Posts Distort Misleading Analysis of COVID-19 Vaccine Safety Data

A rigorous vaccine safety monitoring system has shown that the COVID-19 vaccines are safe and only rarely have serious side effects. But an article shared on social media falsely says that CDC data show more than 18 million people “were injured so badly” by a Pfizer/BioNTech or Moderna COVID-19 vaccine “that they had to go to the hospital.”

Over 632 million COVID-19 vaccine doses have been administered in the United States, under what the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention calls “the most intense safety monitoring program” in the country’s history. 

After...