The Vaccine Adverse Events Reporting System, or VAERS, reports 19,886 deaths, 102,857 hospitalizations and a total of 946,461 adverse events due to COVID-19 vaccines through Dec. 3.
If the Columbia study's underreporting factor is correct, it would mean that there are nearly 400,000 deaths due to COVID-19 vaccines.
In the study's abstract, the researchers note that "accurate estimates of COVID vaccine-induced severe adverse event and death rates are critical for risk-benefit ratio analyses of vaccination and boosters against SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus in different age groups."
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services points out that a VAERS report is not documentation that a link has been established between a vaccine and an adverse event. However, HHS also notes that VAERS is a "passive" system of reporting, and it "receives reports for only a small fraction of actual adverse events." Many health care workers have disclosed they are instructed by their superiors not to report to VAERS any harm caused by COVID vaccines.
VAERS is described as a "voluntary" reporting system, but HHS says that health-care providers "who administer COVID-19 vaccines are required by law after vaccination to report to VAERS" any errors in administering the shots along with, among other things, deaths and life-threatening adverse events.
The Columbia researchers method of estimating underreporting was to use the regional variation in vaccination rates to predict all-cause mortality and non-COVID deaths in subsequent time periods, based on two independent, publicly available datasets from the U.S. and Europe.
They found that more than six weeks after injection, vaccination had a negative correlation with mortality. But within five weeks of injection, vaccination predicted all-cause mortality in nearly every age group, with an "age-related temporal pattern consistent with the U.S. vaccine rollout."
Comparing the study's estimated vaccine fatality rate with the CDC-reported rate, the researchers concluded VAERS deaths are underreported by a factor of 20, which is "consistent with known VAERS under-ascertainment bias."
The researchers said the study "suggests the risks of COVID vaccines and boosters outweigh the benefits in children, young adults and older adults with low occupational risk or previous coronavirus exposure."
They emphasize "the urgent need to identify, develop and disseminate diagnostics and treatments for life-altering vaccine injuries."
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