This is not an anti-vax book.
This is a book about a group of patients who wanted to be protected against Covid-19. Unfortunately, they’ve experienced serious medical problems since vaccination. Their numbers are estimated to be in the millions; many aren’t recovering.
This is also a book about the estimated 400 million people worldwide living with long Covid, many of whom aren’t recovering either. Neither of these groups is getting adequate help from health-care professionals or the government. Some patients contend that had the government taken ME/CFS (aka myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome) seriously for the past 40 years, physicians would better understand how to treat not only the 65 million with ME/CFS but those with Covid-vaccine injuries and long Covid as well.
But instead of confronting these diseases, some scientists continue to peddle cognitive therapy as effective, dismiss Covid-vaccine injuries as “rare” and designate long Covid and ME/CFS as “post-infectious,” echoing conventional wisdom that’s based on guesswork, not facts. Science reporter Mindy Kitei uncovers compelling research that vaccine injuries are common and that there may be nothing post-infectious about long Covid or ME/CFS. And that would mean that these patients are still battling active infections.
Many symptoms of the three maladies are remarkably similar: the brain fog, the pain, the neuropathy, the mast cell activation syndrome, the post-exertional collapse and the autonomic dysfunction (including POTS). While the three diseases have different triggers—and likely different cures—they may still respond to some of the same treatments, many of which are detailed in Shots in the Dark.
And, finally, Shots in the Dark tracks the scientists doing critical research into these diseases, including those testing promising antiviral combinations; the patients who’ve discovered effective treatments; and those still searching, determined to regain their health.
Inside the book
1
Warning Shot
Did ME foreshadow long Covid and Covid-vaccine injuries?
2
Commotion in the Blood
Blood clots, heart disease, cancer, and the Covid vaccines
3
Not Waiting for Superman
If ME patients and long Covid patients still harbor
the pathogens that caused their diseases, why isn’t the
government all over it?
4
He Said, She Said
What four female participants say occurred during the only
NIH study to treat Covid-vaccine injuries isn’t what the NIH published
5
As the Worm Turns
Was the right drug to treat Covid-19 approved for human use in 1987?
6
Brains on Fire
Can the spike protein in the Covid-19 virus and the Covid
vaccine cause the human version of mad cow disease and
other neurological disorders, including Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s,
MS and ALS?
7
Hope and Kafka
The good, the bad and the familiar
8
Fighting Back and (Sometimes) Getting Better
Supplements, medications, devices, drug trials and support groups
What readers said
“This page-turner weaves together firsthand patient stories, emerging science and a revealing look at what our health agencies did and didn’t do in the face of a growing post-Covid chronic illness crisis. It shines a light on what happens when medicine, research and politics collide at the expense of the patient. With clarity and compassion, it gives voice to those left behind and brings urgency to the questions still unanswered. Anyone living with chronic illness will find themselves in these pages. It’s a reminder that searching for answers matters — especially when no one else is looking.” — Brianne Dressen, co-chair of React19, co-author of Canary in a Covid World and a participant in the NIH study on vaccine injuries
“With her thorough reporting, journalist Mindy Kitei exposes serious side effects of the Covid vaccine, which hadn’t been adequately trialed. The sections on long Covid and ME/CFS expose a medical profession that seems to not know what it’s doing. Many of the standard treatments resemble those that one might expect from a coven of witches stirring a pot, chanting out charms and curses. These inadequate treatments point out the ineptitude of physicians and researchers to recognize and interpret the altered metabolic profile in those who are sick — and how to fix it. With the medical profession dropping the proverbial ball, and with so many millions disabled, we’ve become steeped in the Age of Disability.” — Dr. Gregory Russell-Jones, biochemist, immunologist, and ME/CFS, Covid, autism and dementia researcher
