When a new Yale University study identified a debilitating syndrome linked to Covid vaccines, Lindy Ayers breathed a sigh of relief. 

The 31-year-old Army veteran, from Arkansas, has been wheelchair-bound since she took her second Pfizer shot in 2021 as part of the government's military mandate.

For years she was told her extreme fatigue, sickness and heart palpitations were anxiety. Then doctors said it was long Covid. She was branded an antivaxxer for suggesting it could have been the vaccine.

Thousands of Americans have reported similar stories. After the study news dropped, DailyMail.com spoke to dozens of Americans, including those in healthcare, law, and the military, who said they felt a sense of validation after years of being dismissed as crazy.

Dr Trevor Keyler, a 39-year-old biology professor from Minnesota who describes himself as 'pro-vaccine' and 'pro-science', has been forced to cut his work hours after suffering extreme tremors and fatigue following his Moderna vaccine.

For years doctors told him his symptoms were not related to the vaccine and were probably Covid itself or long Covid. The doctor, who said he used to be a 'very healthy' and outdoorsy person, now has more trouble staying active with his wife and their two children.

The mRNA vaccines made by Moderna and Pfizer are estimated to have saved tens of millions of lives globally from Covid, including 3million in the US.

But experts have said the push to quell damaging anti-vax misinformation has left those with genuine post-vaccination injuries treated like outcasts.  

In the small study, Yale researchers found patients with previously unknown 'post-vaccination syndrome' show distinct biological changes. 

The most common symptoms appear to be brain fog, dizziness, tinnitus and exercise intolerance, a feeling of exhaustion after limited exercise.

In patients with the syndrome, the vaccine also appears to awaken a dormant virus known as Epstein–Barr and interfere with people's immune systems in complicated ways still being studied.

Meanwhile, people with the post-vaccination condition had high levels of coronavirus proteins in their blood, years after taking the shot, which could leave their bodies in a permanent state of inflammation, causing a host of other problems.