cause and effect essay homelessness

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Causes of homelessness essay sample, example.

One of the most frequent causes of homelessness is property-destroying disasters of any kind. It can be an earthquake (like in Japan in 2011), a hurricane (like in New Orleans), a flood or tsunami, and so on. At the same time, it can be a disaster or accident of a smaller scale, but still a significant one. Domestic fires, for example, destroy hundreds of residences annually; usually, if a brigade of firefighters does not manage to arrive on time, people suffer severe material damage. Left without a home, victims of these disasters also often lose their IDs, property documents, credit cards, cash stashes, and so on. It can take months (or even years) to renew them. And friends and relatives are not always willing or capable of helping a victim during the time he or she recuperates (IFR).

Another group of factors leading to homelessness includes unhappy marriages and their outcomes. Divorce and abusive relationships are among the major factors of homelessness (Homeless Resource Network). In particular, divorce can often leave one of the spouses homeless. When divorcing, former family members usually try to divide the property they acquired in marriage; in some cases, one of the spouses can find themselves deprived of any property, including a place to live in. Another possible reason for homelessness is domestic violence. Although it is usually considered that women suffer from domestic violence more than men, it is not true; as a result, a number of people of both genders prefer to live on the streets rather than stay in abusive relationships.

The institutional backgrounds of people can cause them to end up living on the streets (Shelter). In particular, people who served in the armed forces and participated in war conflicts can suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder, which can prevent them from fitting into normal life, living with their families, and so on. As a result, they are at risk of not being able to get along with the peaceful environment around them, and end up on the streets. Another group of people who can potentially become homeless are former prisoners. A prisoner does not necessarily remain a villain after getting out of jail; moreover, such people could have committed some minor crimes, or even were unjustly convicted. Still, non-criminal citizens usually do not give them a second chance, so they often become homeless as well.

It is obvious that homelessness is caused not only by a person’s unwillingness to work and sustain themselves; rather often, there exist objective factors causing people to become homeless. Among them, one should mention disasters (both natural and human-caused), divorce, abusive relationships, PTSD, and non-conducive backgrounds like being a former convict.

Doe, John. “What Causes Homelessness?” IFR. N.p., n.d. Web. 27 May 2015.

“Factors Contributing to Homelessness.” Homeless Resource Network. N.p., 03 Aug. 2011. Web. 27 May 2015.

“What Causes Homelessness?” Shelter. N.p., n.d. Web. 27 May 2015.

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• Social Issues

Causes and Effects of Homelessness Essay Example

In this ever-changing world, homelessness is still a major problem that virtually every society suffers from, regardless of its prosperity and development. One way to mitigate the problem is to provide the homeless with shelters. This essay will attempt to discuss the causes and effects of homelessness before thoroughly outlining the solution.

There is a wide range of reasons that lead people to be homeless. First, the amount of affordable places to live and the cost of living is not proportional to the job opportunities or the pay of homeless people. Moreover, the number of people living on the street is far greater than the reasonably priced housing. Another factor that could lead a person to homelessness is personal hardship. It could be natural disasters, toxic relationships, losing a job or a person that their life depends on, etc. These result in their financial status changes. It is undeniable that being homeless has copious negative effects. People can suffer from awfully bad diseases or develop behavioral problems. 

One way to tackle the issue is for government to open more shelters and have people volunteer to work there. Shelters for the homeless should be able to give them a temporary place to live and help them find employment as well as provide them with treatment for their illnesses. By creating a safe accommodation, homeless people can not only have a better quality of life but can also have their mental condition improved. Furthermore, students and other people can engage in volunteering at these shelters and have themselves a certificate as well as gain experiences along with a better knowledge of the negative aspects of society.

To summarize, homelessness is a serious city’s problem that cannot be pinned down to one particular cause, but rather a mix of circumstances that are normally out of our control and can happen in an instant. The government and other people could help with enhancing their quality of life by the solution given above.

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Causes and Effects of Homelessness, Essay Example

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No subject as broad and socially meaningful as homelessness may be successfully addressed briefly, but a few basic components of the issue stand out as essentially worthy of analysis. Not unexpectedly, cause and effect play into each other within these elements.

