Some domestic and foreign media recently reported that the rate of deaths after COVID-19 vaccination in the United States is 80 times higher than that of ordinary flu vaccinated people.
The media reported on the 7th that "by February 19, there are 41.97 million COVID-19 vaccinations in the U.S. and 966 deaths during the same period, and the COVID-19 mortality rate is about 0.0023%," adding, "The COVID-19 vaccine mortality rate is 80 times higher than the general flu vaccine mortality rate."
(Picture from Unsplash)
The basis for this was the number of deaths after vaccination reported in the Vaccine Anomaly Reporting System (VAERS) provided by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The media estimated that the death rate was 0.0000265% considering that the number of deaths after vaccination reported to VAERS in 2019 was 45 and the number of flu vaccinations in the U.S. 2019-2020 was 170 million.
However, the VAERS data is information that not only medical institutions but also the general public can report adverse reactions after vaccination, and the causal relationship between vaccination and death has not been confirmed.
The VAERS site also stated, "One of the limitations of VAERS vaccine data is that it is not possible to determine whether the vaccine caused an abnormal reaction," adding, "In particular, there are cases where death reports after vaccination are misinterpreted as deaths from vaccines, but it is not accurate."
The media claim that the death rate after COVID-19 vaccination reported to VARES is 80 times higher than that of general flu vaccines cannot be seen as a result of scientific analysis.
According to a study report published by CDC researchers and others in the 2013 American Journal of Preventive Medicine, the mortality rate within 60 days among vaccinated people was 442.5 (about 0.44%) per 100,000 people per year. This was lower than the normal mortality rate in the United States and the cause of death was similar. This is because vaccination has reduced the risk of death for the elderly.
Among the 13,033,274 vaccinated people surveyed by the researchers from 2005 to 2008, 15,455 died within 60 days of vaccination, far exceeding 966 deaths reported to VAERS out of 41.97 million COVID-19 vaccinations during a similar period (from late December to February 19 last year).
Therefore, there is no evidence that the proportion of deaths among COVID-19 vaccinated people is higher than that of general vaccines.
Lee Jae-gap, a professor of infectious medicine at Hallym University, said in a telephone call on the 19th, "In the United States, general flu vaccines are rarely reported unless there is a clear causal relationship with death. There is no understanding of the VAERS system that the death rate is 80 times higher than that."
Writer: Yeyoung Jeon
Comments