A new U.S. government comparison of COVID-19 vaccine risks and benefits exaggerated benefits and downplayed risks, experts say.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recently provided a risk-benefit assessment for the updated bivalent vaccines. One assessment was for adolescents aged 12 to 17.
The CDC estimated a million doses in the age group, over a period of six months, would prevent up to 136 hospitalizations and zero to one death. But it relied on effectiveness estimates from an outdated, non-peer reviewed CDC study that only analyzed data for adults. Hospitalization rates included hospitalizations for which COVID-19 was an incidental reason, versus a primary reason, for admission….