The most evident cause of homelessness is unemployment, and the recent economic crises within the United States have only served to underscore this connection. Homelessness first began to command wide interest in the US in the 1980’s, yet the circumstances of it have altered. Despite shifting unemployment rates, standards of living for even low-income families or individual were typically better in the 1970’s because housing was more affordable. Thus the extreme rise in housing prices of the 1980’s and 1990’s, coupled with the recent and massive job market losses, combined to create an exponential boom in American homelessness: “Because the poor of 2008 were poorer than the poor of the early 1970’s and the real cost of housing was higher, there was a growing population that was vulnerable to homelessness” (Gilbert 216).

Similarly, the dissolution of many higher-paying, “career” jobs brought about a completely unanticipated development, in that homelessness was no longer the province of the traditionally poor. The homes being foreclosed upon were affluent dwellings and the people forced out of them were and are utterly unfamiliar with the basic survival techniques long known to those with experience in poverty. As this includes knowledge of how and where to seek assistance when homelessness is imminent, that population on the streets expanded when, in many cases, alternatives could have been exercised.

With this unemployment factor do we see the cycle of cause and effect. The individual without the job and incomes is deprived of shelter. They seek to regain employment but find that the homelessness is a potent detriment in finding work because of the attached stigma, and only the lowest paying jobs are available. Unable to accumulate sufficient housing money, then, even the employed homeless person is often trapped by these circumstances.

There is no social dysfunction which does not impact and/or fuel homelessness, and  one important cause and consequent effect of it lies within the nature of traditional homes to begin with. As women are increasingly encouraged to abandon domestic situations wherein they are abused, they typically have no recourse except that of the shelter. Motivated, and correctly so, to protect themselves from danger, they nonetheless are reduced to another state of extreme vulnerability. “According to the National Coalition for the Homeless, approximately half of all women and children experiencing homelessness are fleeing domestic violence” (Bringle 8).

This is a scenario of homelessness frequently self-perpetuating, for it incorporates factors beyond that of relatively simple unemployment issues. In cases of abused women being homeless, a host of further dilemmas must be confronted. Such women are dealing with the multiple issues of psychological and physical abuse, feelings of utter displacement, and are typically not equipped to even enter the job market. The cause in this situation creates the ongoing effect because the variety of problems leading to the homeless state are complex and not easily or quickly dealt with.

So too are addiction and alcoholism common reasons for homelessness and effects of it simultaneously. The addict who loses his job and subsequently his home obviously does not merely have a housing problem, and temporary shelter will do nothing to remedy the issue which will most certainly render him homeless again. In this cycle of uncertainty and despair, the addiction usually thrives.

This serves to illustrate, as do the other scenarios behind the homeless state, why there can be no real and effective analysis of homelessness as a condition unto itself. It is, always, a result of other social and/or personal conditions.  A substantive means of responsibly addressing homelessness can only be achieved through treating with its sources, as homelessness is intrinsically both cause and effect of the actual symptom that it is.

Works Cited

Bringle, J. Homelessness in America Today. New York, NY: The Rosen Publishing Group, Inc., 2010. Print.

Gilbert, D. The American Class Structure in an Age of Growing Inequality. Thousand Oaks, CA: Pine Forge Press, 2010. Print.

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Home — Essay Samples — Social Issues — Homelessness — The Conclusion and Effect of Homelessness

The Conclusion and Effect of Homelessness

• Categories: Homelessness

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Published: Mar 20, 2024

Words: 570 | Page: 1 | 3 min read

Table of contents

Root causes of homelessness, the societal impact of homelessness, potential solutions to homelessness.

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Homeless Veterans Causes and Effects Essay

Today, there are significant numbers of veterans who are homeless in the United States. The National Coalition for the Homeless estimates that homeless veterans are between “130,000 and 200,000 on any given night, which represent between one-fourth and one-fifth of all homeless people” (National Coalition for the Homeless 1). Also, many veterans still struggle with high rates of rents. This situation increases veterans’ risks of becoming homeless.

Further, there might be possible concerns for veterans in other related areas. For instance, women veterans, veterans with disabilities, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), and traumatic brain injuries face high risks of becoming homeless in the future. It is important to note that many veterans from wars in Iraq and Afghanistan already indicate such symptoms (National Coalition for the Homeless 1).

