This is a bit of misinformation that has been going around for a few months now, likely from anti-vaxxers and the Conservative Media outlets.

VAERS operates on two different plateaus, one for approved meds and one for EUA meds.

For approved meds, only health care providers submit possible harmful side effects or deaths after a med is given, and only if the HCP feels the med is likely responsible.

For EUA meds, anyone can report it, including parents or friends. The net is intentionally wide because the med (in this case a vaccine) has not been fully approved and the impetus to accept any information is elevated.

So if a vaccinated person gets hit by a bus and dies, anyone can report the death to VAERS as a possible side effect or mortality. And the CDC will have to investigate it. Likewise, HCPs are required under an EUA to report all adverse events or mortalities of vaccinated patients, even if they KNOW the vaccine had nothing to do with it.

So you cannot compare approved vaccines with vaccines distributed under an EUA and remark that the VAERS numbers are damning. They aren’t, it’s just baked into the pie that any EUA vaccine is going to face harsher scrutiny and over reporting.

And anyone (say, Tucker Carlson, who often brings up these VAERS numbers) are fear mongering and attempting to hamper vaccination efforts which could save lives. It is irresponsible and harmful to do so.

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