C-19 Vaccine Trials
In the main clinical trials for the Pfizer and Moderna Covid-19 vaccines, was the death rate higher among people who took the vaccines or the placebos?
Correct Answer
The main clinical trials for the Pfizer and Moderna Covid-19 vaccines involved a total of 72,663 people with an average enrollment time of 3-4 months. Half of the subjects were randomly given vaccines and the other half placebos. Buried 20+ pages into FDA technical documents, the FDA revealed that 37 people died who received the vaccines, and 33 died who received the placebos. On a superficial basis, these figures suggest that the vaccines increased the relative risk of death by 13%. However, the death rate in both groups was so small (0.1%) that the difference between them is statistically insignificant. These were randomized controlled trials, which are the "gold standard" for clinical research because they provide "a rigorous tool to examine cause-effect." Despite these results, the FDA approved these vaccines based on clinically meaningless endpoints and indirect measures called "biomarkers," a practice that medical journals disparaged before the Covid-19 pandemic.