At any given night, over 131,000 veterans are homeless while a significantly higher number may experience homelessness within the year (National Coalition for the Homeless 1). There is at least one homeless veteran among three homeless persons. In short, nearly 40 percent of homeless people are veterans.

However, this figure fluctuates as different organizations provide different figures. Overall, the fact remains that the number of veterans is on the increase, and it is imperative to understand how heroic, daring, strong soldiers slip into retirement of homelessness. Therefore, this essay explores the underlying causes of homelessness among veterans.

Veterans have to endure adverse impacts of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. In some cases, they may experience traumatic brain injuries alongside sexual trauma. War experiences drive veterans to lives of exclusion and isolation.

Consequently, they are prone to outdoor and unsheltered lives. The drive to live outdoor lives could result in long-term, chronic homelessness among many veterans (Leatham 1). In addition to stress disorders and brain injuries, many veterans could also experience other mental conditions. Mental problems are partially responsible for homelessness among many veterans.

In some cases, the need for seclusion may drive veterans away from home or any support. This results from traumatic war experiences. Also, veterans may fail to get any support from psychologists. Such mental conditions may also result in joblessness among veterans with the outcome of homelessness.

A closely related risk to mental condition is substance abuse among veterans. The National Health Care for the Homeless Council notes that several veterans struggle with challenges of substance abuse and alcoholism. Such problems are common during and after the periods in the military service.

Studies conducted by various organizations among veterans have shown that substance abuse was a major risk factor for homelessness (Copeland and Zoroya 1). Substance abuse challenges have facilitated veterans’ risks of becoming homeless because many veterans would like to remain secluded when struggling with substance abuse challenges.

Consequently, they end up in the streets. While there are homeless veterans who have found shelters in rescue agencies, their problems are complicated because of chronic drug and alcohol abuse (Copeland and Zoroya 1). Still, homeless veterans who are still on the streets present the toughest challenges because they might have multiple related issues, including substance abuse, chronic diseases, alcoholism, schizophrenia, and other related behavioral challenges.

On the same note, women veterans are at high risks of becoming homeless because of co-occurring disorder associated with negative life outcomes (Substance Abuse & Mental Health Services Administration 1). According to SAMHSA (Substance Abuse & Mental Health Services Administration), women veterans’ rate of becoming homeless is four times higher than other non-veteran populations (Substance Abuse & Mental Health Services Administration 1).

Whereas many services target male veterans, homeless women veterans have received limited support. They also experience high risks of exposure to homelessness because of rampant drug abuse and lack of medical support. Further, economic burdens related to child support, legal issues, fines, and warrants could force them into homelessness.

Veterans could also lack long-term permanent housing solutions and family support. One must recognize that as the number of US soldiers increases with both genders, veterans will consist of a significant number of homeless populations, particularly after wars. Also, co-occurring disorder and inadequate medical attentions could further complicate the problems.

Backlogged disability claims have also contributed to homelessness among veterans (Kuykendall 1). The inability of the Department of Veterans Affairs to fast track compensation and funding for disabled veterans is linked to homelessness among many veterans. Disabled veterans wait for a long period to receive their disability benefits. One must recognize that many disabled veterans may not find employment or have homes after the war. Consequently, they end up in the streets as homeless individuals.

When veterans return from war zones, they encounter bureaucracy and lengthy procedures, which result in delays when processing their disability claims with Veterans Affairs. After the submission, the process should take 125 days, but this may fail, and the claim becomes backlogged (Kuykendall 1). Backlogged claims could result from poor funding.

Therefore, additional funding could prevent homelessness among veterans, particularly among young soldiers who are still at wars. Increased funding could eliminate challenges that Vietnam War veterans experienced. Failure to target Veterans when they returned from wars because of inadequate funding could have contributed to their homelessness status.

Finally, a possible cause of homelessness among veterans could be the poor economy. In most cases, veterans are mainly high school graduates. In this context, they did not join colleges to acquire skills to use after their military services. Consequently, veterans are not able to get employment or engage in self-employment. The situation has deteriorated with the poor economic growth in the US. Moreover, veterans with co-occurring conditions may experience severe economic impacts, which could force them to homelessness.

