An Open Letter to WSJ Reporter, Robbie Whelan: On Your Serious Error-Of-Omission In The WSJ Article Of 10/29/21.
WSJ reporter, Mr. Robbie Whelan, wrote an article about a CDC report claiming superiority of COVID-19 vaccination relative to acquired natural immunity. This article contains a very serious error-of-omission: Mr. Whelan and his editors fail to report that the CDC analysis deliberately excluded patients with breakthrough infections, who were vaccinated using the less effective J&J vaccine. This deliberate exclusion by the CDC, added to Mr. Whelan’s imprecise reporting, will mislead the American public badly. Here, for the record, I share my email to Mr. Whelan requesting an immediate addendum to his article correcting this serious error-of-omission.
From: Hooman Noorchashm <noorchashm@XXXX.com>
Date: Sat, Oct 30, 2021 at 11:20 AM
Subject: SERIOUS ERROR OF OMISSION — Your 10/29/21 Article on MMWR Report from CDC
To: <robbie.whelan@wsj.com>
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
