The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) confirmed an increased number of deaths reported after a COVID-19 vaccination. Between December 14, 2020, through July 19, 2021, the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS) received 12,313 reports of death among people who received a COVID-19 vaccine.

UPDATE: As of 2:30 PM CT on July 21, 2021, the CDC's website modified the number of VAERS reports related to COVID-19 vaccination deaths from 12,313 to 6,079, through July 13, 2021. The CDC's webpage's Last Update date remains July 19, 2021.

UPDATE #2: As of 6:30 PM CT on July 21, 2021, the CDC's website stated through July 19, 2021, VAERS had received 6,207 reports of death (0.0018%) among people who received a COVID-19 vaccine. The CDC's webpage's Last Update date reflects July 21, 2021.

Since more than 338 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines were administered in the USA, this data reflects a vaccination-death ratio of 0.0018%.

The CDC’s website says, ‘Reports of adverse events to VAERS following vaccination, including deaths, do not necessarily mean that a vaccine caused a health problem. This is because the U.S. FDA requires healthcare providers to report any death after a COVID-19 vaccination to VAERS, even if it’s unclear whether the vaccine was the cause.

Furthermore, a review of available clinical information, including death certificates, autopsy, and medical records, has not established a causal link to COVID-19 vaccines, says the CDC.

Additionally, VAERS had received 1,148  reports of myocarditis or pericarditis among people ages 30 and younger who received a COVID-19 vaccine as of July 19th. The CDC and its partners are investigating these reports to assess whether there is a relationship to COVID-19 vaccination.

Through follow-up, including medical record reviews, the CDC and Food and Drug Administration (FDA) have confirmed 674 reports of myocarditis or pericarditis. In both cases, the body’s immune system causes inflammation in response to an infection or some other trigger. 

Most of these heart inflammation cases have been reported to the CDC after mRNA COVID-19 vaccination (Comirnaty or SpikeVax), particularly in male adolescents and young adults. 

VAERS is the USA’s early warning system that monitors the safety of vaccines after they are Authorized or Licensed for use by the U.S. FDA.

As of July 21, 2021, the FDA had issued three Emergency Use Authorizations for COVID-19 vaccines. However, these experimental vaccines have not been approved by the FDA. 

VAERS is part of the more extensive vaccine safety system, co-managed by the CDC and FDA. VAERS accepts and analyzes reports of possible health problems—also called “adverse events”—after vaccination. 

As an early warning system, VAERS cannot prove that a vaccine caused a problem, says the CDC.

Specifically, a report to VAERS does not mean that a vaccine caused an adverse event. But VAERS can give CDC and FDA important information. If it looks as though a vaccine might be causing a problem, FDA and CDC will investigate further and take action if needed.

Furthermore, anyone can submit a report to VAERS. Most VAERS reports are filed by healthcare professionals, vaccine manufacturers, and the general public. VAERS welcomes all reports, regardless of the seriousness or how likely the vaccine may have caused the adverse event.

The United Kingdom (UK) health system has a similar strategy.

As of July 7, 2021, the UK’s Medicines & Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) had received 456 Yellow Card reports of suspected adverse drug reactions to the Pfizer- BioNTech (Comirnaty) vaccine in which the patient died shortly after vaccination, 983 reports for the COVID-19 Vaccine AstraZeneca (Vaxzevria), and 7 for the COVID-19 Vaccine Moderna (SpikeVax). 

The majority of these Yellow Card reports were in older people or people with underlying illnesses says the UK’s MHRA.

PrecisionVaccinations publishes research-based, fact-checked vaccine news.