Vaccines are a safer alternative for acquiring immunity compared to natural infection and COVID-19 survivors benefit from getting vaccinated, contrary to claims by Peter McCullough

Clinical trials showed that COVID-19 vaccines are effective against the disease and have an excellent safety profile. While infection can also confer protective immunity, this also comes with the risks associated with disease, such as death and health complications. Vaccination develops immunity without running these risks, making vaccines the safer choice. COVID-19 survivors also benefit from vaccination. For example, vaccination may help prevent reinfection in survivors who don’t develop protective immunity from infection alone, while vaccine boosters can help build immunity to virus variants.

CDC analysis of RSV vaccines data showed vaccines are safe, not associated with excess deaths, contrary to claim by Children’s Health Defense

Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV) infections are very common during winter. Most of them are mild but complications can lead to pneumonia and bronchiolitis, especially in babies and older adults. RSV vaccines are effective and recommended for people above 60. Current evidence indicates their benefits outweigh their risks. Further research is needed to determine if these vaccines are associated with a higher risk of Guillain-Barré syndrome.

Claim that myocarditis from COVID-19 vaccines carries serious risk of death is based on flawed study

Studies have shown that people vaccinated against COVID-19 are less likely to develop severe disease, require hospitalization, and die from COVID-19 compared to unvaccinated people. While COVID-19 vaccines are associated with a slightly elevated risk of myocarditis and a particular blood clotting disorder, it is COVID-19 that is associated with a greater risk of these illnesses and other complications. On balance, the evidence gathered so far by studies shows that the benefits of COVID-19 vaccination outweigh the risks, not the other way around.

Analysis claiming to find COVID-19 vaccines killed 17 million people is highly flawed, doesn’t account for COVID-19 mortality surges

Claims that COVID-19 vaccination is responsible for excess mortality have commonly invoked population-level correlations as supporting evidence. Population-level analyses are relatively easy and quick to do, as the data is readily available. But they come with several caveats, meaning that their results need to be interpreted cautiously. Controlling for confounding factors, such as differences in the age structure of populations and differences in public health measures, is difficult to do with such analyses. Moreover, population-level observations don’t necessarily predict individual-level outcomes.

Pfizer documents misrepresented to spread the false claim that the Pfizer mRNA COVID-19 vaccine contains graphene oxide

COVID-19 vaccines were rigorously tested in clinical trials before they were permitted to be used in the general public. The Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine doesn’t contain graphene oxide nor is graphene listed on any credible ingredient lists of any COVID-19 vaccine provided by public health authorities and regulators. However, some have misrepresented a Pfizer document to claim otherwise. In fact, the document describes a microscopy study that was part of the structural characterization of the vaccine spike protein, in which scientists used graphene oxide as a support material for sample processing and visualization.

No scientific evidence for the claim that nattokinase can treat long COVID or “detox” COVID-19 vaccines

Nattokinase is an enzyme that was first isolated from natto, a traditional Japanese dish made of fermented soybeans. Research so far has shown that it can break apart proteins involved in blood clotting, which enables it to dissolve blood clots. While one study by Tanikawa et al. found that nattokinase could break down spike protein, the study was unrelated to long COVID and the experiments were performed in cells in the lab. Therefore, the results may not reflect what happens in the human body and also provide no information about its effects on long COVID.

Study led by FDA researchers didn’t find that the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine caused blood clots, contrary to viral claims on social media

Certain COVID-19 vaccines, specifically the viral vector vaccines like the AstraZeneca and J & J vaccines, are associated with an increased risk of a blood clotting disorder called vaccine-induced thrombotic thrombocytopenia, which can be fatal. At the moment, there isn’t evidence indicating that mRNA COVID-19 vaccines are associated with the same risk. However, it’s important to also consider that getting COVID-19 itself increases a person’s risk of developing blood clotting problems to a greater extent than the viral vector COVID-19 vaccines.