Study: COVID-19 Vaccines & Rheumatic Diseases

Simian Practicalist
Oct 14
3 min read

A Belgian observational study by M.A. Golstein titled “Post-COVID-19 Vaccine Hyperproduction of Anti-Spike Antibodies and Rheumatological Manifestations” published on 30 September 2025 has found, as predicted by some doctors, that the so-called vaccine triggers autoimmune problems.

The paper is 15 pages long with the main text at about 11 pages. The remaining are figures and references.

The study sample included two cohorts of patients at Saint-Jean Hospital’s rheumatology department. Those with a history of rheumatic, inflammatory, granulomatous or autoimmune diseases were excluded.

The first cohort was from 13 September 2021 to 30 September 2022 with 124 patients ranging from 17 to 86 years of age (median 51.6 years), 37 male and 87 female.

Of these patients, 73 (58.9%) had polymyalgia, 38 (30.6%) had bilateral ankle arthritis, 1 had monoarthritic of the ankle, 13 (10.4%) had arthritis of the fingers, hand, or wrist, 9 (7%) had arthritis of both knees, 1 had monoarthritic of the knee, 2 had arthritis of the hips, and 1 had seronegative polyarthritis. A combination of rheumatological symptoms occurred in 19 patients.

The second cohort was from 1 October 2022 to 30 September 2023 with 125 patients ranging from 28 to 85 years of age (median 50.6 years), 31 male and 94 female.

Of these patients, 53 (42.4%) had polymyalgia, 37 (29.6%) had bilateral ankle arthritis, 33 (26.4%) had arthralgia or arthritis of the fingers, hand, or wrist, 15 (12%) had arthritis of both knees, 9 (7.2%) had monoarthritic of the knee, 3 had arthritis of the hips, and 1 had seronegative polyarthritis. A combination of these rheumatological symptoms occurred in 24 patients.

Symptoms appeared after the second or third dose for over 80% of patients. For the first cohort, symptoms appeared on average from 12.5 to 30.5 days after receiving a dose. For the second cohort, symptoms appeared on average from 12.5 to 126 days after receiving a dose.

Generally, it seems patients either suffer early onset at an average of 0.44 months or late onset at an average of 17 months. More doses correspond to later onset.

One of the key observations is that at least 75% of patients had “very high levels” of anti-Spike antibodies (>2080 BAU/mL). For a few patients, these levels persisted “more than 11 months after the diagnosis of ankle arthritis”.

As a comparison to a vaccinated control group of 59 individuals at a mean age of 56 years (16 male and 43 female):

The mean anti-Spike antibody level in the control group was 486.7 BAU/mL (4.8–842). We also tested 6 unvaccinated patients of our own consultation to assess the control group (mean value 54 BAU/mL).

The mechanisms behind what is going is, of course, not entirely clear. Given the high levels of anti-Spike antibodies detected, the author mentions the antibody-dependent enhancement (ADE) effect which stimulates certain pro-inflammatory cytokines and promotes viral infection.

This also raises questions about the possible role of hyperproduction of anti-Spike protein antibodies in the emergence of rheumatological manifestations by fixing viral particles (Spike protein) and mimicking the ADE mechanism.

According to this study, women are likely than men to suffer a so-called biological inflammatory syndrome.

Estrogens have a favorable anti-inflammatory and immunomodulatory effect, providing protection during the SARS-CoV-2 epidemic. The selective affinity of the Spike protein for estrogen alpha receptors could also explain the predominance of biological inflammatory syndrome in women, as it competes with endogenous or replacement estradiol for binding to its receptor during menopause.

One of the weaknesses of the study is that it lacks a more substantial control group for comparison. To be fair, are there even enough unvaccinated individuals for comparison? The authors could at least clearly mention the pre-plandemic statistics for the hospital’s rheumatology department.

In any case, there is clearly a link between these rheumatological issues and elevated levels of anti-Spike antibodies.

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