EXPLAINER: How activists target CDC vaccine tracking system

Once, getting vaccinated was all but routine. But since the heightened public awareness around the new COVID-19 vaccines, it’s a different story. Now, it means check-ins with family and friends about possible arm soreness or mild symptoms.

Through an early warning system known as the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Food and Drug Administration keep tabs on signals of possible side effects from vaccines. The federal agencies have maintained the system since 1990 as part of a transparent way to ensure vaccine safety.

Federal officials are not the only ones keeping an eye on the reports. Over the years, anti-vaccine proponents have seized on the publicly available data to sow doubt about vaccines from falsehoods that they cause autism to even death.

But the reporting tool does not offer official proof that the vaccines caused any of the events listed despite what anti-vaccine advocates may say.

Here’s a look at how the system works and how it has been misused:

HOW DOES IT WORK?

VAERS uses passive surveillance, meaning people self-report by submitting their personal information, when they received the vaccine, the brand of the vaccine and the date they began experiencing any negative reactions. Anyone can submit a report on any possible reaction after the vaccine and anyone can access it.

Health care providers and manufacturers are required to submit adverse responses reported after vaccines, even if they don't know whether the vaccine caused them.

The surveillance mechanism does not monitor people who have not received the vaccine or people who were vaccinated and reported no side effects.

“For example, if you get a vaccine and then you get struck by lightning, you can report that to VAERS,” said Dr....