leadstories.com Open in urlscan Pro
172.67.28.131  Public Scan

Form analysis
2 forms found in the DOM

GET /cgi-bin/mt/mt-search.fcgi

<form action="/cgi-bin/mt/mt-search.fcgi" method="GET">
  <svg data-role="icon" viewBox="0 0 20 20">
    <path
      d="M17.545,15.467l-3.779-3.779c0.57-0.935,0.898-2.035,0.898-3.21c0-3.417-2.961-6.377-6.378-6.377C4.869,2.1,2.1,4.87,2.1,8.287c0,3.416,2.961,6.377,6.377,6.377c1.137,0,2.2-0.309,3.115-0.844l3.799,3.801c0.372,0.371,0.975,0.371,1.346,0l0.943-0.943C18.051,16.307,17.916,15.838,17.545,15.467z M4.004,8.287c0-2.366,1.917-4.283,4.282-4.283c2.366,0,4.474,2.107,4.474,4.474c0,2.365-1.918,4.283-4.283,4.283C6.111,12.76,4.004,10.652,4.004,8.287z">
    </path>
  </svg>
  <input type="hidden" value="1" name="IncludeBlogs">
  <input aria-label="Search Lead Stories for" type="text" name="search" aria-placeholder="Search..." placeholder="Search...">
  <button type="submit">Go</button>
</form>

GET /cgi-bin/mt/mt-search.fcgi

<form action="/cgi-bin/mt/mt-search.fcgi" method="GET" class="mod-fullmenu-search">
  <svg data-role="icon" viewBox="0 0 20 20">
    <path
      d="M17.545,15.467l-3.779-3.779c0.57-0.935,0.898-2.035,0.898-3.21c0-3.417-2.961-6.377-6.378-6.377C4.869,2.1,2.1,4.87,2.1,8.287c0,3.416,2.961,6.377,6.377,6.377c1.137,0,2.2-0.309,3.115-0.844l3.799,3.801c0.372,0.371,0.975,0.371,1.346,0l0.943-0.943C18.051,16.307,17.916,15.838,17.545,15.467z M4.004,8.287c0-2.366,1.917-4.283,4.282-4.283c2.366,0,4.474,2.107,4.474,4.474c0,2.365-1.918,4.283-4.283,4.283C6.111,12.76,4.004,10.652,4.004,8.287z">
    </path>
  </svg>
  <input type="hidden" value="1" name="IncludeBlogs">
  <input aria-label="Search Lead Stories for" type="search" name="search" aria-placeholder="Search..." placeholder="Search...">
  <button type="submit">Go</button>
</form>

Text Content

Open full menu

Go
Fact Check Analysis Corrections Blue Feed Red Feed Corona Virus



FACT CHECK: THIS BLOG POST DOES NOT PROVE 25,800 DEATHS WERE CAUSED BY THE MRNA
VACCINES AGAINST COVID-19


FACT CHECK

 * Jun 24, 2021
 * by: Dean Miller

Share Tweet
Experts Refute

Does this blog post prove 25,800 people have died of reactions to COVID
vaccines? No, that's not true: The claim recycles an oft-rebuked misuse of the
U.S. government's unverified list of vaccine reaction reports called VAERS
(Vaccine Adverse Events Reporting System). Multiple peer-reviewed studies by
medical doctors and infectious disease Ph.D.s have found the mRNA COVID-19
vaccines both effective and safe, with benefits far outweighing the harm done by
two documented side effects: anaphylaxis and rare clots mostly affecting women.

The claim appeared in an article published by TrialSite News on May 25, 2021
titled, "Should you get vaccinated?" (archived here), which says: "these
vaccines have likely killed over 25,800 Americans (which I confirmed 3 different
ways) and disabled at least 1,000,000 more" It continued:

> ... Academics in the medical community are nearly all clueless, urging people
> to get the safe and effective vaccine ... What I find deeply disturbing is the
> lack of transparency on how dangerous the current COVID vaccines are. Healthy
> people could end up dead or permanently disabled at a rate that is 'off the
> charts' compared with any other vaccine in our history.

Blog visitors saw this title, description and thumbnail:



> If you haven't been vaccinated yet or are on the fence about whether to get
> vaccinated or not, this article can help you decide which path to take. You

The blog post's author, tech entrepreneur/philanthropist Steve Kirsch, declares
that he knows better than the thousands of M.D.s and Ph.D.s with relevant
specialty education and experience. This fact check does not address every claim
in the 7,600-word post, focusing on the claims related to reports of deaths.

The author cites the lack of takers on his offer to debate the point as proof
that he has caught the medical community in a lie:

> ... nobody who counts (e.g., over 10K Twitter followers) will debate me. I've
> tried everything. People are too afraid I'll win.

