The CDC now says even those people fully vaccinated for COVID are able to get, and spread, the virus. According to internal documents obtained by The Washington Post, the CDC said it’s time to “Acknowledge the war has changed.”
By Megan Redshaw | The Defender
Data released today by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) showed total reports of serious injuries following COVID vaccination, across all age groups, spiked by 14,717 — to 63,000 — compared with the previous week.
The data comes directly from reports submitted to the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS), the primary government-funded system for reporting adverse vaccine reactions in the U.S.
Every Friday, VAERS makes public all vaccine injury reports received as of a specified date, usually about a week prior to the release date. Reports submitted to VAERS require further investigation before a causal relationship can be confirmed.
Data released today show that between Dec. 14, 2020 and July 23, 2021, a total of 518,770 total adverse events were reported to VAERS, including 11,940 deaths — an increase of 535 over the previous week. There were 63,102 serious injuries reported during the same time period — up 14,717 compared with the previous week.
Excluding “foreign reports” filed in VAERS, 435,007 adverse events, including 5,612 deaths and 34,890 serious injuries, were reported in the U.S.
In the U.S., 340.4 million COVID vaccine doses had been administered as of July 23. This includes: 137 million doses of Moderna’s vaccine, 189 million doses of Pfizer and 13 million doses of the Johnson & Johnson (J&J) COVID vaccine.
Of the 5,612 U.S. deaths reported as of July 23, 14% occurred within 24 hours of vaccination, 20% occurred within 48 hours of vaccination and 34% occurred in people who experienced an onset of symptoms within 48 hours of being vaccinated.
This week’s U.S. data for 12- to 17-year-olds show:
- 15,086 total adverse events, including 909 rated as serious and 16 reported deaths — one less than what VAERS showed last week. Two of the nine deaths were suicides.
- The most recent reported deaths include a 13-year-old boy (VAERS I.D. 1463061) who died after receiving a Moderna vaccine, a 16-year-old boy (VAERS I.D. 1466009) who died after receiving his second dose of Pfizer and a 16-year-old boy (VAERS I.D. 1475434) who died with an enlarged heart six days after receiving his first Pfizer dose.
Other reports include two 13-year-old boys (VAERS I.D. 1406840 and 1431289) who died two days after receiving a Pfizer vaccine, three 15-year-olds (VAERS I.D. 1187918, 1382906 and 1242573), three 16-year-olds (VAERS I.D. 1420630, 1225942 and 1386841) and three 17-year-olds (VAERS I.D. 1199455, 1388042 and 1420762).
- 2,223 reports of anaphylaxis among 12- to 17-year-olds with 99% of cases
attributed to Pfizer’s vaccine. - 394 reports of myocarditis and pericarditis (heart inflammation) with 390 cases attributed to Pfizer’s vaccine.
- 72 reports of blood clotting disorders, with all cases attributed to Pfizer.
This week’s total U.S. VAERS data, from Dec. 14, 2020 to July 23, 2021, for all age groups combined, show:
- 21% of deaths were related to cardiac disorders.
- 54% of those who died were male, 43% were female and the remaining death reports did not include gender of the deceased.
- The average age of death was 73.4.
- As of July 23, 2,572 pregnant women reported adverse events related to COVID vaccines, including 885 reports of miscarriage or premature birth.
- Of the 2,483 cases of Bell’s Palsy reported, 50% were attributed to Pfizer vaccinations, 43% to Moderna and 6% to J&J.
- 467 reports of Guillain-Barré Syndrome, with 39% of cases attributed to Pfizer, 36% to Moderna and 24% to J&J.
- 119,539 reports of anaphylaxis with 44% of cases attributed to Pfizer’s vaccine, 48% to Moderna and 8% to J&J.
- 7,864 reports of blood clotting disorders. Of those, 3,336 reports were attributed to Pfizer, 2,846 reports to Moderna and 1,637 reports to J&J.
- 1,944 cases of myocarditis and pericarditis with 1,819 cases attributed to Pfizer, 639 cases to Moderna and 68 cases to J&J’s COVID vaccine.
Internal CDC document reveals vaccinated, even if not sick, can spread virus
The CDC now says even those people fully vaccinated for COVID are able to get, and spread, the virus.
