copenlu/druid huggingface dataset:
Claim: “huge peer review show[ed] vaccines may have caused tens of millions of serious new health problems worldwide” (Alex Berenson, 2023-02-28)
Evidence (2022-12-07): The review, a collaboration of independent, international experts, also found there was little or no difference between the number of people experiencing serious side effects after vaccination compared to those who were unvaccinated.
Claim: “huge peer review show[ed] vaccines may have caused tens of millions of serious new health problems worldwide” (Alex Berenson, 2023-02-28)
Evidence (2023-04-25): We limit our analysis to a relatively short projection time: the first six months of the vaccination campaign. Our estimates are therefore not generalizable to the entire period of the vaccination campaign. In subsequent months, booster doses, the expansion of the Pfizer vaccine to children aged 5–11, waning immunity, and the establishment of the more virulent Delta and immune-evading Omicron variants have made estimation of vaccine effects more challenging. These later phases of the pandemic driven by new variants led to tens of millions of Covid-19 infections. We are not able to say definitively whether the averted cases, hospitalizations and deaths quantified in this analysis were truly averted or merely delayed. Nevertheless, it can be argued that these early averted cases were crucial, as this period was prior to the widespread availability of antiviral medication and a time with substantially lower population immunity against severe outcomes.
Claim: “huge peer review show[ed] vaccines may have caused tens of millions of serious new health problems worldwide” (Alex Berenson, 2023-02-28)
Evidence (2021-07-02): Vaccines, based in Switzerland, formally retracted the paper on July 2. [...] "This is a peer-reviewed, scientific study," Wheeler tells her viewers. "Essentially, this peer-reviewed scientific study shows that COVID-19 vaccine causes two deaths for every three lives it saves."
Claim: “huge peer review show[ed] vaccines may have caused tens of millions of serious new health problems worldwide” (Alex Berenson, 2023-02-28)
Evidence (2024-02-29): Many popular posts on social media have shared results from the study, some lacking the context that the identified health problems are rare, that most aren’t new and that the vaccines have proven benefits. Various posts made unfounded claims, stating or implying that people should not have received the vaccines, that the risks outweigh the benefits or that the risk of the rare side effects is greater than was reported in the study. [...] "This thing was forced on people who faced almost no risk from Covid," said another widely read post. "It is completely unacceptable." The post shared statistics from the paper without making it clear that serious health problems after vaccination were rare and that risk varied by vaccine type and dose. [...] The researchers focused on 13 health problems that either had a known association with vaccination or for which there was some rationale to investigate whether there was an association. To determine whether the health problems were associated with vaccination, they compared the expected rates of the health problems — or the number of health events that should occur based on background rates in the regions studied — with the number of events they observed in the 42 days after vaccination.
Claim: “huge peer review show[ed] vaccines may have caused tens of millions of serious new health problems worldwide” (Alex Berenson, 2023-02-28)
Evidence (2021-08-29): Serious complications of COVID-19 vaccines: A mini-review - PMID: 34746732 - PMCID: PMC8556676 - DOI: 10.1016/j.metop.2021.100145 Serious complications of COVID-19 vaccines: A mini-review
Claim: “huge peer review show[ed] vaccines may have caused tens of millions of serious new health problems worldwide” (Alex Berenson, 2023-02-28)
Evidence (2022-12-22): In any new large vaccine rollout, some people will experience a serious medical problem in the period after the new vaccine is given, and wonder "was it from the vaccine?". [...] Strong vaccine safety systems are designed to identify and investigate potential new health issues related to a vaccine. [...] A recent Danish study, yet to be peer-reviewed, for example, showed fewer new health problems four months after Omicron infection in people given a booster compared to those given only two doses of COVID-19 vaccine.
