I guess we need to agree to disagree on this issue.

Every vaccine or other medical treatment has been new or experimental at one time, but since the Polio epidemic in the 1940's and '50's, none has been as widespread, contagious, had such dire health effects or caused such a change in the way of life as Covid-19.

There were no effective treatments known when this virus leapt into our country and turned life upside down. Our hospitals were overwhelmed, and the only tool for getting control was to shut down the country and expose our essential workers to high risk of serious illness.

There is no way to argue with the change in the scenario in the US today compared to a year ago, nor with the decline in infections, hospitalizations and deaths from the Covid virus and its variants since the distribution of vaccines began, even though we have returned to life as nearly-normal. And it is very difficult to dispute that the virus, including more dangerous variants, is spreading in areas with low vaccination rates, but not where more people have been vaccinated.

Yes, some people are experiencing side effects from the vaccine, but far fewer than from Covid. As for the argument of not knowing future effects of the vaccine, we are also still learning the future effects of having had the virus - and these are far more numerous.

As for your assertion "It is hard to believe what the truth is. Perhaps you have a difficult time finding online information because of the search engine used. Many search engines have priorities as to what information people receive first. Remember, just because you have not heard it, it doesn’t mean the information or medical condition does not exist. Makes me wonder why online information such as videos from you tube get deleted. I can understand there may be some but these videos were from credible sources like physicians who had connections with other physicians for their information."

- I do find and read many of those sources. Every time, without exception, that I have asked the author for actual, numerical data, I have received no reply, and in a few cases I have been blocked by them. That does not make me think reliable information is being reported.

- I closely look at data from sources considered "reliable" to make sure they are not comparing apples and oranges. If you want to see population-based data rather than raw numbers, you can look here; http://91-divoc.com/pages/covid-visualization/ Each graph or chart reports data based on /100,000 population so you can compare data between more/less populous areas accurately.

You asked "What happened to all those side effects reported to VAERS? Lots of time has lapsed from the beginning of the year when people started their reporting. Does it take this long for any mention? How can many reports be coincidental and not related to the vaccine? I can see some but many? It appears again for no negative response( not a word whether good or bad) in order to get more people vaccinated. I would think there would not be any hesitancy for positive findings."

- Every week, or more likely, every day, both positive and negative outcomes are being reported in the new, in information feeds like Mayo, CDC, WHO and many others.

- Adverse side effects are being studied worldwide to determine how often, how severe, and what can be done to improve. The University of Minnesota alone has 12 studies underway, multiplied nation and worldwide, this surely translates to thousands. Research-based studies take a year or more to produce reportable results.

- You can see the VAERS data for yourself using this search engine: https://vaers.hhs.gov/data.html When I search VAERS, I assume underreporting, because not every adverse effect gets reported and recorded. However, even if one assumes that the occurrence of side effects or deaths are 2, 3 or even 10 times more frequent than the data shows, the vaccines are far less dangerous than the infection.

I understand your fears, but the arguments don't stand up to the data.
Sue

@avmcbellar - Good morning. You have asked some very important questions. if you don't believe in science at all or that you don't trust any published information even on Connect then it will be difficult for us to answer your questions.

As Sue has said and what I have said, the COVID vaccines were available to the public on an emergency basis because so many people were dying. Scientists believed, based on past vaccines and the science that they already knew that worked, and trials that they had done, that they could help save people. And that has happened. Millions of people would have died had these vaccines not been made available on an emergency basis. That does not mean that the vaccines had no scientific validity. Based on previous trials from many, many years of covid type viruses scientists actually had a head-start. There had also been rDNA vaccines before this. But it wasn't until the trials when so many people were benefiting from the vaccines that showed how well they worked. Dr. Poland, has many times stated, that no vaccine has a 100% guarantee.

As far as statistics about the causes of deaths you will need to go to the CDC. https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/vaccines/safety/adverse-events.html

I can't answer if you will get the entire story that you are looking for as to what has caused more deaths. But I think that the bigger question is, has there been a positive result from these vaccines? Yes. Many millions of people have lived and survived as a result of these vaccines. Mayo Connect is fortunate to be affiliated with Mayo Clinic because of all of the experts at the Clinic, the doctors, and researchers. And aren't you on here because of this, at least in part?

I'm not so sure why you don't believe the science that has made vaccines possible. Certainly, politics has turned a lot of people off and has caused a lot of misinformation. But we aren't political on Connect. Our recommendations and information are science-based.

Sue and I are mentors for Mayo Connect. We have posted many many hours of explanations and data, shared our life experiences, and tried very hard to explain why you should be vaccinated. We can't answer questions about the future. Please remember that the vaccines had a lot of history behind them so that they could be distributed sooner than anyone expected. And I say, thank goodness for that! No one experimented in their garage and had an ah, ha moment. There were hundreds of years of scientific history behind coming up with the vaccines. There have been many vaccines that were issued with a lot less known science behind them. And some were very successful.
https://www.immunize.org/timeline/
As mentors, we try and keep people safe with tips from our own experiences and others. We share what we believe and trust is sound science from experts. This is what we can offer you. Right now most people who are dying from the Delta variant are people who have not been vaccinated. I still suggest that you get vaccinated and encourage others to so because the Delta variant is a hundred times more contagious and deadly than what we have seen in the past.

I know that a lot of your questions were venting at all of the frustrations that a lot of us feel. But science is science no matter if you agree or not and the virus and its deadly variants will continue to kill people who aren't vaccinated.