CDC Buries Study Showing Positive Effects From Covid Vaccine — Report

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention will reportedly not publish a report showing the Covid-19 vaccine significantly reduced the likelihood of emergency room visits and hospitalizations last winter.The research found that healthy adults who received the Covid vaccine last year reduced their likelihood of hospitalizations by 55 percent and the likelihood of an emergency room visit by 50 percent.The acting head of the CDC, Dr. Jay Bhattacharya, previously delayed the release of the report after objecting to the methodology it used and saying he wanted to review the findings with CDC scientists.Now, the report is being shelved altogether, according to the Washington Post, citing three anonymous sources at the CDC.“This is definitely an escalation of this administration’s undermining of CDC science,” a former CDC vaccine policy adviser, Dr. Fiona Havers, told the Guardian. “The fact that they are now blocking this is extremely concerning.”Dr. Havers says the methodology used in the Covid vaccine study is the same as has been used for decades in numerous other studies.Former New York Times reporter Alex Berenson, who claimed the seriousness of the Covid pandemic was overblown, said Dr. Bhattacharya is right to question the methodology of “test-negative” studies like the one in question.In a test-negative study, the percentage of the people who test positive for a condition like Covid who were vaccinated is compared to those who tested negative. Mr. Berenson says that if a higher percentage of people in the “test-negative” group for the illness are vaccinated, the CDC concludes the vaccine has worked.“This is nonsense,” Mr. Berenson writes in his blog, noting that the methodology does not take into account factors such as the underlying health condition of the participants. He advocates randomized controlled trials, which he says are more effective.Vaccine supporters, however, suspect the vaccine’s benefits are being downplayed due to Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. anti-vaccine views. Mr. Kennedy has previously spoken out against the Covid shots and, in 2021, told Louisiana lawmakers that it is the “deadliest vaccine ever made.” His hand-picked vaccine advisory committee — filled with vaccine skeptics — plans to expand its remit beyond making vaccine recommendations to discuss alleged Covid vaccine injuries. The Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices plans to look at long Covid and may vote on future vaccine recommendations.Mr. Kennedy fired all of the previous members of the committee last year and replaced many of them with members who share his long-held skepticism toward vaccines.Among the recommendations the committee made last year was to reclassify the Covid vaccine as a matter of “shared clinical decision-making” — making it an individual’s personal choice to receive instead of a recommendation — for those under age 65.The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention also no longer recommends the vaccine for healthy pregnant women. An overhaul of the vaccine schedule for children in the United States that was endorsed by the panel removed Covid vaccines for children.More recently, the Trump administration has attempted to talk less about vaccine policy and emphasize MAHA messaging on healthy eating over fears the vaccine policies could be a losing issue in the 2026 midterm elections.

CDC Buries Study Showing Positive Effects From Covid Vaccine — Report

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