The latest data from the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS) released Friday shows 1,505,275 adverse events were reported between Dec. 14, 2020, and Jan. 13, 2023, attributed to COVID-19 vaccines. This includes 33,746 reports of deaths and 276,386 serious injuries.
Of the 33,746 reported deaths, 21,235 cases are attributed to Pfizer, 9,407 to Moderna, 2,920 to Johnson & Johnson, and 0 to Novavax. Of the reported deaths, 9% occurred within 24 hours of vaccination, and 13% occurred within 48 hours of vaccination.
VAERS is a voluntary reporting system co-managed by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) designed to detect vaccine safety signals. The data released is usually one week behind, so data released today, on Jan. 20, reflects reports up to Jan. 13, 2023.
Excluding “foreign reports” to VAERS, 926,541 adverse events, including 16,423 deaths and 98,264 serious injuries, were reported in the U.S. between Dec. 14, 2020, and Jan. 13, 2023.
Foreign reports are reports from foreign subsidiaries sent to U.S. vaccine manufacturers. Under FDA regulations, if a manufacturer is notified of a foreign case report describing an event that is both serious and does not appear on the product’s labeling, the manufacturer must submit the report to VAERS.
In the U.S., 666 million COVID-19 vaccine doses had been given as of Jan. 13, including 397 million doses of Pfizer, 250 million doses of Moderna, 19 million doses of Johnson & Johnson, and 72,000 doses of Novavax.
Bivalent Booster Data
As of Jan. 18, 50.6 million people received an untested, updated bivalent booster dose targeting the no-longer-existing Wuhan strain and obsolete BA.4/BA.5 omicron subvariants.
Between the rollout of bivalent boosters in September 2022 and Jan. 13, there were 19,184 adverse events reported to VAERS, with 43% attributed to Moderna’s booster and 57% attributed to Pfizer/BioNTech. The data included 143 deaths, 1,129 serious injuries, and 53 reports of myocarditis and pericarditis (heart inflammation).
Note the CDC uses a narrowed case definition of “myocarditis,” which allows them 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.”
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.”
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.
According to the CDC, VAERS data available to the public include the initial reports to VAERS. Any updates or corrections to reports during follow-up are used by the government for analysis but are not made available to the public. In other words, we may see an initial report for a heart problem that later leads to death, but we will not see an updated report if a person dies, nor will that death be included in the statistics. It’s all very “transparent.”
Data for 6-month-olds to 5-year-olds
- 5,571 adverse events, including 227 cases rated as serious and 13 reported deaths.
- 5 reports of myocarditis and pericarditis.
- 33 reports of blood clotting disorders.
- 56 reports of seizures.
Data for 5- to 11-year-olds
- 16,797 adverse events, including 759 rated as serious and 33 reported deaths.
- 48 reports of myocarditis and pericarditis.
- 74 reports of blood clotting disorders.
- 192 reports of seizures.
Data for 12- to 17-year-olds
- 41,150 adverse events, including 4,495 rated as serious and 136 reported deaths.
- 274 reports of anaphylaxis among 12- to 17-year-olds where the reaction was life-threatening, required treatment, or resulted in death.
- 1,342 reports of myocarditis and pericarditis, with 1,175 cases attributed to Pfizer’s vaccine.
- 306 reports of blood clotting disorders, with 280 cases attributed to Pfizer.
- 29 cases of postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome (POTS) were 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 Jan. 13, 8,903 pregnant women reported adverse events related to COVID-19 vaccines, including 5,160 reports of miscarriage or premature birth.
- Of the 16,948 cases of Bell’s palsy reported, 73% were attributed to Pfizer vaccinations, 22% to Moderna, and 5% to J&J.
- 3,174 reports of Guillain-Barré syndrome.
- 10,306 reports of anaphylaxis where the reaction was life-threatening, required treatment or resulted in death.
- 8,280 reports of myocardial infarction and cardiac arrest.
- 45,190 reports of blood-clotting disorders. Of those, 30,991 reports were attributed to Pfizer, 10,222 reports to Moderna, and 3,904 reports to Johnson & Johnson.
- 25,110 cases of myocarditis and pericarditis, with 19,030 cases attributed to Pfizer, 5,586 cases to Moderna, and 435 to Johnson & Johnson.
- 78 cases of Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, with 64 cases attributed to Pfizer, 12 to Moderna, and 2 to J&J.
- 643 cases of POTS, with 469 cases attributed to Pfizer, 148 cases to Moderna, and 25 cases to Johnson & Johnson.
VAERS is estimated to represent only 1% of actual adverse events. Reports submitted require further investigation before a causal relationship can be confirmed; however, U.S. regulatory agencies neither properly investigate nor acknowledge causal relationships between adverse events and COVID-19 vaccines.
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.