To support the claim, he cites a document that he falsely claims is "leaked."
The lab that created it, Pfizer, has publicly said that document is not what
Kirsch and other vaccine critics are calling it.

Kirsch writes: "Biodistribution data shows massive accumulation in ovaries of
the LNP (which instructs cells in ovaries to sprout toxic spike protein).
Whoops. That was never supposed to be leaked out. We obtained it via FOIA
request." In other contexts, Kirsch has specified that he bases this claim on a
Japanese-language document obtained by a Canadian veterinary school professor.

Pfizer, however, says that report shows the results of tests on mice and rats. A
Pfizer spokesman told Lead Stories in a June 23, 2021, email that the document
contains no evidence of dangerous buildups.

FDA press officer Abby Capobianco was unequivocal, telling Lead Stories there is
no scientific evidence for Kirsch's declarations about medical matters. She
wrote, in a June 23, 2021, email: "There is no scientific data to indicate that
the spike protein in mRNA vaccines is toxic or that it lingers at any toxic
level in the body after vaccination."

Violating a first principle of scientific inquiry and of medical research,
Kirsch cites a personal anecdote as evidence the vaccine is toxic and is not
safe for pregnant women, a claim debunked here, and made by a Baylor Medical
Center cardiologist just days before he was removed from the staff of the
hospital, which stated it does not endorse the claim. In making his claim about
pregnant women Kirsch provides no names, dates or contact information that would
permit an independent investigator to authenticate the claim. He writes:

> It is baffling that the CDC says the vaccine is safe for pregnant women when
> it is so clear that this is not the case. For example, one our family friends
> is a victim of this. She miscarried at 25 weeks and is having a D&C on 6/9/21.
> She had her first shot 7 weeks ago, and her second shot 4 weeks ago. The baby
> had severe bleeding of the brain and other disfigurements. Her gynecologist
> had never seen anything like that before in her life. They called in a
> specialist who said it was probably a genetic defect (because everyone buys
> into the narrative that the vaccine is safe it is always ruled out as a
> possible cause). No VAERS report. No CDC report. Yet the doctors I've talked
> to say that it is over 99% certain it was the vaccine. The family doesn't want
> an autopsy for fear that their daughter will find out it was the vaccine. This
> is a perfect example of how these horrible side effects just never get
> reported anywhere.

As corroboration of his claims, Kirsch cites strong opposition to the mRNA
vaccine by "extremely credible voices" such as Dr. Robert Malone and Geert
Vanden Bossche. Vanden Bossche is a Belgian doctor of veterinary medicine and
Ph.D. virologist whose anti-mass vaccination claims have been debunked by the
team of doctors and Ph.D.s at Health Feedback, which found that he misstated the
effect of COVID vaccination on human immune systems.

Professor Otto Yang, M.D., of the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, has
also dismissed Vanden Bossche's theories. Yang both operates an infectious
disease clinic and conducts lab research on viral infections. In a March 2021
op-ed piece, he wrote that Vanden Bossche's claims about the vaccine's
limitations ignore the basic tenets of biology.

Malone is a Virginia-based pharmaceutical developer with an M.D. who claims to
have invented the mRNA vaccine technology and that it was stolen from him.
Independent authors writing about development of mRNA vaccine do not credit
Malone with the invention.

Referring to national mortality statistics, Kirsch writes that the number of
"excess deaths" (the term for observed deaths in excess of predicted numbers of
deaths based on recent death rates) in the U.S. during the pandemic period
matches the number of vaccine-caused deaths people have added to the VAERS list:

> Virtually all of these deaths are 'excess deaths' due to the vaccine. The CDC
> cannot explain any of these excess deaths. If it wasn't the vaccine, what
> caused it? Have you seen the analysis of any of these cases?

The mortality statisticians of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
have said many of the 2020-21 excess deaths were likely caused by COVID-19, but
not noted as such on death certificates.

More significantly, Kirsch's derivation of causes of death from VAERS' wide-open
list of unsubstantiated notes ignores the system operators' many warnings about
its unsuitability as a basis for declaring a vaccine has caused any deaths or
injuries. That warning is based on the scientific and statistical tenet that
correlation does not prove causation because coincidences do happen. To borrow a
phrase from computer science, using VAERS information to calculate something
precise like causes of death is a classic case of "garbage in -- garbage out."

The reports in VAERS exist only to generate early warnings about vaccine safety.
If CDC staff start to see a pattern in the list, they go back and check to see
if the reports (which can be filed by anyone with internet access) are
authentic. Analysts seek death certificates and other factual information to
learn if multiple people filed reports on the same cases, creating a fake
pattern. If the reports are authentic and if death certificates and medical
files can be obtained and uphold what was listed in VAERS, investigators can
then conduct medical and statistical analysis to learn if several illnesses out
of millions of vaccine patients are out of the ordinary or just the kinds of
coincidences that public health officials at the outset of a vaccination
campaign warn the public not to overinterpret (see page 76 in previous link).

