The CDC Doesn’t Want You To See A CDC Report On How Effective COVID Vaccines Are
from the why-not? dept
One of the most remarkable staffing decisions of the second Trump administration has been to allow the anti-vaxxers to run America’s health agencies. While RFK Jr. and his cadre of lieutenants prattle on about how they’re going to be super transparent, data-driven stewards of American health, their actions have put the lie to all of it. Vague statements about diseases, disinformation about the cause and source of other diseases, missed appointment deadlines for key personnel are all combined to create an HHS full of chaos, confusion, and the storied practice of CYA.
But these are ideological people, with some of the stupidest possible ideologies governing their actions. That’s how you get a situation where the CDC produces a report on the efficacy of recent COVID vaccines, following commonly used methodology, only to have the acting CDC director bury the report because he doesn’t like what it finds.
CDC scientists and insiders told the Post that the COVID-19 vaccine study went through the agency’s standard scientific review process and was slated for publication on March 19 in the agency’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR). But acting CDC director Jay Bhattacharya blocked the scheduled publication and is holding the study, claiming he has concerns about its methodology.
According to a summary the Post obtained, the study concluded that between September and December of last year, healthy adults vaccinated with a 2025–2026 COVID-19 vaccine saw the risk of emergency department or urgent care visits cut by 50 percent, and the risk of COVID-19-associated hospitalizations cut by 55 percent, compared with healthy adults who did not get this season’s shot.
Bhattacharya reportedly took issue with the test-negative design of the study, which is a well-established method to examine real-world data on vaccine effectiveness. This type of observational study looks at people who have symptoms related to the disease of interest (in this case, COVID-19) and have the same test-seeking behavior. Those who test positive for the disease of interest become positive cases in the study, and those who test negative are test-negative controls. Researchers then compare the two groups based on vaccination status.
So there is no misunderstanding, Bhattacharya is completely full of shit here. He is not holding this CDC study back because he’s concerned about the test-negative methodology. I know that because the same CDC under the same acting Director published a study on the efficacy of flu shots that used the same test-negative method last month, a week before this same COVID vaccine study was to be published. If Bhattacharya had a problem with the method for the COVID study, why didn’t have the same problem with the flu shot study?
The answer is obvious: the methodology is not the issue here. Instead, the problem is the mRNA nature of most COVID vaccines. That, combined with Bhattacharya’s criticisms for COVID vaccines specifically, and his support for changing of the schedule and availability for them, means this study is at odds with his ideology and might be embarrassing for him personally.
Dan Jernigan, who headed CDC’s influenza division for six years and resigned last year in protest of Kennedy’s political interference at the agency, suggested to the Post that stalling the paper fits with Kennedy’s anti-vaccine agenda.
“The secretary has already taken steps to try and remove the availability of the vaccine from children and others, so if you’re putting out an MMWR that the vaccine is effective at preventing hospitalizations and medical care visits … that message is not in line with the direction you’ve been taking with the removal of the vaccine,” he said.
And there you have it: politics and personal CYA injected into matters of public health. Having those in charge of our health agencies prioritize their own personal stature over science, literally burying studies simply because they don’t like what they show, is certainly not going to lead to a more health America.
Filed Under: anti-vaxxers, cdc, covid, covid vaccines, jay bhattacharya, rfk jr.
Comments on “The CDC Doesn’t Want You To See A CDC Report On How Effective COVID Vaccines Are”
Remember when the antivaxxers and the ivermectin advocates said everyone who got the COVID vaccine would be dead in a couple of years or whatever?
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The dumbest motherfuckers comforted themselves with the weakest middle school retort, as if what they thought was a clever response mattered more than the facts of the virus:
“I’m not dying. You’re dying!”
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The great thing about being a life-saving medical treatment critic is that you are the living proof that you are right. “Told you so” does not bother a casket (the dead proof that you have been wrong).
Survivors’ bias is really hard to disspell.
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And then they proceeded to claim every celebrity death as evidence, even those of people pushing a hundred years old.
These people are like flat earthers, desperate to be seen as right in spite of insurmountable evidence to the contrary, only a fascist made a deal with the devil for power and handed over control of public health to these amoral scumbags. None of them cares how many children will die of completely avoidable diseases as a result.
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I suspect a lot of “flat earthers” just don’t realize the group they joined intends to be taken seriously. It sounds a lot like one of those joke groups.
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Anyone who legitimately believes the Earth is flat knows their group isn’t a joke—at least to them, anyway.
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Right, but if (for example) someone were asked to join a group or sign a petition in university, they might laugh and do it, believing this group to be like the dihydrogen monoxide protestors. I never ran into flat-earthers personally, but I knew about them for probably a decade before I found out they were not any kind of parody group.
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Hey, be careful when handling dihydrogen monoxide.
It’s almost certainly caused more deaths (across all species) than any other substance you care to name.
Dreadful stuff.
