An E-mail Exchange With WSJ Reporter, Robbie Whelan: On A Request To Correct A Serious Error-Of-Omission In His Article Of 10/29/21.
WSJ reporter, Mr. Robbie Whelan, wrote an article referencing a CDC document concluding that COVID-19 vaccination is superior to acquired natural infection. In this article, Mr. Whelan, failed to specify that CDC actively, likely deliberately, excluded patients who had received the J&J vaccine. I requested that Mr. Whelan and his editors correct this error of omission. Here, you can read our e-mail communications in this regard. The WSJ has not yet corrected Mr. Whelan’s serious and misleading error.
Earlier today, I sent Mr. Robbie Whelan a public e-mail requesting that he correct a very serious error of omission in his article of 10/29/21. You may read this email HERE.
Within hours, Mr. Whelan responded to me by e-mail. However, it seems that he is not inclined to make an addendum clarity’s sake and in order not to mislead the public. Below is the complete transcript of our email communications, thus far, in chronological order ending with a follow-up e-mail I wrote to WSJ’s editor-in-chief, Mr. Matt Murray, requesting an appropriate and simple addendum. I await their response.
The reader shall judge this communication thread for him or herself.
I sincerely hope that Mr. Whelan and his editors do amend his article to reflect the CDC’s active exclusion of the J&J vaccine from their analysis — this is not only critically important in the best interest of journalistic integrity at the WSJ, but it is also a fact that CDC’s deliberate omission of this important patient subset (5–15% of the total vaccinated population in the US) was likely by design, in order to ensure that the CDC report can be used by the Biden administration to make the following false claim: that COVID-19 vaccination, in general, is superior to acquired natural immunity, for the purpose of imposing unwanted vaccine mandates on millions of already immune Americans.
On Sat, Oct 30, 2021 at 11:20 AM Hooman Noorchashm <noorchashm@gmail.com> wrote:
Dear Mr. Whelan,
I am writing to inform you of a serious error of omission in your reporting for the WSJ yesterday:
Specifically, in referencing the MMWR article from CDC claiming superiority of vaccination to acquired natural immunity, your article fails to specify that the CDC study excluded patients who underwent vaccination with the J&J vaccine. It is highly likely that this was a deliberate exclusion on CDC’s part.
As you very likely understand, the population of J&J vaccinated Americans constitutes 10–15% of the vaccinated across the United States — not to mention the fraction of people in the US who have received the foreign vaccines many American institutions are accepting in fulfillment of mandates. But, because J&J’s vaccine is the least effective of the three approved American vaccines, excluding the patients who got it from the CDC analysis is almost certainly expected to artificially inflate the numbers in favor the CDC’s intended narrative that “vaccination is superior to acquired natural immunity” — THIS, in a setting where the preponderance of statistically powerful evidence, in fact, demonstrate the exact opposite.
You may study a stringent pooled and peer-reviewed meta-analysis of the published data, here:
Forgetting for a moment the need for accurate and valid journalism, the reason why it is critical that you and your editors immediately correct your error of omission to indicate that the CDC study has entirely excluded the subset of J&J vaccinated patients from the analysis, is that this CDC report is not simply an esoteric or academic one. In fact, this report is being used to guide and reinforce a large scale federal public policy on vaccine mandates that is very likely posing a risk of medical harm to a minority subset of people who do not need to get force vaccinated — because they are already immune from a prior infection. But even more substantively, the miscalibrated federal vaccine policy from the Biden administration is also tearing at the social fabric of our nation by coercing people who stand to gain little, if any, benefit from an added vaccination, into getting a medical treatment against their will.
It is my respectful suggestion that you immediately issue an addendum to your article indicating your error of omission in not specifying that the CDC report from yesterday actively excluded the J&J vaccine recipients and those who underwent vaccination with foreign brands, thus very likely skewing the numbers in favor of the vaccinated group. As it stands your reference to the study’s claim of “vaccine superiority”, in general and without referencing the J&J exclusion, is very misleading and highly inaccurate.