One must recognize that it is difficult to identify specific causes of homelessness among veterans. In this sense, this essay has highlighted possible, specific risk factors that are linked to homelessness among veterans in the US. By understanding risks factors associated with homelessness, intervention programs could offer effective services and support, which veterans require to avoid homelessness.

Overall, the most effective interventions would be to target veterans before they slip into homelessness. Alternative intervention programs should target veterans when they are at high risks of becoming homeless, rather than when they are already homeless and experiencing multiple challenges.

In conclusion, the essay has covered several risk factors related to homelessness among veterans, which include alcohol and substance abuse, poor economy, backlogged disability claims and adverse impacts of post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, sexual trauma, and other mental conditions.

Several studies have supported these risks factor related to homelessness among veterans. For instance, the National Coalition for the Homeless, SAMHSA, and individual researchers have explored factors related to homelessness among veterans to provide various accounts of causes and impacts on society. They have all concluded that veterans do not deserve to live on the streets after years of dedication to the country.

Works Cited

Copeland, Larry and Gregg Zoroya. Time is short for audacious goal: End vet homelessness . 2014. Web.

Kuykendall, Mark. FY15 proposed budget takes aim at VA disability claim backlog. 2014. Web.

Leatham, Elizabeth. The Great American Tragedy: Homelessness Among Our Veterans . 2012. Web.

National Coalition for the Homeless. Homeless Veterans. 2009. Web.

Substance Abuse & Mental Health Services Administration. Co-Occurring Disorders and Military Justice: Women Veterans with Co-Occurring Disorders. Web.

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Thousands Believe Covid Vaccines Harmed Them. Is Anyone Listening?

All vaccines have at least occasional side effects. But people who say they were injured by Covid vaccines believe their cases have been ignored.

Shaun Barcavage, 54, a nurse practitioner in New York City, said that ever since his first Covid shot, standing up has sent his heart racing. Credit... Hannah Yoon for The New York Times

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By Apoorva Mandavilli

Apoorva Mandavilli spent more than a year talking to dozens of experts in vaccine science, policymakers and people who said they had experienced serious side effects after receiving a Covid-19 vaccine.

• Published May 3, 2024 Updated May 4, 2024

Within minutes of getting the Johnson & Johnson Covid-19 vaccine, Michelle Zimmerman felt pain racing from her left arm up to her ear and down to her fingertips. Within days, she was unbearably sensitive to light and struggled to remember simple facts.

She was 37, with a Ph.D. in neuroscience, and until then could ride her bicycle 20 miles, teach a dance class and give a lecture on artificial intelligence, all in the same day. Now, more than three years later, she lives with her parents. Eventually diagnosed with brain damage, she cannot work, drive or even stand for long periods of time.

“When I let myself think about the devastation of what this has done to my life, and how much I’ve lost, sometimes it feels even too hard to comprehend,” said Dr. Zimmerman, who believes her injury is due to a contaminated vaccine batch .

The Covid vaccines, a triumph of science and public health, are estimated to have prevented millions of hospitalizations and deaths . Yet even the best vaccines produce rare but serious side effects . And the Covid vaccines have been given to more than 270 million people in the United States, in nearly 677 million doses .

Dr. Zimmerman’s account is among the more harrowing, but thousands of Americans believe they suffered serious side effects following Covid vaccination. As of April, just over 13,000 vaccine-injury compensation claims have been filed with the federal government — but to little avail. Only 19 percent have been reviewed. Only 47 of those were deemed eligible for compensation, and only 12 have been paid out, at an average of about $3,600 .

Some scientists fear that patients with real injuries are being denied help and believe that more needs to be done to clarify the possible risks.

“At least long Covid has been somewhat recognized,” said Akiko Iwasaki, an immunologist and vaccine expert at Yale University. But people who say they have post-vaccination injuries are “just completely ignored and dismissed and gaslighted,” she added.

In interviews and email exchanges conducted over several months, federal health officials insisted that serious side effects were extremely rare and that their surveillance efforts were more than sufficient to detect patterns of adverse events.

“Hundreds of millions of people in the United States have safely received Covid vaccines under the most intense safety monitoring in U.S. history,” Jeff Nesbit, a spokesman for the Department of Health and Human Services, said in an emailed statement.

