In an episode of his new podcast, in which he interviews former CDC director Dr. Robert Redfield, Del Bigtree questions vaccine safety by saying some vaccines, like Hepatitis B for newborns, weren’t tested enough, didn’t use placebo groups, may not be needed for all babies, and that forcing parents to vaccinate makes people trust vaccines less.

Vaccines go through many years of testing before they are approved, not just a few days. The Hepatitis B vaccine was tested on thousands of people before being given to newborns.

The five-day monitoring claim mentioned in the video relies on package insert data, as opposed to actual clinical trial information. Vaccine inserts are legal documents and not medical or research documents. Looking at the actual clinical trial information for the Hep B vaccine shows that the “five days” were specifically for injection site non-serious adverse events (NSAEs). Researchers watched for serious events for the length of the study (5 months for that particular study), 14 days for systemic NSAEs (i.e., fevers), and five only days for the injection site NSAEs.

Hep B infection can lead to chronic Hep B. Chronic Hep B can last a lifetime and lead to serious illnesses such as cirrhosis and liver cancer. The younger you are when you get hepatitis B, the more likely it will become chronic. There is no cure for hepatitis B, but vaccines can prevent it.

Placebo groups are often used in vaccine studies, but not always, especially when there is already strong evidence that a vaccine works and is safe. Instead of giving some babies a fake shot, scientists compare new vaccines to older, well-tested vaccines or study real-world data. This helps protect babies from diseases while still making sure vaccines are safe.

The FDA and CDC do not approve vaccines based on guesses. The Hepatitis B vaccine was carefully studied in adults, children, and babies before being recommended for newborns.

The widespread implementation of Hep B vaccination programs, including the birth dose, has led to significant reductions in Hep B worldwide. By immunizing newborns, the goal is to achieve a high vaccination coverage rate and create a population with decreased Hep B transmission, ultimately reducing the burden of related diseases.

In a recirculated video, Dr. Kimberly Biss, an obstetrician, claims that after COVID-19 vaccines became available, the number of miscarriages in her practice doubled, which she attributes to the vaccine.

The claim that Pfizer’s COVID vaccine trials showed an 80% miscarriage rate likely comes from a misunderstanding of a study where not all pregnancies had complete follow-up data, resulting in misleading percentages. The actual miscarriage rate among pregnant women in the trials was consistent  (12.6%) with the normal rate seen in the general population, which is about 10-20%. Large studies and real-world data have shown that COVID vaccines do not increase the risk of miscarriage and are safe for pregnant women.

Of the 827 completed pregnancies, 104 ended in miscarriage. Those who claim the 80% stat are using semantics to make their argument, saying since miscarriage is defined as a loss of the fetus prior to 20 weeks, while a loss of a fetus after 20 weeks is considered a stillbirth, and therefore they remove anyone who received a vaccine in 3rd trimester, bringing the denominator down to 127 from 827, leaving us with the 80% figure.

Dr. Biss’ observation that miscarriages doubled in one doctor’s private practice does not prove that vaccines caused the increase. A single doctor’s experience does not replace large-scale scientific studies. And multiple studies worldwide have found no link between COVID vaccination and increased miscarriage rates.

In an interview, Joe Rogan and Elon Musk claimed that COVID is no longer a threat to the public, so trials of new vaccines, especially those involving children, should end.

COVID has become less deadly due to vaccines, treatments, and immunity, but it is still a serious disease, especially for high-risk groups, including children with weakened immune systems. The idea that “no one is dying” is false; as of 2023, it was the 10th leading cause of death in the US.

Testing vaccines in children is not only necessary but also a normal and careful process to ensure safety. Every vaccine must go through clinical trials before approval, and these trials follow strict safety rules. The number 10,000 might sound large, but it’s actually a standard size for vaccine clinical trials to make sure they work and have no harmful side effects. Children’s immune systems can respond differently than adults’, so studies are needed to make sure vaccines are both safe and effective for them.

Stopping a well-designed clinical trial is not a victory; it can actually delay the availability of safer, more effective vaccines for children. The claim that stopping trials protects kids ignores the fact that clinical trials exist to prevent unsafe vaccines from ever reaching the public.