Medical expert rubbishes rumours of mRNA booster dose causing lymphoma
A prominent pulmonologist of the Vichaiyut Hospital on Wednesday dismissed as fake news a warning shared by netizens that a Covid mRNA booster dose would lead to lymphoma.
Dr Manoon Leechawengwongs urged Thais not to believe what he called “fake news” that has been widely shared among Thai netizens that mRNA booster doses would lead to a high level of immunity, causing lymphoma.
He attributed the rumour to a recent case of a 45-year-old woman, who initially thought she had lymphoma following an mRNA shot.
Manoon said the woman normally had good health. She had received two AstraZeneca vaccines before taking a Pfizer mRNA booster dose in January.
After the booster dose, she noticed two small lumps, above her left and right collarbones. The left lump was bigger than the right one.
The woman had no fever and she did not develop loss of hunger and loss of weight, the doctor added. The woman did not cough and she did not smoke and had no record of tuberculosis (TB).
The woman went to see a doctor on April 30. A medical check found that her supraclavicular had become extraordinarily large and the left set of lymph nodes was four times larger than the right set.
A lung X-ray did not detect any abnormality. The hospital then took a tissue sample from the left supraclavicular to check and found the TB infection.
In conclusion, Manoon said, the woman had TB, not lymphoma.
