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** Vax Opponents Distort Breast Milk Study
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Critics of the COVID-19 vaccines have a pretty extensive toolbox ([link removed]) when it comes to casting doubt on the safety of the vaccines. One tactic is to draw sweeping conclusions from minor developments.

The latest example of this came when some claimed to find a smoking gun in the form of a JAMA Pediatrics study ([link removed]) that looked for the presence of vaccine mRNA in breast milk samples.

Researchers at NYU Long Island School of Medicine collected expressed breast milk samples from 11 women, between one hour and five days after vaccination with either the Pfizer/BioNTech or Moderna vaccines. The results, published on Sept. 26, found trace amounts in seven samples from five women up to 45 hours after vaccination.

One frequent purveyor of vaccine misinformation called the findings ([link removed]) "a disaster for infants." Another said ([link removed]) the study was evidence that those breastfeeding shouldn’t get vaccinated. It is neither.

Science Editor Jessica McDonald -- who, unlike these vaccine critics, is a trained scientist with an advanced degree in immunology ([link removed]) -- and staffer Catalina Jaramillo explain that "the amount of mRNA was exceedingly small, was detected only for up to 48 hours after vaccination, and does not mean that vaccination is hazardous to infants."

Oh, and the results are not new, either.

"Two other papers have also found vaccine mRNA in breast milk from some — but not all — of a small number of lactating women, always in extremely small amounts," Jessie and Catalina write.

The study’s author, Dr. Nazeeh Hanna, told them ([link removed]) he was not suggesting that lactating mothers not get vaccinated, but that if mothers had any concerns about the mRNA in milk, they could “pump and dump” for the 48 hours after a vaccination.

However, the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists and other experts said that those precautions weren’t necessary, since there is no evidence that the mRNA is harmful.

“There is absolutely no justification to withhold breastmilk after getting the vaccine, even with the detection of trace amounts of mRNA,” Dr. Stephanie Gaw, a maternal-fetal medicine physician scientist at the University of California, San Francisco, said in an email.

For her part, Jessie breastfed her baby after three mRNA COVID-19 vaccinations -- and says she would make the same decision again.

Read the full story, "No Indication Breast Milk After Vaccination Unsafe, Despite Posts About New Study ([link removed]) ," which is available in English and Spanish.
HOW WE KNOW
In reviewing U.S. Senate candidate John Fetterman's response ad about his record as a member of the Pennsylvania Board of Pardons, Deputy Managing Editor Rob Farley obtained data from the campaign data on board decisions between March 13, 2019, and Aug. 3, 2022. The data showed, as the ad claimed, that Fetterman “voted with law enforcement experts nearly 90% of the time” on decisions to recommend or deny pardons and commutations. Looking just at commutation cases for inmates serving life sentences, however, Rob found that Fetterman and the board’s corrections expert voted the same 69% of the time. There were 26 times when Fetterman voted to commute life sentences — mostly for first- or second-degree murder — and the law enforcement expert voted not to. Read more ([link removed]) .
FEATURED FACT
The U.S. Senate race in Alaska will be decided under the state’s new ranked-choice voting system. After the primary, the top four Senate candidates, regardless of party affiliation, advanced to the general election. (One has since dropped out.) In ranked-choice voting, voters rank the candidates. If no candidate in the first round receives a majority of votes — 50% plus one vote — then the last-place candidate is eliminated, and the second-choice candidates on those ballots are awarded those votes. The process continues until one candidate receives a majority. The system was used for the first time ([link removed]) in a special election to replace Rep. Don Young, a Republican who died in office. The result: a surprising victory for Democrat Mary Peltola. In the Senate race, the top two candidates are Republicans. Read more ([link removed]) .
WORTHY OF NOTE
Nearly 78% of U.S. adults ([link removed]) (18 years and older) have completed their primary series of vaccinations. Yet, only 31% of children ages 5 to 11 have completed the two-dose vaccination series, according to the American Academy of Pediatrics' latest report ([link removed]) on child vaccination trends.

Why is that?

That's what researchers at the Annenberg Public Policy Center -- home of FactCheck.org -- sought to find out.

The APPC researchers attributed the discrepancy, at least in part, to the acceptance of misinformation about the safety of vaccines in general and the COVID-19 vaccines in particular.

Their findings were published Sept. 22 ([link removed]) in the journal Vaccine.

“All of the misconceptions we studied focused in one way or another on the safety of vaccination, and that explains why people’s misbeliefs about vaccinating kids are so highly related to their concerns about vaccines in general,” lead author and APPC research director Dan Romer said in an APPC press release ([link removed]) about the study. “Unfortunately, those concerns weigh even more heavily when adults consider vaccinating children.”

For those seeking information about the vaccines, we have published guides for each of them, plus a Q&A on the omicron-specific boosters:
Q&A on Omicron-Updated COVID-19 Boosters ([link removed])
A Guide to Novavax’s COVID-19 Vaccine ([link removed])
A Guide to COVID-19 Vaccines for the Youngest Kids ([link removed])
A Guide to Pfizer/BioNTech’s Pediatric COVID-19 Vaccine for Kids 5-11 ([link removed])
A Guide to Johnson & Johnson’s COVID-19 Vaccine ([link removed])
A Guide to Moderna’s COVID-19 Vaccine ([link removed])
A Guide to Pfizer/BioNTech’s COVID-19 Vaccine ([link removed])
REPLY ALL

Reader: Can i get where all your donations come from. We all know where it is. U call yourself transparent. Make public all the donations from left n Democrats. N let ppl decide after. But u won’t do that. Even as kids, u call that cowards

FactCheck.org Director Eugene Kiely: We post quarterly financial reports on our website ([link removed]) . The reports disclose any donations of $1,000 or more. So, yes, we are transparent.

