Data released today by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on the number of injuries and deaths reported to the\u00a0Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System<\/a>\u00a0(VAERS) following\u00a0COVID vaccines<\/a>\u00a0revealed steadily rising numbers, but no new trends. VAERS is the primary mechanism for reporting adverse vaccine reactions in the U.S. Reports submitted to VAERS require further investigation before a causal relationship can be confirmed.<\/p>\n Every Friday,\u00a0VAERS<\/a>\u00a0makes public all vaccine injury reports received to the system as of Friday of the previous week. Today\u2019s data show that between Dec. 14, 2020, and March 26, a total of\u00a050,861 total adverse events<\/a>\u00a0were reported to VAERS, including\u00a02,249 deaths<\/a>\u00a0\u2014 an increase of 199 over the previous seven days \u2014 and\u00a07,726 serious injuries<\/a>, up 631 over the same time period.<\/p>\n Of the 2,249 deaths reported as of March 26, 28% occurred within 48 hours of vaccination, 19% occurred within 24 hours and 43% occurred in people who became ill within 48 hours of being vaccinated.<\/p>\n In the U.S.,\u00a0136.7 million<\/a>\u00a0COVID vaccine doses had been administered as of March 26.<\/p>\n This week\u2019s VAERS data show<\/strong>:<\/p>\n According to the CDC\u2019s website<\/a>, \u201cthe CDC follows up on any report of death to request additional information and learn more about what occurred and to determine whether the death was a result of the vaccine or unrelated.\u201d<\/p>\n To date, the only information the CDC has published related to the investigation of COVID vaccine-related deaths and how those investigations were conducted is a\u00a0COVID-19 Vaccine Safety Update<\/a>\u00a0via the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, published Jan. 27.<\/p>\n An interview in\u00a0MedPage Today<\/a>\u00a0highlighted the shortfalls of the post-marketing surveillance of the COVID vaccine.\u00a0Aaron Kesselheim<\/a>, professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School and Brigham and Women\u2019s Hospital in Boston, said we are seeing a lot of spontaneous reporting, a lack of formal post-approval studies because vaccines have only received Emergency Use Authorization and vaccines being given outside the healthcare systems \u2014 interfering with the ability to rigorously collect observational data.<\/p>\n Although the CDC and U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) have various systems in place to monitor the safety of vaccines, they are not \u201cup and running\u201d and do not have adequate resources behind them, Kesselheim said.<\/p>\n According to Kesselheim, there\u2019s essentially\u00a0nobody keeping track<\/a>\u00a0of COVID adverse reactions in the U.S. and no long-term safety data, but emphasized that this\u00a0new mRNA technology<\/a>\u00a0is \u201cextremely effective and extremely safe.\u201d<\/p>\n On March 8,\u00a0The Defender<\/a>\u00a0contacted the CDC with questions about reported deaths and injuries related to COVID vaccines. We provided a written list of questions about how the CDC conducts investigations into reported deaths, the status of investigations on deaths reported in the media, if autopsies are being done and the standard for determining whether an injury is causally connected to a vaccine.<\/p>\n We also inquired about whether healthcare providers are reporting all injuries and deaths that might be connected to the COVID vaccine, and what education initiatives are in place to encourage and facilitate proper and accurate reporting.<\/p>\n It took the CDC 22 days to respond to our repeated inquiries. When someone did, the person told us the agency had never received the questions \u2014 even though the employees we talked to several times said their press officers were working through the list of questions and were reviewing the email we sent. We provided the questions again yesterday, and requested a response by April 7.<\/p>\n Breakthrough cases<\/strong><\/p>\n On March 31,\u00a0The Defender reported<\/a>\u00a0on the increasing number of \u201cbreakthrough cases\u201d of COVID in fully vaccinated people. Washington, Florida, South Carolina, Texas, New York, California and Minnesota have all reported breakthrough cases of COVID, some of which have resulted in hospitalization and death. Investigations are underway to determine if there were problems with the vaccines or if people had been infected with a variant.<\/p>\n When asked about the increasing number of breakthrough cases during a White House press conference,\u00a0Dr. Anthony Fauci<\/a>, President Biden\u2019s chief medical advisor, said it is something they will take seriously and follow closely, but breakthrough infections happen with any vaccination.<\/p>\n CDC issues new travel guidance, vaccine passports stir controversyThe CDC\u00a0today issued<\/a>\u00a0new travel guidance stating that fully vaccinated Americans traveling within the U.S. do not have to get tested for COVID before or after their trip, and do not need to self-quarantine when they return home.