³ÉÈËXÕ¾

What did the CDC withhold, and why did they withhold it?

over the weekend that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) was withholding some COVID vaccine data from its national reports.

The raw data was available, collected by local health officials across the country. But the CDC deliberately did not post the data broken down by age group.

So, let’s look at what was held back.

According to the Times, it was the data on the effectiveness of boosters on younger patients between the ages of 18 and 49. What they did post were the results for the first two doses in that age group.

Those numbers show that among younger Americans ages 18 to 49 who did not get any vaccination, for every 10 million unvaccinated young people, 90 died.

For ages 18 to 49 who did get vaccinated, for every 10 million of those who were vaccinated, only three died.

So, big difference, but relatively low numbers compared to older demographics.

And since the numbers were already low, even though the boosters might lower the death rate to zero, in raw numbers, that means boosters would save about 100 lives nationwide in that 18-49 age group. The CDC was apparently worried younger people would see that and conclude the booster was mathematically insignificant.

None of this strikes me as a big secret. I think we all knew that since most diseases aren’t as dangerous to young people as to old people, vaccines will make less of a difference to young people.

The problem here is that by deliberately withholding data, the CDC handed over control of the story to the anti-vaccine sites, which can now say “we told you so.” If the CDC thought the data might be misinterpreted, then just say so, and provide the proper interpretation to go with it. But when you withhold it, you play into the stereotype.

If people choose to ignore the correct interpretation? That’s on them. I can tell you if I was still in that age group, regardless of how low the death rate is, if the shot is free and it lowers my chance of infection even a little, I’d get it, for the same reason I buckle my seatbelt every day.

My personal statistics would show that when I was in the 18-49 age group, the seatbelt saved my life exactly once. That’s all! Mathematically insignificant! Except to me.

Listen to Seattle’s Morning News with Dave Ross and Colleen O’Brien weekday mornings from 5 – 9 a.m. on ³ÉÈËXÕ¾ Newsradio, 97.3 FM. Subscribe to the podcast here.