1. Newly obtained emails confirm that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) changed its definition for both “vaccine” and “vaccinated” because people were pointing out that the definitions didn’t seem to apply to the COVID-19 vaccines.
2. “The definition of vaccine we have posted is problematic and people are using it to claim the COVID-19 vaccine is not a vaccine based on our own definition,” Alycia Downs, a CDC official, wrote in an email to a colleague on Aug. 25, 2021.
3. The definition is located on the CDC webpage on immunization basics.
4. “Vaccine” had been defined since at least 2011 by the CDC as a product that triggers immunity, while “vaccination” was described as an injection that prevents a disease, according to archived versions of the page. However, a flood of inquiries on the definitions was triggered by the fact that the COVID-19 vaccines have been increasingly ineffective against infection by the virus that causes COVID-19, the emails show.
5. “Our question is how is the CDC and the rest of the world allowed to call the shot a vaccination when it doesn’t even meet your own definition,” one person wrote to the CDC.
6. “Right-wing covid-19 pandemic deniers are using your ‘vaccine’ definition to argue that mRNA vaccines are not vaccines,” another said.
7. The Pfizer and Moderna COVID-19 vaccines are both built on messenger RNA technology. They’re two of the three COVID-19 vaccines available in the United States.
8. Downs and colleagues Allison Michelle Fisher, Cynthia Jorgensen, Valerie Morelli, and Andrew (no last name given) worked on changing the definitions for “vaccine” and “vaccination,” according to the emails.
9. CDC Emails on Changing Definitions Contributed by Zack Stieber (Epoch Times)
10. Page 1 of CDC Emails on Changing Definitions
11. From: Jorgensen, Cynthia (COC/DDID/NCIRD/OD) Sent: Mon, 16 Aug 2021 13:43:26 40000 To: Downs, Alycia E. (CDC/DDID/NCIRD/OD) Subject: lanaguage? From: Downs, Alycia E. (COC/DDID/NCIRD/OD) <[email protected]> Sent: Friday, August 13, 2021 4:35 PM To: Lowndes, Andrew (COC/DDID/NCIRD/OD) (CTR) <lix2@ecdc gov»; LaRocque, Marcie (CDC/DDID/NCIRD/OD) (CTR) <[email protected]>; St James, Jacqueline N. (CDC/DDID/NCIRD/0D) (CTR) <[email protected]>Ce:Ponder,Marilyn (CDC/DDID/NCIRD/OD) (CTR) <qvig@ede gov»; Witbart, Lauren Ann (CDC/DDID/NCIRD/OD) <xap3@cde gov Subject: RE: Who owns this page? 00 you all have recommended updates for the content? Alycia From: Lowndes, Andrew (CDC/DDID/NCIRD/OD) (CTR) <llx2@cdc gov> Sent: Friday, August 13, 2021 3:47 PM “To: Downs, Alycia E. (CDC/DDID/NCIRD/OD) <gfy@cdc.£0v>; LaRocque, Marcie (CDC/DDID/NCIRD/0D) (CTR) <[email protected]>; St James, Jacqueline N. (COC/DDID/NCIRD/OD) (CTR) <[email protected]> Ce: Ponder, Marilyn (CDC/DDID/NCIRD/OD) (CTR) <[email protected]>; Witbart, Lauren Ann (CDC/DDID/NCIRD/OD) <xap3@cde gov> Subject: RE: Who owns this page? HiAlycia,
12. Page 2 of CDC Emails on Changing Definitions
13. People have been asking us if COVID-19 vaccines are not technically vaccines. They often cite that page 25 CDC’ definition for what counts as a vaccine. Here are a few examples (more in the attached spreadsheets): « Isittrue that this shot for Covid is not actuallya vaccine per your definition? Does this shot make you immune to the Covid virus? If not, why should | get the shot? « Reading the CC's definition of vaccine i says ..10 produce immunity to. specific disease." Everything you read today says this shot doesn't give you immunity but helps a person fight off the infection. Our question is how is the CDC and the rest of the world allowed to call the shota vaccination when it doesn't even meet your own definition hitps://www cde gov/vaceines/vac-gen/imz-basics him The definition of the word vaccine used on this page states thatavaccine produces immunity. Further, immunity is defined as being. exposed tot the pathogen) without becoming infected. There are several vaccines, including the new COVID vaccines that do not produce immunity as defined. Would t be possible for you to update the page to be more clear on the definition ofa vaccine? | was directed to this page by someone attemptingto use it asproof that the EUA COVID vaccines are not