The Claim:
A New York Times article has been picked up by anti-vaccine forces and media types such as Chris Cuomo as proof that all the vaccine injuries they claim are true. But what of the claims of injuries in the Times article?
The Facts:
“Hundreds of millions of people in the United States have safely received Covid vaccines under the most intense safety monitoring in U.S. history.” the author of this article mentions, but it is buried under anecdotes that feed into the fears vaccine-hesitant and vaccine-refusers may have, In contrast, her colleague at the NYT addresses the same subject with this article, but is more responsible when it comes to framing the concerns.
The second article states emphatically that the “benefits of the Covid vaccines have far outweighed the downsides, according to a voluminous amount of data and scientific studies from around the world,” offering up evidence that millions of lives were saved globally in just 8-12 months because of COVID vaccines. The citations also mention that these lives saved had an economic benefit of $6.5 trillion.
Some concerns brought up in the articles may be legitimate. Some however, have been looked into and found to have no evidence linking them to COVID vaccines. For example, 25% of adults experience tinnitus, so when the CDC analyzed the 16,000 tinnitus claims following vaccination, they could not link them to the vaccine. Bell’s Palsy is also not likely to be caused by the vaccine, but POTS may be a reaction so rare that you may only see it in one out of millions of people.
Vaccines, while safe and effective for the vast majority of recipients, do sometimes result in side effects–some serious. Sometimes, those who are injured–or perceive themselves to be injured–don’t feel heard by the medical establishment. There may be valid criticisms of the Countermeasures Injury Compensation Program (CICP), which covers COVID-19 vaccines, but these do not validate improperly framing the benefits and risks of vaccination.
The real issue with telling stories of people trying to figure out how to get help is that it is too early to know what caused their ailments. Once we have pointed to vaccines, the public will always be suspicious, even if we find the cause elsewhere.
Disclaimer: Science is always evolving and our understanding of these topics may have evolved too since this was originally posted. Be sure to check out our most recent posts and browse the latest Just the Facts Topics for the latest.
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