According to internal documents obtained by The Washington Post, the CDC said it’s time to “Acknowledge the war has changed.”
The document outlined unpublished data showing fully vaccinated people might spread the Delta variant at the same rate as unvaccinated people, CNN reported.
It concludes the delta variant is “highly contagious, likely to be more severe” and that “breakthrough infections may be as transmissible as unvaccinated cases.”
“‘I think the central issue is that vaccinated people are probably involved to a substantial extent in the transmission of delta,’ Jeffrey Shaman, a Columbia University epidemiologist, wrote in an email after reviewing the CDC slides.
“‘In some sense, vaccination is now about personal protection — protecting oneself against severe disease. Herd immunity is not relevant as we are seeing plenty of evidence of repeat and breakthrough infections.’”
Since January, people who got infected after vaccination make up an increasing portion of hospitalizations and in-hospital deaths among COVID patients, according to the CDC documents. That trend coincides with the spread of the Delta variant.
The Post also reported today on a CDC study revealing three-fourths of people infected in a Massachusetts COVID outbreak were vaccinated. The report bolsters the hypothesis that vaccinated people can spread the more transmissible variant, and may be a factor in the summer surge of infections.
The data, detailed in the CDC’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, provided key evidence that convinced agency scientists to reverse recommendations on mask-wearing and advise that vaccinated individuals wear masks in indoor public settings in some circumstances, The Post reported.
Thus far, researchers have focused on viral load — a term for how much of the virus is present in infected peoples’ bodies — which can affect transmissibility and severity. Infections with the Delta variant lead to higher levels of virus in the body, even in breakthrough cases in fully vaccinated individuals, the document said.
If vaccinated people get infected anyway, they have as much virus in their bodies as unvaccinated people — that means they’re as likely to infect someone else as unvaccinated people who get infected, CNN reported.
“The bottom line was that, in contrast to the other variants, vaccinated people, even if they didn’t get sick, got infected and shed virus at similar levels as unvaccinated people who got infected,” Dr. Walter Orenstein, who heads the Emory Vaccine Center and who viewed the documents, told CNN.
The CDC is scheduled to publish more data today.
Biden says federal workers must get vaccinated or submit to regular testing — postal union, others push back
President Biden on Thursday announced all civilian federal employees will be required to show proof of vaccination against COVID or be forced to submit to regular COVID testing, wear masks and socially distance.
Biden also called on state and local governments to use COVID relief funds to give $100 to residents who get vaccinated. In a statement released by the White House, the administration said the new rules were issued because of the Delta COVID variant, and because unvaccinated people present a problem to themselves, their families and co-workers.
“Every federal government employee will be asked to attest to their vaccination status. Anyone who does not attest or is not vaccinated will be required to mask no matter where they work; test one or two times a week to see if they have a — they have acquired COVID, socially distance and generally will not be allowed to travel for work,” Biden said.
Biden directed his administration to apply similar standards to all federal contractors. “If you want to do business with the federal government, get your workers vaccinated,” he said.
In one early sign the policy may not go as smoothly as planned, the American Postal Workers Union (APWU) said it opposes the Biden administration’s vaccine mandate as a condition for employment, arguing it isn’t the role of the federal government to mandate vaccines or other testing measures.
“Maintaining the health and safety of our members is of paramount importance,” the APWU said in a statement issued Wednesday. “While the APWU leadership continues to encourage postal workers to voluntarily get vaccinated, it is not the role of the federal government to mandate vaccinations for the employees we represent.”
In advance of Biden’s official announcement, Children’s Health Defense on Thursday issued a statement disagreeing with the new policy.
The statement quoted CHD Chairman Robert F. Kennedy, Jr:
“Coerced medical interventions have been abhorrent to advocates of liberty and human dignity in every age. The fact that these vaccines are shoddily tested, experimental, unapproved and so risky their manufacturers can neither obtain insurance coverage nor indemnify users against grave injuries or death should magnify our ethical revulsion.”
FDA urges Moderna, Pfizer to include thousands more children in clinical trials
Pfizer and Moderna will expand their COVID vaccine clinical trial to include thousands more children prior to seeking EUA, after the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) told the vaccine makers the size and scope of their pediatric studies, as initially envisioned, were inadequate to detect rare side effects.
