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COVID: Check those numbers

| August 15, 2021 1:00 AM

The letter from Patrick Bethke claimed that 11,940 people died from COVID vaccines and 618,648 were injured, information Bethke got from a CDC VAERS site. I checked out that site, and also the cdc.gov/coronavirus site, and discovered the truth.

The VAERS site is a passive reporting system that relies on individuals to send in reports of adverse health events following vaccination. VAERS accepts reports from anyone.

About 85-90% of the reports described mild side effects such as fever, arm soreness or mild irritability. The remaining reports of adverse results such as permanent disability, hospitalization, prolongation of an existing hospitalization, life-threatening illness or death were far fewer. While these events can happen after vaccination, they are rarely caused by the vaccine.

Then I went to the cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/vaccinesafety/concerns site and found that COVID-19 vaccines are safe and effective. Millions of people in the United States have received COVID-19 vaccines under the most intense safety monitoring in U.S. history.

You may have some side effects, which may affect your ability to do daily activities, but they should go away in a few days. Serious side effects that could cause a long-term health problem are extremely unlikely.

Side effects generally happen within six weeks of receiving a vaccine dose, so COVID-19 vaccines were studied for at least two months (eight weeks) after the final dose before they were approved.

JANET CRUZ

Rathdrum