To the editor:
In his letter to the editor (Item, Dec. 30), Richard Eramian states that “the number of deaths caused by the COVID vaccine is around 20,000,” apparently attributed to the Vaccine Adverse Events Reporting System (VAERS).
In a quick web search, I am unable to confirm that number, nor any specific attribution to the vaccine as the cause of any deaths reported as adverse events. I did find a relevant statement at muhealth.org (University of Missouri):
Opponents of vaccination use the VAERS numbers in statements that suggest cause-and-effect conclusions. This misinformation then influences some people not to be vaccinated.
Dr. Stevan Whitt, a University of Missouri infectious-disease doctor and chief clinical officer, gets questions about these claims regularly, and he wants people to have the right information.
“This intentional misrepresentation is a powerful tactic to sow confusion among large groups of people,” Whitt said.
It is ironic that Mr. Eramian appears to support this faulty logic when criticizing vaccine data, while in the same letter criticizing the possibility (unsupported) that the same faulty logic has been used in reporting COVID deaths. The example he chose was someone who had tested positive subsequently dying in an auto crash.
I would appreciate actual examples of such erroneous causes of death having a significant impact on the COVID statistics, as well a\s the source of his reported 20,000 deaths caused by the vaccine.
Until then, I suggest that interested readers assume that 20,000 may be the total number of deaths VAERS has investigated subsequent to vaccination, without making any attributions to the vaccine as the cause of death.
Ed Myskowski
Lynnfield
