Posts Distort Misleading Analysis of COVID-19 Vaccine Safety Data
Coronavirus,Coronavirus Vaccine,Facts And Fact Checking
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 receiving a vaccine, many people experience mild to moderate symptoms, such as headache, fatigue, fever or pain at the injection site. But these side effects go away in a couple of days and are not considered a safety concern, but rather a sign that the vaccine is working.
Side effects that require medical attention can also occur, but they are the exception.
Yet an article online inaccurately reported that “according to the CDC’s own internal data” more than 18 million people “were injured so badly” from a dose of the Pfizer/BioNTech or Moderna COVID-19 vaccines “that they had to go to the hospital.”
“Court Orders CDC to Release Data Showing 18 Million Vaccine Injuries in America,” an Oct. 14 headline from Technocracy News & Trends, which was later shared on social media, misleadingly claimed.
