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What modified into as soon as claimed
A report exhibits COVID-19 vaccines had a rate of damage 50 cases elevated than other vaccines.
Our verdict
Incorrect. The report contains numbers of suspected detrimental events following vaccination, no longer vaccine-introduced about injuries, and the 50 cases better calculation is fallacious.
A senator has claimed that COVID-19 vaccines introduced about an “enormous” lengthen in injuries when put next with other vaccines.
Queensland Liberal Nationwide Celebration (LNP) Senator Gerard Rennick claimed that a Western Australia vaccine security report stumbled on that the tempo of injuries associated with COVID-19 vaccines modified into as soon as 50 cases elevated than other vaccines.
Right here is fraudulent. The report well-known aspects reported detrimental events following vaccination, no longer vaccine-introduced about injuries. The methodology for gathering reports following COVID-19 vaccines and other vaccines differed, making any comparison problematic. Additionally, consultants informed AAP FactCheck the senator’s calculations accumulate been fraudulent.
Rennick made the claim at some stage in a Senate estimates hearing in October 2023, which he posted a video of to his X/Twitter, Facebook and TikTok accounts on February 14, 2024.
The senator requested a Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) officer: “How attain you define the enormous lengthen in detrimental events across a gigantic prefer of detrimental events, as per the Western Australian vaccine report, that confirmed it to be 24 cases elevated per dose? Given that we’ve taken two doses no much less than, it is a 50 cases elevated rate of damage with the COVID vaccine.”
When requested for the source of his claim by AAP FactCheck, Rennick cited the Western Australian Vaccine Safety Surveillance (WAVSS) — Annual Report 2021. The doc records reports of suspected detrimental events following COVID-19 vaccines, and for other vaccines, in WA for 2021. There accumulate been 200 such reports following non-COVID vaccinations and 10,428 after COVID-19 vaccines, in line with the report.
On the other hand, the doc doesn’t define the “rate of damage”, as claimed by Rennick.
The WA Division of Health stated it records suspected detrimental events reported by effectively being professionals and the final public.
“This entails any report where vaccination modified into as soon as recorded as ‘seemingly’ being the clarification for, or contributing to the reported detrimental match, and need to no longer necessarily confirmed,” a representative informed AAP FactCheck in an email.
Adrian Esterman, a professor of biostatistics at the University of South Australia, stated “There’s no longer any manner of figuring out whether or no longer the detrimental match modified into as soon as in fact introduced about by the vaccine.”
“A thorough investigation to search out out causality is solely undertaken for excessive detrimental events,” he informed AAP FactCheck in an email.
The effectively being department stated elevated numbers of suspected detrimental events for COVID-19 vaccines can also impartial be attributed to a trade in methodology to elongate surveillance of its results when put next with other vaccines. Post-vaccination surveys at three separate intervals and linking vaccinations to emergency department visits and hospitalisations, it stated, accumulate been contemporary measures no longer taken for other vaccines.
“Each and every methodological variations would accumulate resulted in the report disproportionately representing doable serious detrimental events where the vaccinee had presented to clinical institution for COVID-19 vaccinations when put next with other vaccines,” the representative stated.
Esterman stated other elements seemingly elevated reports of detrimental events following COVID-19 vaccination.
“Because the report says, as a result of high rates of suspicions concerning the mRNA COVID-19 vaccines magnified by social media, of us accumulate been rather seemingly to report any detrimental match following a COVID-19 vaccination than for other forms of vaccines,” he stated.
Esterman added that the enormous majority of reports “are of very minor reactions, care for a sore arm, or headache”. The most new reactions accumulate been headache, lethargy and muscle wretchedness, the report stated (Page 19, Resolve 10). The TGA has investigated all excessive detrimental events.
For instance, Esterman pointed to the 1004 deaths reported to the TGA for the reason that starting up of the vaccine rollout. Following investigations, the TGA has stumbled on that 14 deaths nationally accumulate been seemingly to be connected to COVID vaccination.
Rennick’s “50 cases elevated” claim is in line with the tempo of 264.1 detrimental events reported per 100,000 COVID vaccine doses on Page 28 of the report. This compares to 11.1 per 100,000 doses of other vaccines. He stated he multiplied the 264.1 figure by two to story for the two injections required for a “main direction” of a COVID vaccine.
On the other hand, the effectively being department and consultants stated there accumulate been diversified elements with this calculation.
A departmental spokesperson stated the 264.1 per 100,000 doses figure entails all COVID-19 vaccine doses got, no subject whether or no longer they accumulate been the foremost, second, or boosters.
“It is fallacious to multiply this rate by the prefer of doses a person receives,” they added.
Dr Christopher Baker from the University of Melbourne’s College of BioSciences stated recording detrimental events for COVID and non-COVID vaccine-connected reports per 100,000 doses made sense, provided that many of the latter would seemingly require two or more doses. The report states that the non-COVID class entails influenza vaccines and others on the Nationwide Immunisation Program Agenda, many of which require a couple of injections.
“So ought to you accumulate been to evaluate a main direction for COVID to other main capabilities, there would wish to be a identical calculation for the others,” Dr Baker informed AAP FactCheck.
The decision
The claim that a report exhibits COVID-19 vaccines had a rate of damage 50 cases elevated than other vaccines is fraudulent. The report checked out suspected detrimental events following vaccination, no longer vaccine-introduced about injuries.
Regardless, the methodology for gathering reports differed for COVID and non-COVID vaccines, making any comparison problematic.
Consultants also raised various elements with Rennick’s calculations.
Incorrect — The claim is wrong.