Claim: “huge peer review show[ed] vaccines may have caused tens of millions of serious new health problems worldwide” (Alex Berenson, 2023-02-28)
Evidence (2024-09-27): Scientific evidence for the effectiveness of large-scale vaccination campaigns is well established.[31] Two to three million deaths are prevented each year worldwide by vaccination, and an additional 1.5 million deaths could be prevented each year if all recommended vaccines were used.[32] Vaccination campaigns helped eradicate smallpox, which once killed as many as one in seven children in Europe,[33] and have nearly eradicated polio.[34] As a more modest example, infections caused by Haemophilus influenzae (Hib), a major cause of bacterial meningitis and other serious diseases in children, have decreased by over 99% in the US since the introduction of a vaccine in 1988.[35] It is estimated that full vaccination, from birth to adolescence, of all US children born in a given year would save 33,000 lives and prevent 14 million infections.[36] [...] In several countries, reductions in the use of some vaccines were followed by increases in the diseases' morbidity and mortality.[301][302] According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, continued high levels of vaccine coverage are necessary to prevent a resurgence of diseases that have been nearly eliminated.[303] Pertussis remains a major health problem in developing countries, where mass vaccination is not practiced; the World Health Organization estimates it caused 294,000 deaths in 2002.[304] Vaccine hesitancy has contributed to the resurgence of preventable disease. For example, in 2019, the number of measles cases increased by thirty percent worldwide and many cases occurred in countries that had nearly eliminated measles.[32]
Claim: VAERS data are “crystal clear”: “the COVID vaccines are killing people” (Steve Kirsch, 2023-10-08)
Evidence (2023-10-08): The VAERS database is a pharmacosurveillance tool used to detect early signs of unusual adverse event patterns following vaccination. However, on its own, it cannot prove that a vaccine caused the reported adverse events, including deaths. Therefore, VAERS data alone don’t show that COVID-19 vaccines are dangerous.
Claim: VAERS data are “crystal clear”: “the COVID vaccines are killing people” (Steve Kirsch, 2023-10-08)
Evidence (2023-11-10): VAERS is supposed to be user friendly, responsive, and transparent. However, investigations by The BMJ have uncovered that it’s not meeting its own standards. Not only have staffing levels failed to keep pace with the unprecedented number of reports since the rollout of covid vaccines but there are signs that the system is overwhelmed, reports aren’t being followed up, and signals are being missed. [...] However, The BMJ has learnt that in the face of an unprecedented 1.7 million reports since the rollout of covid vaccines, VAERS’s staffing was likely not commensurate with the demands of reviewing the serious reports submitted, including reports of death. While other countries have acknowledged deaths that were "likely" or "probably" related to mRNA vaccination, the CDC—which says that it has reviewed nearly 20 000 preliminary reports of death using VAERS (far more than other countries)—has not acknowledged a single death linked to mRNA vaccines. [...] In November 2022, React19, an advocacy group of some 30 000 people who have experienced prolonged illness after covid vaccination, reviewed 126 VAERS reports among its ranks. In its audit, which was conducted by volunteers inside and outside the organisation, 22% had never been given a permanent VAERS ID number and 12% had disappeared from the system entirely—in other words, one in three of the reports they looked for didn’t show up in the publicly searchable database.8
Claim: VAERS data are “crystal clear”: “the COVID vaccines are killing people” (Steve Kirsch, 2023-10-08)
Evidence (2023-11-06): COVID-19 vaccination reduces the risk of death from COVID-19. Social media posts have misused survey data and adverse events reports to falsely claim that COVID-19 vaccines have killed more people than COVID-19. But serious adverse events resulting from vaccination, including deaths, are rare. [...] However, the results are inconsistent with claims that the COVID-19 vaccines are causing mass deaths. "In the context of widespread suggestions on social media that COVID-19 vaccines are unsafe, it is reassuring that we found no evidence of any association of COVID-19 vaccination with increased risk of death," the researchers wrote. [...] VAERS data do not indicate increased risk of death after COVID-19 vaccination. For instance, a study of deaths after COVID-19 vaccination reported to VAERS through November 2021 found that the rate of reported deaths was lower than the expected death rate in the general population. "These findings do not suggest an association between vaccination and overall increased mortality," the authors wrote.