“Mindy Kitei tells the stories of patients with a rare mix of deep empathy and scientific rigor. And she is an ideal journalist to tell them, having lived this journey herself. Delving into this hidden world is necessary for all of medicine to move forward, and to truly understand human biology. — Ryan Prior, former CNN journalist and author of The Long Haul: How Long Covid Survivors Are Revolutionizing Healthcare
“Shots in the Dark explores the why of long Covid, Covid-vaccine injuries and ME/CFS. Journalist Mindy Kitei delves into what patients have endured and the wholly inadequate government response. She’s focused on solutions. The book is chock-full of information on medications, supplements and devices — from hyperbaric oxygen to red-light therapy, from Augmented NAC to monoclonal antibodies, and the list goes on. Shots in the Dark is a well-researched and illuminating book.” — Justin Reilly, ME/CFS patient advocate
“Journalist Mindy Kitei has done a remarkable job documenting personal experiences, the science, politics and corruption associated with the Covid era. She addresses long Covid, vaccine injury and controversies in treatments with excellent documentation and references. I applaud her for writing this thorough, highly informative and very readable treatise.” — Danice Hertz, MD, gastroenterologist and participant in the NIH study on vaccine injuries
“With chronic illness, be it ME/CFS, long Covid or long vax, our previous lives rapidly sunk beneath the frigid North Atlantic waves. Mindy Kitei captures the feeling of clinging to a lifeboat, in desperate search of help as the planes and ships of normal life cruise by, totally oblivious to our plight. Yes, it is a bleak, medically neglected landscape, but she also shares many promising medications and supplements, and this ray of hope: intermittent fasting.” — Dr. Tom Bunker, Covid researcher and founder of the Facebook group Long Covid — Improve via Fasting
“Mindy Kitei has boldly and honorably brought forward the true stories of individuals, like myself, who were affected during the Covid pandemic — stories that were ignored or suppressed. Through her compelling book, she gives voice to our pain, resilience and humanity. It’s more than just a book; it’s a tribute that will move you and stir a wide range of deep emotions long after the last page.” — Kristi Dobbs, patient advocate and participant in the NIH study on vaccine injuries
“Shots in the Dark is a must-read. The book would be great fiction. However, sadly it’s an accurate history of our failed response to the Covid-19 pandemic, focusing on a “vaccine” that was neither “safe” nor “effective.” It is not anti-vaccine, but provides an accurate timeline of the Covid-19 pandemic and our response to it. The book is intermixed with real stories of real people who thought they were doing the right thing by getting the shot, only to be abandoned by pharma, our federal health agencies and our medical system. The arguments made are supported by science. If you are ready to open your eyes and uncover your ears, read this book. It will open your mind and help you to see the truth.” — Joel Wallskog, MD, orthopedic surgeon and co-chair of React19
“Shots in the Dark is a much-needed book on myalgic encephalomyelitis (ME, aka ME/CFS) and its sister illnesses, long Covid and long vax. Few individuals are as informed as journalist Mindy Kitei, who is able to recite the depressing particulars both of the history of the ME illness and of its years-long devastation on many people, particularly women. Much of the history of ME is being repeated with long Covid, but now there might be a way out of this mess. Particular emphasis in the book is on potential treatment. Kitei’s mantra is ‘The road to yes is met with a series of noes,’ and she devotes 68 pages to what has helped patients improve or recover. We learn about organizations like PolyBio Foundation, and its dedicated director Dr. Amy Proal. Proal and others are eager to make discoveries about sequestered, chronic viruses.
“So far, the future belongs to private equity research, as we wait for the NIH and FDA to step it up. Kitei also discusses ImmunityBio and its therapeutic BioShield (Anktiva) to short-circuit depletion of functional natural killer cells and memory T-cell exhaustion, both hallmark deficiencies of lymphocytes — white blood cells — in ME and long Covid. These deficiencies result in decreased ability to fight viruses and cancers. Anktiva is currently being tested on long Covid patients at the UCSF lab of Timothy Henrich. And then there are the monoclonal antibodies and peginterferon lambda. We welcome this book, and I highly recommend it.” — Christopher Cairns, ME caretaker
Shots in the Dark 