Republicans on the House Energy and Commerce Committee say that inaccurate CDC data exaggerating Covid deaths in children may have led to policy decisions, like mask mandates and school closures, that hurt kids more than Covid did.
The head of the Committee, Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-Washington), along with Subcommittee Health Chair Brett Guthrie (R-Kentucky), and Subcommittee Oversight and Investigations Chair Morgan Griffith (R-VA), have sent a letter to CDC Director Mandy Cohen on behalf of the Health and Oversight Republicans requesting data and documents to address inaccuracies.
Key excerpt from the committee’s letter are below:
“The CDC’s responses are consistent with concerns reported in the British Medical Journal (BMJ) and raised by other analysts. On March 15, 2022, the CDC removed 72,277 deaths, including those of 416 children, from its Covid-19 Data Tracker after the overestimates were attributed to ‘coding logic errors’ The inaccuracies were detected by Kelly Krohnert, a former IT programmer from Atlanta, Georgia, on February 23, 2022.
She tweeted: ‘It appears [CDC’s Covid] Data Tracker has major issues when it comes to pediatric death reporting. We deserve accurate data when so much is on the line for our kids!’ Krohnert and another mother had been writing to the CDC since May 2020 about these concerns.
The overcounting also raises questions about whether CDC used inaccurate data that led to decisions harmful to children.”
Background Information from the Committee.
The CDC has provided the House Energy and Commerce Committee with inconsistent data regarding deaths in children ages 0-17 due to Covid.
On August 7, 2023, CDC told the Committee that 2,292 children had died of Covid-19 based on Covid tracker data—no longer used since the end of the Covid public health emergency in May.
In response to a follow up question regarding the number of child deaths were in the National Vital Statistics System (NVSS), the CDC replied that 1,696 children have died from Covid-19 in a timeframe that was two months longer.
The NVSS data based on death certificates is considered by CDC to be more authoritative.
Overcounting child deaths by at least 35 percent is a massive discrepancy in reporting.
The Chairs requested the following by November 7, 2023:
All documents related to CDC assessments of the accuracy of Covid tracker data since January 1, 2020.
All documents related to the CDC’s decision to disseminate Covid tracker data for Covid mortality data after the public health emergency was ended, given CDC’s admission that NVSS provides “the most complete and accurate information on all deaths in the United States.”
All documents related to CDC assessments of the accuracy of NVSS data since January 1, 2020.
All documents related to CDC analyses of child Covid deaths since January 1, 2020.
All documents related to CDC decisions that relied on child Covid death data from the Covid Data Tracker.
All documents related to CDC plans to improve data quality since August 1, 2022.
Click here to read the full letter or read it below:
October 24, 2023
Mandy K. Cohen, MD, MPH Director Centers for Disease Control and Prevention 1600 Clifton Road Atlanta, GA 30329
Dr. Cohen,
The accuracy of data at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) must be paramount. As you tweeted on June 12, 2020, prior to becoming CDC Director, “Data-driven decision making first requires high-quality data.”1 Pursuant to Rules X and XI of the U.S. House of Representatives, the committee is investigating potentially misleading and erroneous CDC data related to overcounting how many children died from COVID-19 and whether this problem represents a systemic issue with CDC data.
On July 25, 2023, Majority committee staff posed the following straightforward question to the CDC: “What is the most accurate count that CDC can provide on the number of children and adolescents who have died from COVID?” On August 7, 2023, the CDC emailed the following to Majority committee staff:
Through the week ending on July 29, 2023, 2,292 children ages 0- 17 have died of COVID-19. This information continues to be available on CDC’s COVID Data Tracker. Since the end of the public health emergency, the National Vital Statistics System (NVSS) death certificate data are the primary source for COVID-19 mortality data.
1 Tweet from Dr. Mandy Cohen (copy of tweet attached).
Letter to Dr. Mandy K. Cohen, MD, MPH Page 2
This statistic of nearly 2,300 child and adolescent deaths from COVID was repeated in press reports, including a July 2023 article in the New York Times.2 However, this figure was not the most accurate available number and is in conflict with the CDC assertion that NVSS death certificate data was now the primary source for death data.
Given the CDC’s response, on August 8, 2023, Majority committee staff emailed a follow-up question to the CDC: “Thanks for the response. What does the NVSS death certificate data show for child covid deaths?” On October 5, 2023, the CDC emailed the following to Majority committee staff:
The number of children ages 0-17 who died from COVID-19 through 9/27/23 was 1,696. That data can be found on this page: https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/nvss/vsrr/covid_weekly/index.htmThe. This number comes from death certificate data collected by the National Vital Statistics System (NVSS), which provides the most complete and accurate information on all deaths in the United States.3
Thus, the NVSS number for child covid deaths was substantially lower than the COVID Data Tracker number, despite including an almost two-month longer timeframe.
