COVID Vaccine Adverse Events Continue to Rise as CDC Moves to Once-A-Month Reporting

Adverse events following COVID-19 vaccination continue to rise as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) moves from updating numbers weekly in its Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS) to once per month.

The latest VAERS data show  1,605,704 adverse events following COVID-19 vaccines were reported between Dec. 14, 2020, and Oct. 27, 2023. This includes 306,698 reports of serious injuries and 36,501 deaths.

VAERS is a voluntary reporting system co-managed by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and CDC designed to detect vaccine safety signals. Yet, it is estimated to represent only 1% of actual adverse events. In addition, it is widely known and provable that the CDC has deleted reports from the system to reduce the number of reported injuries.

Of the 36,501 reported deaths, 22,849 cases are attributed to Pfizer, 10,433 to Moderna, and  2,825 to Johnson & Johnson. Of the reported deaths, 9% occurred within 24 hours of vaccination, and 13% occurred within 48 hours.

Bivalent booster data

Since the rollout of bivalent boosters in September 2022 and Oct. 27, 2023, there have been 39,129 adverse events reported to VAERS, with 42% attributed to Moderna’s booster and 58% attributed to Pfizer/BioNTech. The data included 357 deaths, 4,420 serious injuries, and 107 reports of myocarditis and pericarditis (heart inflammation).

The CDC uses a narrowed case definition of myocarditis. To meet the case definition of myocarditis, people must have had “symptoms such as chest pain, shortness of breath and feelings of having a fast-beating, fluttering or pounding heart, and medical tests to support the diagnosis of myocarditis and rule out other causes.” This allows the CDC to exclude cases of cardiac arrest, ischemic strokes, and deaths due to heart problems that occur before one has the chance to go to the hospital, obtain a diagnosis, or “dies suddenly.”

The CDC website does not state what happens to these cases, but there is no indication they are tracked or included in the CDC’s myocarditis numbers.

Data for 6-month-olds to 5-year-olds

• 7,069 adverse events, including 309 cases rated as serious and 15 reported deaths.
• 5 reports of myocarditis and pericarditis.
• 37 reports of blood clotting disorders, which means the CDC throttled at least 12 reports of blood clotting over the previous week.
• 62 reports of seizures.

Data for 5- to 11-year-olds

• 18,037 adverse events, including 889 rated as serious and 33 reported deaths. (This number was reduced by the CDC, as last month, there were 35 reported deaths.)
• 52 reports of myocarditis and pericarditis.
• 79 reports of blood clotting disorders.
• 203 reports of seizures.

Data for 12- to 17-year-olds

• 42,715 adverse events, including 4,779 rated as serious and 143 reported deaths.
• 280 reports of anaphylaxis among 12- to 17-year-olds where the reaction was life-threatening, required treatment, or resulted in death.
• 1,375 reports of myocarditis and pericarditis, with 1,205 cases attributed to Pfizer’s vaccine.
• 317 reports of blood clotting disorders, with 289 cases attributed to Pfizer.
• 53 cases of postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome (POTS), with 51 cases attributed to Pfizer’s vaccine. (The CDC has deleted several POTS reports, as this number was larger last month.)

Data for all age groups to VAERS

• 16% of deaths were related to cardiac disorders.
• 53% of those who died were male, and 41% were female. The remaining death reports do not list the gender of the deceased.
• The average age of death was 72.
• As of Oct. 27, 9,257 pregnant women reported adverse events related to COVID-19 vaccines, including 5,357 reports of miscarriage or premature birth.
• Of the 17,677 cases of Bell’s palsy have been reported.
• 3,443 reports of Guillain-Barré syndrome.
• 10,565 reports of anaphylaxis where the reaction was life-threatening, required treatment, or resulted in death.
• 8,863 reports of myocardial infarction and cardiac arrest.
• 48,859 reports of blood clotting disorders. Of those, 33,697 reports were attributed to Pfizer, and 11,155 reports were attributed to Moderna.
• 26,366 cases of myocarditis and pericarditis, with 20,051 cases attributed to Pfizer and 5,791 cases to Moderna.
• 88 cases of Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, with 72 cases attributed to Pfizer, 15 to Moderna, and 2 to J&J.
• 968 cases of POTS, with 635 cases attributed to Pfizer. (The CDC has removed more than 60 cases of POTS attributed to Pfizer’s vaccine since Sep. 1.)

Although healthcare providers are required by law to report vaccine adverse events to VAERS, research shows very few do. It is essential that anyone who experiences an adverse event report their own injury.