Trump administration health officials are planning to link the deaths of more than two dozen children to the Covid-19 vaccine based on information from a database of unverified reports, The Washington Post reported Friday.
Health officials plan to include the deaths of 25 children as part of an upcoming presentation to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, according to four people familiar with the situation who spoke anonymously with the Post.
The findings they plan to present appeared to be pulled from the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System, or VAERS, which collects claims of adverse reactions and results of taking vaccines. But because the claims are self-reported and unverified, the system can sometimes be exploited by anti-vaccine activists. People sometimes submit fraudulent claims, or they deliberately present the data as verified in order to stoke fear around vaccines.
The CDC has previously emphasized that the database is not designed to determine a link between a shot and individual deaths. In fact, VAERS comes with a disclaimer that users must acknowledge they have read and understood before they can use the database: “VAERS reports alone cannot be used to determine if a vaccine caused or contributed to an adverse event or illness. The reports may contain information that is incomplete, inaccurate, coincidental, or unverifiable. Most reports to VAERS are voluntary, which means they are subject to biases.”
In 2021, the CDC condemned efforts to willfully misinterpret the data, asserting that statements that implied “deaths following vaccination equate to deaths caused by vaccination are scientifically inaccurate, misleading, and simply irresponsible.”
Health and Human Services Department spokesperson Andrew Nixon defended the agency’s intent to use the VAERS database. “[Food and Drug Administration] and CDC staff routinely analyze VAERS and other safety monitoring data, and those reviews are being shared publicly through the established ACIP process,” he wrote in an email to the Post Friday. “Any recommendations on updated COVID-19 vaccines will be based on gold standard science and deliberated transparently at ACIP next week.”
The Trump administration’s report is not yet finalized, one source told the Post. The methodology is also unclear.
Meanwhile, Covid-19 vaccine providers around the country are waiting with bated breath to see how the panel will side regarding Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s request to stop recommending the Covid-19 vaccine to healthy children.
While claiming that patients could simply consult with their doctors, Kennedy has taken great efforts to make the Covid-19 vaccine less accessible to Americans.
Kennedy’s efforts to limit vaccine efforts have alarmed health professionals. In June, CDC staff reported that at least 25 children who had Covid-associated hospitalizations since 2023 had died. Of the 16 old enough for vaccination, none was up to date on the jab.
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