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Unfortunately there are a lot of true believers involved, a lot of religious nutters who believe in the firmament, a lot of people who gaven’t encountered a conspiracy theory they don’t love, that believe that the government lies about everything, just because, the woo-y hippy types who want to believe in angels and unicorns, and of course there is a thick layer of nazis, grifters and nazi grifters, hoping to recruit and/or rob the others.
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What shocks me is, how quiet everyone is regarding Q’s control of the government. It’s a conspiracy! 🙂
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My reply to that was generally along the lines of anything close to that happens we are all stuffed. 99% vaccinated after all. But enough have died to keep the belief going. For example my brother and father have both had cancer, my brother partner had cancer and died. All had vaccinations, in particular my brother partner was very pro vaccination and that somewhat split us. I had seen her perhaps 3 times since xmas 2019. was the cancer due to her multi-jabbed life or the smoking and hippie lifestyle? No idea and absolutely no proof.
But no sign of covid since late 2021(probably omicron). That lack of a vaccination is not exactly hurting me.
But regardless vaccines generally are a good thing. I will probably start getting the covid vaccine @ 70 and flu @80 and if I follow the family history die of cancer 81-84….
since you probably think I am a idiot lets make it obvious get the MMR vaccine for your kids and if you are an adult get vaccinated!! Personally I had measles @ 4.
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It was that everyone who got “duh jab” would be die in hours. Or days.
By the end of the week.
Sometime that month, to be sure.
Within a few months, obviously.
Before the end of the year, that’s how it works.
And now the ghouls are down to scrubbing through every reported death for any non-violent cause and declaring it was spike protein poisoning or something equally pointless. A whole ecosystem of grifters are selling bleach mixed with homeopathic wormwood or other fanciful cures to “unvaccinate” people. The intestinal cramping and tarry stool are proof its working!
You can’t tell me the Trump administration would censor information. I just won’t believe it. Can I get my MAGA card now?
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They’re not very effective, there’s pretty robust data on this. They’re pretty effective in reducing mortality in seniors (and only them), they do basically nothing (like single digit %) for infection rates and transmission, which is the main issue for everyone else who’s at low risk.
Bhattacharya is a serious doctor and scientist, you are not. Also I find it pretty funny if rightwinger said that about an Indian doctor, you’d call them racist for no reason.
It almost definitely that.
If you’re an idiot, a wood screw and a metal screw looks the same. They’re not.
Yeah, you’re an idiot who doesn’t understand the subject matter he just wrote an article about.
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I see no citations, ie you are lying as usual.
Flag the reality challenged clown and move on.
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Lost me when you claimed Bhattacharya was a serious scientist, if he was he wouldn’t have signed on to the insanity that was the GBD, with it’s impossible to achieve goal of “targeted projection” – going for the race card right after didn’t help , especially because the people criticizing him are not doing for no reasons, but because he’s pushing dubious claims and policies.
Re: Dear Anon
Love your idea, and the thought that, YOU AINT SEEN THE REPORT EITHER.
Do you REALLY understand What the shot was for?
It was to delay the Infection. As the USA has enough Hospital beds for 1% of its population, Unless you want to add TENTS in hte parking lot.
OH! they did add Tents in the parking lot.
I will BET the reasoning is that there were NOT enough live/Proven cases. As Covid 19 has been around a long time, and should be Changing/Adapting again.
Between all the Bugs we can catch in the middle of winter. Covid is 1, Not the other 20.
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Credible non-partisan citation, please.
The right-winger would think Bhattacharya is a joke only because he’s Indian, so…yeah, pretty much just the racism.
Then explain how the test-negative method differed in the two studies mentioned in the article.
…says the guy who thinks he knows everything but consistently ducks out of arguments when he’s proven to be out of his depth/wrong about a point of fact. At least I’m willing to admit when I’m wrong. When have you ever owned up to getting shit wrong about, say, non-discrimination law or the difference between a pub and public housing?
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First, he got an MD but doesn’t practice medicine. He’s an economist with a medical degree, but not a medical license.
Second, your appeal to authority logical fallacy is saying that a person who isn’t a doctor or scientist can’t criticize someone on the topic who is, but by the same logic, you wouldn’t be qualified to know if he was correct because you’re not a doctor or scientist either. And furthermore, there are many doctors and scientists who agree that he is full of shit. You know he’s not the only doctor/scientist, right? Are only doctors who agree with you right?
Racism is hating people for their race, ethnicity, identity, etc. Pointing out someone is wrong for the bullshit they utter has nothing to do with any of that. But you trying to use his ethnicity to bolster your argument makes you the racist. His ethnicity isn’t a tool for you to weaponize just because you desperately need someone to agree with you.
Do you just swim in a cesspool of accusation-confessions all day or do you get out and dry off once in a while?