But in a recent interview, Dr. Janet Woodcock, a longtime leader of the Food and Drug Administration, who retired in February, said she believed that some recipients had experienced uncommon but “serious” and “life-changing” reactions beyond those described by federal agencies.

“I feel bad for those people,” said Dr. Woodcock, who became the F.D.A.’s acting commissioner in January 2021 as the vaccines were rolling out. “I believe their suffering should be acknowledged, that they have real problems, and they should be taken seriously.”

“I’m disappointed in myself,” she added. “I did a lot of things I feel very good about, but this is one of the few things I feel I just didn’t bring it home.”

Federal officials and independent scientists face a number of challenges in identifying potential vaccine side effects.

The nation’s fragmented health care system complicates detection of very rare side effects, a process that depends on an analysis of huge amounts of data. That’s a difficult task when a patient may be tested for Covid at Walgreens, get vaccinated at CVS, go to a local clinic for minor ailments and seek care at a hospital for serious conditions. Each place may rely on different health record systems.

There is no central repository of vaccine recipients, nor of medical records, and no easy to way to pool these data. Reports to the largest federal database of so-called adverse events can be made by anyone, about anything. It’s not even clear what officials should be looking for.

“I mean, you’re not going to find ‘brain fog’ in the medical record or claims data, and so then you’re not going to find” a signal that it may be linked to vaccination, Dr. Woodcock said. If such a side effect is not acknowledged by federal officials, “it’s because it doesn’t have a good research definition,” she added. “It isn’t, like, malevolence on their part.”

The government’s understaffed compensation fund has paid so little because it officially recognizes few side effects for Covid vaccines. And vaccine supporters, including federal officials, worry that even a whisper of possible side effects feeds into misinformation spread by a vitriolic anti-vaccine movement.

‘I’m Not Real’

Patients who believe they experienced serious side effects say they have received little support or acknowledgment.

Shaun Barcavage, 54, a nurse practitioner in New York City who has worked on clinical trials for H.I.V. and Covid, said that ever since his first Covid shot, merely standing up sent his heart racing — a symptom suggestive of postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome , a neurological disorder that some studies have linked to both Covid and, much less often, vaccination .

He also experienced stinging pain in his eyes, mouth and genitals, which has abated, and tinnitus, which has not.

“I can’t get the government to help me,” Mr. Barcavage said of his fruitless pleas to federal agencies and elected representatives. “I am told I’m not real. I’m told I’m rare. I’m told I’m coincidence.”

Renee France, 49, a physical therapist in Seattle, developed Bell’s palsy — a form of facial paralysis, usually temporary — and a dramatic rash that neatly bisected her face. Bell’s palsy is a known side effect of other vaccines, and it has been linked to Covid vaccination in some studies.

But Dr. France said doctors were dismissive of any connection to the Covid vaccines. The rash, a bout of shingles, debilitated her for three weeks, so Dr. France reported it to federal databases twice.

“I thought for sure someone would reach out, but no one ever did,” she said.

Similar sentiments were echoed in interviews, conducted over more than a year, with 30 people who said they had been harmed by Covid shots. They described a variety of symptoms following vaccination, some neurological, some autoimmune, some cardiovascular.

All said they had been turned away by physicians, told their symptoms were psychosomatic, or labeled anti-vaccine by family and friends — despite the fact that they supported vaccines.

Even leading experts in vaccine science have run up against disbelief and ambivalence.

Dr. Gregory Poland, 68, editor in chief of the journal Vaccine, said that a loud whooshing sound in his ears had accompanied every moment since his first shot, but that his entreaties to colleagues at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to explore the phenomenon, tinnitus, had led nowhere.

He received polite responses to his many emails, but “I just don’t get any sense of movement,” he said.

“If they have done studies, those studies should be published,” Dr. Poland added. In despair that he might “never hear silence again,” he has sought solace in meditation and his religious faith.

Dr. Buddy Creech, 50, who led several Covid vaccine trials at Vanderbilt University, said his tinnitus and racing heart lasted about a week after each shot. “It’s very similar to what I experienced during acute Covid, back in March of 2020,” Dr. Creech said.

Research may ultimately find that most reported side effects are unrelated to the vaccine, he acknowledged. Many can be caused by Covid itself.

