The US government maintains a database called VAERS, a Which one anyone can file a report if they think something bad happened to them after receiving a vaccine. It is an important tool to keep abreast of vaccine safety, but they are also being exploited by vaccine activists to make vaccines look more terrifying than they are.
VAERS is short for Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System. “Adverse events” are literally things that happen (events) that are bad (adverse). Scientists and doctors tend to prefer this term over something like “side effects,” which implies a cause-and-effect relationship that often cannot be established. If you have a headache after receiving a shot, for example, it is an adverse fact. It was caused by the vaccine? Maybe, but this is a separate question and can be difficult to answer definitely.
How VAERS is actually used
Like the CDC explains here, the VAERS database was established in 1990 as part of a package of vaccine safety reforms. (The same law established a vaccine court without any fault to compensate people for vaccine-induced injuries without having to sue pharmaceutical companies.)
Anyone can send a report to VAERS: you, your doctor, your family member, even your lawyer. (Doctors are required to report certain adverse events, but for the most part, submissions are voluntary.) It looks like Wikipedia, in a sense: Tthe things that are there may not be true, but they are probably many, and much can still be learned from what it contains.
The idea is that if it is is a problem with a vaccine, reports will start appearing in VAERS. Researchers will study events that seem serious, common, or related. Here is how HHS describes the goals of the program:
- Detect new, unusual or rare adverse events from the vaccine;
- Monitor for increases in known adverse events;
- Identify possible patient risk factors for certain types of adverse events;
- Evaluate the safety of recently licensed vaccines;
- Determine and address possible reporting clusters (for example, it is suspected to be localized [temporally or geographically] or product / lot / lot specific adverse event reports);
- Recognize persistent safe use issues and administration errors;
- Provide a national security surveillance system that extends to the entire general population to respond to public health emergencies, such as a large-scale pandemic influenza vaccination program.
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VAERS reports can be an early advance if there are problems associated with a vaccine, or even a specific batch of vaccine. Is it like that one of the many ways regulators said they would ensure safety as new COVID vaccines are introduced.
How VAERS is misused
Vaccine activists have always been using and misrepresenting VAERS. The reports are publicly accessible, so anyone can search the database and they do.
Before searching the database, you must click through a bulk download screen that explains that the reports are not verified and other important ones are listed. limitations. (Vice reported recently an activist group has created a VAERS search portal that allows you to view reports without viewing this screen.)
II can probably see the problem here. Removing a bunch of reports that say “dead” and mention a particular vaccine doesn’t mean the vaccine killed those people. It only means that the person died some time after receiving the vaccine. In fact, a recent analysis of the adverse events of the COVID vaccine, both from the VAERS reports and from another control system called V-SAFE, found that most deaths after vaccination were in elderly residents of long-term care centers and are unlikely to have been caused by vaccines.
So if you see information being shared that claims to attribute deaths, miscarriages, or other frightening reactions to the new COVID vaccines, apply your common sense critical thinking skills and find out where the data comes from. There could very possibly be safety issues with these or any vaccine, but if there is, any serious issue would be news on the front page, so be wary if you only hear about it from a viral Facebook post.