The VAERS web page reads:

> When evaluating data from VAERS, it is important to note that for any reported
> event, no cause-and-effect relationship has been established. Reports of all
> possible associations between vaccines and adverse events (possible side
> effects) are filed in VAERS. Therefore, VAERS collects data on any adverse
> event following vaccination, be it coincidental or truly caused by a vaccine.
> The report of an adverse event to VAERS is not documentation that a vaccine
> caused the event ... VAERS reports can be submitted voluntarily by anyone,
> including healthcare providers, patients, or family members. Reports vary in
> quality and completeness. They often lack details and sometimes can have
> information that contains errors.

And, also:

> A report to VAERS generally does not prove that the identified vaccine(s)
> caused the adverse event described. It only confirms that the reported event
> occurred sometime after vaccine was given. No proof that the event was caused
> by the vaccine is required in order for VAERS to accept the report. VAERS
> accepts all reports without judging whether the event was caused by the
> vaccine.

To gain access to the VAERS data, users like Kirsch are required to affirm they
have read the VAERS website's warning about what VAERS is and is not.

Kirsch says in his blog post that he is not a conspiracy theorist and does not
believe everything prominent anti-vaccine conspiracists say, but:

> Still, it's a bit hard to explain why they aren't at least warning the public
> that the vaccine is the deadliest vaccine ever and has an extremely high
> incidence of death and long-term disability.

The CDC regularly updates vaccine safety information, informing the public about
problems like the rare clots affecting women and the anaphylactic reactions
affecting some patients. The clotting that the CDC says appears to be
vaccine-related affects 7 per 1 million vaccinated women ages 18 to 49. For
women 50 and older and men of all ages, the clots are even more rare. Part of
that safety information is also the customary warning that not every
post-vaccination event is vaccine-caused. Hundreds of millions of people have
been injected and millions have illnesses and conditions that would have acted
up whether or not they were vaccinated.


WANT TO INFORM OTHERS ABOUT THE ACCURACY OF THIS STORY?

https://leadstories.com/hoax-alert/2021/06/fact-check-blog-post-does-not-provide-factual-information-about-covid-vaccine-deaths.html
https://leadstories.com/hoax-alert/2021/06/fact-check-blog-post-does-not-provide-factual-information-about-covid-vaccine-deaths.html
Click this link to copy it to your clipboard

See who is sharing it (it might even be your friends...) and leave the link in
the comments.:

Facebook Twitter

Lead Stories is working with the CoronaVirusFacts/DatosCoronaVirus Alliance, a
coalition of more than 100 fact-checkers who are fighting misinformation related
to the COVID-19 pandemic. Learn more about the alliance here.

> Lead Stories staff writer Dean Miller has edited daily and weekly newspapers,
> worked as a reporter for more than a decade and is co-author of two
> non-fiction books. After a one-year Harvard Nieman Fellowship, he served as
> Director of Stony Brook University’s Center for News Literacy for six years.
> As Senior Vice President/Content at Connecticut Public Broadcasting, a dual
> licensee, he oversaw radio, TV and print journalists, and documentary
> producers. He moved west to teach journalism at Western Washington University,
> edit The Port Townsend Leader and write the twice-weekly Save The Free Press
> column for the Seattle Times. Miller won the 2007 national Mirror Award for
> news industry coverage and he led the team that won the 2005 Scripps Howard
> first amendment prize. 
> 
> Read more about or contact Dean Miller

Previous Article Fact Check: Junk Mailers DO Have To Pay USPS To Deliver Own
Junk Mail Back To Them Next Article Fact Check: Heinz Did NOT Release A
Condiment Called 'Mayoreo' -- It's Satire



ABOUT US

Lead Stories is a fact checking website that is always looking for the latest
false, deceptive or inaccurate stories (or media) making the rounds on the
internet.
Spotted something? Let us know!.

