For more than four years, the U.S. government has aggressively promoted COVID-19 vaccines as “safe and effective,” even as serious safety signals have emerged. Yet behind the public messaging lies a database many Americans still don’t know exists: the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS), a federal early warning system for vaccine-related injuries and deaths.
The latest data recently published by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) show a staggering 1,666,428 adverse events submitted to VAERS following COVID-19 vaccination between Dec. 14, 2020, and March 28, 2025. Among those, 321,574 reports were classified as serious injuries, including 38,541 deaths.
VAERS: A System That Undercounts by Design
VAERS is co-managed by the CDC and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and was designed as a post-market surveillance tool to identify potential vaccine safety problems. However, it is a passive surveillance system—meaning it relies on voluntary reports from the public and healthcare providers.
According to a 2010 Harvard Pilgrim study commissioned by the Department of Health and Human Services, fewer than 1% of adverse events are ever reported to VAERS. Despite this well-documented underreporting, government agencies continue to treat the numbers as insignificant, and media outlets routinely ignore them altogether. But to those paying attention, the signals are loud and clear.
Of the 38,541 reported deaths, 23,847 cases are attributed to Pfizer, 11,244 to Moderna, and 2,911 to Johnson & Johnson. Of the reported deaths, 8% occurred within 24 hours of vaccination, and 12% occurred within 48 hours.
Data for 6-month-olds to 5-year-olds
- 8,355 adverse events, including 336 cases rated as serious and 17 reported deaths.
- 5 reports of myocarditis and pericarditis.
- 40 reports of blood clotting disorders, which means the CDC throttled at least 12 reports of blood clotting over the previous week.
- 74 reports of seizures.
Data for 5- to 11-year-olds
- 19,451 adverse events, including 921 rated as serious and 35 reported deaths.
- 54 reports of myocarditis and pericarditis.
- 86 reports of blood clotting disorders.
- 212 reports of seizures.
Data for 12- to 17-year-olds
- 44,115 adverse events, including 4,911 rated as serious and 150 reported deaths.
- 288 reports of anaphylaxis among 12- to 17-year-olds where the reaction was life-threatening, required treatment, or resulted in death.
- 1,422 reports of myocarditis and pericarditis, with 1,240 cases attributed to Pfizer’s vaccine.
- 327 reports of blood clotting disorders, with 296 cases attributed to Pfizer.
- 65 cases of postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome (POTS), with 62 cases attributed to Pfizer’s vaccine.
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 March 28, 9,476 pregnant women reported adverse events related to COVID-19 vaccines, including 5,500 reports of miscarriage or premature birth.
- Of the 18,237 cases of Bell’s palsy have been reported.
- 3,755 reports of Guillain-Barré syndrome.
- 10,898 reports of anaphylaxis where the reaction was life-threatening, required treatment, or resulted in death.
- 9,337 reports of myocardial infarction and cardiac arrest.
- 50,937 reports of blood clotting disorders. Of those, 35,237 reports were attributed to Pfizer, and 11,603 reports were attributed to Moderna.
- 27,436 cases of myocarditis and pericarditis, with 20,902 cases attributed to Pfizer and 5,972 cases to Moderna.
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. - 89 cases of Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, with 96 cases attributed to Pfizer and 16 to Moderna.
- 1,235 cases of POTS, with 822 cases attributed to Pfizer.
The CDC’s Convenient Definitions
The CDC has narrowed the case definition of myocarditis so significantly that it excludes many serious cardiac events. To count as a CDC-verified myocarditis case, a patient must experience symptoms like chest pain or shortness of breath, undergo specific medical testing, and rule out all other causes.
This narrow definition excludes sudden deaths, cardiac arrests, and ischemic strokes that occur too quickly for diagnostic testing to take place—allowing the CDC to downplay the true scope of vaccine-induced heart injuries. Cases that don’t meet the criteria vanish into statistical limbo, never to be investigated or acknowledged.
Why Reporting Matters
Though federal law requires healthcare providers to report adverse events to VAERS, research consistently shows that very few actually do. That’s why it’s imperative that anyone who suffers a reaction takes the initiative to self-report. Reporting injuries not only supports transparency—it helps build the historical record in the face of institutional denial.