It is disappointing to see a credible and powerful media outlet like WSJ make such a fundamental and visible error — instead of providing balanced and rationally skeptical reporting from a very powerful media perch.
Please do immediately correct your error of omission for the benefit of accurate public understanding — this is NOT a minor omission on the WSJ’s part.
Sincerely,
Hooman Noorchashm MD, PhD
On Sat, Oct 30, 2021 at 1:21 PM Hooman Noorchashm <noorchashm@gmail.com> wrote:
The favor of a cogent response is requested, Mr. Whelan.
I think my critique of the WSJ on this omission is on point and your silence in response to this criticism will be a poor mark. I hope you will move to respond to my criticism in the interest of journalistic integrity and in the interest of not misleading the public.
Best,
HN.
— — — — — Forwarded message — — — — -
From: Hooman Noorchashm <noorchashm@gmail.com>
Date: Sat, Oct 30, 2021 at 11:45 AM
Subject: Re: SERIOUS ERROR OF OMISSION — Your 10/29/21 Article on MMWR Report from CDC
To: <robbie.whelan@wsj.com>
Cc: Murray, Matt <Matt.murray@wsj.com>, Kamp, Jon <jon.kamp@wsj.com>, <Amy.Marcus@wsj.com>, <Tom.Burton@wsj.com>, <jared.hopkins@wsj.com>, mark.maremont <mark.maremont@wsj.com>, <Dan.Henninger@wsj.com>, Paul Gigot <Paul.Gigot@wsj.com>, Woodcock, Janet <Janet.woodcock@fda.hhs.gov>, Marks, Peter <Peter.Marks@fda.hhs.gov>, Johnson, Ron (Ron Johnson) <Ron_Johnson2@ronjohnson.senate.gov>, McLeod, Josh (Ron Johnson) <Josh_McLeod@ronjohnson.senate.gov>Mr. Whelan and WSJ editors,
Please read with care:
I ask that in the interest of journalistic integrity and public trust, you immediately correct your serious error of omission in yesterday’s WSJ article.
Sincerely,
Hooman Noorchashm MD, PhD.
On Oct 30, 2021, at 1:36 PM, Whelan, Robbie <robbie.whelan@wsj.com> wrote:
Dr. Noorchashm,
Thanks for reading and for your feedback. I always appreciate doctors sharing their views on my work.
There is no correctable error in the story, so we likely won’t be making any changes to it. Your qualm seems to be with the editorial weight being given to the science that public officials believe supports a policy stance that you disagree with (the CDC’s policy of emphasizing vaccination as the only legitimate source of immune protection against COVID-19). I understand your point of view on that issue, and I recognize that it’s very common and has some merits. In fact, I published a story on that theme earlier this month — you might appreciate reading it:
But I must say I don’t appreciate this barrage of emails, including messages addressed to top editors at my paper and other colleagues, and messages on Twitter that you are sending impugning my “journalistic integrity.” I view those messages as personal attacks, and frankly they make me less interested in engaging with you at all. So this will probably be the last you hear from me on this matter.
I hope you have a wonderful weekend and wish you only the best.
Robbie Whelan
On Sat, Oct 30, 2021 at 2:00 PM Hooman Noorchashm <noorchashm@gmail.com> wrote:
Thank you Mr. Whelan, for your response.
Actually, my specific objection is that your article failed to explicitly state that the CDC report actively excluded J&J vaccinated persons, which would likely inflate and skew the numbers in favor of vaccination over NI.
My opinion of the public policy on NI is well documented and is not the subject of my criticism of your work. However, the fact that a seriously problematic and controversial federal policy is based on this cdc report, makes it all the more important that your reporting be accurate and nuanced enough. As it stands, you refer to “vaccination efficacy” as a blanket statement, while failing to mention that the CDC study is only on the mRNA vaccines and not J&J or other foreign vaccines many are accepting under mandates.
As for your taking my criticism as a personal attack, this is the problem with many professionals…even in quite stringent moments, politeness trumps substance. In my experience, if I had not criticized you as I did, the likelihood of even getting a response from someone like yourself at an organization like the WSJ would be near nill.
