An international scientific review analyzing reported cases of cancer after vaccination against Covid-19 was published earlier this month – just as the medical journal that published it was hit by a cyberattack, knocking out its website.
The study was published on January 3 in the peer-reviewed scientific journal Oncotarget and was conducted by cancer researchers from Tufts University in Boston and Brown University in Rhode Island.
In this review, the authors analyzed 69 previously published studies and case reports from around the world, identifying 333 cases where cancer was newly diagnosed or rapidly worsened within a few weeks of vaccination against Covid-19.
The included studies covered the period 2020–2025 and came from 27 countries, including the US, Japan, China, Italy, Spain and South Korea. No single country dominated the data, which – according to the authors – suggests that the observed patterns are reported globally.
However, the researchers clearly emphasized that the review does not prove a cause-and-effect relationship between vaccination and cancer, but only highlights patterns reported in existing scientific literature.
Cyberattack and accusations of censorship
A few days after publication, Oncotarget's website became inaccessible, displaying a "bad gateway" error. The magazine announced that it was under active cyberattack and that the incident had been reported to the FBI.
One of the study's authors, Dr. Wafik El-Deiry of Brown University, reacted publicly on social media, expressing concern that the attack was hindering access to newly published research.
“Censorship is alive and well in the US and has entered medicine in a big and scary way,” he wrote on the X platform.
The FBI told the Daily Mail that it "neither confirms nor denies the existence of any specific investigation" into a cyberattack on Oncotarget.
In a message that is now no longer accessible due to the site being hacked, the journal claimed – without providing evidence – that the attack could be linked to the anonymous scientific review platform PubPeer. The latter categorically denied any involvement.
PubPeer is a platform where researchers can anonymously comment on already published scientific articles, with the aim of post-publication review.
What did the study say?
According to the authors, some of the studies analyzed involved large databases. One of them, from the US, examined 1.3 million members of the armed forces, reporting an increase in some types of blood cancer after 2021, when mass vaccination began.
Other studies, including an analysis of 300 people in Italy and another of 8.4 million people in South Korea, reported higher rates of several types of cancer – including thyroid, colon, lung, breast and prostate – in vaccinated people.
However, the results varied by age, gender, type of vaccine, and number of doses. People who had received more doses and boosters were reported to have a higher risk of some types of cancer, such as stomach and pancreatic cancer.
Adults under the age of 65 had a higher risk of thyroid and breast cancer, while people over the age of 75 had a higher risk of prostate cancer.
The authors also noted cases of sudden worsening of slow-growing cancers that had previously been stable, as well as cases where the vaccine appeared to have "activated" certain viruses linked to cancer, such as human herpesvirus 8.
Researchers' conclusion
In conclusion, the scientific team emphasized the need for much more in-depth research:
"These findings underscore the need for rigorous epidemiological, long-term, clinical, and biological studies to assess whether – and under what conditions – vaccination or infection with Covid-19 may be associated with cancer," the authors write.
The study remains accessible once the journal's website is fully functional, and the authors themselves emphasize that it is not definitive evidence, but rather scientific signals that require further investigation. /GazetaExpress/
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