'Long COVID' Symptoms Occur in Vaccinated Individuals Who Never Had COVID: Peer-Reviewed Study

The implication is that these symptoms may actually be due to the COVID vaccine.

This article originally appeared on Jon Fleetwood’s Substack and was republished with permission.

Guest post by Jon Fleetwood

New study confirms vaccinated healthcare workers never infected with COVID still developed long COVID symptoms, raising questions as to whether the jab is to blame for the chronic condition.

A new peer-reviewed study has confirmed that vaccinated individuals who were never infected with COVID-19 are developing the same neurological and psychiatric symptoms blamed on “long COVID,” raising serious questions about whether the vaccine—not the purported virus—is the underlying cause.

Long COVID is characterized as a chronic condition that emerges after an infection with SARS-CoV-2, the pathogen said to cause COVID-19.

But the new study shows this chronic condition occurs in those who were never infected, but who were vaccinated.

Published June 23, 2025 in the Journal of Microbiology, Immunology and Infection, the study evaluated 467 healthcare workers (HCWs) from a teaching hospital in northern Taiwan.

Of the 467 individuals, 222 had no record of positive COVID infection.

Every participant had received at least three doses of COVID shots.

“Notably, all participants in this study were healthcare professionals who had received a minimum of three doses of COVID-19 vaccines (with some even having four doses) before the onset of the Omicron variant outbreak in Taiwan,” the study reads.

Yet a large number experienced long COVID-like symptoms, even among those with no history of COVID infection.

---

#ad: As someone who sits (and sometimes stands) at a desk all day, I appreciate when there’s an easy product that can help me maintain an optimal weight.

Berberine from Global Healing is a plant compound with potential effects on metabolism and blood sugar support.

Try it for yourself and see if it works for you. Use Coupon Code VFOX for 10% off.

DISCLOSURE: This is an affiliate link. I may earn a commission if you make a purchase here, at no additional cost to you.

---

The alarming findings come as the U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH) has funded researchers to create more than 200 synthetic versions of what is described as the SARS-CoV-2 virus, using lab-based genetic engineering to construct novel entities not found in nature, raising future pandemic worries.

The findings also come as a recent publication in JMA Journal found a “significant increase in excess deaths after repeated COVID-19 vaccination” in Japan.

Long COVID Without Infection

In the new study, participants were divided into three groups:

• Symptomatic COVID-19 (confirmed by medical record or self-report)

• Asymptomatic COVID-19 (antibody-positive but never experienced symptoms)

• No history of COVID-19 (no symptoms, no diagnosis, and negative for SARS-CoV-2 nucleoprotein antibodies)

Significantly, the study found no significant differences in the severity of most neurological and psychiatric symptoms across the groups, including those who never had COVID-19.

“Despite meticulous data collection, the study revealed no statistically significant differences in the severity of neurological and psychiatric long COVID symptoms across the COVID-19 status groups,” the authors wrote.

In other words, individuals who were never infected—but who were vaccinated—still developed the same long COVID symptoms, meaning the shots themselves may be the common factor.

Yet despite this glaring pattern, the authors never once considered that the vaccine could be responsible.

Nor did they attempt to investigate or rule out vaccination as a potential cause of the symptoms.

Symptoms Include Memory Loss, Fatigue, and Cognitive Dysfunction

The so-called long COVID symptoms experienced by the “never infected” included:

• Memory decline

• Trouble concentrating

• Sleep disturbances

• Anxiety

• Depression

• Fatigue

• Cognitive dysfunction

These are the same symptoms widely attributed to long COVID, but they appeared regardless of infection status.

Even the uninfected group, with no detectable anti-nucleoprotein antibodies, reported “mild” fatigue in over 30% of cases and trouble concentrating in nearly 10%.

Memory Problems Worsened Most in Symptomatic Group—But Still Present in Uninfected

The only symptom to show a statistically significant difference between groups was worsening memory over time.

It was reported by:

• 24.6% of symptomatic cases

• 14.3% of asymptomatic

• 11.7% of uninfected
  (P = 0.0015)

But even that raises serious questions.

Why are 1 in 9 vaccinated people who never had COVID experiencing deteriorating memory?

A Rebranding of Vaccine Injury?

All 467 healthcare workers in the study received at least three COVID-19 shots.

Most of them took mix-and-match combinations that included mRNA vaccines from Pfizer and Moderna, as well as viral vector vaccines like AstraZeneca and subunit vaccines like Medigen.

The study’s own data show that people with no exposure to the virus are still developing cognitive, psychiatric, and neurologic symptoms that mirror “long COVID.”

The implication is that these symptoms may not be long COVID at all.

They may be long post-vaccine syndrome.

This distinction has massive implications for public health policy.

If the symptoms attributed to long COVID are appearing in individuals with no history of infection, the vaccine could be the culprit.

Copyright 2025 Jon Fleetwood

---