The Claim:
A U.S. Senator tweeted a video asserting that the vaccine program has stopped doing safety testing of vaccines, relating this assertion to the idea that researchers need to suppress negative stories about vaccines to get universal uptake.
The Facts:
Missing in the assertion is one important fact: vaccines are the most studied pharmaceutical you can put in your body. They are tested thoroughly before licensure and monitored by several systems and government agencies after licensure.
The statement suggests a conspiracy to silence those concerned about vaccine safety, implying that their voices are being intentionally suppressed. We know that the number of people involved in vaccine safety research makes it mathematically impossible to keep such a conspiracy a secret.
When Del Bigtree talks about “proper” safety testing, he often refers to testing vaccines against saline placebos. Sometimes a new vaccine is indeed tested against an existing vaccine or a placebo that may contain an adjuvant, buffers, or stabilizers with a known safety record.
The World Health Organization guides the
However, using placebos is considered unacceptable when there is already an effective and safe vaccine accessible in the public health system of the country where the trial is planned. In such cases, it would be unethical to withhold the existing vaccine from participants if not receiving it would pose a significant risk to their health.
Disclaimer: Science is always evolving and our understanding of these topics may have evolved since this was originally posted. Browse the latest information posted in Just the Facts Topics.
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