really vaccines since they do not provide immunity as defined on the linked page. Hopefully this can help clear up some disinformation that has been spread during the pandemic. « Please update the definition of vaccine on your website found at hitps://www.cde gov/vacines/vacgen/imz-basics htm People are citing this as proof that the. mRNA vaccines are not really vaccines. The definition needs to include new technological advances (miriam webster has done this). Thanks Right-wing covid-19 pandemic deniers are using your "vaccine" definition to argue that mRNA vaccines are not vaccines: Here is the definition from the CDC website: Vaccine: A product that stimulates a person's immune system to produce immunity to a specific disease, protecting the person from that disease. Vaccines are usually administered through needle injections, but can also be administered by mouth or sprayed into the nose. The phrase "to produce immunity” was interpreted to mean “complete” or “perfect” immunity. This was twisted to claimthat the existing covid-19 vaccines were not vaccines because they only prevented severe fines. | think it would be more accurate to say thata vaccine function is "to stimulate an immune response" 10beclear that perfect immunity isnot what definesa vaccine. Best,Andrew From: Downs, Alycia E. (COC/DDID/NCIRD/OD)<[email protected]> Sent: Friday, August 13, 2021 3:29 PM To: LaRocque, Marcie (CDG/DDID/NCIRD/OD) (CTR) <lox3@cde gov; St James, Jacqueline N. (COC/DDID/NCIRD/0D) (CTR) <[email protected]> Cc: Ponder, Marilyn (COC/DDID/NCIRD/0D) (CTR)<avl8@cdcgov»; Lowndes, Andrew (CDC/DDID/NCIRD/OD) (CTR)<Ihx2 @cde.gov>; Witbart, Lauren Ann (CDC/DDID/NCIRD/OD) <ap3@cdegor>‘Subject:RE:Who owns this page? Yes, there are a fewofthese pages we are reviewing.
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15. The changes were pushed through on Aug. 31, 2021, and Sept. 1, 2021, respectively.
16. Changing Definitions
17. “Vaccine” is now defined as “a preparation that is used to stimulate the body’s immune response against diseases.
18. “Vaccines are usually administered through needle injections, but some can be administered by mouth or sprayed into the nose,” the definition reads.
19. The previous definition was “a product that stimulates a person’s immune system to produce immunity to a specific disease, protecting the person from that disease. Vaccines are usually administered through needle injections, but can also be administered by mouth or sprayed into the nose.”
20. “Vaccination” was changed to “the act of introducing a vaccine into the body to produce protection from a specific disease” from “the act of introducing a vaccine into the body to produce immunity to a specific disease.”
21. Attorney Travis Miller obtained some of the missives in 2021 and published screenshots of them. At the time, the CDC didn’t dispute their authenticity. The Epoch Times has obtained the emails and additional messages concerning the changes and has published all 67 pages of them.
22. The batch of emails, obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request, also shows that Andrew, a CDC employee on the agency’s Vaccine Task Force, boosted a Washington Post article that downplayed criticism of the change.
23. “I’ve only seen a couple of inquiries about the change to this page. I think the WaPo article explains the problem well—that people are misinterpreting ‘immunity’ to mean 100% protection,” Andrew wrote.
24. Downs replied, “Thank you, Andrew! I really appreciate your response.”
25. A CDC spokesperson told The Epoch Times that the “slight changes in wording” haven’t altered “the overall definition” of “vaccine,” noting that “the previous definition at Immunization Basics | CDC could be interpreted to mean that vaccines were 100 percent effective, which has never been the case for any vaccine, so the current definition is more transparent and also describes the ways in which vaccines can be administered.”
26. Some other portions of the CDC website still state that COVID-19 vaccines confer immunity. One page, for instance, states that “getting a COVID-19 vaccination is a safer and more dependable way to build immunity to COVID-19 than getting sick with COVID-19.”