Welcome to Straight Talk on Health. I’m your host Dr. Chet Zelasko. Straight Talk on Health is a joint production with WGVU in Grand Rapids MI. I examine the practical application of health information. Nutrition. Exercise. Diet. Supplementation. I look at the science behind them and let you know whether it’s something to consider or not. You can check out other things that I do on my website Drchet.com and sign up for my free emails.
For some reason, someone decided to take it upon themselves to create a question of the relationship between the mRNA COVID vaccine and the development of a specific inflammatory condition of the heart. The reported claim was that the pharmaceutical companies were trying to hide the fact that in one segment of the population, young men between 28-32 years old, there were increased cases of myocarditis. The current head of the CDC vaccine division sent out a memo stating that 10 children died from the COVID vaccination. That’s like pouring gasoline on a fire.
Let’s set the record straight. The children died from COVID itself, not the vaccination. Further, from the very first injection of every different type of COVID vaccine, every side effect has been tracked including the cases of myocarditis. Not just in the US but in most major countries in the world. That’s how researchers already knew it was the demographic age group I described earlier—young men between 28-32 years of age, that were at greatest risk—and I’ll define the risk in a moment. Did some young children get myocarditis? Yes. Did older men get myocarditis? Yes. But for the most part, it was limited to that demographic of young men. Nobody tried to hide anything. There are plenty of research papers from numerous research groups throughout the world that identified and tracked the issue.
How big of an issue is it? Listen to this. The risk of getting myocarditis if someone gets COVID is about 1500 cases out of a million infections. The risk of getting myocarditis after getting any of the COVID vaccines is estimated to be about 6-8 cases per million. You heard me right—6-8 cases out of a million vaccinations. People weren’t exactly dropping in the streets. Believe it or not, the only cases that were fatal were people who did not seek treatment after symptoms developed. There was no reason for any hyped-up declarations by any government officials. The reason—well—I’ll leave it right there for you to speculate because I just don’t understand it. What purpose does it serve? Other than to make people fear vaccinations. I guess maybe that’s the point.
What should have happened? Let’s follow one research group from Stanford Cardiovascular Institute that took the next logical step. They wanted to know why the myocarditis developed in some subjects at such a high rate relative to other demographics and what could be done about it.. Because you can’t do clinical trials that potentially harm patients, plus the fact that so few cases develop after vaccinations, I mean 8 out of a million cases, they used a rodent model to see what happened on a molecular level. This grouppublished their work in SCIENCE TRANSLATIONAL MEDICINE Dec 2025 Vol 17, Issue 828.
When you think of inflammation, we might think of cytokines such as Interleukin1-beta, tumor necrosis factor-alpha aka TNF-alpha, and Interferon-gamma. In fact, there are many more and this research group attempted to find out which ones would cause the type of inflammation after exposure to both the vaccines and the cytokines in tissue models first, and then in mouse models. After trial and errors, the potential mechanism behind this type of myocarditis were what’s called C-X-C motif chemokine ligand 10, commonly called by the acronym CXCL10, and interferon-γ (IFN-γ). Those were the drivers of this inflammation. Once the correct inflammatory agents were identified, they did experiments on cardiac tissue, using both the cytokines themselves as well as the vaccines. They, they repeated the experiment in mice who were given either the cytokines or two doses of the COVID vaccine. As expected, the mice did develop the inflammation and cardiac injury was the result.
Here's the kicker. Genistein, a phytonutrient from soy, has demonstrated it can reduce cardiovascular inflammation in other studies. The researchers than treated the tissues and the mice with genistein. The phytonutrient reduced cardiac injury markers and inflammation in mice exposed to vaccines and to the cytokines.
This is how real research is done. Not only did these researchers identify the specific inflammatory response to the COIVD vaccines, they found a specific potential solution. While they said that there is more research to be done—what scientist doesn’t say that—they may have identified a potential treatment for the rare cases that the COVID vaccine causes myocarditis.
That’s what I’m talking about. Instead of creating conspiracy theories, they went into a lab, took the why, identified the what and came up with a potential solution. Maybe it will work, maybe it won’t but they did what scientists do: experiment to find solutions. No one can accuse them of trying to develop another pharmaceutical to treat another treatment. It was using a natural approach.
There is a real anti-vaccination effort going on and the payment is going to come due someday. There is a serious measles outbreak in the Carolinas as I record this. A disease that was once considered eliminated is now causing more cases every year. It can be serious for babies and the elderly and can leave some kids disfigured from the skin eruptions. Now, there is talk of making the polio vaccine optional.
There is no relation between vaccinations of any type and autism in children that has been identified. That’s with over 3,000,000 children being studied in cross sectional and epidemiological studies. But for arguments sake, let’s say there was a relationship found—not cause and effect—but some form of relationship as has happened with every other disease and condition. That’s the beginning. From there, the next logical step would have been to find whether the vaccinations were related to that in tissue or rodent studies. Expose the tissue or the mice to the vaccinations and see what changes occur in the gut, the brain, the eyes, the ears, you name it. Trying to identify how the vaccine caused the changes in those tissues would find a way to remedy it. Everything has been checked, from the solvents to the preservatives with no relationship found. They’ve even removed mercury from most vaccines with still no relationship found as to cause and effect. Going on 30 years have passed and nothing, in spite of all the accusations and acrimony that led to conspiracy theories, that proves childhood vaccines are dangerous. Those conspiracies that are impacting children now and in the future.
All of this because a gastroenterologist in the UK decided to fund his company by manufacturing data that the measles vaccine caused autism so lawyers in the US and UK could sue pharmaceutical companies in class action lawsuits. Think of where we might be if instead, real research had been done then, like was done with the COVID vaccine research I reviewed today. After, we might have definitive answers instead of speculation and conspiracy theories of today.
That’s all the time I have for this episode. If you like this podcast, please hit the share button and tell your friends and colleagues about it. Until next time, this is Dr. Chet Zelasko saying health is a choice. Choose wisely today and every day.
