EXCLUSIVE: Vaccinated Outbreak at CDC Conference Bigger Than Reported

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) headquarters in Atlanta on April 23, 2020. Tami Chappell/AFP via Getty Images

The COVID-19 outbreak among vaccinated people that broke out at a conference held in April by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) was bigger than disclosed, according to files obtained by The Epoch Times.

After the outbreak took place, the CDC reported results from surveys sent to attendees.

While the CDC said that 181 respondents reported testing positive for COVID-19, that number was actually 183, according to the newly obtained files.

The public health agency also failed to disclose that hundreds of attendees didn’t get tested; some 601 attendees who responded to the survey said they didn’t get tested for COVID-19, the files show, including 34 who reported experiencing COVID-like symptoms, being ill, or both.

The CDC didn’t respond to a request for comment.

Vaccinated Person Went to Emergency Room

In a statement on the outbreak, which affected only vaccinated people, the CDC emphasized that no attendee reported being hospitalized.

“None of the 181 people who reported testing positive were hospitalized,” the agency said.

The agency didn’t mention that one of the vaccinated people suffered such severe symptoms that they went to the emergency room, according to the newly obtained files.

The agency had claimed that, despite the outbreak, the survey results emphasize “the importance of vaccination for protecting individuals against severe illness and death related to COVID-19.”

The CDC has recommended COVID-19 vaccination for virtually all people since late 2020, when the vaccines were first authorized. Some experts have said the risks appear to outweigh the benefits for certain or all populations, a number of doctors have said they themselves won’t get booster shots because of a lack of clinical trial evidence, and recent data indicate that the vaccines don’t protect for very long against severe illness.

Survey Details

The conference took place from April 24 to April 27 at a hotel in Atlanta, where the CDC is headquartered. About 1,800 people, including some CDC employees, attended the conference.

CDC officials created a survey and sent it to attendees for details on a COVID-19 outbreak that developed during the conference. More than 80 percent, or 1,443 attendees, responded.

All but eight people said they had received a COVID-19 vaccine.

The CDC confirmed previously that all respondents who reported testing positive had received a vaccine.

Attendees were also asked to report the level of health care they sought. Options included receiving antiviral medication, finding outpatient care, going to an emergency room, and being hospitalized. People could select more than one answer.

No attendees reported being hospitalized.

Forty-nine people said they found outpatient care or consulted with a medical professional remotely, and 53 said they took an antiviral medication.

Also, 278 people said that they became ill but chose not to seek any level of health care.

Many With Bivalent

Many of the attendees had received a new COVID-19 vaccine, the files indicate. Of those responding, 958 said they'd received their most recent dose in September 2022 or later.

Updated COVID-19 vaccines were cleared without trial data in August 2022, recommended for nearly all Americans by the CDC, and rolled out in September 2022.

Authorities are poised to clear and recommend another batch of new vaccines this fall, according to the CDC.

Pattern of Misleading on Breakthrough Metrics

The failure to report the emergency room visit and note that hundreds of attendees didn’t get tested fits the CDC’s pattern of misleading on so-called breakthrough cases, hospitalizations, and deaths, or metrics among the vaccinated.

The CDC’s now-former director, for instance, falsely said on television in the spring of 2021 that vaccinated people would not get sick or transmit COVID-19. The agency has acknowledged that data didn’t support those claims.

The CDC also changed how it counts breakthrough cases in early 2021, within months of recommending the vaccines, according to documents obtained by The Epoch Times. The change meant that cases among the vaccinated that happened within 14 days, before completion of a primary series, didn’t count as breakthrough cases.

Before making the change, top officials had discussed “vaccine failure,” or breakthrough cases.

The CDC stopped counting breakthrough cases in May 2021.