An internet survey by a non-partisan physicians’ association found that most respondents have not been fully vaccinated against COVID-19 or plan to get the shot.
In the June 16 online survey by the American Association of Physicians and Surgeons (AAPS) in Tuscon, Arizona, nearly 60 percent of over 700 both retired and practicing physicians said they were not fully vaccinated and would decline the shots based on their assessment of risk.
“This contrasts with the claim by the American Medical Association that 96 percent of practicing physicians are fully vaccinated. This was based on 300 respondents,” the AAPS stated in a press release.
While neither survey represents a random sample of all U.S. physicians, the AAPS survey shows that doctor support for the mass injection campaign “is far from unanimous.”
“It is wrong to call a person who declines a shot an ‘anti-vaxxer,’” AAPS Executive Director Jane Orient said in a statement. “Virtually no physicians are ‘anti-antibiotics’ or ‘anti-surgery,’ whereas all are opposed to treatments that they think are unnecessary, more likely to cause harm than to benefit an individual patient, or inadequately tested.”
The survey also showed that 58 percent of the practicing physicians who responded were aware of patients suffering a “significant adverse reaction” after receiving a COVID vaccine.
Orient said most unvaccinated physicians had made their decision based on their assessment that the risk of taking the shots exceeds the risk of the disease, with many responding that they had already contracted COVID-19.
Other reasons for declining the shots included unknown long-term side effects, use of fetal cell lines for vaccine testing, the experimental nature of the injections, other effective early treatments, and reports of deaths and blood clots.
Orient said of another 5,300 non-physicians who were invited to take part in the survey, 2,548 said they knew about associated adverse effects that included death, amputation, paralysis, stillbirth, menstrual abnormalities, blindness, seizures, and heart issues.
According to July 2 Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS) figures released by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, a total of 411,931 reports of adverse events have been reported in association with the COVID-19 shots, of which 6,985 patients died.
These voluntary reports were received between Dec. 14, 2020 and June 25, 2021.
“Causality is not proven,” Orient said. “However, many episodes might have resulted in a huge product liability or malpractice award if they had occurred after a new drug. Purveyors of these COVID products are protected against lawsuits.”
BY ALLAN STEIN
