CDC says more young people hospitalized from vaccine than COVID-19 itself? False

An Instagram post wrongly claimed that the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said more young people are hospitalized as a result of receiving a COVID-19 vaccine than from the disease itself.

The post features a screenshot of a headline on the conservative website The Gateway Pundit. The headline said:

"CDC officials admit more hospitalizations of young people from vaccine than from the actual COVID virus – Including HUGE number of heart problems reported."

The Instagram post was flagged as part of Facebook’s efforts to combat false news and misinformation on its News Feed. (Read more about our partnership with Facebook.)

The CDC rejects the claim.

"CDC has not directly stated or indirectly implied that more young people are hospitalized from COVID-19 vaccination than from COVID-19 disease," said CDC spokesperson Martha Sharan. "That statement is factually inaccurate and is not representative of the safety data on COVID-19 vaccination."

The Gateway Pundit cites a blog post by Alex Berenson, a former New York Times reporter who has questioned the safety of COVID-19 vaccines and steps to prevent spread of the virus. 

Berenson claimed that CDC data and estimates show that for every 100,000 vaccines given to young people, "200 will be hospitalized," and "about 50 out of 100,000 adolescents have ever been hospitalized for Covid-related illness."

The CDC estimates that from March 1, 2020, to March 27, 2021, the COVID-19 hospitalization rate for people aged 12 to 17 was about 50 per 100,000 population. That is in line with what Berenson stated.

Berenson’s reference to 200 hospitalizations out of 100,000 vaccines comes from CDC data presented June 23 that said 0.2% of people aged 12 to 15, and 0.2% of people aged 16 to 25 required medical care in a hospital or emergency room after receiving the second dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine. 

However, those 0.2% findings are based on responses from people who completed an app-based questionnaire after vaccination, and cannot be extrapolated to the general population, said Matthew Laurens, a University of Maryland School of Medicine professor and pediatric infectious disease specialist. 

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"Those who experience side effects are more likely to submit post-vaccination surveys," Laurens said. 

If any serious health problems are reported, the CDC can investigate to try and determine whether they were caused by a vaccine.

Overall, hospitalizations in the U.S. for COVID-19 have declined since a peak in January 2021, when vaccines became more widely available.

The CDC and the American Academy of Pediatrics recommend that people ages 12 and up get vaccinated against COVID-19. 

As of June 28, the federal Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System had received 780 reports of myocarditis (inflammation of the heart muscle) or pericarditis (inflammation of the outer lining of the heart) among people ages 30 and younger who received a COVID-19 vaccine. Officials have confirmed 518 cases and are investigating whether there is a relationship to COVID-19 vaccination. The CDC said that most patients who received care "responded well to treatment and rest and quickly felt better."

Reports submitted to the VAERS database about possible reactions to the vaccines come in unverified. The submissions do not necessarily represent a health problem caused by the vaccine.

Serious adverse events after COVID-19 vaccination may happen, but are rare, the CDC said.

An Instagram post claimed, "CDC officials admit more hospitalizations of young people from vaccine than from the actual COVID virus."

A CDC spokesperson said the agency has not stated or implied what the Instagram post claims.

The post relies on blog posts that misstate CDC statistics. 

We rate the post False.

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