Staff Reports
The FDA’s lack of transparency regarding the safety of COVID-19 vaccines in children is raising concerns among drug safety advocates. The FDA recently reported that it had detected a safety signal for seizures in children following Pfizer and Moderna COVID-19 vaccinations, but it refused to disclose when it first identified this signal. This is in line with a pattern of withholding information regarding COVID-19 vaccines that has been observed throughout the pandemic.
FDA Refuses to Say When It Found Safety Signal for Seizures and COVID Vaccines in Children | The Epoch Times https://t.co/xMYjD2h5xl
— Leslive004 (@Leslive40) October 24, 2023
The FDA study, conducted in collaboration with health care companies and researchers, analyzed data from health claims databases and identified 72 cases of seizures in children within seven days of receiving a COVID-19 shot. The researchers compared these rates to background rates from 2020 and found that the signal for seizures had not been previously reported for this age group in active surveillance studies of mRNA COVID-19 vaccines. However, when using background rates from 2022, the signal disappeared.
Drug safety advocates argue that the FDA should be transparent about this safety signal, especially considering that seizures are known complications of other vaccines. They believe that by withholding information, public health officials are eroding trust in vaccine safety. Barbara Loe Fisher, founder and co-president of the National Vaccine Information Center, emphasized the importance of providing information that allows individuals to weigh the risks for themselves based on their own health and medical history.
The FDA’s delay in reporting the safety signal has prevented other researchers from taking action, and it is unclear whether the government plans to conduct a more robust epidemiological study on this issue. The FDA maintains confidence in the safety, effectiveness, and quality of COVID-19 vaccines, stating that the benefits outweigh the risks. However, the lack of transparency from both the FDA and the CDC regarding signals and investigations raises questions about their commitment to providing comprehensive information to the public.
It’s not just the FDA that has been withholding information. The CDC also failed to disclose more than 700 signals for the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines in May 2022, despite conducting data mining on reports to the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System. The agencies have also refused to release documents related to investigations into deaths following COVID-19 vaccination and results from studies on post-vaccination heart inflammation. The only time the FDA shared documents on the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines was when ordered by federal judges.
Overall, the lack of transparency from regulatory agencies is a cause for concern. It is crucial for the FDA and the CDC to provide complete and timely information regarding vaccine safety in order to maintain public trust and ensure that individuals can make informed decisions about their health.