LEAD STORIES IS A:

 * Verified signatory of the IFCN Code of Principles
 * Facebook Third-Party Fact-Checking Partner
 * Member of the #CoronavirusFacts Alliance


Follow us on social media




MOST READ

 * Made In USA
   
   
   FACT CHECK: U.S. CARGO SHIP BACKLOG IS NOT INCONSEQUENTIAL AND THE U.S. DOES
   MAKE PRODUCTS
   
   
   FACT CHECK
   
    * Oct 13, 2021
    * by: Christiana Dillard

 * No Connection
   
   
   FACT CHECK: SHAKING A MOBILE PHONE DOES NOT INADVERTENTLY SEND FRIENDS TO
   'FACEBOOK JAIL'
   
   
   FACT CHECK
   
    * Oct 14, 2021
    * by: Sarah Thompson

 * Regular Delay
   
   
   FACT CHECK: AMTRAK EMPLOYEES ARE NOT WALKING OUT BECAUSE OF COVID-19 VACCINE
   MANDATE
   
   
   FACT CHECK
   
    * Oct 12, 2021
    * by: Alexis Tereszcuk

 * Aggregate #s
   
   
   FACT CHECK: TREASURY DEPARTMENT DID NOT DECLARE IRS WILL MONITOR TRANSACTIONS
   OF ALL U.S. BANK ACCOUNTS OVER $600
   
   
   FACT CHECK
   
    * Sep 17, 2021
    * by: Dana Ford

 * Do NOT Click
   
   
   FACT CHECK: POST CLAIMING 'JOE BIDEN DECLARES MANDATORY VACCINATION FOR ALL
   AMERICANS BY OCTOBER 30' LEADS TO PORN PAGE
   
   
   FACT CHECK
   
    * Oct 14, 2021
    * by: Alan Duke

 * Wealthy Only
   
   
   FACT CHECK: CONGRESS' INFRASTRUCTURE ACT DOES NOT INCLUDE 61% DEATH TAX ON
   WEALTH, ESTATES FOR EVERY AMERICAN
   
   
   FACT CHECK
   
    * Oct 14, 2021
    * by: Christiana Dillard


 * FACT CHECK: OVERVIEW OF CLAIMS MADE DURING BIDEN'S ARGUMENT WITH MICHIGAN
   AUTOWORKER OVER GUNS
   
   
   FACT CHECK
   
    * Mar 11, 2020
    * by: Ryan Cooper


MOST RECENT

 * Premature
   
   
   FACT CHECK: SOUTH AFRICA'S HIGHEST COURT HAS NOT YET TAKEN UP THE 'SHOW US
   THE VIRUS' CASE -- AND MAY NEVER
   
   
   FACT CHECK
   
    * Oct 14, 2021
    * by: Sarah Thompson

 * Fake Tweet
   
   
   FACT CHECK: BEN SHAPIRO DID NOT TWEET ABOUT HIS 'WIFE'S BEDROOM' IN COLUMBUS
   DAY MESSAGE -- IT'S A FAKE TWEET
   
   
   FACT CHECK
   
    * Oct 14, 2021
    * by: Alexis Tereszcuk

 * Wealthy Only
   
   
   FACT CHECK: CONGRESS' INFRASTRUCTURE ACT DOES NOT INCLUDE 61% DEATH TAX ON
   WEALTH, ESTATES FOR EVERY AMERICAN
   
   
   FACT CHECK
   
    * Oct 14, 2021
    * by: Christiana Dillard

 * None Missing
   
   
   FACT CHECK: JELANI DAY'S BODY WAS NOT MISSING ANY ORGANS UPON RECOVERY
   
   
   FACT CHECK
   
    * Oct 14, 2021
    * by: Kaiyah Clarke

 * No Connection
   
   
   FACT CHECK: SHAKING A MOBILE PHONE DOES NOT INADVERTENTLY SEND FRIENDS TO
   'FACEBOOK JAIL'
   
   
   FACT CHECK
   
    * Oct 14, 2021
    * by: Sarah Thompson

 * Do NOT Click
   
   
   FACT CHECK: POST CLAIMING 'JOE BIDEN DECLARES MANDATORY VACCINATION FOR ALL
   AMERICANS BY OCTOBER 30' LEADS TO PORN PAGE
   
   
   FACT CHECK
   
    * Oct 14, 2021
    * by: Alan Duke

 * Photoshopped
   
   
   FACT CHECK: IMAGE OF GIANT SKELETON DISCOVERY IS NOT REAL
   
   
   FACT CHECK
   
    * Oct 13, 2021
    * by: Kaiyah Clarke


SHARE YOUR OPINION

Share Tweet
Home About IFCN Code of Principles How we work Satire Policy Corrections Policy
Contact

Lead Stories is a fact checking website that is always looking for the latest
false, deceptive or inaccurate stories (or media) making the rounds on the
internet.
Spotted something? Let us know!.

LEAD STORIES IS A:

 * Verified signatory of the IFCN Code of Principles
 * Facebook Third-Party Fact-Checking Partner
 * Member of the #CoronavirusFacts Alliance

Follow us on social media

© 2015-2020 Lead Stories LLC - All rights reserved.


LEAD STORIES

Go
 * Home
 * Fact Check
 * Analysis
 * Corrections
 * Satire
 * Blue Feed
 * Red Feed
 * Corona Virus