“Regardless, when our patients experience a side effect that may or may not be related to the vaccine, we owe it to them to investigate that as completely as we can,” Dr. Creech said.

Federal health officials say they do not believe that the Covid vaccines caused the illnesses described by patients like Mr. Barcavage, Dr. Zimmerman and Dr. France. The vaccines may cause transient reactions, such as swelling, fatigue and fever, according to the C.D.C., but the agency has documented only four serious but rare side effects .

Two are associated with the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, which is no longer available in the United States: Guillain-Barré syndrome , a known side effect of other vaccines , including the flu shot; and a blood-clotting disorder.

The C.D.C. also links mRNA vaccines made by Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna to heart inflammation, or myocarditis, especially in boys and young men. And the agency warns of anaphylaxis, or severe allergic reaction, which can occur after any vaccination.

Listening for Signals

Agency scientists are monitoring large databases containing medical information on millions of Americans for patterns that might suggest a hitherto unknown side effect of vaccination, said Dr. Demetre Daskalakis, director of the C.D.C.’s National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases.

“We toe the line by reporting the signals that we think are real signals and reporting them as soon as we identify them as signals,” he said. The agency’s systems for monitoring vaccine safety are “pretty close” to ideal, he said.

Those national surveillance efforts include the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS). It is the largest database, but also the least reliable: Reports of side effects can be submitted by anyone and are not vetted, so they may be subject to bias or manipulation.

The system contains roughly one million reports regarding Covid vaccination, the vast majority for mild events, according to the C.D.C.

Federal researchers also comb through databases that combine electronic health records and insurance claims on tens of millions of Americans. The scientists monitor the data for 23 conditions that may occur following Covid vaccination. Officials remain alert to others that may pop up, Dr. Daskalakis said.

But there are gaps, some experts noted. The Covid shots administered at mass vaccination sites were not recorded in insurance claims databases, for example, and medical records in the United States are not centralized.

“It’s harder to see signals when you have so many people, and things are happening in different parts of the country, and they’re not all collected in the same system,” said Rebecca Chandler, a vaccine safety expert at the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations.

An expert panel convened by the National Academies concluded in April that for the vast majority of side effects, there was not enough data to accept or reject a link.

Asked at a recent congressional hearing whether the nation’s vaccine-safety surveillance was sufficient, Dr. Peter Marks, director of the F.D.A.’s Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research, said, “I do believe we could do better.”

In some countries with centralized health care systems, officials have actively sought out reports of serious side effects of Covid vaccines and reached conclusions that U.S. health authorities have not.

In Hong Kong, the government analyzed centralized medical records of patients after vaccination and paid people to come forward with problems. The strategy identified “a lot of mild cases that other countries would not otherwise pick up,” said Ian Wong, a researcher at the University of Hong Kong who led the nation’s vaccine safety efforts.

That included the finding that in rare instances — about seven per million doses — the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine triggered a bout of shingles serious enough to require hospitalization.

The European Medicines Agency has linked the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines to facial paralysis, tingling sensations and numbness. The E.M.A. also counts tinnitus as a side effect of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, although the American health agencies do not. There are more than 17,000 reports of tinnitus following Covid vaccination in VAERS.

Are the two linked? It’s not clear. As many as one in four adults has some form of tinnitus. Stress, anxiety, grief and aging can lead to the condition, as can infections like Covid itself and the flu.

There is no test or scan for tinnitus, and scientists cannot easily study it because the inner ear is tiny, delicate and encased in bone, said Dr. Konstantina Stankovic, an otolaryngologist at Stanford University.

Still, an analysis of health records from nearly 2.6 million people in the United States found that about 0.04 percent , or about 1,000, were diagnosed with tinnitus within three weeks of their first mRNA shot. In March, researchers in Australia published a study linking tinnitus and vertigo to the vaccines .

The F.D.A. is monitoring reports of tinnitus, but “at this time, the available evidence does not suggest a causal association with the Covid-19 vaccines,” the agency said in a statement.

Despite surveillance efforts, U.S. officials were not the first to identify a significant Covid vaccine side effect: myocarditis in young people receiving mRNA vaccines. It was Israeli authorities who first raised the alarm in April 2021. Officials in the United States said at the time that they had not seen a link.

