CDC Withheld Large Portions of COVID-19 Data
Summary from the AllSides News Team
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has withheld significant amounts of COVID-19 data on hospitalizations and vaccinations.
When the CDC recently published the first significant data on the effectiveness of boosters in adults younger than 65, it left out the numbers for the 18-49 age group. It has also collected data on vaccines and hospitalizations more generally since the start of the pandemic, but much of it remains private. According to a report from The New York Times, CDC officials were concerned that the data wasn't ready for publication and could be misinterpreted by the public as indicating that the vaccines are ineffective. CDC officials also told the Times that the pandemic exposed the agency's outdated and incapable data processing systems.
The Times report was covered by several sources on the left and right. CNBC was the only center-rated source to cover the story, but didn't publish an online story about it. Some right-rated outlets focused on criticism of the CDC's decision to withhold data, and framed it as evidence that the government was worried about how its data may contradict its vaccine policies if made public. Some left-rated sources highlighted how the lack of transparency could have inhibited local officials from managing the pandemic effectively.
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From the Left
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The C.D.C. Isn’t Publishing Large Portions of the Covid Data It CollectsFor more than a year, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has collected data on hospitalizations for Covid-19 in the United States and broken it down by age, race and vaccination status. But it has not made most of the information public.
When the C.D.C. published the first significant data on the effectiveness of boosters in adults younger than 65 two weeks ago, it left out the numbers for a huge portion of that population: 18- to 49-year-olds, the group least likely to benefit from extra shots, because the first two...
From the Right
CDC Blasted After Withholding Data Over Fears Of Vax Appearing IneffectiveMedical experts slammed the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention after the agency admitted to withholding a significant amount of data collected on COVID-19 vaccines from the public.
The CDC refused to publish “large portions” of data gathered on COVID-19 vaccines over concerns that it would be “misinterpreted,” according to The New York Times. CDC spokeswoman Kristen Nordlund said that the fear of misrepresentation, along with several other factors, led the government health agency to withhold the information.
Nordlund also said that the data was withheld “because basically, at the end of the...
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