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ABC NEWS VIDEO LIVE SHOWS CORONAVIRUS LOG IN Interest Successfully Added We'll notify you here with news about Turn on desktop notifications for breaking stories about interest? OffOn WHAT AMERICANS NEED TO KNOW ABOUT THE GOVERNMENT'S VAERS DATABASE: ANALYSIS "This is truly a model of transparency." ByDr. Karine Tawagi 24 April 2021, 13:00 • 5 min read Share to FacebookShare to TwitterEmail this article 2:52 Johnson & Johnson vaccinations to resume The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention lifted its 11-day pause on the vaccine du...Read MoreRead More Vincent West/Reuters Nearly 20 years ago, the federal government launched a massive crowdsourcing project: A database filled by doctors and patients that could give an early warning if problems arose with any of the millions of vaccines Americans take every year. The system, called VAERS, the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System, has now been credited with identifying an extremely rare chance of a blood clot after the Johnson & Johnson vaccine. But with newfound attention on VAERS, this crucial public health system -- which anyone can access -- is ripe for abuse, misuse and plain misunderstanding. Key figures in the anti-vaccine movement have latched onto the public database, incorrectly saying the vaccines directly caused numerous injuries listed in VAERS. Meanwhile, concerned citizens are increasingly stumbling upon the database and finding themselves alarmed by the reports. MORE: CDC confirms more rare reactions following J&J vaccine Although VAERS contains millions of reports of injuries following vaccinations, the vast majority of those injuries are coincidental. The system accepts any report of an adverse event following vaccination, even if it's not clear the vaccine caused the problem. For example, in the United States, someone has a heart attack every 40 seconds. Some may have received a COVID-19 vaccine shortly prior to their heart attack and that report may have been filed to VAERS. But it does not mean the vaccine caused the problem. "VAERS has been in place almost 20 years. It has been used as a radar system to detect signals on vaccine safety issues ... and has been ramped up in response to the COVID vaccine," said Dr. William Schaffner, a professor of preventative medicine and infectious diseases at Vanderbilt University in Nashville. Added Dr. John Brownstein, an epidemiologist at Boston Children's Hospital and an ABC News contributor: "This is a frontline system which can quickly capture data about what's happening in the population through self-report." Anyone can use VAERS. All you need to do is download the app V-safe or enter "vaccine reporting" in Google. It is very user-friendly and anyone can access the data reported on VAERS. "This is truly a model of transparency," Schaffner said. MORE: The number of Americans getting vaccinated is on the decline While abuse and misunderstanding are possible, a fully transparent system builds confidence that the pharmaceutical industry and government can't hide cases of adverse events during mass immunization campaigns. And because it's a crowdsourced system, VAERS is the best way to detect extremely rare side effects that may not otherwise have been identified. "Think of how useful it has been. VAERS found a needle in a haystack," Schaffner said. "These clotting events with [low platelets] occurred at a rate of 1 in over 1 million doses of vaccine. It found a signal, which was investigated, and health officials immediately convened an emergency meeting." Federal and pharmaceutical authorities are alerted when the frequency of a side effect is higher than would be expected in a large unvaccinated population, explained Dr. Nabarun Dasgupta, an epidemiologist at the University of North Carolina. For public health experts, the expected frequency of health problems -- such as one heart attack every 40 seconds -- is called the expected "background rate." The VAERS system helps identify problems that exceed the expected background rate. One, however, must be cautious of misinformation entered on the site, including false reports. Government agencies look systemically for patterns related to the vaccine, and when someone gets sick or dies shortly after the vaccine, this is investigated in a very serious fashion to ensure there is no link or inaccurate reporting. "It's funny because when you click submit, there is actually a big warning sign ... if misinformation is entered, it can actually result in legal action," said Brownstein. "There is sort of a history for those who may want to perpetuate misinformation about vaccines to use fear as a tool to do so." Despite its limitations, VAERS has proven to be a valuable tool. Patients receiving the vaccine are strongly encouraged to use the system so future adverse events can be identified. Karine Tawagi, M.D., is a hematology and oncology fellow at Ochsner Medical Center in New Orleans and a contributor to the ABC News Medical Unit. Comments (91) Share to FacebookShare to TwitterEmail this article -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- TOP STORIES OUT OF THE SHADOWS: STEELE DEFIANT ON DOSSIER, SAYS TRUMP STILL 'POTENTIAL' THREAT Oct 18, 9:13 AM COLIN POWELL, FORMER SECRETARY OF STATE, DIES OF COVID-19 COMPLICATIONS 43 minutes ago HENRIETTA LACKS' GRANDCHILDREN SUE BIOTECH COMPANY Oct 14, 2:17 PM SLAIN WOMAN'S FAMILY QUESTIONS ACTIONS OF SHERIFF'S OFFICE 15 minutes ago 'LAWLESS CITY?' WORRY AFTER PORTLAND POLICE DON'T STOP CHAOS Oct 16, 4:30 PM TOP STORIES COLIN POWELL, FORMER SECRETARY OF STATE, DIES OF COVID-19 COMPLICATIONS 1 hour ago 17 MISSIONARIES KIDNAPPED BY GANG IN HAITI Oct 18, 12:29 AM OUT OF THE SHADOWS: STEELE DEFIANT ON DOSSIER, SAYS TRUMP STILL 'POTENTIAL' THREAT Oct 18, 9:13 AM 17 MISSIONARIES, INCLUDING 5 CHILDREN, KIDNAPPED IN HAITI, MINISTRY SAYS Oct 18, 3:14 AM J&J RECIPIENTS SHOULD 'FEEL GOOD' ABOUT BOOSTER RECOMMENDATION: FAUCI Oct 17, 3:55 PM TOP STORIES COLIN POWELL, FORMER SECRETARY OF STATE, DIES OF COVID-19 COMPLICATIONS 1 hour ago 17 MISSIONARIES KIDNAPPED BY GANG IN HAITI Oct 18, 12:29 AM OUT OF THE SHADOWS: STEELE DEFIANT ON DOSSIER, SAYS TRUMP STILL 'POTENTIAL' THREAT Oct 18, 9:13 AM 17 MISSIONARIES, INCLUDING 5 CHILDREN, KIDNAPPED IN HAITI, MINISTRY SAYS Oct 18, 3:14 AM J&J RECIPIENTS SHOULD 'FEEL GOOD' ABOUT BOOSTER RECOMMENDATION: FAUCI Oct 17, 3:55 PM TOP STORIES COLIN POWELL, FORMER SECRETARY OF STATE, DIES OF COVID-19 COMPLICATIONS 1 hour ago 17 MISSIONARIES KIDNAPPED BY GANG IN HAITI Oct 18, 12:29 AM OUT OF THE SHADOWS: STEELE DEFIANT ON DOSSIER, SAYS TRUMP STILL 'POTENTIAL' THREAT Oct 18, 9:13 AM FDA PANEL FELT J&J ‘SHOULD HAVE BEEN A 2-DOSE VACCINE TO BEGIN WITH’: FAUCI Oct 17, 2:19 PM 17 MISSIONARIES, INCLUDING 5 CHILDREN, KIDNAPPED IN HAITI, MINISTRY SAYS Oct 18, 3:14 AM ABC NEWS LIVE 24/7 coverage of breaking news and live events ABC NEWS NETWORK PRIVACY POLICY YOUR CA PRIVACY RIGHTS CHILDREN'S ONLINE PRIVACY POLICY INTEREST-BASED ADS ABOUT NIELSEN MEASUREMENT TERMS OF USE DO NOT SELL MY INFO CONTACT US Copyright © 2021 ABC News Internet Ventures. 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