VAERS does not show causation — vaccines and adverse events
Anti-vaxxers misuse the VAERS system to prove causation between vaccines and adverse events. That’s not the right way to do science.
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Low risk of Guillain-Barré syndrome after COVID mRNA vaccines
New research shows that the risk of Guillain-Barré syndrome after receiving COVID-19 mRNA vaccines is the same as unvaccinated individuals.
ICAN tries to mislead public about COVID-19 vaccines safety
Anti-vaccine organization misuses the v-safe vaccine database to mislead the public about COVID-19 vaccines.
278,000 COVID-19 vaccine deaths — outrageous paper retracted
In early 2023, a peer-reviewed article estimated the number of US COVID vaccine deaths at 278,000. The article was retracted.
Florida surgeon general misuses VAERS for COVID vaccine safety
The Florida Surgeon General, Joseph Ladapo, wrote a letter against COVID-19 vaccines using problematic VAERS data. CDC and FDA respond.
The bivalent COVID vaccines are not linked to strokes
Recent scientific research shows that the bivalent COVID-19 vaccines do not cause strokes despite early safety signals.
Joe Mercola falsely claims COVID vaccine boosters cause cancer
Joe Mercola uses a retracted paper to claim that COVID-19 vaccine boosters cause cancer. This is another false claim with no merit.
VAERS facts — contradicting anti-vaccine claims and beliefs
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
Anti-vaxxers don’t want to be called “anti-vaccine” — boo frickin’ hoo
A few days ago, some anti-vaxxer on Twitter complained that she didn’t want to be called anti-vaccine. She said it was a personal attack on her. And that she really wasn’t anti-vaccine.
Well, that’s just an incredibly laughable position that is unsupported by anything in reality. These anti-vaccine activists want to appear rational, thoughtful, and scientific, when, in fact, their position is anything but rational, thoughtful, or scientific.
We call someone anti-vaccine because they refuse to accept the vast scientific consensus about every vaccine on the market. No matter how many times we talk about a large, well-analyzed, unbiased study about a vaccine, they ignore it, and then they give preference to anecdotes and false authorities that confirm their pre-ordained conclusions about vaccines.
Now, just to be clear, parents who sit on the fence because they are confused about vaccines are not anti-vaxxers. They aren’t promoting anti-vaccine nonsense, they are trying to find good evidence to support getting vaccinated. I try to target this group lately because they seem to be working in good faith about vaccines. I’ve had numerous people over time that information I’ve prevented has moved them from “vaccine-hesitant” to pro-vaccine. That’s my mitzvah.
I’m going to write about true anti-vaxxers who present bad information about vaccines while complaining that they are being characterized as “anti-vaccine.” They deserve the label, and I’ll show you why.
Read More »Anti-vaxxers don’t want to be called “anti-vaccine” — boo frickin’ hoo
Premature ovarian failure and HPV vaccine — bad anti-vax “research”
Let me start right from the top — no link has been found between the HPV vaccine and premature ovarian failure. But that didn’t stop some “researchers” from dumpster-diving into the VAERS database to try to establish a link between the HPV vaccine and premature ovarian failure.
Since I enjoy doing this, I am going to review this paper and tell you, once again, why good vaccine research should never rely upon VAERS.
Read More »Premature ovarian failure and HPV vaccine — bad anti-vax “research”