What was claimed
A report exhibits COVID-19 vaccines had a charge of harm 50 instances greater than different vaccines.
Our verdict
False. The report accommodates numbers of suspected hostile occasions following vaccination, not vaccine-induced accidents, and the 50 instances better calculation is inaccurate.
A senator has claimed that COVID-19 vaccines induced an “monumental” improve in accidents in comparison with different vaccines.
Queensland Liberal Nationwide Social gathering (LNP) Senator Gerard Rennick claimed {that a} Western Australia vaccine security report discovered that the speed of accidents related to COVID-19 vaccines was 50 instances greater than different vaccines.
That is false. The report particulars reported hostile occasions following vaccination, not vaccine-induced accidents. The methodology for accumulating studies following COVID-19 vaccines and different vaccines differed, making any comparability problematic. Moreover, specialists advised AAP FactCheck the senator’s calculations have been inaccurate.
Rennick made the declare throughout a Senate estimates listening to in October 2023, which he posted a video of to his X/Twitter, Fb and TikTok accounts on February 14, 2024.
The senator requested a Therapeutic Items Administration (TGA) officer: “How do you clarify the big improve in hostile occasions throughout a variety of hostile occasions, as per the Western Australian vaccine report, that confirmed it to be 24 instances greater per dose? Provided that we’ve taken two doses a minimum of, it’s a 50 instances greater charge of harm with the COVID vaccine.”
When requested for the supply of his declare by AAP FactCheck, Rennick cited the Western Australian Vaccine Security Surveillance (WAVSS) — Annual Report 2021. The doc data studies of suspected hostile occasions following COVID-19 vaccines, and for different vaccines, in WA for 2021. There have been 200 such studies following non-COVID vaccinations and 10,428 after COVID-19 vaccines, based on the report.
Nevertheless, the doc doesn’t present the “charge of harm”, as claimed by Rennick.
The WA Division of Well being mentioned it data suspected hostile occasions reported by well being professionals and the general public.
“This consists of any report the place vaccination was recorded as ‘presumably’ being the reason for, or contributing to the reported hostile occasion, and usually are not essentially confirmed,” a consultant advised AAP FactCheck in an electronic mail.
Adrian Esterman, a professor of biostatistics on the College of South Australia, mentioned “There isn’t a method of figuring out whether or not the hostile occasion was truly brought on by the vaccine.”
“A radical investigation to find out causality is barely undertaken for extreme hostile occasions,” he advised AAP FactCheck in an electronic mail.
The well being division mentioned greater numbers of suspected hostile occasions for COVID-19 vaccines might be attributed to a change in methodology to extend surveillance of its results in contrast with different vaccines. Publish-vaccination surveys at three separate intervals and linking vaccinations to emergency division visits and hospitalisations, it mentioned, have been new measures not taken for different vaccines.
“Each methodological variations would have resulted within the report disproportionately representing potential critical hostile occasions the place the vaccinee had introduced to hospital for COVID-19 vaccinations in comparison with different vaccines,” the consultant mentioned.
Esterman mentioned different components doubtless elevated studies of hostile occasions following COVID-19 vaccination.
“Because the report says, due to the excessive charges of suspicions concerning the mRNA COVID-19 vaccines magnified by social media, individuals have been way more prone to report any hostile occasion following a COVID-19 vaccination than for different sorts of vaccines,” he mentioned.
Esterman added that the overwhelming majority of studies “are of very minor reactions, like a sore arm, or headache”. The commonest reactions have been headache, lethargy and muscle ache, the report mentioned (Web page 19, Determine 10). The TGA has investigated all extreme hostile occasions.
For example, Esterman pointed to the 1004 deaths reported to the TGA for the reason that begin of the vaccine rollout. Following investigations, the TGA has discovered that 14 deaths nationally have been prone to be associated to COVID vaccination.
Rennick’s “50 instances greater” declare is predicated on the speed of 264.1 hostile occasions reported per 100,000 COVID vaccine doses on Web page 28 of the report. This compares to 11.1 per 100,000 doses of different vaccines. He mentioned he multiplied the 264.1 determine by two to account for the 2 injections required for a “main course” of a COVID vaccine.
Nevertheless, the well being division and specialists mentioned there have been varied points with this calculation.
A departmental spokesperson mentioned the 264.1 per 100,000 doses determine consists of all COVID-19 vaccine doses obtained, no matter whether or not they have been the primary, second, or boosters.
“It’s incorrect to multiply this charge by the variety of doses a person receives,” they added.
Dr Christopher Baker from the College of Melbourne’s Faculty of BioSciences mentioned recording hostile occasions for COVID and non-COVID vaccine-related studies per 100,000 doses made sense, provided that most of the latter would doubtless require two or extra doses. The report states that the non-COVID class consists of influenza vaccines and others on the Nationwide Immunisation Program Schedule, a lot of which require a number of injections.
“So should you have been to check a main course for COVID to different main programs, there would must be the same calculation for the others,” Dr Baker advised AAP FactCheck.
The decision
The declare {that a} report exhibits COVID-19 vaccines had a charge of harm 50 instances greater than different vaccines is fake. The report checked out suspected hostile occasions following vaccination, not vaccine-induced accidents.
Regardless, the methodology for accumulating studies differed for COVID and non-COVID vaccines, making any comparability problematic.
Specialists additionally raised a number of points with Rennick’s calculations.
False — The declare is inaccurate.