COVID vaccines saved lives or killed babies? FDA launches broad review into deaths possibly tied to Coronavirus shots
&imwidth=600&imheight=450&format=webp&quality=medium "COVID vaccines saved lives or killed babies? FDA launches broad review into deaths possibly tied to Coronavirus shots")
File Photo: Donald Trump, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Inset: Anti-Covid-19 vaccine protest Photograph: (Combination created using images from AFP)
The FDA is probing deaths possibly linked to COVID vaccines across age groups after Trump put vaccine sceptic RFK Jr in charge. What triggered it, and why doctors are alarmed, scroll down.
The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is carrying out a wide-ranging review into deaths that may potentially be linked to COVID-19 vaccines, a spokesperson for Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said on Tuesday (Dec 9), setting off fresh alarm across the medical community. The investigation comes after President Donald Trump appointed Kennedy, a long-time vaccine sceptic, to lead the health department, a move that has already triggered sweeping changes in US vaccine policy.
FDA investigating COVID-related deaths
"FDA is doing a thorough investigation across multiple age groups of deaths potentially related to COVID vaccines," Andrew Nixon, a spokesperson for the health and human services department, told AFP. Bloomberg and the Washington Post had earlier reported on the probe.
The review, as per the report, was originally expected to focus on possible child deaths, but the scope appears to have widened. In late November, controversy erupted after an internal FDA document was leaked to the media. The memo, attributed to a senior official, claimed that COVID-19 vaccines were linked to at least 10 infant deaths, though it offered no data or supporting evidence. Nixon, however, declined to give details on how the FDA is conducting the review, what data is being examined or when findings might be released.
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How safe are coronavirus vaccines?
Health authorities around the world have repeatedly said the safety and effectiveness of Covid vaccines have been thoroughly studied. While rare serious side effects have been identified, experts stress these cases do not outweigh the vaccines’ benefits for the vast majority of people.
The Trump administration's recent moves, notably with the restructured CDC advisory panel and its anti-vaccine stance, have now become a cause of concern that political ideology may be taking precedence over medical science. Medical experts have expressed concern over the direction the FDA has taken under Kennedy’s leadership. Kennedy has a long record of promoting vaccine misinformation. In 2023, he described COVID-19 vaccines as deadly and made unsubstantiated claims that the virus was "targeted" to harm Black and White populations while sparing Ashkenazi Jews and Chinese people.
