Editor, Gazette-Journal:

Last week, you published an ad from an individual who led readers through a section of the CDC’s Vaccine Adverse Events Reporting System (VAERS)—which accepts reports of adverse events and reactions that occur following vaccination—in a misguided attempt to alarm parents who might want to have their children vaccinated against Covid.

By way of background, the VAERS system is open to anyone—from health care providers to vaccine manufacturers to parents—who cares to report events which can include anything from soreness or swelling all the way to (unverified) deaths at the extreme. There is thus a caution posted on opening the site that the data may contain information that is incomplete, inaccurate, coincidental, or unverifiable—and that it therefore cannot be used to determine if a vaccine caused or contributed to an adverse event or illness. Because the data reporting is voluntary, it is also subject to biases.

I would like to believe that the indivi...