Gain-of-Function Back in the News

National Institutes of Health Principal Deputy Director Lawrence A. Tabak created quite a stir in Washington when he sent a letter to Rep. James Comer, the ranking Republican on the House oversight committee.

In his Oct. 20 letter, Tabak -- a dentist and biomedical scientist -- responded to Comer's inquiry about an NIH grant awarded to EcoHealth Alliance for research on the potential for bat coronaviruses in China to spillover and infect people. 

His letter reopened the debate about whether the NIH has funded gain-of-function research, which the agency defines as experiments modifying pathogens that are "reasonably anticipated" to make them more virulent or infectious to humans. The agency prefers to avoid the term "gain-of-function" altogether and instead refers to "enhanced potential pandemic pathogens," or ePPPs. 

Republicans said the NIH letter was an admission that the agency funded gain-of-function research and accused Dr. Anthony Fauci of lying to Congress. Some called on Fauci to resign. Some even went as far as to falsely link EcoHealth's research to the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic. 

But the NIH maintained EcoHealth's work was not gain-of-function research and presented evidence that showed it could not have led to SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19.

Luckily, we have a science editor on staff to help sort through this complicated yet very important issue. For more, see Jessica McDonald's SciCheck article "Republicans Spin NIH Letter About Coronavirus Gain-of-Function Research."  

Reader: I have seen on social media a list of Covid vaccine reactions that is supposedly numbers from VAERS. Can you verify that there have been the following: 11,940 deaths; 40,991 hospitalizations; 22,286 severe urgent care visits. Thank you for your assistance.

FactCheck.org Director Eugene Kiely: Social media posts repeatedly misuse unverified data from the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System to falsely claim that COVID-19 vaccines are dangerous, and even deadly. 

But, as the VAERS website warns, any report submitted to the database “is not documentation that a vaccine caused the event.” 

Anyone can submit a report of an event to VAERS, even if it’s not clear that a vaccine caused the problem. All reports are accepted into the database without determining whether the event was caused by a particular vaccine, and therefore, as a VAERS disclaimer warns, submissions “may include incomplete, inaccurate, coincidental and unverified information.” 

The fact is, more than 400 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines have been administered in the U.S. Most of those who have reported side effects have said they were minor, such as pain or swelling at the injection site, headaches, chills or fever — which are all consistent with the results of clinical trials. Some people have no side effects at all.  

You can read more about VAERS in our article “Viral Posts Misuse VAERS Data to Make False Claims About COVID-19 Vaccines.”

You can read about rare side effects in our item “How safe are vaccines?”

Wrapping Up

Here's what else we've got for you this week:

• "Biden Spins Facts on Framework": In a speech announcing the framework for a pared-down spending plan, President Joe Biden made some questionable claims.
• "Video: Tucker Carlson Misrepresents Vaccine Safety Reporting Data": In this video, FactCheck.org and Univision Noticias teamed up to debunk misleading statements spread by Fox News host Tucker Carlson about the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System.
• "FactChecking Biden’s Town Hall": We spotted a few instances in President Joe Biden’s televised town hall when his answers didn’t square with the facts.
• “FEMA Staff and Contracted Medical Workers Are Required to Follow Vaccine Mandate”: The Federal Emergency Management Agency is deploying contracted medical workers to understaffed hospitals, where they are required to comply with COVID-19 vaccine mandates. But social media posts falsely claim that “doctors and nurses are being forced to quit over the mandates,” while the workers sent by FEMA are “exempt.”
• "Video Spreads Bogus Claims About Plane Crashes and COVID-19 Vaccines": The number of U.S. plane accidents has been about the same this year as it was last year. But posts on social media falsely claim that there has been a significant increase due to pilot reactions to the COVID-19 vaccines. The Federal Aviation Administration says it has seen “no evidence of aircraft accidents or pilot incapacitations” associated with COVID-19 vaccines.

• "Video: Tucker Carlson tergiversa datos del sistema de notificación sobre seguridad de vacunas": En este video, los equipos de FactCheck.org y Univision Noticias se unieron para desmentir declaraciones engañosas difundidas por el presentador de Fox News Tucker Carlson.
• "Los antivirales para el COVID-19 de Merck y Pfizer son diferentes de la ivermectina": Merck y Pfizer están desarrollando nuevos medicamentos antivirales orales que podrían prevenir o tratar el COVID-19. Las píldoras son muy diferentes del medicamento antiparasitario ivermectina, contrariamente a las afirmaciones en la red de que son “sospechosamente parecidas” o de que las empresas están “reenvasando” la ivermectina como estrategia para incrementar sus beneficios.