Trump admin is the poster child for hubris
“I must know better than the experts because I am the center of the universe” is not just the motto of stable genius
Clever HansDonald Trump but, like, “I must sign off on all relevant disaster mitigation payments personally” Kristi Noem, “I recognize valid medical science when it meets my prejudice” RFK Jr and other self-imagined demigods.If you actually follow the science, you end up like Fauci who recommends one thing, then recommends something different half a year of research later. That kind of back-and-forth just is not worthy of true greatness.
It is detestable, filthy, even humble.
Re: You got my dog?
Here Hubris, Come here…
Fetch the stick.
Under RFK Jr’s “Gold Standard Science” has been redefined to mean the science that rakes in the gold for RFK Jr and his pet quacks.
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I read tons of their reports and was in the injury reporting database quite a bit during. You guys are full of shit. Would have been full of lead had you tried forcing me.
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The interesting thing about the vaccine injury database is that it is mostly based on people self reported injuries.
And no one is forcing you to take any vaccines, but that also means you can’t force yourself into places you aren’t wanted because your are a plague bearer. So let’s make a deal, if you walk around unvaccinated and infect other people it’s totally okay for them to give you lead poisoning. Fairs fair, right?
Re: So,
If you become infected…
Hold that thought, lets change it.
SOME IDIOT is infected, walks into a store, that YOU ARE IN. Without a mask or anything to cover up their face. To Purchase cold remedy(which doesnt work).
2 or 3 or 5 or 10 people get infected, and in 7 days Start getting sick. And your Kid is now infected also. AS you Brought it HOME with you. YOUR KID dies, as you Didnt Take them to the hospital(cant blame them if you didnt go).
Who asre you going to Blame?
Now lets add, Measles, Rubella, Mumps, Whopping Cough, and a List or others that Go along with Contagion and Immunization.
WHO do you Blame, if Someone of yourself, carries the germ into your home?
And in a Pandemic, the Doctors and hospitals can only handle 1% at the MOST of the population.
And they WILL Bill you Even if YOU die.
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Saying that sounds like you are full of plenty of lead.
How sweet did those paint chips taste?
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I love the internet badass posing. I bet your dad can beat up everyone else’s dad too!
I also love that you’re ignoring that we all pointed out that VAERS involved self-reporting back during the pandemic. “I heard from Bob that the vaccine made his wife leave him and his dog ran away and his pickup truck wouldn’t start the next morning. It must be true!”
If I report in VAERS that I got superpowers from the vaccine, would you take it? It must be true, after all—someone reported it!
No, I don’t “Remember when the antivaxxers …”
help me out with a factual reference
And is one fairly considered a horrible ‘Antivaxxer’ if they oppose only some controversial vaccinrs, not all ?
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Because such objections are as baseless as any other antivax claim, yes it is fair for us to call a spade a spade.
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Other than specific concerns about specific health conditions potentially being worsened by the COVID-19 vaccine, what made it so controversial?
Because I got the vaccine as soon as it was available and the worst it did to me was make me feel like I’d gotten the flu vaccine. I understand that yes, some people did have extreme reactions to the vaccine. But no vaccine is, and will ever be, 100% safe in terms of never causing any side effects or adverse reactions in the human populace. The COVID vaccine was a miracle of modern science that, in no small terms, helped turn the tide against a lethal pandemic.
Also, I’d like to note that a fair number of anti-vaxxers oppose all vaccines, even the ones proven most effective and safe. For example: RFK’s anti-vax advocacy is directly responsible for, among other things, the worst measles outbreaks within the United States in years. Anti-vaxxers care less about science and more about vibes; if the opposite were true, they wouldn’t be anti-vaxxers. Skepticism is good; an abject denial of proven science based on your feelings is not.
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Given Sherri Tenpenny’s prominent place in both MAGA and anti-vax circles and RFK jr. collection of quacks in particular in particular as well as the coverage her lunatic fringe testimony earned her, I don’t believe for a second you actually need a reminder.
Second, you ‘ll have to be more specific about which vaccines are controversial, do you mean the ones with manufactured controversy like Wakefield claiming MMR caused Autism, and Anti- abortion groups alleging Tetanus shots are a covert Steriilzation campaign? Or do you mean the ones like HPV and HepB where there’s a manufactured Moral panic because the diseases they prevent are sexually transmitted.
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You realize anything can be controversial if someone raises a fuss, regardless of how valid their fuss is, right? Controversy doesn’t mean criticisms are valid.
Civil rights and human rights are pretty controversial. Does that mean you shouldn’t have them because someone else raises a big fuss?
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If you oppose anything with rank nonsense, you’rean idiot, which includes the antivax crowd.
P.S. Manufacturing “controversy” doesn’t make anything legitimately controversial.
I see the wingnut brigade is out in force in the comments today.
'No REAL study would say that I'm wrong.'
Of course he’s skeptical about the methodology, he’s treating medical research result the same way republicans-now-MAGAts treat election results: ‘If it doesn’t end in my favor it’s wrong.’