Studies included on list do not question COVID-19 vaccine safety

An Australian blog touting "medical freedom" published a misleading list about COVID-19 vaccine safety.

The headline on the Jan. 20 list reads, "1,000 peer reviewed studies questioning COVID-19 vaccine safety."

The list was shared on Facebook and flagged as part of Facebook’s efforts to combat false news and misinformation on its News Feed. (Read more about our partnership with Facebook.)

It was published on Informed Choice Australia, which describes itself as "a portal of information to help you make the right choice," and says people have the right "to refuse any treatment that has not completed all the required clinical trials including long-term studies."

Far from "questioning COVID-19 vaccine safety," as the claim says, many studies included in this catalog clearly state that the benefits of COVID-19 vaccination outweigh the small risk of side effects, which are rare. The studies collect, interpret and evaluate data about adverse reactions to COVID-19 vaccines, per the process with scientific research. 

The list is grouped by adverse reaction categories, with myocarditis — inflammation of the heart muscle — topping the list and 226 related studies cited for that category. The risk of myocarditis from COVID-19 vaccines is small and symptoms are normally mild. By comparison, contracting COVID-19 is "a strong and significant risk factor for myocarditis," especially among children yoinger than 16, according to the CDC.

The very first study on the list, which examined four patients with myocarditis following COVID-19 vaccination, says, "The authors seek not to frustrate vaccination efforts, but rather to prepare patients and providers for a rare but potential adverse effect."

Among the first 10 studies listed, nearly every one included similar language. One of the studies put it like this: "Cases tend to be mild, do not usually require specific interventions, and potential risks of the vaccine are outweighed by the well defined risks of COVID-19 infection."

For other adverse reaction categories, the list again pointed to studies that did not question the safety of COVID-19 vaccines: 

• For cerebral venous thrombosis, a blood clot in the brain, one of the studies cited says the frequency of that reaction after COVID-19 vaccination is "markedly lower" than for patients hospitalized with COVID-19.

• For anaphylaxis, an allergic reaction that causes airways to narrow and block breathing, one of the studies said, "The risk of anaphylaxis to mRNA vaccines is present but extremely low and is offset by the benefits of the vaccine."

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The blog says it includes 1,000 studies, but some studies appear more than once, under different adverse reaction categories. For example, one study is found under both the anaphylaxis and allergic reactions categories, and multiple studies appear under both myocarditis and pericarditis subcategories.

One adverse reaction that’s listed, called Sweet’s syndrome — a painful rash — cites a single study of one person.

A list published on a blog has a headline that says, "1,000 peer reviewed studies questioning COVID-19 vaccine safety."

Many studies included on the list clearly state that the benefits of vaccination against COVID-19 far outweigh the small risk of side effects, which are rare.

The list says it includes 1,000 studies, but some studies are on the list more than once, under different adverse reaction categories.

We rate this claim False.