NDA Journal 4 Featured Article CDC Emails: Our Definition of Vaccine is “Problematic” Nov 2, 2021 The CDC caused an uproar in early September 2021, after it changed its definitions of “vaccination” and “vaccine.” For years, the CDC had set definitions for vaccination/vaccine that discussed immunity. This all changed on September 1, 2021. The prior CDC Definitions of Vaccine and Vaccination August 26, 2021: Vaccine: A product that stimulates a person’s immune system to produce immunity to a specific disease, protecting the person from that disease. Vaccines are usually administered through needle injections, but can also be administered by mouth or sprayed into the nose. Vaccination: The act of introducing a vaccine into the body to produce immunity to a specific disease. The CDC Definitions of Vaccine and Vaccination since September 1, 2021: Vaccine: A preparation that is used to stimulate the body’s immune response against diseases. Vaccines are usually administered through needle injections, but some can be administered by mouth or sprayed into the nose. Vaccination: The act of introducing a vaccine into the body to produce protection from a specific disease. People noticed. Representative Thomas Massie was among the first to discuss the change, noting the definition went from “immunity” to “protection.” To many observers, it appeared the CDC changed the definitions because of the waning effectiveness of the COVID-19 vaccines. For example, the effectiveness of the Pfizer vaccine falls over time, with an Israeli study reported in August 2021 as showing the vaccine being “only 16% effective against symptomatic infection for those individuals who had two doses of the shot back in January.” The CDC recognizes the waning effectiveness, thus explaining their promotion of booster shots. The CDC tried to downplay the change, stating “slight changes in wording over time … haven’t impacted the overall definition.” Internal CDC E-Mails CDC emails we obtained via the Freedom of Information Act reveal CDC worries about how the performance of the COVID-19 vaccines didn’t match the CDC’s own definition of “vaccine”/“vaccination.” The CDC’s apparatchiks went to work in the face of legitimate public questions on this issue. In one August 2021 email (see image 1), a CDC employee cited to complaints that “Right-wing COVID-19 deniers are using your ‘vaccine’ definition to argue that mRNA vaccines are not vaccines…” Image 1
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