In the interview with Brianne Dressen, topics regarding the government, vaccines, and vaccine injury were discussed in depth. Dressen claims to have been injured by the AstraZeneca covid-19 vaccine. A few of her symptoms included: tachycardia, limb weakness, paralysis, and tinnitus. Unfortunately, she is still dealing with symptoms two years later. At one point, she was even contemplating suicide because of them. It is startling how little support her doctors offered, even when the NIH and a psychiatrist got involved. Dressen dives into the details of how the drug company would not do anything and ignored her pleas for help. Beyond giving Dressen zero support, they tried to pay her off with a surprisingly small amount of money. Once her symptoms were finally studied, it was found that her immune system was attacking her nerves.
On January 11th, 2021, the NIH started a study about people injured from the vaccine and collected samples from those individuals. Dressen happens to be patient zero in this study. She was treated for her side effects, and her condition has greatly improved. Unfortunately, a lot of Americans have not received any treatment as the people who know about the risks don’t speak about them. Dressen believes that people should know the full risks and benefits of vaccines to make an informed decision and is angered by the lack of information released to the public. I agree with her sentiment and am surprised by how little I knew about these side effects. I had no idea that a study was going on concerning the side effects, and I had no idea that there was a large group of people suffering from so many symptoms. Dressen addresses that the government/ pharmacies will not research the vaccine’s adverse effects, so the general public must. The government’s inclination to remain uninvolved explains my lack of exposure to this topic. If individuals must take on this burden with little to no monetary support, data cannot be as well perpetrated. To counter the common narrative of harmless vaccines and support those injured, Dressen started React 19. React 19 is a non-profit for those suffering from the adverse effects of the vaccine. This non-profit provides a place to share voices and ensure mistakes are not repeated.
After listening to what Dressen had to say and looking her up, I believe her to be a reputable source. From the interview itself, she was not initially biased against the vaccine. She happily received it and never expected negative results. Thus, I doubt she has any inherent bias against the vaccine or the companies involved. Furthermore, she started a non-profit and works to provide advocacy to many people who feel they have no voice. I highly doubt anyone who did not actually experience symptoms or was working for their own monetary gain would be so passionate about this topic. Also, she is a subject in the NIH’s official study. Thus, even the government acknowledges that she is experiencing effects due to the vaccine. On both google and DuckDuckGo, I saw many sources with positive information about her. I could not find much about her credibility online, but I personally do believe her.