Claim: VAERS data are “crystal clear”: “the COVID vaccines are killing people” (Steve Kirsch, 2023-10-08)
Evidence (2022-03-08): Covid vaccines not linked to deaths, major US study finds [...] Because Covid jabs were originally authorised in the United States under emergency-use provisions, healthcare providers are required to report all deaths following vaccination, whether a doctor suspects a "plausible" link or not. [...] Death rates "The rapid pace at which Covid-19 vaccines were administered under emergency use, especially among older populations, was unprecedented," the CDC's Dr David Shay said.
Claim: VAERS data are “crystal clear”: “the COVID vaccines are killing people” (Steve Kirsch, 2023-10-08)
Evidence (2023-09-08): FULL CLAIM: VAERS data are "crystal clear": "72% of the deaths in the history of VAERS are from the COVID vaccine"; the "vaccination-to-onset time" vaccine curve "means that the COVID vaccines are killing people" [...] In yet another iteration of this claim, entrepreneur Steve Kirsch published an article on Substack in August 2023, in which he used data from the U.S. Vaccine Adverse Events Reporting System (VAERS), a database where anybody can report medical events occurring among vaccinated individuals, to claim that it was "crystal clear" that "the COVID vaccines are killing people". [...] In another part of his analysis, Kirsch presented a graph that supposedly "means that the COVID vaccines are killing people". Once again, the reasoning is flawed. To understand why, we must first explain the rationale behind this.
Claim: VAERS data are “crystal clear”: “the COVID vaccines are killing people” (Steve Kirsch, 2023-10-08)
Evidence (2023-08-16): A blog post shared on Facebook claimed that COVID-19 vaccines have killed some 676,000 people in the U.S. [...] "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)." [...] There is no evidence that COVID-19 vaccines have killed people in the U.S. in large numbers, let alone 676,000. We rate the claim Pants on Fire!
Claim: VAERS data are “crystal clear”: “the COVID vaccines are killing people” (Steve Kirsch, 2023-10-08)
Evidence (2023-08-02): They are also reminiscent of another baseless claim we addressed in February — again predicated on VAERS data — that a person is 300 to 900 times more likely to die "after getting the #Covid vaccine than the flu vaccine." [...] As a result, far from proving the death claim, the data show the opposite — that there’s no sign the COVID-19 vaccines are any different from the flu vaccine — and what’s happening in VAERS is increased reporting rather than a sign that the vaccines are causing excess deaths. [...] Because no medical product is 100% safe, a very small number of people will be harmed by the COVID-19 vaccines, which is why it’s so critical to have a system such as VAERS and why it’s important to be transparent about the potential risks. But distorting and misusing VAERS figures to insinuate there are large safety concerns that have not been detected after administration of nearly half a billion doses in the U.S. is misleading.
Claim: VAERS data are “crystal clear”: “the COVID vaccines are killing people” (Steve Kirsch, 2023-10-08)
Evidence (2023-08-02): To start, a large number of COVID-19 vaccines were given out in a relatively short period of time, with more doses and priority given to older and more medically vulnerable people. The VAERS reporting requirements are also higher for the COVID-19 vaccines. Health care providers, for example, are required by law to report any vaccine administration error, any serious adverse event following vaccination, and any COVID-19 case that results in hospitalization or death. With other vaccines, providers are only required to report select adverse events. And the incredible amount of publicity and scrutiny of the new vaccines is arguably unprecedented in modern history. [...] Despite all the claims about COVID-19 vaccine-related deaths, VAERS data do not suggest that the vaccines increase mortality. Of the COVID-19 vaccines ever offered in the U.S., only the Johnson & Johnson vaccine has been causally linked to thrombosis with thrombocytopenia syndrome, or TTS, which can be fatal. TTS is a blood clotting condition combined with low blood platelets and is extremely rare. Six reports of the condition to VAERS led regulators to temporarily suspend the use of the J&J vaccine in April 2021. Through May 2023, monitoring has identified nine deaths from TTS that are considered to be due to the vaccine. The J&J vaccine is no longer available in the U.S., after the last doses expired in May.
