The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has made public previously undisclosed reports documenting cases of adverse events that occurred after individuals received COVID-19 vaccinations.
The 780,000 reports were submitted shortly after the rollout of COVID-19 vaccines and detail a variety of post-vaccination issues encountered by individuals, such as heart inflammation, miscarriages, seizures, and facial paralysis.
One report detailed how, immediately following injection, a vaccine recipient had a seizure and lost consciousness. Another claims a diagnosis of Bells Palsy due to facial numbness and paralysis. Individuals submitted these reports via V-safe, a text-message system established by the CDC specifically for monitoring potential side effects of COVID-19 vaccines.
For years, the CDC opted not to disclose the V-safe data to the public. Instead, it published studies characterizing the reports as offering reassurance regarding the safety of the vaccines. However, data released in 2022 revealed that nearly 8 percent of the 10 million users sought medical attention or hospital care following vaccination. Additionally, many others reported disruptions to their daily lives, such as missing school, work, or other routine activities.
U.S. District Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk, appointed by President Trump, not only mandated the release of the above mentioned data but also ordered the agency in January to divulge the free-text entries from another section where individuals could detail their experiences. The judge dismissed the government's assertions that processing the responses and redacting sensitive information would be overly burdensome.
The initial two batches, totaling 780,000 reports from approximately 523,000 individuals, encompass numerous instances of heart inflammation, hundreds of cases of facial paralysis, and thousands of reports of tinnitus. Some individuals expressed experiencing such severe symptoms that they struggled with suicidal thoughts.
The free-text section of the surveys served as the sole avenue for individuals to report adverse events, including heart inflammation, despite the CDC's awareness of the potential for such events from previously released documents. Additional documents revealed that the CDC became aware of the possibility of COVID-19 vaccines causing myocarditis (heart inflammation) and pericarditis early in 2021 but chose not to disclose this information to the public.
