CDC downplayed COVID vaccine efficacy concerns, newly released emails show

Officials at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) discussed how to downplay concerns about COVID-19 vaccine efficacy and avoid “too precise” comparisons between the benefits of the jab and natural immunity, according to explosive emails obtained by The Post Tuesday.

The messages reveal agency leaders frequently met to discuss public relations strategies that failed to communicate full information about the safety and efficacy of vaccines combatting SARS-CoV-2.

In a Sept. 22, 2023, email, members of the agency’s COVID Coordination Unit brainstormed how to make Americans “more easily visualize their relative risk of getting very sick” based on whether they were vaccinated or used other protective measures.