The CDC’s responses are consistent with concerns reported in the British Medical Journal (BMJ) and raised by other analysts.4 On March 15, 2022, the CDC removed 72,277 deaths, including those of 416 children, from its COVID-19 Data Tracker after the overestimates were attributed to “coding logic errors.” The inaccuracies were detected by Kelly Krohnert, a former IT programmer from Atlanta, Georgia, on February 23, 2022. She tweeted: “It appears [CDC’s COVID] Data Tracker has major issues when it comes to pediatric death reporting. We deserve accurate data when so much is on the line for our kids!” Krohnert and another mother
2Sharon LaFraniere, Patricia Mazzei and Albert Sun, The Steep Cost of Ron DeSantis’s Vaccine Turnabout, New York Times (July 23, 2023)(“This disease [Covid] has killed nearly 2,300 children and adolescents, and nearly 200,000 have been hospitalized.”). 3 CDC elaborated on the basis for that claim: “Through NVSS, the 57 vital registration jurisdictions (50 states, New York City, District of Columbia, and 5 U.S. territories) send the National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS) information on all birth, death, and fetal death events occurring each year. NVSS captures all deaths from all causes across every state in the nation. NCHS then collects, analyzes, and disseminates these data to create the nation’s official vital statistics. NVSS provides the most complete and continuous data available to public health officials at the national, state, and local levels and are a critical component of the national health information system. More information on NVSS can be found here.”
4 Jennifer Block, Covid-19: US tracker overestimated deaths among children, The BMJ (March 29, 2022). See also David Zweig, New York Times Cites False CDC Covid Data, Inflating Pediatric Mortality Count, Silent Lunch (July 24, 2023). Kelley Krohnert, Alyson Haslam, Tracy Beth Hoeg, Vinay Prasad, Statistical and Numerical Errors Made by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention During the COVID-19 Pandemic, SSRN (March 23, 2023). https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=4381627
Letter to Dr. Mandy K. Cohen, MD, MPH Page 3
had been writing to the CDC since May 2020 about these concerns. The overcounting also raises questions about whether CDC used inaccurate data that led to decisions harmful to children.
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To assist our inquiry, please provide the following by November 7, 2023:
All documents related to CDC assessments of the accuracy of COVID tracker data since January 1, 2020.
All documents related to the CDC’s decision to disseminate COVID tracker data for COVID mortality data after the public health emergency was ended, given CDC’s admission that NVSS provides “the most complete and accurate information on all deaths in the United States.”
All documents related to CDC assessments of the accuracy of NVSS data since January 1, 2020.
All documents related to CDC analyses of child COVID deaths since January 1, 2020.
All documents related to CDC decisions that relied on child COVID death data from the COVID Data Tracker.
All documents related to CDC plans to improve data quality since August 1, 2022.
If you you for your attention to this request.
Cathy McMorris Rodgers Chair Committee on Energy and Commerce
Brett Guthrie Chair Subcommittee on Health
have any questions, please contact the Majority committee staff at (202) 225-3641. Thank
Sincerely,
H. Morgan Griffith Chair Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations
Letter to Dr. Mandy K. Cohen, MD, MPH Page 4
Attachment
CC: Frank Pallone Jr., Ranking Member, Energy and Commerce Committee Anna Eshoo, Ranking Member, Subcommittee on Health Kathy Castor, Ranking Member, Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations
Emmy-Award Winning Nonpartisan Investigative Journalist, New York Times Bestselling Author, Host of Sinclair's Full Measure. I follow the facts, not the crowd.
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3 thoughts on “(READ) Republicans investigate CDC miscounting of Covid deaths in children”
GD Wright
Sadly, we will never know how many “real” COVID deaths there were due to inaccurate (or inaccurately performed) PRC tests, incentives given to hospitals for tests/positive results, incentives given for death certificates listing COVID-19 as the cause of death, incentives given to healthcare providers (and others) for vaccine administration, and purposeful deniability about vaccine injuries and deaths…to say nothing of those who died due to no or inadequate treatment due to propaganda. This is truly a shameful period in our country’s history.
Sadly, we will never know how many “real” COVID deaths there were due to inaccurate (or inaccurately performed) PRC tests, incentives given to hospitals for tests/positive results, incentives given for death certificates listing COVID-19 as the cause of death, incentives given to healthcare providers (and others) for vaccine administration, and purposeful deniability about vaccine injuries and deaths…to say nothing of those who died due to no or inadequate treatment due to propaganda. This is truly a shameful period in our country’s history.
What GD Wright says, 100%!
Shame on US!