<\/p>\n On March 29,\u00a0The Defender reported<\/a>\u00a0that the Biden administration and private companies are working to develop\u00a0vaccine passports<\/a>\u00a0that would require Americans to prove they\u2019ve been vaccinated against COVID as the country opens.<\/p>\n Dr. Naomi Wolf, founder and CEO of\u00a0Daily Clout<\/a>, said the passport system really isn\u2019t about the vaccine. It\u2019s about your data, and \u201conce this rolls out you don\u2019t have a choice about being part of the system.\u201d<\/p>\n Rep. Pete Sessions (R-Texas) said that vaccine credentials are a complete government overstep that will undermine public trust and substantially limit normal day-to-day essential activities. Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-Colo.) said \u201cvaccine passports are unconstitutional. Period.\u201d<\/p>\n On March 26, New York\u00a0launched<\/a>\u00a0a digital vaccine passport system known as Excelsior Pass that residents can use to prove they\u2019ve been vaccinated or recently tested negative for infection. The New York system, built on\u00a0IBM\u2019s digital health pass platform<\/a>, will be used at dozens of events, including arts and entertainment venues.<\/p>\n J&J\u00a0 makes headlines with manufacturing mix-up, report of severe allergic reaction<\/strong><\/p>\n As The Defender reported<\/a>\u00a0April 1, 15 million doses of J&J\u2019s vaccine failed quality control after workers at a Baltimore manufacturing plant negligently put an\u00a0AstraZeneca<\/a>\u00a0ingredient in J&J\u2019s COVID vaccine. The mix-up forced regulators to delay authorization of the plant\u2019s production lines and prompted an investigation by the FDA.<\/p>\n On March 31,\u00a0Business Insider<\/a>\u00a0reported that a 74-year-old Virginia man suffered a rare reaction to J&J\u2019s vaccine that caused a painful rash to spread across his entire body and skin to peel off. Richard Terrell told local\u00a0news station WRIC<\/a>\u00a0he began suffering strange symptoms four days after receiving the vaccine.<\/p>\n \u201cI began to feel a little discomfort in my armpit and then a few days later I began to get an itchy rash, and then after that I began to swell and my skin turned red,\u201d Terrell said.<\/p>\n The rash spread to his entire body and his skin peeled off. He went to the emergency room, where doctors determined that he had experienced an adverse reaction to the COVID vaccine.<\/p>\n AstraZeneca suspended in Germany and Canada\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n On March 31,\u00a0The Defender reported<\/a>\u00a0that Germany indefinitely suspended use of the Oxford-AstraZeneca\u00a0COVID vaccine<\/a>\u00a0for anyone under 60 following advice from\u00a0STIKO<\/a>, the country\u2019s independent vaccine committee and external experts.<\/p>\n The committee investigated\u00a0reports of blood clots<\/a>, some fatal, in people who received the vaccine and decided to give the vaccine only to people 60 or older unless they belong to a high-risk category where the benefits outweigh the risk of a serious side-effect.<\/p>\n As\u00a0The Defender reported<\/a>\u00a0on March 30, several regions of Germany, including Berlin and Munich, had temporarily paused the vaccine for people under 60 after Germany\u2019s vaccine regulator disclosed 31 cases of a rare brain blood clot, nine of which resulted in deaths. The decision was made as a precaution ahead of a meeting with national medical regulators scheduled for later in the day where it was decided to indefinitely suspend the vaccine.<\/p>\n On March 30, Canada announced it was suspending AstraZeneca\u2019s vaccine for people under age 55 following concerns it might be linked to rare blood clots,\u00a0The Defender reported<\/a>.<\/p>\n Health Canada demanded AstraZeneca conduct a detailed study on the risks and benefits of its COVID vaccine across multiple age groups, and suspended the vaccine for younger groups pending the outcome of that review.<\/p>\n On March 24, Health Canada\u00a0updated<\/a>\u00a0the product information for AstraZeneca\u2019s COVID vaccines to warn of the risk of rare blood clots associated with low levels of blood platelets following vaccinations \u2014 a stark reversal from Canada\u2019s\u00a0former position<\/a>.<\/p>\n Children\u2019s Health Defense<\/a>\u00a0asks anyone who has experienced an adverse reaction, to any vaccine, to file a report following\u00a0these three steps<\/a>.<\/p>\n Sign up<\/a>\u00a0for free news and updates from Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. and the Children\u2019s Health Defense. CHD is planning many strategies, including legal, in an effort to defend the health of our children and obtain justice for those already injured.\u00a0Your\u00a0support<\/a> is essential to CHD\u2019s successful mission.<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/lrc-cdn\/assets\/2021\/04\/vaers-vaccine-injuries-reported-cdc-march-26-1024x556-620x337.png\")
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