VAERS data comes with this disclaimer. It is a lot like the NASA reports. I can submit a NASA report that I hit a flock of flamingos after taking off from Greenland in my ultralight. Or I could submit that I jumped out of my airplane and managed to fall back into the cockpit on the way down, but ATC got mad at me for not reporting my change in altitude! I could also submit 1000 reports to VAERS that I got athlete's foot from the COVID vaccine.
The Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS) database contains information on
unverified (*underline is from the original site) reports of adverse events (illnesses, health problems and/or symptoms) following immunization with US-licensed vaccines. Reports are accepted from anyone and can be submitted electronically at
www.vaers.hhs.gov.
While very important in monitoring vaccine safety, VAERS reports alone cannot be used to determine if a vaccine caused or contributed to an adverse event or illness. The reports may contain information that is incomplete, inaccurate, coincidental, or unverifiable. Most reports to VAERS are voluntary, which means they are subject to biases. This creates specific limitations on how the data can be used scientifically. Data from VAERS reports should always be interpreted with these limitations in mind.
Key considerations and limitations of VAERS data:
- Vaccine providers are encouraged to report any clinically significant health problem following vaccination to VAERS, whether or not they believe the vaccine was the cause.
- Reports may include incomplete, inaccurate, coincidental and unverified information.
- The number of reports alone cannot be interpreted or used to reach conclusions about the existence, severity, frequency, or rates of problems associated with vaccines.
- VAERS data are limited to vaccine adverse event reports received between 1990 and the most recent date for which data are available.
- VAERS data do not represent all known safety information for a vaccine and should be interpreted in the context of other scientific information.