Despite the seriousness of this claim, no detailed data has been published to explain how these findings were reached, nor has it been presented in a peer-reviewed scientific journal. This has led public health experts to question the memo and warn of its potential political and medical implications.
The memo, which was communicated to agency staff on Friday, was issued by Dr. Vinay Prasad, a senior official in charge of the vaccine portfolio at the “FDA.” Prasad stated that the children’s deaths were linked to vaccination with “likely or probable” causalities. However, no information was provided about the children’s ages, the types of vaccines they received, their prior health conditions, or the statistical methodology used to link the deaths to the vaccine.
The memo was first revealed by a correspondent on “PBS Newshour,” before being obtained and published by “The Washington Post.” In his first official comment, the new Commissioner of the “FDA,” Dr. Marty Makary, said in an interview with “Fox News” that:
* “The agency will release additional information about those deaths later.”
* “The previous administration was not transparent enough.”
* “Coronavirus vaccines were clearly effective for the elderly and those most at risk.”
In contrast, “ABC News” rushed to contact the “U.S. Food and Drug Administration” and the “U.S. Department of Health” to request official clarifications, but did not receive an immediate response. On social media platforms, a large number of health experts expressed concern about the implications of the memo. Dorit Reiss, a law professor at the University of California, described Prasad’s memo as “beyond standard scientific procedures,” stressing that proposing changes to the approval mechanisms for respiratory vaccines based on an unpublished investigation represents a worrying precedent.
For his part, Dr. Amesh Adalja, a researcher at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security and a spokesman for the Infectious Diseases Society of America, said that the “FDA” memo is “devoid of any actual medical data justifying linking the deaths to COVID vaccines.” He added that proving a causal relationship requires basic information, such as the patients’ ages, the type of vaccine, chronic diseases, and the type of analysis used.
Adalja believes that these statements “will only lead to an escalation of anti-vaccination sentiments and politicize an issue that should remain purely scientific.” At the same time, the “Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)” confirms that the link between vaccines and autism or deaths is unproven and has been refuted by numerous studies, and has not been scientifically proven to date.
This controversy comes at a time when the United States is witnessing a heated debate about vaccination policies, making the new memo an additional factor in complicating the health and political landscape, amid growing concerns that such unsupported statements with no published data will undermine public confidence in vaccines and scientific institutions.
