CDC Caught Using False Data To Recommend Kids’ COVID Vaccine: When the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) expert vaccine advisors decided to recommend vaccines for children under the age of five, the CDC presented data that were severely misleading concerning the risk of COVID-19 to children.
When the government agency presented its findings to its Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) earlier this month, it included a pre-print study that ranked the causes of death in children. As a result of this presentation, the committee voted to recommend that children aged six months to four years get vaccinated for COVID-19. During the coronavirus pandemic, the report asserted that COVID-19 was the greatest cause of mortality for children in the United States; however, commentators rapidly pointed out fundamental errors in the data that rendered it deceptive.
According to the findings of this study, COVID-19 is among the top six causes of death for people of all ages, from 0 to 19, including those aged 0 to 1 year, 1 to 4 years, 5 to 9 years, 10 to 14 years, and 15 to 19 years. It is not clear why the authors have included data from people aged 18 and 19 in the pediatric population. The researchers who contributed to the article are primarily from the United Kingdom, where the age of majority in most jurisdictions is 18. The bulk of the researchers is from that country.
However, one component of the report that could be construed as misleading is the fact that it lists cumulative COVID-19 deaths alongside annual death rates for other causes of death. This was originally brought to light by covid-georgia.com. For instance, the paper rates cumulative COVID-19 deaths as the fifth leading cause of death in the 1–4 age range, placing it ahead of heart disease and influenza as the leading cause of mortality in this age group. However, lower down the list, annual COVID-19 deaths are ranked as the ninth most common cause of death. The cumulative death rate attributable to COVID-19 is more than twice as high as the annualized death rate for each and every age group.
The confusion between deaths that were directly caused by COVID-19 and those for which COVID-19 was merely a “contributing” factor is another significant problem with the way that the CDC has presented its statistics. It is not true, as stated by the authors, that “we solely consider Covid-19 as an underlying (and not contributory) cause of death.”
The research study references data from the National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS), which compiles a tally of COVID-19 deaths by including in its count any death certificate on which COVID-19 is stated. This includes cases in which COVID-19 was not the primary cause of death. According to the data from NCHS that was provided by the researchers, there have been 1,433 deaths caused by COVID-19 in children up until April 30, 2022. On the other hand, according to the CDC’s own data, which only counts cases in which the virus was the primary cause of death, there were 1,088 pediatric deaths during that time period. That is a reduction of approximately 25 percent.
COVID-19 does not rank among the major causes of death for young children when the data are annualized and only include deaths where the virus was the underlying cause. In children younger than one-year-old, it is ranked ninth, behind respiratory illnesses such as influenza and pneumonia, cardiovascular conditions, and fatal accidents. According to the data provided by the CDC, accidental deaths of infants are approximately 25 times more probable than deaths caused by COVID-19.
COVID-19 was tied for eighth place with three other causes of death among children aged one to four and five to nine years old. It tied for eighth place with two other activities for children ages 10 to 14. The cause of death ranking for adolescents aged 15 to 19 years old saw a dip from fourth to sixth place as a result of this factor.
When questioned why it published this inaccurate data and how that study made it through the government’s rigorous review process, the CDC did not respond to several requests for comment. Instead, the agency just ignored the questions. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) did respond after numerous attempts to get in touch with them; in their statement, they said that “FDA speakers in the June 14-15th meeting of the Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee (VRBPAC) did not cite the study in question in their presentations.” This information was provided after the FDA was contacted multiple times. The FDA’s press release explaining the basis for our determinations can be found in the news release that announces the authorizations.
During that conference, the defective paper was given to the VRBPAC for review. On the other hand, it was not formally presented by the FDA itself; rather, it was presented to the FDA advisers by a CDC representative.
An FDA press officer suggested getting in touch with the CDC to ask any additional questions one might have regarding the research that was presented at the FDA conference.
The Daily Caller attempted to get in touch with each of the 11 authors who were named as contributors to the study. Dr. Deepti Gurdasani, an epidemiologist and senior lecturer in machine learning at Queen’s University in London, was the only one who answered the survey. The only thing Deepti was willing to do was to take a cheap jab at Tucker Carlson, who is a host on Fox News and the co-founder of the Daily Caller. She would not comment on how the publication of research that was fundamentally incorrect affects the medical treatment provided to children.
“I also noticed that your company was established by Tucker Carlson… frankly, given that information, I am astonished by your stated devotion to accuracy here!!! In her responses to the questions, she responded, “But well…”
After the errors in the research were brought to light, one of the authors of the study, Dr. Seth Flaxman, a computer science professor at the Imperial College of London, tweeted that the team is working on a new version to be shared soon. At the time that this article was being prepared for publication, the updated study did not appear to have been made public yet. A request for a response was made to Flaxman, but he did not respond to it.
A number of major sources repeated the fake numbers as though they were their own. The information was disseminated via Twitter by former Surgeon General Jerome Adams and current CNN medical analyst Leana Wen, who both once held the position of President of Planned Parenthood. On the other hand, it was condemned by a number of people who work in the healthcare industry, including Dr. Vinay Prasad.
Despite this, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) continues to advise vaccination for all American children older than six months.
