Annenberg Public Policy Center Undermines US CDC VAERS

Founder of FactCheck.Org Makes Attack in JAMA as Safety Reports Mount in Data System

By Peter A. McCullough, MD, MPH

Every week in clinic I make entries into the US CDC Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS) as I catch up on years of injuries, disabilities, and deaths that have occurred after vaccination. Because federal fines and penalties are severe for false reporting, I only enter cases in which I have the vaccine card, the full clinical vignette, and my clinical impression that the vaccine either directly caused the problem or significantly contributed in the causal pathway to the new disease or injury suffered by the patient. I did a PUBMED search today and there are > 500 papers that have relied on VAERS for epidemiologic studies of vaccine side effects including death in 126 manuscripts.

As the data mount, it should come at no surprise that the Gates Foundation, a major player in the Bio-Pharmaceutical Complex has come out with an attack on the integrity of VAERS. It came through a JAMA editorial from Kathleen Hall Jamieson, PhD, that implied VAERS is “misinformation” in the title uses the adjective “unverified.” Nothing could be further from the truth. Jamieson, whose Annenberg Center is funded in part by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, goes on to propose a name change to VAERS to further diminish its importance.

Jamieson KH, Johnson KB, Cappola AR. Misinformation and the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System. JAMA. Published online February 26, 2024. doi:10.1001/jama.2024.1757

“How can we improve the public’s understanding of vaccine surveillance reports and their significance or lack thereof? A simple first step might be to change the name of this system from the “Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System” to one that more accurately describes its purpose. For example, in our opinion, reterming the system “Vaccine Safety Sentinel” would remind audiences that the incidents of concern are unverified, related to safety, and part of a monitoring or early-warning system. Adding “safety” to the title would align the system with others in the CDC, “v-safe” notable among them, that include “safe” or “safety” in their name; adding “sentinel” would align the system with the FDA’s Sentinel initiative. Either “watch” or “sentinel” telegraphs that this is an early-warning system, not a catalog of confirmed cases. “Safety” reinforces the monitoring system’s goal: protecting those who have been vaccinated. We urge the CDC and FDA to involve both experts and the public in a potential renaming to rebrand this internationally used site and developing a clear explanation for the change.”