Questioning vaccines

In response to a question by someone claiming to have had adverse reactions to the Moderna vaccine, DeSantis went some of the furthest he’s gone in questioning the vaccines’ safety, saying there was “a whole host of things affecting people’s health” from shots.

“Anything you put in, there’s always a risk for that,” he said.

In April, DeSantis blasted the Food and Drug Administration for pausing the J&J vaccine over concerns about blood clots, saying it was causing unnecessary panic. Any caution over the minimal risk of side effects, he said on April 13, should be balanced “against how many people are alive today because they had the J&J vaccine.” DeSantis, who has not said whether he’s getting a J&J booster, also criticized the FDA approval process for booster shots and said it was “politicized.”

DeSantis also compared what he called the“very small” risk to children from COVID to the risk to teens and young adults of developing heart inflammation following shots.

“A parent would weigh, ‘Okay, what are the risks to him from COVID?’ ” he said. “Very small. And then what are the potential risks from doing this course of treatment?”

According to multiple reports and studies, cases of myocarditis and pericarditis in young adults following COVID shots have been extremely rare, usually mild and resolved quickly.

“There is a higher risk of myoc ar di tis from C OVID itself than there is from the vaccine ,” according to the University of California, Davis. The British scientific journal Nature estimated that the risk of heart inflammation to those 16 years and older was 18 times more likely from COVID than from the vaccines.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 4,864 Americans under 30, including 576 children under 18, have died from COVID-19, as of Nov. 3.