Citing concerns about the risk of heart inflammation associated with the vaccines, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration asked Pfizer and Moderna to expand the number of children in their clinical trials.https://t.co/p05zkNddjZ
— Robert F. Kennedy Jr (@RobertKennedyJr) July 28, 2021
The rare side effects cited by the FDA included myocarditis, an inflammation of the heart muscle, and pericarditis, inflammation of the lining around the heart, multiple people familiar with the trials told The New York Times.
Expanding the pediatric trials means thousands more children as young as 6 months old may soon be recruited and enrolled in COVID vaccine trials. According to the Times, the FDA asked the companies to include 3,000 children in the 5- to 11-year-old group, the group for whom results were expected first.
Moderna’s shot is authorized for emergency use in people 18 and up, and Pfizer’s vaccine is authorized for children as young as 12. No COVID vaccines have yet received EUA approval for children younger than 12.
America’s Frontline Doctors sue UC over vaccine mandates
With supporting declarations from top medical experts and students, America’s Frontline Doctors (AFLDS) filed a civil rights lawsuit in Federal Court against the University of California (UC), targeting the university system’s plan to mandate COVID vaccination for all students regardless of natural immunity.
As The Defender reported July 28, AFLDS, students and even the UC’s own top doctors, are criticizing the rushed mandate as arbitrary, unscientific and medically unnecessary.
Attorneys for the plaintiffs in this civil rights case cite the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution’s protection of bodily integrity, as well as two California civil rights statutes (Cal. Civ. Code sec. 51, Cal. Gov. Code sec. 11135) that prohibit discrimination on the basis of medical or genetic status.
Accordingly, AFLDS is requesting an injunction to restrain the UC from utilizing coercion and segregation of naturally-immune and unvaccinated people in violation of Federal and State law.
The primary target of the lawsuit is the UC’s unscientific one-size-fits-all vaccine mandate where the UC rejects scientifically accepted prescreening for natural immunity.
The CDC, NIH pull in millions from licensing deals, including COVID-related technologies
Aggregated data for fiscal year 2020 show the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and CDC collected a combined $63.4 million in royalty revenues under a business model that allows the NIH to grant technology licenses to the private sector.
As The Defender reported earlier this week, with 27 different institutes and centers housed under the NIH umbrella — including the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) — NIH is the largest biomedical research agency in the world with an annual budget of nearly $42 billion.
Aggregated data for fiscal year 2020 show the NIH and CDC collected a combined $63.4 million in royalty revenues under a business model that allows the NIH to grant technology licenses to the private sector.https://t.co/wPWEuUYnNx
— Robert F. Kennedy Jr (@RobertKennedyJr) July 28, 2021
Within NIH, the Office of Technology Transfer plays a “strategic role” in supporting patenting and licensing for inventions that emerge from laboratories at the NIH and CDC. In a win-win business model, the NIH routinely grants technology licenses to the private sector for use or commercialization of its inventions, with those licenses then driving billions of dollars in royalties back to the NIH.
In fiscal year 2020 alone — October 2019 through September 2020 — aggregated data for NIH and CDC show the agencies collected $63.4 million in royalty revenues.
Where public health agencies are concerned, COVID appears to be very good for business, with a flurry of unprecedented funding — conveniently mobilized by the pandemic — ushering in profound and likely permanent changes in a public health infrastructure once lamented as weak and fragmented.
As The Defender reported this week, Pfizer now projects $33 billion in COVID vaccine revenues, a sharp increase over earlier projections. The vaccine maker anticipates booster shots, a vaccine designed for the Delta variant and pending authorization of COVID vaccines for children will drive sales even higher next year.
144 days and counting, CDC ignores The Defender’s inquiries
According to the CDC website, “the 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.”
On March 8, The Defender contacted the CDC with a written list of questions about reported deaths and injuries related to COVID vaccines. We have made repeated attempts, by phone and email, to obtain a response to our questions.
Despite multiple phone and email communications with several people at the CDC, and despite being told that our request was in the system and that someone would respond, we have not yet received answers to any of the questions we submitted. It has been 144 days since we sent our first email to the CDC requesting information.
Children’s Health Defense asks anyone who has experienced an adverse reaction, to any vaccine, to file a report following these three steps.