In 2015, Inside Philanthropy praised our disclosure policy ([link removed]) for “exemplifying nonprofit transparency.”

“FactCheck.org is totally transparent about its funding sources — going so far as to list a detailed breakdown of financial support by every quarter, the same standard expected of political campaigns and party committees,” it wrote. “So, quite apart from its stated mission, FactCheck.org is making a contribution by exemplifying nonprofit transparency.”


** Wrapping Up
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Here's what else we've got for you this week:
* "Biden’s Comment on Delaware’s Puerto Rican Population ([link removed]) ": In Puerto Rico to tour hurricane damage and recovery efforts, President Joe Biden said there was a “large Puerto Rican population in Delaware — relative to our population” and that he was “sort of raised in the Puerto Rican community at home, politically.” Actually, there’s something to the fact that Puerto Ricans, more so than other Spanish-speaking groups, settled in Wilmington.
* "Fetterman’s Tattoos Under Scrutiny in Pennsylvania Senate Race ([link removed]) ": John Fetterman, Pennsylvania’s lieutenant governor who is running for the U.S. Senate, has tattoos on his arms, some of which memorialize victims of violence. But conservative pundits — including Newt Gingrich — claim, without proof, that his tattoos suggest drug use and ties to a violent street gang.
* "TV Ads Distort Tshibaka’s Position on Birth Control ([link removed]) ": A super PAC supporting Sen. Lisa Murkowski claims in several TV ads that her top challenger, Kelly Tshibaka, “wants to ban birth control in the mail.” Tshibaka has said she would ban the sale of the morning-after pill via the mail, but the ads leave the misleading impression she would ban all forms of birth control.
* "What Vice President Harris Said — And Didn’t Say — About Hurricane Relief ([link removed]) ": Vice President Kamala Harris spoke about the need to provide “resources” for climate change mitigation “based on equity.” Republicans misleadingly claimed Harris said the Biden administration would provide federal hurricane relief based on race. We put her remarks in context.
* "Fetterman Ad Pushes Back on Crime ([link removed]) ": A sheriff featured in an ad defending U.S. Senate candidate John Fetterman accurately states that Fetterman “voted with law enforcement experts nearly 90% of the time” on the Pennsylvania Board of Pardons, and voted to give “a second chance” to nonviolent offenders. But it’s what the ad doesn’t say that may mislead viewers.
* "Ad Distorts Abortion Views of Republican House Candidate from Nevada ([link removed]) ": An ad from the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee falsely claims that Nevada Republican House candidate April Becker supports a nationwide abortion ban and “taking away a woman’s right to abortion with no exceptions.”
* "Pro-Dixon Ad Uses ‘Joke’ About Drag Queens in a Misleading Attack on Whitmer ([link removed]) ": Michigan’s Democratic Attorney General Dana Nessel said that she was joking when she said in a June speech that there should be “a drag queen for every school.” But a TV ad from a super PAC supporting Republican Tudor Dixon is using a version of Nessel’s quote out of context in a misleading attack against Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer.
* "Our American Century ([link removed]) ": Profile of a GOP super PAC funded in part by former President Trump’s leadership PAC.
* "American Dream Federal Action ([link removed]) ": Profile of a hybrid PAC that says it supports “forward-looking” Republican candidates.

Y lo que publicamos en español ([link removed]) (English versions are accessible in each story):
* "Preguntas y respuestas sobre las vacunas de refuerzo contra el COVID-19 actualizadas para la variante ómicron ([link removed]) ": Las vacunas de refuerzo contra el COVID-19 rediseñadas para apuntar específicamente contras las subvariantes de ómicron del coronavirus ya están disponibles en EE. UU. Aquí respondemos preguntas sobre estas nuevas vacunas.
* "Video afirma falsedades sobre la cobertura del seguro de vida de un francés vacunado ([link removed]) ": Tanto los ensayos clínicos como las condiciones de la vida real han demostrado que las vacunas contra el COVID-19 son seguras y efectivas. Pero un video en internet afirma sin fundamento que una compañía de seguros francesa rehusó pagar la póliza de un hombre que falleció tras recibir la vacuna porque la consideró como un “experimento médico”. El video menciona erróneamente que esto también ha ocurrido en Estados Unidos.
* "No hay indicios de que la leche materna no sea segura tras la vacunación, a pesar de publicaciones sobre nuevo estudio ([link removed]) ": No hay pruebas que siguieran que sea peligroso para los bebés consumir leche materna de personas que han sido vacunadas contra el COVID-19. Sin embargo, publicaciones digitales apuntan a un estudio que encontró rastros temporales del ARNm de la vacuna en la leche materna tras la vacunación para afirmar que las vacunas no son seguras.

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