VAERS shows 819 cases of anaphylaxis; CDC found 66. What gives?

by Disco Bear

From jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/fullarticle/2776557

During December 14, 2020 through January 18, 2021, a total of 9 943 247 doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine and 7 581 429 doses of the Moderna vaccine were reported administered in the US (CDC unpublished data, February 2021). CDC identified 66 case reports received by VAERS that met Brighton Collaboration case definition criteria for anaphylaxis (levels 1, 2 or 3)

Here’s the VAERS results: medalerts.org/vaersdb/findfield.php?TABLE=ON&GROUP1=AGE&EVENTS=ON&SYMPTOMS%5B%5D=Anaphylactic+reaction+%2810002198%29&SYMPTOMS%5B%5D=Anaphylactic+shock+%2810002199%29&SYMPTOMS%5B%5D=Anaphylactic+transfusion+reaction+%2810067113%29&SYMPTOMS%5B%5D=Anaphylactoid+reaction+%2810002216%29&SYMPTOMS%5B%5D=Anaphylactoid+shock+%2810063119%29&SYMPTOMS%5B%5D=Anaphylactoid+syndrome+of+pregnancy+%2810067010%29&VAX=COVID19&VAX_YEAR_LOW=2020&VAX_MONTH_LOW=12&VAX_YEAR_HIGH=2021&VAX_MONTH_HIGH=01

Seems to be quite a discrepancy.  Because the search form I used doesn’t allow for parts of a month, I couldn’t fully match the time periods in the JAMA report.  Still, the difference between 66 and 819 is vast.

What I was initially looking for was whether late reporting to VAERS might have increased the number of anaphylaxis incidents.  The JAMA report is dated February 12, 2021.  Any reports made to VAERS after that date for events that happened during the time period supposedly covered by the survey would not be included, thus undercounting the number of anaphylaxis.