Covid-19 vaccines have killed 676,000 Americans.
Steve Kirsch in an , blog post
A blog post shared on Facebook claimed that covid-19 vaccines have killed some 676,000 Americans.
The by anti-vaccine , who has made other by PolitiFact and .
Kirsch鈥檚 Aug. 6 post referred to the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System, a .
“VAERS data is crystal clear,” the headline read. “The COVID vaccines are killing an estimated 1 person per 1,000 doses (676,000 dead Americans).”
The blog post was shared on social media and flagged as part of Meta鈥檚 efforts to combat false news and misinformation on its News Feed. (Read more about with Meta, which owns Facebook and Instagram.)
The data Kirsch used is from an anti-vaccine group鈥檚 alternative gateway to VAERS. VAERS, which includes unverified reports, cannot be used to determine whether a vaccine caused death. Kirsch did not reply to our request for information.
“Statements that imply that reports of deaths to VAERS following vaccination equate to deaths caused by vaccination are scientifically inaccurate, misleading and irresponsible,” the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which co-manages the database with the FDA, told PolitiFact.
The CDC added that it “has not detected any unusual or unexpected patterns for deaths following immunization that would indicate that COVID vaccines are causing or contributing to deaths, outside of the nine confirmed” thrombosis with thrombocytopenia syndrome, or TTS, deaths following the Johnson & Johnson/Janssen vaccine, which is no longer offered in the U.S.
TTS, which causes blood clots, has occurred in approximately four cases per million doses administered, .
collect data on vaccine aftereffects and detect patterns that may warrant a closer look.
The CDC cautions that VAERS results, which come from unverified reports anyone can make, are not enough to determine whether a vaccine causes a particular adverse event.
For the covid vaccines, VAERS has received a flood of reports, and they have become especially potent fuel for misinformation.
Kirsch made his claim not by using VAERS directly, but with an to VAERS from the anti-vaccine National Vaccine Information Center.
That website draws on raw and limited VAERS reports, which can include incomplete or inaccurate information. These reports provide enough information to determine whether a vaccine caused a particular adverse event.
There is no evidence that covid vaccines have killed Americans in large numbers, let alone 676,000. We rate the claim Pants on Fire!
Our sources
Steve Kirsch鈥檚 newsletter, Aug. 6, 2023
Health Feedback, Aug. 6, 2023
Facebook, , Aug. 8, 2023
PolitiFact, Feb. 28, 2022
PolitiFact, May 3, 2021
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, July 13, 2023
Email, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Aug. 10, 2023
