Florida study on COVID vaccines misrepresented by officials

Florida study finds vaccine mortality gap

A new analysis published November four in Global Epidemiology found that Pfizer recipients had a forty percent higher risk of dying from any cause within one year of a first dose compared with Moderna recipients.

Study shows other mortality differences

Relative to Moderna, Pfizer was associated with a ninety-one percent higher risk of COVID-19 death, a fifty-seven percent higher risk of cardiovascular death, and a thirty-seven percent higher risk of death from other causes.

Study did not compare to unvaccinated

The analysis compared only Pfizer and Moderna recipients, not vaccinated people against unvaccinated ones, so it cannot establish whether either vaccine reduced or increased overall mortality.

Moderna may simply be more effective

The paper acknowledged that Moderna's lower mortality risk could reflect superior effectiveness against COVID-nineteen rather than any harmful effect from the Pfizer vaccine.

Surgeon general claims vaccine deaths

Dr. Joseph Ladapo, a co-author and Florida's surgeon general, wrote on X that the study implies thousands of Floridians died from receiving Pfizer instead of Moderna.

“Florida's public health data strongly implies that thousands of Floridians died as a result of receiving Pfizer instead of Moderna.”

Ladapo calls for end to mRNA vaccines

Ladapo wrote that no one should take mRNA COVID-nineteen vaccines because of their terrible safety profile, and the number of lives lost internationally is staggering based on this analysis.

“As I said in January 2024, no one should be taking mRNA COVID-19 vaccines because of their terrible safety profile.”

Expert says claims exceed evidence

Jeffrey S. Morris, director of biostatistics at the University of Pennsylvania, said Ladapo's comment goes far beyond what the paper actually showed, describing it as orders of magnitude beyond the evidence.

“That is like orders of magnitude beyond what his own paper showed.”

Online figures make stronger claims

Steve Kirsch, a former tech entrepreneur, claimed the study shows the Pfizer vaccine was not safe and killed people.Nicolas Hulscher claimed extrapolating the findings to the U.S.

“This is an extremely important paper. It shows that the Pfizer vaccine was not safe. It killed people.”

Experts reject vaccine harm interpretation

Natalie Dean, an associate professor of biostatistics at Emory University, said the study is not evidence that either vaccine is killing people, since it only compares two different vaccines to each other.

“I don't see how this is an indictment of the safety of these vaccines since it's just a comparison of two different vaccines.”

Morris: study shows association only

Morris said the study legitimately demonstrates an association between vaccine brand and mortality but does not establish that differences are causal or reflect vaccine-related harm.

“It does not establish that these differences are causal, much less that they reflect vaccine-related harm.”

Study lacked health status matching

The researchers matched about one million Pfizer recipients with one million Moderna recipients on age, sex, race, ethnicity, vaccination month, site type and census tract, but did not match for medical frailty or underlying health…

Health differences could explain results

If Pfizer recipients were in poorer overall health or had more risk factors for COVID-nineteen or other diseases, that could explain the mortality difference rather than suggesting anything about the vaccines themselves.

Moderna's superior COVID protection

Several studies found that the Moderna vaccine was slightly more effective at preventing severe COVID-nineteen outcomes than Pfizer's.

Veterans Affairs study found no difference

A December twenty twenty-one Veterans Affairs study comparing Pfizer and Moderna using similar matching found virtually identical patterns of non-COVID deaths in matched recipients of both vaccines, with no other mortality differences detected.

Vaccinated people have lower death rates

Studies comparing vaccinated and unvaccinated people consistently find much lower death rates in vaccinated people. A twenty twenty-five French study found about a twenty-five percent lower risk of death in vaccinated versus unvaccinated individuals.

Healthy vaccinee effect complicates findings

People who choose to get vaccinated are generally healthier than those who do not, especially closer to vaccination, since people near the end of their lives are not getting vaccinated. This makes interpreting results difficult.

Both vaccines remained important options

Natalie Dean noted that even if Moderna is better at protecting against COVID-nineteen, both vaccines were important options.

Preprint versions made stronger claims

The original preprint versions of the Florida analysis made more sweeping statements about differential non-specific effects and potential concerning adverse effects, but the published version lacks these statements.

Complex study enables extreme claims

The published paper is complex with many tables, making it difficult for people to understand. This allows individuals to point to it while making more extreme claims than the evidence supports.