My suggestion, respectfully, is that you really focus on the substance of my critique….why did cdc exclude the J&J patients (and those who may have received acceptable foreign vaccines)? And why wouldn’t you and your editors at WSJ honestly specify that the report is strictly focused on the mRNA vaccines bd excluded J&J?
I assure you that this CDC omission is part of a “noble lie” narrative being concocted by the Biden administration to force vaccination of the naturally immune. Your article is feeding this flawed narrative and misleading the public.
Please do add a simple addendum making sure that your readers understand that the CDC study ONLY looked at mRNA vaccines and that the numbers may be skewed as a result.
Trust is earned, not assumed, Mr. Whelan — in all professions.
Sincerely,
Hooman Noorchashm MD, PhD
From: Hooman Noorchashm <noorchashm@gmail.com>
Date: Sat, Oct 30, 2021 at 4:54 PM
Subject: Re: SERIOUS ERROR OF OMISSION — Your 10/29/21 Article on MMWR Report from CDC
To: Matt Murray <Matt.murray@wsj.com>
Cc: Janet Woodcock <Janet.Woodcock@fda.hhs.gov>, Peter Marks <peter.marks@fda.hhs.gov>, <betsy.mckay@wsj.com>, mark.maremont <mark.maremont@wsj.com>, Jon Kamp <jon.kamp@wsj.com>, Jennifer Levitz <jennifer.levitz@wsj.com>, Whelan, Robbie <robbie.whelan@wsj.com>, <Amy.Marcus@wsj.com>, <Dan.Henninger@wsj.com>, Paul Gigot <Paul.Gigot@wsj.com>
Mr. Murray,
I am writing, for the record here, as WSJ’s editor-in-Chief and in reference to my communication with WSJ reporter, Mr. Robbie Whelan, enclosed below.
I believe that it is of critical importance for WSJ to complete the record and correct a serious error of omission in Mr. Whelan’s article of 10/29/21.
If the WSJ is willing to broadcast conclusions in a limited and non-peer reviewed CDC document, which will be used by elected political officials to impose a serious public policy on millions of Americans, then it is imperative that you do so with sufficient care and granularity.
When Mr. Whelan parrots out the CDC conclusion that “COVID-19 vaccination is superior to acquired natural infection”, but fails to highlight that the CDC study actively excluded J&J vaccinated people AND did NOT consider any tangible outcome other than a broadly subjective end-point of “hospitalization” in a setting where the infected group was skewed towards younger patients relative to the vaccinated group, the WSJ is sadly complicit in misleading the public.
Not only has Mr. Whelan’s article served to echo a CDC narrative, without any reasonable skepticism of the study’s conclusion, it has also failed to incorporate ANY of the many dissenting perspectives and studies. I assure you that the CDC conclusion in the MMWR report is terribly contrived and, actually, incorrect. Of course, that is not your job to adjudicate. BUT, your job is to ensure that your reporters present a deeper, truthful and balanced picture to the public.
It is a falsehood and an error for the WSJ to be echoing the CDC conclusion that “COVID-19 vaccines”, in general, are superior to natural infection. In fact the CDC report excluded the J&J vaccine — and it is highly likely that the omission was deliberate. Because to have included the less effective J&J vaccinated breakthrough infections would have rendered the disparity CDC claims to be seeing in vaccinated people, false
I must say, your business is truth telling, not “echochamber stoking”.
I ask that WSJ please immediately add an addendum to Mr. Whelan’s article stating that the CDC report is only focused on the mRNA COVID-19 vaccine and actively excluded patients vaccinated with the J&J vaccine and other foreign vaccines accepted in the US in fulfillment of mandates.
Mr. Murray, what I am asking here is for journalistic accuracy and courage to not simply follow the herd and the government power structure. There used to be a time when WSJ took pride in being so: accurate and independent.
Please correct Mr. Whelan’s omission.
All best,
Hooman Noorchashm MD, PhD.
