Federal public health agencies are reportedly withholding the most accurate and up-to-date reports of vaccine injury from the public, allegedly to protect privacy. Patients don't necessarily see it that way, and it's not clear the feds told Congress.
The Vaccine Adverse Events Reporting System, jointly managed by the CDC and FDA, has a secret "back end" privy only to regulators, an FDA official told advocates of VAERS reform nearly a year ago, according to a British Medical Journal investigation published Friday.
"Anything derived from medical records by law" cannot be included in the "front end system" accessible to the public, Narayan Nair, director of the Division of Pharmacovigilance, allegedly told advocates.
The public can see initial reports but not corrections or updates, such as "a formal diagnosis, recovery, or death," and those who filed reports cannot update them through VAERS, journalist Jennifer Block wrote for BMJ.
