neurodegenerative & Demyelinating Conditions

• Creutzfeldt–Jakob disease (CJD) — OR 847 (115–6,220), p<0.0001 → 847× more likely

• Myelitis (all types) — OR 31.3 (22.2–44.2), p<0.0001 → 31× more likely

• Transverse myelitis — OR 20.8 (15.0–29.0), p<0.0001 → 21× more likely

• Viral myelitis — OR 115 (6.37–2,070), p=0.0013 → 115× more likely

• Noninfectious myelitis — OR 132 (7.45–2,360), p=0.0009 → 132× more likely

• Prion disease (general) — OR 61.8 (3.15–1,220), p=0.0066 → 62× more likely

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These findings indicate that COVID-19 vaccination not only compromises the integrity of the blood–brain barrier but initiates a cascade of neuropathological processes. In addition to facilitating infections and inflammatory injury, the spike protein exhibits prion-like behavior — misfolding and inducing aberrant protein aggregation consistent with mechanisms underlying Creutzfeldt–Jakob disease, the human analogue of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (“mad cow disease”). Such prionogenic activity may also contribute to the formation of the anomalous white fibrous intravascular clots reported postmortem, where amyloid and fibrin deposition suggest a novel, vaccine-associated pathology of protein misfolding.

This unprecedented neurological impairment helps to explain why Thorp et al found that mRNA shots were linked to 86 serious neuropsychiatric disorders including dementia, schizophrenia, suicidal and homicidal thoughts, stroke, psychosis, depression, cognitive impairment, delusions, and more:

Taken together, disruption of the brain’s vascular defenses and induction of prion-like processes represent a profound and urgent neurological safety concern.

It’s no mystery why cognitive impairment is skyrocketing across America:

New Study Finds Cognitive Impairment Is Skyrocketing Across America

As we conclude in the study:

At the time of this publication, 4.5 years have passed since the initiation of the mass COVID-19 mRNA “vaccination” campaign and yet the long-term effects of this program are still being elucidated. Our data join the work of others to firmly conclude the COVID-19 vaccines and their boosters are not safe for human use and should be urgently removed from the market.

The McCullough Foundation will continue leading the investigation on the long-term impact of mass COVID-19 vaccination programs—where public health authorities have failed.

If you’d like to support this vital research, please consider making a donation to the McCullough Foundation: https://mcculloughfnd.org/products/donate-1

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Nicolas Hulscher, MPH

Epidemiologist and Foundation Administrator, McCullough Foundation

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