On May 22, 2021, news broke that the C.D.C. was investigating a “relatively few” cases of myocarditis. By June 23, the number of myocarditis reports in VAERS had risen to more than 1,200 — a hint that it is important to tell doctors and patients what to look for.

Later analyses showed that the risk for myocarditis and pericarditis, a related condition, is highest after a second dose of an mRNA Covid vaccine in adolescent males aged 12 to 17 years.

In many people, vaccine-related myocarditis is transient. But some patients continue to experience pain, breathlessness and depression, and some show persistent changes on heart scans . The C.D.C. has said there were no confirmed deaths related to myocarditis, but in fact there have been several accounts of deaths reported post-vaccination .

Pervasive Misinformation

The rise of the anti-vaccine movement has made it difficult for scientists, in and out of government, to candidly address potential side effects, some experts said. Much of the narrative on the purported dangers of Covid vaccines is patently false, or at least exaggerated, cooked up by savvy anti-vaccine campaigns.

Questions about Covid vaccine safety are core to Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s presidential campaign. Citing debunked theories about altered DNA, Florida’s surgeon general has called for a halt to Covid vaccination in the state.

“The sheer nature of misinformation, the scale of misinformation, is staggering, and anything will be twisted to make it seem like it’s not just a devastating side effect but proof of a massive cover-up,” said Dr. Joshua Sharfstein, a vice dean at Johns Hopkins University.

Among the hundreds of millions of Americans who were immunized for Covid, some number would have had heart attacks or strokes anyway. Some women would have miscarried. How to distinguish those caused by the vaccine from those that are coincidences? The only way to resolve the question is intense research .

But the National Institutes of Health is conducting virtually no studies on Covid vaccine safety, several experts noted. William Murphy, a cancer researcher who worked at the N.I.H. for 12 years, has been prodding federal health officials to initiate these studies since 2021.

The officials each responded with “that very tired mantra: ‘But the virus is worse,’” Dr. Murphy recalled. “Yes, the virus is worse, but that doesn’t obviate doing research to make sure that there may be other options.”

A deeper understanding of possible side effects, and who is at risk for them, could have implications for the design of future vaccines, or may indicate that for some young and healthy people, the benefit of Covid shots may no longer outweigh the risks — as some European countries have determined.

Thorough research might also speed assistance to thousands of Americans who say they were injured.

The federal government has long run the National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program , designed to compensate people who suffer injuries after vaccination. Established more than three decades ago, the program sets no limit on the amounts awarded to people found to have been harmed.

But Covid vaccines are not covered by that fund because Congress has not made them subject to the excise tax that pays for it. Some lawmakers have introduced bills to make the change.

Instead, claims regarding Covid vaccines go to the Countermeasures Injury Compensation Program . Intended for public health emergencies, this program has narrow criteria to pay out and sets a limit of $50,000, with stringent standards of proof.

It requires applicants to prove within a year of the injury that it was “the direct result” of getting the Covid vaccine, based on “compelling, reliable, valid, medical, and scientific evidence.”

The program had only four staff members at the beginning of the pandemic, and now has 35 people evaluating claims. Still, it has reviewed only a fraction of the 13,000 claims filed, and has paid out only a dozen.

Dr. Ilka Warshawsky, a 58-year-old pathologist, said she lost all hearing in her right ear after a Covid booster shot. But hearing loss is not a recognized side effect of Covid vaccination.

The compensation program for Covid vaccines sets a high bar for proof, she said, yet offers little information on how to meet it: “These adverse events can be debilitating and life-altering, and so it’s very upsetting that they’re not acknowledged or addressed.”

Dr. Zimmerman, the neuroscientist, submitted her application in October 2021 and provided dozens of supporting medical documents. She received a claim number only in January 2023.

In adjudicating her claim for workers’ compensation, Washington State officials accepted that Covid vaccination caused her injury, but she has yet to get a decision from the federal program.

One of her therapists recently told her she might never be able to live independently again.

“That felt like a devastating blow,” Dr. Zimmerman said. “But I’m trying not to lose hope there will someday be a treatment and a way to cover it.”

Apoorva Mandavilli is a reporter focused on science and global health. She was a part of the team that won the 2021 Pulitzer Prize for Public Service for coverage of the pandemic. More about Apoorva Mandavilli

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