Covid-19 vaccines have killed 676,000 Americans.
Steve Kirsch in an Aug. 6, 2023, blog post
A blog post shared on Facebook claimed that covid-19 vaccines have killed some 676,000 Americans.
The post was written by anti-vaccine activist Steve Kirsch, who has made other vaccine claims debunked by PolitiFact and other fact-checkers.
Kirsch’s Aug. 6 post referred to the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System, a federal database.
“VAERS data is crystal clear,” the headline read. “The COVID vaccines are killing an estimated 1 person per 1,000 doses (676,000 dead Americans).”
The blog post was shared on social media and flagged as part of Meta’s efforts to combat false news and misinformation on its News Feed. (Read more about PolitiFact’s partnership with Meta, which owns Facebook and Instagram.)
The data Kirsch used is from an anti-vaccine group’s alternative gateway to VAERS. VAERS, which includes unverified reports, cannot be used to determine whether a vaccine caused death. Kirsch did not reply to our request for information.
“Statements that imply that reports of deaths to VAERS following vaccination equate to deaths caused by vaccination are scientifically inaccurate, misleading and irresponsible,” the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which co-manages the database with the FDA, told PolitiFact.
The CDC added that it “has not detected any unusual or unexpected patterns for deaths following immunization that would indicate that COVID vaccines are causing or contributing to deaths, outside of the nine confirmed” thrombosis with thrombocytopenia syndrome, or TTS, deaths following the Johnson & Johnson/Janssen vaccine, which is no longer offered in the U.S.
TTS, which causes blood clots, has occurred in approximately four cases per million doses administered, according to the CDC.
VAERS helps researchers collect data on vaccine aftereffects and detect patterns that may warrant a closer look.
The CDC cautions that VAERS results, which come from unverified reports anyone can make, are not enough to determine whether a vaccine causes a particular adverse event.
For the covid vaccines, VAERS has received a flood of reports, and they have become especially potent fuel for misinformation.
Kirsch made his claim not by using VAERS directly, but with an alternative gateway to VAERS from the anti-vaccine National Vaccine Information Center.
That website draws on raw and limited VAERS reports, which can include incomplete or inaccurate information. These reports do not provide enough information to determine whether a vaccine caused a particular adverse event.
There is no evidence that covid vaccines have killed Americans in large numbers, let alone 676,000. We rate the claim Pants on Fire!
Our sources
Steve Kirsch’s newsletter, “VAERS Data Is Crystal Clear: The COVID Vaccines Are Killing an Estimated 1 Person per 1,000 Doses (676,000 Dead Americans),” Aug. 6, 2023
Health Feedback, “VAERS Data Don’t Show That COVID-19 Vaccines Are Deadly; Steve Kirsch’s Claim to the Contrary Relied on Flawed Analysis,” Aug. 6, 2023
Facebook, post, Aug. 8, 2023
PolitiFact, “How an Alternative Gateway to VAERS Data Helps Fuel Vaccine Misinformation,” Feb. 28, 2022
PolitiFact, “Federal VAERS Database Is a Critical Tool for Researchers, but a Breeding Ground for Misinformation,” May 3, 2021
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, “Selected Adverse Events Reported After COVID-19 Vaccination,” July 13, 2023
Email, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Aug. 10, 2023
KFF Health News is a national newsroom that produces in-depth journalism about health issues and is one of the core operating programs at KFF—an independent source of health policy research, polling, and journalism. Learn more about KFF.
Subscribe to KFF Health News’ free Morning Briefing.
—
This post was previously published on kffhealthnews.org under a Creative Commons License.
***
From The Good Men Project on Medium
What Does Being in Love and Loving Someone Really Mean? 
My 9-Year-Old Accidentally Explained Why His Mom Divorced Me 
The One Thing Men Want More Than Sex 
The Internal Struggle Men Battle in Silence ***
Join The Good Men Project as a Premium Member today.
All Premium Members get to view The Good Men Project with NO ADS.
A $50 annual membership gives you an all access pass. You can be a part of every call, group, class and community.
A $25 annual membership gives you access to one class, one Social Interest group and our online communities.
A $12 annual membership gives you access to our Friday calls with the publisher, our online community.
Register New Account
Log in if you wish to renew an existing subscription.
Username
First Name
Last Name
Password
Password Again
Choose your subscription level
- Yearly - $50.00 - 1 Year
- Monthly - $6.99 - 1 Month
Credit / Debit Card PayPal Choose Your Payment Method
Auto Renew
Subscribe to The Good Men Project Daily Newsletter By completing this registration form, you are also agreeing to our Terms of Service which can be found here.Need more info? A complete list of benefits is here.
—–
Photo credit: iStockPhoto.com
The post Activist Misuses Federal Data to Make False Claim that Covid Vaccines Killed 676,000 appeared first on The Good Men Project.
Original Article
