Scotland to Stop Reporting COVID-19 Data Because of Concerns It’s ‘Being Misrepresented’

Fans show proof of their COVID-19 status before entering a stadium in Glasgow, Scotland, in a file image. Ian MacNicol/Getty Images

Health authorities in Scotland are halting the publication of COVID-19 data because of concerns the data is being used to promote inaccurate narratives.

Public Health Scotland (PHS) typically publishes a weekly report that includes COVID-19 cases, hospitalizations, and deaths. Each metric is divided between people who are unvaccinated and people who have received a COVID-19 vaccine.

Recent reports have shown more vaccinated people testing positive for COVID-19 and being hospitalized with the disease.

For instance, the report published Feb. 16 says 367 people who received one or more doses of a COVID-19 vaccine were hospitalized, compared to just 64 unvaccinated persons. Deaths were also higher among the vaccinated.

The data has been noted by some experts and websites, including journalist Alex Berenson, who said in a blog post in January that it highlighted how vaccines have been failing to protect recipients.

The Feb. 16 report will be the last one published, a PHS spokeswoman confirmed to The Epoch Times.

“Due to the increasing risk of the data being misinterpreted, Public Health Scotland will no longer report a weekly summary of COVID-19 cases, hospitalizations and deaths by vaccination status,” the spokeswoman said in an email.

“Public Health Scotland is reviewing the content and frequency of reporting this information. Public Health Scotland is committed to providing high quality public health science, communication and transparency, and will continue to publish up to date research on COVID-19 vaccines,” she added.

The agency has also stressed in its reports that its officials believe the data “should not be used to measure vaccine effectiveness.”

Officials said the reasons include there being “systematic differences and biases between the vaccinated and unvaccinated groups, such as behaviour, vulnerability and previous infection, that are unaccounted for when comparing rates.” As one example, they pointed to a non-peer reviewed Australian study that found vaccinated people said they were more likely to get tested if experiencing a sore throat.

Vaccine effectiveness has been dropping with the emergence of new variants, according to a host of studies and real-world data. The COVID-19 vaccines have performed poorly against Omicron, with effectiveness dropping sharply against infection and protection dropping to a lesser extent against severe disease. That’s triggered recommendations for at least one booster dose, with some countries recommending two boosters for some populations.

COVID-19 is the disease caused by the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus.

Dr. Paul Alexander, who studied evidence-based medicine and now works for a group called the Early COVID Care Experts, said that the move by Scotland authorities would make it more difficult to analyze vaccine effectiveness.

“The granular data out of Scotland has helped us understand the failure of the vaccines when our own nations of U.S. and Canada hide the data and misrepresent it. This is corruption by health authorities and now [we’re] being told that this may be the last such Scottish report. Why?” Alexander told The Epoch Times in an email.

“Their position now is laughable and horrible all at once. We are now called ‘anti-vaxxers’ by reporting the ACTUAL data. We call on Scotland and others to reverse this and continue to make the data available, especially as it relates to harm post vaccine as we need this for informed decision-making,” he added.