Investigations so far have shown no link between COVID-19 vaccines and deaths that occurred among people after getting vaccinated, health officials say.
A passive reporting system run by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has received 1,170 reports of death among people following a COVID-19 vaccination, as of the latest CDC report on the data, released on Feb. 7.
“CDC and FDA physicians review each case report of death as soon as notified and CDC requests medical records to further assess reports. A review of available clinical information including death certificates, autopsy, and medical records findings revealed no link with vaccination,” the CDC said in a recent update to its webpage concerning post-vaccination adverse events.
A CDC spokeswoman told The Epoch Times earlier this month that data on post-vaccination deaths showed “many of these deaths are among nursing home residents who had serious underlying conditions and death was not hastened by the vaccination.”
“It’s important to remember that many adverse events, including death, following immunization are often coincidental—that means that while an adverse event may happen after getting vaccinated, the vaccine is not always the cause of it,” she added in an email on Feb. 1.
“Establishing cause of death for a patient from any cause (including vaccines) is an involved and complex process that involves physician judgment. Typically, CDC defers to autopsy reports and death certificates as the definitive cause of death for any given patient.”
An FDA spokesperson told The Epoch Times last month that investigations into death reports include working with health care providers to obtain medical histories and clinical follow-up information.
Between Dec. 14, 2020, and Feb. 7, more than 41 million doses of the two authorized COVID-19 vaccines were administered in the United States.
One vaccine is made by Pfizer and BioNtech. The other is made by Moderna, with assistance from U.S. health officials.
Pfizer is closely monitoring all reports following vaccination, a spokesperson previously told The Epoch Times. Moderna hasn’t responded to requests for comment.
“CDC and FDA will continue to investigate reports of adverse events, including deaths, reported to VAERS,” or the passive Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System, the CDC stated.
VAERS accepts reports from the public, including health professionals and family members.
Officials are relying on VAERS and other passive systems in the early phase of the U.S. vaccination program, according to Dr. Grace Lee, co-chair of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices’ COVID-19 Vaccine Safety Technical Subgroup. The committee advises the CDC on vaccines.
There are plans to use data from population-based surveillance systems to examine the risk of adverse events following vaccination.
