Data released today by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) included a total of almost 500,000 reports of injuries and deaths, across all age groups, following COVID vaccines — an increase of 27,761 compared with the previous week.

The data comes directly from reports submitted to the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS), the primary government-funded system for reporting adverse vaccine reactions in the U.S.

Every Friday, VAERS makes public all vaccine injury reports received as of a specified date, usually about a week prior to the release date. Reports submitted to VAERS require further investigation before a causal relationship can be confirmed.

Data released today show that between Dec. 14, 2020 and July 16, 2021, a total of 491,218 total adverse events were reported to VAERS, including 11,405 deaths — an increase of 414 over the previous week. There were 48,385 serious injuries reported during the same time period — up 7,767 compared with the previous week.