A recent study underscores the rotavirus vaccine’s effectiveness in preventing death from rotavirus-related acute gastroenteritis in children. Prior to its 2006 introduction in the U.S., rotavirus caused widespread illness and fatalities. As health recommendations shift, the study urges timely vaccination… Read More »Vaccine prevents gastroenteritis deaths from rotavirus
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The CDC’s decision to move the rotavirus vaccine to “shared clinical decision-making” creates confusion for parents, potentially leading to decreased vaccination rates. Rotavirus poses severe risks to infants, including hospitalization and death. The vaccine is effective and critical for prevention,… Read More »Skipping rotavirus vaccine will mean thousands of hospitalizations
In the final part of a series, Dr. Frank Han debunks myths from “Vax-Unvax: Let the Science Speak,” addressing false links between vaccines and diseases like IBD, autism, and intussusception. He exposes the authors’ cherry-picking and incorrect conclusions, while highlighting… Read More »Debunking RFK Jr and Brian Hooker’s book “Vax-Unvax” – Part 4
This article about VAERS facts, literally a FAQ, was written by Dorit Rubinstein Reiss, Professor of Law at the University of California Hastings College of the Law (San Francisco, CA), who is a frequent contributor to this and many other blogs, providing in-depth, and intellectually stimulating, articles about vaccines, medical issues, social policy, and the law.
Professor Reiss writes extensively in law journals about vaccination’s social and legal policies. Additionally, Reiss is also a member of the Parent Advisory Board of Voices for Vaccines, a parent-led organization that supports and advocates for on-time vaccination and the reduction of vaccine-preventable diseases. She is also a member of the Vaccines Working Group on Ethics and Policy.
Some of the new generation of anti-vaccine activists appear to have built their careers on misrepresentation of VAERS. One example is Dr. Jessica Rose, who apparently started her career as a legitimate young scientist, but at some point became a devoted anti-vaccine activist. Dr. Rose’s background is described by Orac thus:
Her background is more in the sort of computational biology that looks at protein structures and bioinformatics related to DNA sequences than it is to the sort of mathematical and statistical skill set necessary to delve into VAERS with any credibility. A perusal of her curriculum vitae, which is included on the profile, confirms my assessment, particularly her publication record, which includes a lot of molecular biology and virology, but nothing in the way of epidemiology.
In 2021, Dr. Rose joined the anti-vaccine organization IPAK as a research fellow, and she has published several papers in IPAK’s own publication, named Science, Public Health Policy, and the Law, whose editorial board is comprised of leading anti-vaccine activists.
Dr. Rose’s specialty appears to be doing bad analyses of VAERS and claiming, based on them, that COVID-19 vaccines are dangerous.
On August 9, 2022, Dr. Rose published a “Question and Answer” “facts” about VAERS, titled “A question and answer document on the subject of VAERS as a pharmacovigilance tool”. It is highly misleading. But it gave me an opportunity to provide information based on actual facts about VAERS.
If you want to see how it’s misleading, jump ahead to question 3 (and I hope you then go back and read the long discussion in questions 1 and 2).
I will repeat each question, answer it, shortly summarize Dr. Rose’s claims, and explain why they are misleading. Note that this discussion is limited to the mRNA vaccines and the J&J vaccine, which are the ones used in the United States and subject to reporting to VAERS – Novavax is newer and is not the subject of most of the misinformation from the anti-vaccine activists misleading people about VAERS.
Read More »VAERS facts — contradicting anti-vaccine claims and beliefs