Suzanna's Story

In June of 2018, Suzanna Newell rode her bike 150 miles from Duluth to Minneapolis, Minnesota. An active volunteer in her community in Saint Paul, she was raising her two teenagers with her husband while holding down a corporate job.

In late March of 2021, in order to protect her mother and her sister, Suzanna lined up for the first dose of the Covid vaccine. She was given Pfizer. On April 13th, she received the second dose. That’s when her life changed forever.

Within 30 hours of getting the shot, Suzanna felt as if she’d been hit by a truck. The fatigue was debilitating. She woke up with a huge lymph node on the left side of her neck. Her health went downhill steadily. Five weeks later, she couldn’t walk or sit up. The physical pain felt burning. She couldn’t see straight. She had tinnitus and dizziness. Her heart raced for no reason. That’s when she went to the hospital.

The next few years were a blur of doctors appointments. She saw cardiologists, rheumatologists, vascular specialists, and neuro-ophthalmologists. The blood from her brain failed to drain down, causing encephalitis and requiring surgery. Suzanna ended up with an autoimmune disease in which her blood coagulates in cold weather, eventually forcing her to move to a warmer climate.

A nucleoclapid test proved she hadn’t had Covid-19.

“I know it’s more comfortable to think, oh, she must have an underlying health condition that she didn’t realize,” said Suzanna. “[but] there really is nothing else to point the finger at. And . . . I know that’s uncomfortable for people.”

Frustrated by the treatment from some physicians, she turned to online communities. That’s where she found scores of people — including in Saint Paul — with similar symptoms from the Covid injections. They supported each other and shared medical tips. For some, the pain was so intense that they took their own lives.

“Let’s not pretend it’s not happening,” said Suzanna. “I think it’s cruel and inhumane to leave people behind like that.”

In the USA, those suffering from severe reactions to the Covid vaccines have one year to file for the Countermeasures Injury Compensation Program or three years for the Vaccine Injury Compensation Program, explained Suzanna. The approval rate is miniscule. For the claims that are approved, the payouts are barely enough to cover their co-pays and out-of-pocket maximums. She hit her out-of-pocket maximum every year for the last five years. Before 2021, she never had.

In order to support people suffering from vaccine injuries, Suzanna founded Team Humanity. To symbolize its bipartisan nature, she chose purple as the official color.

“It just breaks my heart when I know people are suffering alone,” said Suzanna. “It breaks my heart when I know young people are going through this. . . . That experience is just too much for one person to go through alone. . . . It’s scary and it’s long. It’s not just an acute little thing that happens and it’s done. It sticks with you and it’s life changing and isolating.”

She tries to give them hope that they’ll get better.

Team Humanity’s supporters (pictured) have competed in a triathlon for the past five years — the same triathlon that Suzanna raced in for many years before her vaccine injury.

Several months before Suzanna got her Pfizer shots, researchers conducted the clinical trials. From July 27th to October 29th, 2020, a total of 44,165 pre-screened volunteers in the USA, Argentina, Germany, Brazil, South Africa, and Türkiye were randomized to receive two doses of either BNT162b2 or a saline solution.

Published in September of 2021 in the New England Journal of Medicine, the paper declared the Pfizer BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine to possess “a favorable safety profile.”

After reading it, I clicked on the Supplementary Appendix at the end.

I noticed that on page 11, Table S3 reveals a more precise description of how safe the injection was. Between the first dose and one month after the second dose, recipients of the BioNTech injection experienced more than twice as many adverse events as did recipients of the placebo.

Zeroing in on events deemed “severe,” BioNTech recipients experienced 262, while placebo recipients experienced 150.

Safety data were not provided for longer than one month after the second dose.

This Sunday, August 9th, at the YWCA Minneapolis Women’s Triathlon, Team Humanity invites you to join them in cheering on their 23 contestants (including Suzanna and another injured racer!).

This photo is from a prior year.

At approximately 10:30am, they will cross the finish line. If you’re able to attend, please reach out to Suzanna for a t-shirt. They’re not seeking donations. The purpose is to raise public awareness for the Covid vaccine-injured. Team Humanity newsletter subscriptions fund the t-shirts.

Parking is difficult, so please add extra time and plan to walk many blocks. Bring a chair if standing is difficult.

Meet at Lake Nokomis Main Beach from 9am to 11am. Come and go as your morning allows.

Look for the sea of purple.

To hear my full interview with Suzanna Newell, play the video above. Thank you to Zana Carver, Ph.D., Tov Klein, Priscilla King, Katheryn Greenleaf, michelle ray, and many others for tuning in live.

A Novel Analysis of the Pfizer Trial

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November 27, 2025

The following article was written by Eyal Shahar, MD, MPH, Professor Emeritus in the Department of Epidemiology & Biostatistics at the University of Arizona.