Independent analysis of COVID-19 vaccine safety data collected by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is needed, Dr. Peter McCullough says.
“The CDC is sitting on 1.1 million safety reports, of which hundreds of thousands of people have been hospitalized, gone to urgent care centers or offices for treatment immediately after receiving a vaccine, and, sadly, thousands have died immediately after the vaccine,” McCullough, a cardiologist and chief medical advisor for the Truth for Health Foundation, told The Epoch Times during a recent event.
“That’s the most pressing issue—an independent review of the serious adverse events that have occurred in the vaccine program with an analysis of who’s at risk, why did it happen, and how can we prevent the next person from being harmed from the vaccine?”
The CDC didn’t respond to a request for comment.
Some 13,147 deaths have been reported to the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS) following COVID-19 vaccination, as of Feb. 18.
VAERS is a passive reporting system jointly run by the CDC and the Food and Drug Administration. Most of the reports are submitted by health care professionals.
Another 265,841 reports were made for cases where a person went to an emergency room or urgent care center following receipt of a COVID-19 vaccine.
In total, some 900,000 reports have been submitted. Another over 200,000 have been reported from outside the United States, according to the OpenVAERS website.
While authorities say reports don’t prove a link between a vaccine and an event like death, studies indicate there are more adverse events than the number of reports submitted to VAERS, and CDC researchers have said it’s likely adverse events following COVID-19 vaccination are underreported.
Approximately 554 million COVID-19 doses have been administered as of March 3, according to data reported to the CDC.
McCullough told The Epoch Times in an email that a congressional panel should be convened to examine the vaccine safety data.
“There should be an immediate halt to the vaccination program while these committees go to work and help America understand what led to the catastrophic outcomes we are seeing with COVID-19 vaccination,” McCullough said.
The vaccines were originally promoted as being highly effective against both CCP virus infection and severe disease if a person did contract the illness, but have waned in effectiveness over time, particularly after the emergence of the Omicron virus variant.
U.S. health authorities, including the CDC, recommend all Americans eligible for a vaccine—those 5 and older—get vaccinated, and advise those who can receive a booster shot to get one.
