Back to: How to Read an Insert Training Course

Click “play” below for optional audio.

Haga clic en “reproducir” a continuación para obtener audio opcional.

Have you heard the term “safe and effective” when discussing medical products? If you spend time reading guidance from the CDC, you’ll notice that the safety of a product is always in relation to the disease the vaccine or drug is meant to prevent. However, how can the safety of a vaccine or drug be compared accurately to a disease when we know adverse reactions to vaccines and drugs are underreported?

Wait, how do we know vaccine and drug reactions are underreported?

Because the federal government funded a $1 million grant to a Harvard Medical Research Group to identify how effective the current reporting systems (aka FAERS/VAERS) are for adverse reactions.

The group ultimately determined reactions are not rare, but underreported. Let’s look at some of the findings.

Why does this report matter? For those that dismiss the known (and unknown) adverse reactions of drugs + vaccines because it rarely happens, these findings alter the accuracy of that statement. Reactions listed in manufacturer inserts, according to the findings funded by the federal government, are only 1% of actual adverse reactions.

Think about it for a second. How can a patient report an adverse reaction to be added to a manufacturer insert if they don’t even know inserts exist? If a reaction does occur, wouldn’t most people think the healthcare provider that administered the vaccine is responsible for reporting it? As we saw in the VAERS lesson, only a few reactions are mandated to be reported. All others are merely encouraged. With an already taxed workload, is it feasible to believe all healthcare professionals report all adverse reactions? It is not that much of a stretch to understand reactions are not rare, just underreported.

Note: the above report has been thought to be “debunked” by many due to the medical research group that conducted the study. Unfortunately, many do not realize that Harvard Pilgrim Health Care partners with Harvard Medical School for research such as this.

We’ve learned all about reactions, but what vaccines are actually recommended? Click to the next lesson to learn about the CDC schedule.