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FACT BRIEF

Are COVID-19 vaccines 'dangerous and ineffective' and do they 'need to be withdrawn from the market'?

By Ed Payne
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NO

Despite unsubstantiated online claims such as the one recently posted on infowars.com declaring vaccines "dangerous and ineffective," vaccine data suggest they offer significant protection and are very unlikely to cause serious harm.

More than 535 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines have been administered in the U.S. between Dec. 14, 2020, and Jan. 24, 2022. During this time, the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS) received 11,657 reports of death — less than one quarter of one percent (0.0022%) of vaccine recipients. Moreover, these reports only establish correlation: the death may have followed the vaccination, but that does not mean the vaccination caused the death.

COVID-19 vaccines reduce the likelihood of infection and reduce the severity of symptoms when infections do occur. In New South Wales during the week ending on Jan. 8, 2022, 8.9% of cases were hospitalized among the unvaccinated versus 1% among the vaccinated.

See a full discussion of this at Lead Stories
This fact brief is responsive to conversations such as this one.
Sources
Australian Government Department of Health Vaccination numbers and statistics
Centers for Disease Control Selected Adverse Events Reported after COVID-19 Vaccination
ABOUT THE CONTRIBUTOR
Lead Stories
Lead Stories is a fact checking and debunking website at the intersection of big data and journalism that launched in 2015. It scouts for trending stories, images, videos and posts that contain false information in order to fact check them as quickly as possible. It actively monitors the fake-news ecosystem and doesn’t wait for reader tips or reports before getting started on a story.
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About fact briefs published on Gigafact
Fact briefs are short, credibly sourced summaries that offer “yes/no” answers in response to claims found online. They rely on publicly available, often primary source data and documents. Fact briefs are created by contributors to Gigafact —a nonprofit project looking to expand participation in fact-checking and protect the democratic process. See all fact briefs here.