According to data reviewed by The Epoch Times, in many states in the United States, people who have received booster shots for COVID-19 are testing positive, being hospitalized, and dying at higher rates than those who have only received a primary series of the vaccine.
This trend has reportedly been increasing since booster shots were first introduced in 2021.
For example, in June 2022 in California, 72% of COVID-19 cases among vaccinated people were among those who had received booster shots.
In Vermont during the same month, 90% of COVID-19 deaths among vaccinated individuals were among those who had received booster shots.
In Wisconsin, 43% of cases, 43% of hospitalizations, and 46% of deaths among vaccinated people in June were among those who had received booster shots, even though the proportion of the population who had received booster shots was only 35% as of late August.
“It is unassailable that a very large fraction of highly inoculated [people] are among those being hospitalized or dying,” said Dr. Robert Malone, who helped develop the messenger RNA technology used in the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines. “So, at a minimum, the effectiveness in preventing hospitalization or death does not appear to be aligned with the official policy position.”
According to The Epoch Times’ review of publicly available data and public records requests, in 18 out of 19 states with sufficient data, a majority of one or more metrics (cases, hospitalizations, and deaths) among vaccinated people were among those who had received booster shots.
In seven states, a majority of all three metrics were among those who had received booster shots.
However, some experts caution against drawing conclusions from state-level data, particularly if it has not been adjusted for potential confounding variables.
“The problem with these data is that there are so many missing variables which could confound (bias) the outcomes being followed,” said Dr. Andrew Bostom, a former associate professor of medicine at Brown University.
Bostom added that the best data for evaluating the effects of vaccination come from randomized or randomized controlled trials, citing a paper that found vaccinated people were more likely to experience a serious adverse event based on data from original clinical trials.
Of the eight states that provided or listed age-adjusted rates, all showed higher rates for at least one metric among those who had received booster shots compared to those who had only received a primary series.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) continue to recommend COVID-19 vaccination for virtually all Americans, including booster shots, stating that the known and potential benefits outweigh the known and potential risks.
New booster shots were introduced in the fall, while the primary series remains unchanged.
