Important: VAERS reports alone cannot determine if a vaccine caused an adverse event. Reports may contain incomplete, inaccurate, or unverified information. Correlation does not equal causation.
10,883 adverse event reports
In 2020, 10,883 adverse event reports were filed for COVID-19 Vaccine in VAERS. This represents 1.0% of all 1,121,388 reports for this vaccine.
Of these reports, 16 mentioned death, 155 involved hospitalization, 2,109 required ER visits, and 10 reported disability.
Compared to the average of 153,760 reports per year for this vaccine, 2020 was below average (-93%).
High report volume: 10,883 reports in a single year is significant. This typically reflects large-scale vaccination campaigns rather than increased risk per dose. Without knowing total doses administered in 2020, raw report counts cannot indicate safety rates.
This data comes from the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS), jointly managed by CDC and FDA.