Claim: VAERS data are “crystal clear”: “the COVID vaccines are killing people” (Steve Kirsch, 2023-10-08)
Evidence (2021-08-24): A 24-minute video that slams celebrities for recommending COVID-19 vaccinations claims the vaccines have killed hundreds of thousands of people. [...] More than 380 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines were administered in the United States from Dec. 14, 2020, through Sept. 13, 2021. In that period, VAERS received 7,653 reports of death (0.0020%) among people who received a COVID-19 vaccine. [...] PolitiFact, "No truth that VAERS system shows 6,000 "died because of" COVID-19 vaccines," Aug. 9, 2021
Claim: VAERS data are “crystal clear”: “the COVID vaccines are killing people” (Steve Kirsch, 2023-10-08)
Evidence (2022-10-04): So when VAERS says it has received 2,509 reports of death among people who received a COVID-19 vaccine as of March 29, that does not mean that those deaths were caused by the vaccine. [...] When VAERS detects something unusual, those signals are investigated by scientists and other vaccine surveillance systems, such as the Vaccine Safety Datalink, a collaboration between the CDC’s Immunization Safety Office and nine health care organizations, or the CDC’s Clinical Immunization Safety Assessment Project, a network of vaccine safety experts, including those at seven medical research centers, to evaluate causality. In the case of COVID-19 vaccines, VAERS is just one of several vaccine safety monitoring systems the government has in place. [...] Take the 2,509 reports of death filed to VAERS as of March 29, which represent 0.0017% of those who had received a COVID-19 vaccine. People die every day for any number of reasons. In 2019, for example, 0.8% of the U.S. population died from any cause, according to the CDC. That was before the coronavirus pandemic.
Claim: VAERS data are “crystal clear”: “the COVID vaccines are killing people” (Steve Kirsch, 2023-10-08)
Evidence (2024-04-03): You asked, we answered: Does VAERS list deaths caused by COVID-19 vaccines? [...] Is it true that VAERS says 14,000 people have died from the COVID-19 vaccines? [...] As of Nov. 2, people have reported to VAERS 14,506 deaths that occurred sometime after COVID-19 vaccination. Doctors at the CDC review each reported death, looking at death certificates, autopsy and medical records. Additional CDC vaccine safety monitoring systems such as the National Healthcare Safety Network, Vaccine Safety Datalink, Clinical Immununization Safety Assessment Project and FDA's vaccine safety reporting systems are then used to provide more rigorous scientific investigation of potential adverse events. The true number of deaths currently attributed to COVID-19 vaccines in detailed scientific investigation is quite small.
Claim: VAERS data are “crystal clear”: “the COVID vaccines are killing people” (Steve Kirsch, 2023-10-08)
Evidence (2023-08-10): VAERS data don’t show that COVID-19 vaccines are deadly; Steve Kirsch’s claim to the contrary relied on flawed analysis [...] In yet another iteration of this claim, entrepreneur Steve Kirsch published an article on Substack in August 2023, in which he used data from the U.S. Vaccine Adverse Events Reporting System (VAERS), a database where anybody can report medical events occurring among vaccinated individuals, to claim that it was "crystal clear" that "the COVID vaccines are killing people". [...] In another part of his analysis, Kirsch presented a graph that supposedly "means that the COVID vaccines are killing people". Once again, the reasoning is flawed. To understand why, we must first explain the rationale behind this.
Claim: VAERS data are “crystal clear”: “the COVID vaccines are killing people” (Steve Kirsch, 2023-10-08)
Evidence (2023-08-28): The claim: COVID-19 vaccines kill one in 1,000 recipients [...] "VAERS data is crystal clear: The COVID vaccines are killing an estimated 1 person per 1,000 doses (676,000 dead Americans)," reads the headline on a post by Steve Kirsch, a prominent skeptic of COVID-19 vaccine safety. [...] Kirsch questioned why a disproportionate number of deaths reported to VAERS for all vaccines came after COVID-19 vaccination. But Su said there are a number of possible explanations.
