ICAN has filed a lawsuit against the U.S. government to obtain critical vaccine safety data that has been used for years to proclaim that the childhood vaccines, and more recently, the COVID-19 vaccines are “safe.”
On May 12, 2025, ICAN filed a lawsuit against the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) for failure to produce data contained in the Vaccine Safety Datalink (VSD).
The VSD uses electronic health record data from millions of Americans in 11 major healthcare organizations nationwide. Established in 1990, the VSD is supposed to monitor vaccine safety. There are currently over 359 studies in PubMed, through September 2024, that use VSD data.
During the pandemic, CDC cited VSD data to insist that there were no safety signals for the COVID-19 vaccines. For example, this study published by CDC’s Immunization Safety Office found “no significant associations between vaccination with mRNA COVID-19 vaccines and selected serious health outcomes” during the first 21 days after vaccination. And this study used VSD data to declare that COVID-19 vaccines were safe during pregnancy.
Years ago, the VSD was housed in our government and was plainly subject to FOIA. After the publication of some independent studies concerning vaccines were published with VSD data obtained by independent scientists, the VSD was moved “outside” of the government in what seems a clear attempt to evade FOIA. Since then, the government has fiercely guarded the VSD data, with few scientists being granted access. ICAN is determined to change that.This lawsuit demands the raw data from the VSD so independent scientists can determine for themselves what the data really says about vaccine safety. Access to the VSD will also allow a “vaccinated versus unvaccinated” type of study to be performed—as we’ve been imploring the government to do for so long. We will keep you updated as this lawsuit progresses!
