VAERS CDC Disclaimer

VAERS accepts reports of adverse events and reactions that occur following vaccination. Healthcare providers, vaccine manufacturers, and the public can submit reports to the system. While very important in monitoring vaccine safety, VAERS reports alone cannot be used to determine if a vaccine caused or contributed to an adverse event or illness. The reports may contain information that is incomplete, inaccurate, coincidental, or unverifiable. In large part, reports to VAERS are voluntary, which means they are subject to biases. This creates specific limitations on how the data can be used scientifically. Data from VAERS reports should always be interpreted with these limitations in mind.

The strengths of VAERS are that it is national in scope and can quickly provide an early warning of a safety problem with a vaccine. As part of CDC and FDA’s multi-system approach to post-licensure vaccine safety monitoring, VAERS is designed to rapidly detect unusual or unexpected patterns of adverse events, also known as “safety signals.” If a safety signal is found in VAERS, further studies can be done in safety systems such as the CDC’s Vaccine Safety Datalink (VSD) or the Clinical Immunization Safety Assessment (CISA) project. These systems do not have the same scientific limitations as VAERS, and can better assess health risks and possible connections between adverse events and a vaccine.

Key considerations and limitations of VAERS data:

Vaccine providers are encouraged to report any clinically significant health problem following vaccination to VAERS, whether or not they believe the vaccine was the cause.

Reports may include incomplete, inaccurate, coincidental and unverified information.

The number of reports alone cannot be interpreted or used to reach conclusions about the existence, severity, frequency, or rates of problems associated with vaccines.

VAERS data is limited to vaccine adverse event reports received between 1990 and the most recent date for which data are available.

VAERS data do not represent all known safety information for a vaccine and should be interpreted in the context of other scientific information.

VAERS data available to the public include only the initial report data to VAERS. Updated data which contains data from medical records and corrections reported during follow up are used by the government for analysis. However, for numerous reasons including data consistency, these amended data are not available to the public.

COVID Vaccine Reports in Children
(Ages 6 mos.-17 years)

Through April 25, 2025

Deaths

200

Permanently Disabled

705

Myocarditis

1,591

72,906

Total Reports

773

Life Threatening

5,159

Hospitalized

5,840

ER Visit

11,428

Not Recovered

source: OpenVAERS.com

What do the reports look like?

Search the Reports

302

Encephalitis/Encephalopathy

Encephalitis-Encephalopathy-AntiNMDA Antibodies-AntiMyelin Antibodies

252

Bell's Palsy

Bell's Palsy, Facial Paralysis, Facial Palsy, Facial Nerver Disorder

1960

Severe Allergy

Epi Pen, Epinephrine, Rashes/Hives, Swelling, Anaphylaxis

4859

Migraine/Headache

Migraine, Headache

59

Aneurysm/Cerebral Haemorrhage

Brain Haemorrhage, Aneurysm, Cerebral infarction, CVST

292

Thrombocytopenia/Low Platelets

Thrombocytopenia, "Platelet Count Decreased"

123

Guillain Barre/Paralysis

Guillain Barre, Transverse Myelitis, Acute Disseminated Encephalomyelitis

167

Diabetes

Diabetes, High Blood Sugar, Diabetic Ketoacidosis

128

Appendicitis

Appendicitis, Appendicectomy