CDC Admits No Data Support Advice to Take Mpox, Influenza, and COVID Shots Together

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) headquarters in Atlanta, Ga., on Aug. 25, 2023. Madalina Vasiliu/The Epoch Times

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has acknowledged there is no data supporting the co-administration of vaccines for mpox, COVID-19, and influenza, in contradiction of advice a top agency official gave to the public.

“There are no data on administering JYNNEOS vaccine at the same time as other vaccines,” the CDC said.

The acknowledgment was made in response to a Freedom of Information Act request by attorneys for the nonprofit Informed Consent Action Network, which regularly challenges health agencies to back up claims with hard data.

The nonprofit lodged the request because of a video released by the CDC.

In the video, a narrator says, “Can I get my mpox vaccine at the same time as my flu shot and COVID vaccines?”

“The short answer is yes,” Dr. Demetre Daskalakis, acting director of the CDC’s National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases, said in the video.

Neither the CDC nor Dr. Daskalakis referenced any studies or other data.

The video has been viewed nearly 3 million times.

The CDC official did say that people with heart disease or deemed at risk of heart disease might want to consider receiving a COVID-19 shot at a different time than an mpox vaccine dose “because of a possible risk of heart inflammation associated with some COVID and mpox vaccines.”

Myocarditis, a form of heart inflammation, is caused by all available COVID-19 vaccines in the United States, U.S. authorities have said.

Cardiac events of special interest occurred in a higher proportion of recipients of the JYNNEOS mpox vaccine when compared to placebo recipients in a clinical trial, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) says in the vaccine’s package insert. Six cases among the vaccinated were judged to be caused by the vaccine, though none were myocarditis.

Multiple cases of myocarditis were reported after JYNNEOS vaccination to the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System, which is co-run by the CDC and the FDA, the CDC reported previously. “Current data do not suggest an increased risk for myocarditis after receipt of JYNNEOS, but the possibility of a small risk cannot be excluded,” the CDC said in a paper describing the reports.

Additional cardiac cases have been identified in observational studies.

The CDC recommends virtually all Americans receive an annual COVID-19 vaccine and influenza shot. Men who have sex with other men should receive an mpox vaccine, according to the agency.

Dr. Daskalakis said that the JYNNEOS vaccine “is not associated with” myocarditis but that it was “good to talk to your vaccinator or clinician about what’s right for you.”

The CDC told Aaron Siri, one of the lawyers representing the Informed Consent Action Network (ICAN), that the records supporting Dr. Daskalakis’s statements were the video itself and a page on the CDC’s website that contains the acknowledgment there’s no data on co-administering the JYNNEOS vaccine at the same time as any other vaccines.

The agency claimed that because the vaccine is based on an orthopoxvirus, it “typically may be administered without regard to timing of most other vaccines.”

The CDC response was released on Dec. 18.

“Based on this production, it is clear that neither CDC nor the White House have data to support their safety assertions surrounding coadministration of these three products which is as unfortunate as it is dangerous, particularly since all three of these products have been linked to serious heart inflammation,”  ICAN said in a statement.

Some studies have suggested that people are at higher risk of stroke if they take influenza and COVID-19 vaccines at the same time.

Dr. Peter Marks, a top FDA official, has said that he would space out different vaccines to avoid the risk of experiencing problems.

Pattern

The CDC has a pattern during the pandemic of making unsupported and false statements.

The agency for months, for instance, falsely claimed that there was no safety signal for myocarditis and COVID-19 vaccines.

The CDC in 2022 offered guidance that children as young as 6 months of age could receive COVID-19 vaccines and other shots together, but there were no data to support that guidance, as the vaccine manufacturers themselves admitted.

An FDA spokesperson previously told The Epoch Times that the fact sheets for the COVID-19 shots stated clearly there “is no information on the co-administration of the specific COVID-19 vaccine with other vaccines.”

Some proponents say co-administration of vaccines poses little to no safety risks and can increase uptake of vaccines. Opponents say the technique should not be used without safety data and that public health authorities in general should make sure not to make unsupported claims.

Dr. James Johnston, a family doctor, told The Epoch Times before that he generally advises spacing out shots.

“In vaccine speak, you’re trying to induce immunity without the actual infection,” he said. “You’re creating a fake war to trick the immune system into producing immunity, so space out those wars as much as possible and you’re going to have less untoward side effects in my opinion.”