My name is Ogini and I’m 32-years-old. I was healthy and fit before the COVID-19 vaccine. I went to the gym regularly, ate well and loved my job in aged care. I had no prior health conditions. I never wanted the COVID-19 vaccine but it was mandated for aged care workers. I never believed it was safe and effective because it had been fast tracked and had not been tested properly. At the end of the day, my choice was to lose my livelihood or take my chances. I thought the chances of anything happening to me would be slim.
I got my first Pfizer vaccine in my left arm on the 10th of July, 2021 at my local GP clinic. Immediately I tasted metal in my mouth but it didn’t concern me too much and I went to work. About four hours into work, I started experiencing bad chest pain and I was struggling to breathe. I thought I was having a heart attack. I called the hospital and they said not to worry because it was a common side effect from the vaccine. They said it would go away in 24 hours.
The chest pains lasted for two days straight. I used breathing exercises to help me get through my workday. I felt light-headed, tight in the chest, and short of breath. After the two days, my symptoms subsided and I thought getting the second vaccine wouldn’t be an issue.
I got my second Pfizer vaccination on the 31st of July, also in my left arm. I had no obvious side effects and life was normal. I got my Pfizer booster on the 28th of March, 2022 because they had mandated the third vaccine. Once again, I felt no immediate side effects and life went on as normal.
However, when I was out shopping three months later on the 13th of June, my Apple watch alerted me to a heart rate of 172 bpm. I felt light-headed and broke into a huge sweat. I don’t remember much, but I must have reverted to auto pilot as I managed to walk out to my car and call an ambulance.
Paramedics met me at my car and said I looked as white as a ghost. They loaded me into the ambulance and ran an ECG. They told me on the spot that I had suffered a standing heart attack. They said I should have been dead and were amazed that I managed to get to my car. The paramedics said they wouldn’t tell the hospital that I had a standing heart attack because “they wouldn’t believe me or them”. They even said that the hospital is corrupt and the paramedics believed me when I said my heart attack was from the COVID-19 vaccine.
On arrival at the hospital, I was on a heart monitor in the emergency department and I think they forgot about me because I was left alone with an ECG on and terrified for hours. I was discharged after five hours with no treatment or medications. They told me to see my GP because they found nothing wrong with me.
I saw my GP the next day and he referred me to a cardiologist. He also referred me for a 24-hour Holter monitor. He was supportive, but he thought the COVID-19 vaccine had nothing to do with my symptoms. I organised the Holter monitor before I saw my cardiologist, and the results came back that I had a higher-than-normal resting heart rate.
I saw a cardiologist a few weeks later and he said I had suffered a panic attack at the mall. He said people’s hearts can beat up to 172 times a minute when they are stressed. He was quite supportive and wrote my GP a letter recommending that I don’t have any further COVID-19 vaccines. He thought the first vaccine had made my heart beat faster, and now I’m more susceptible to tachycardia, a condition where your resting heart rate exceeds 100 bpm. He said I needed to relax more and stress less. I was angry because I knew the mall incident was not stress related.
My heart still races at times, especially in bed when I’m laying down. I get tired easily, and my energy quickly spikes and then drops rapidly. I left my aged care job and now work at a resort which is a lot easier to manage with my condition. I still experience mild chest pains on and off, but for the most part, I have made significant ground on my recovery by doing plenty of breathing exercises.
I’m sharing my story because I want people to stay strong and know they can get through this if they are vaccine injured. If I could say one thing to people, it’s this: Stay clear of this vaccine.