FACT CHECK: Does The VAERS Website Say COVID-19 Vaccines Are Connected To More Deaths Than All Other Vaccines Combined?
An image shared on Instagram purportedly shows a note on the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS) website claiming more deaths are associated with COVID-19 vaccines than all other types of vaccines from 1990 onwards.
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Verdict: False
The website in question is run by a private citizen. It is not affiliated with VAERS.
Fact Check:
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) operate VAERS, an early warning system that was created in 1990 “to detect possible safety problems in U.S.-licensed vaccines,” according to its website.
An image shared on Instagram purportedly shows a screen grab of a statement on the VAERS website that reads, “Note that the total number of deaths associated with the COVID-19 vaccines is greater than the number of deaths associated with all other vaccines combined since the year 1990.” The post includes a link to where the statement can be found.
However, the website linked, vaersanalysis.info, is not the official VAERS website. The unaffiliated website’s “About” page states, “I am just a concerned citizen reporting on often overlooked public data regarding adverse events related to the new Covid-19 vaccines.”
The official VAERS website, vaers.hhs.gov, is a government-operated website and, thus, has the “.gov” attached to its URL. The statement in the image does not appear on the real VAERS website, or on the websites of the CDC and FDA (RELATED: Viral Post Claims The FDA Did Not Approve Pfizer’s COVID-19 Vaccine)
Check Your Fact could not locate a single credible media report online of a U.S. government health organization claiming COVID-19 vaccines are responsible for more deaths than every other vaccine variety since 1990.
The CDC states on its website that “reports of death after COVID-19 vaccination are rare.” The FDA “requires healthcare providers to report any death after COVID-19 vaccination to VAERS, even if it’s unclear whether the vaccine was the cause,” according to the CDC.
“Reports of adverse events to VAERS following vaccination, including deaths, do not necessarily mean that a vaccine caused a health problem,” the CDC website goes on to say. “A review of available clinical information, including death certificates, autopsy, and medical records, has not established a causal link to COVID-19 vaccines. However, recent reports indicate a plausible causal relationship between the J&J/Janssen COVID-19 Vaccine and TTS, a rare and serious adverse event—blood clots with low platelets—which has caused deaths.”
COVID-19 vaccines are safe and effective, and serious adverse events “after COVID-19 vaccination are rare,” according to the CDC.
Check Your Fact reached out to VAERS, the CDC and the FDA for comment and will update this article if a response is provided.