Claim: VAERS data are “crystal clear”: “the COVID vaccines are killing people” (Steve Kirsch, 2023-10-08)
Evidence (2021-09-01): Between December 14, 2020 and June 14, 2021, the United States gave more than 310 million doses of the three authorized Covid-19 vaccines. During that period of time, the public database known as the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System, or VAERS, received reports of 5,343 deaths among those who received a Covid-19 shot. [...] The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is very clear that a report of death on VAERS does not mean that a vaccine actually caused the death. CDC and FDA physicians review each of these cases in great detail once they're made aware. That includes looking over their entire medical history. For the three Covid-19 vaccines, the CDC has stated that there's no evidence from clinical data, death certificates or autopsies to confirm reports of them directly causing death. Compare that with Covid-19 infection, which leads to death in nearly 2 percent of cases in the United States. That means 2 out of every 100 people die from a COVID-19 infection.
Claim: VAERS data are “crystal clear”: “the COVID vaccines are killing people” (Steve Kirsch, 2023-10-08)
Evidence (2024-09-17): Getting a COVID-19 vaccine can provide added protection for people who already had COVID-19. [...] COVID-19 vaccines do not create or cause variants of the virus that causes COVID-19. As the COVID-19 virus spreads, it has more opportunities to change. [...] The number of deaths reported to VAERS following COVID-19 vaccination has been misinterpreted and misreported as if this number means deaths that were proven to be caused by vaccination. Reports of adverse events to VAERS following vaccination, including deaths, do not necessarily mean that a vaccine caused a health problem.
Claim: VAERS data are “crystal clear”: “the COVID vaccines are killing people” (Steve Kirsch, 2023-10-08)
Evidence (2023-05-17): Concern has continued to grow over a small, but growing number of cases of a rare, but serious blood clotting disorders associated with the Johnson & Johnson coronavirus vaccine. In May, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) put new restrictions on who can get the J&J vaccine, based on a fresh review of data on the life-threatening blood clots that have been associated with the vaccine. This was five months after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) endorsed a decision to give a preferential recommendation to the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna vaccines. [...] The clotting disorder is called thrombosis with thrombocytopenia syndrome (TTS), and it is rare—an updated safety analysis showed that, as of March 18, out of more than 18 million people who got J&J, 60 cases of TTS were reported and nine people died. The analysis was based on suspected cases of TTS reported to the government’s Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS). The risk appears to be greatest—1 in 100,000—in women ages 30 to 49. [...] The Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna COVID-19 vaccines, both of which are mRNA vaccines and use a different method to protect against the virus, have not been linked to blood clots at this time.
Claim: VAERS data are “crystal clear”: “the COVID vaccines are killing people” (Steve Kirsch, 2023-10-08)
Evidence (2023-09-08): "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)." [...] 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
Claim: VAERS data are “crystal clear”: “the COVID vaccines are killing people” (Steve Kirsch, 2023-10-08)
Evidence (2022-05-03): Since the emergence of COVID-19 vaccines, however, the database has garnered more dubious notoriety. Anti-vaccination fringe groups have attempted to spin false stories using VAERS data, adding to misinformation about the safety of COVID-19 vaccinations. [...] "The COVID vaccine especially is where VAERS has gotten so misused," Talaat says. "Eighty percent of people in this country have gotten at least one dose. Well, a lot of things have happened to 80% of people in the last two years that are unrelated to the vaccine." [...] What VAERS Reveals About COVID-19 Vaccines
Claim: VAERS data are “crystal clear”: “the COVID vaccines are killing people” (Steve Kirsch, 2023-10-08)
Evidence (2024-02-27): To enhance public acceptance of COVID-19 vaccines and establish trust in vaccine safety and understand potential adverse effects, clear and reliable information is essential. The National Institutes of Health (NIH) urged further research on the effects of COVID-19 vaccines12. Despite the WHO's call for high-quality research on the negative health, social, and economic effects of COVID-19 vaccines, conclusive evidence is still lacking, necessitating further investigation into the factors contributing to these effects2,11,23. Many observational studies were conducted to monitor or detect the AEs following COVID-19 vaccinations with a wide range of AE rates between 13 and 90%12,24,25,26,27,28,29,30,31,32,33. Fewer studies focusing only on one country, one province, or one area were performed in the Arab countries with most studies done in Saudi Arabia and Egypt33,34,35,36,37,38,39,40,41. Hence, this multicenter study aimed to explore the AEs of different types and doses of COVID-19 vaccines and identify associated factors among vaccinated participants in six Arabic countries.