I will be attempting to fact-check some of the posts on this forum propagating misleading and false information. Basic facts and aspects of scientific literacy (such as cause vs correlation) can and should be elucidated and evaluated. In some cases I will simply link to reputable organizations which provide clear rebuttals. Opinion and personal perspective are irrefutable.
In the following paragraphs I will look at some of the claims made in the post on October 8th by andynorris21@yahoo, which I have quoted below followed by my responses.
Apparently referring to the Covid-19 vaccine:
“There have been 4-million adverse reactions to this 3-year old junk, according the World Health Organization. Yet only 15,000 adverse reactions to the tetanus vaccine, since 1968!!!!!!!!!!”
According to the WHO database which can be found and accessed here, www.vigiaccess.org/, there are currently 5,192,490 reports of Adverse Events Following Immunization (AEFI) related to the Covid-19 vaccine. Besides getting the numbers wrong, there are several reasons this post is misleading:
-These are reports of potential side effects which do not indicate or confirm a causal link.
-The total number of reports represents the combination of the members of the WHO Program for International Drug Monitoring, whose methodology varies. In the US for example, the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS) is co-managed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. www.cdc.gov/vaccinesafety/ensuringsafety/monitoring/vaers/index.html
-VAERS reports are submitted by anyone and sometimes lack details or contain errors.
-VAERS accepts all reports of adverse events following vaccination without judging whether the vaccine caused the adverse health event. Some reports to VAERS might represent true vaccine reactions, and others might be coincidental adverse health events not related to vaccination at all. Here is a link to a good explanation between side effects and adverse reactions. www.cdc.gov/vaccinesafety/ensuringsafety/sideeffects/index.html
-The number of reports submitted to VAERS may increase in response to media attention and increased public awareness.
Simply listing a large number cannot lead to any meaningful conclusions regarding this dataset. Although it should be noted that at least 13,513,017,637 doses of Covid-19 vaccine have been administered world-wide. Understanding the difference between cause and correlation is absolutely fundamental to interpreting this type of statistical information. covid19.who.int/?mapFilter=vaccinations
“…and news from the World Economic Forum’s fascistic outpost in KKKanada, where 74% of the triple vaccinated (huh? who the hell would…three times even…whaaaat????????) now have VAIDS.”
This is one of the easy ones, hint: VAIDS doesn’t exist and the source (The People’s Voice) is comedy at best.
www.snopes.com/fact-check/canadian-triple-vaccinated-people-have-vaids/
Regarding the covid-19 pandemic, I hope there are a few things we can all agree on. No organization or individual had all the answers or performed perfectly all the time; mistakes were made, but when it comes to infectious disease we’re all in this together. I believe public health policy does need to be openly debated, and should never be conducted by for-profit entities behind closed doors. Misinformation will not help open that process in any way.
-Hank Tallman