Important: VAERS reports alone cannot determine if a vaccine caused an adverse event. Reports may contain incomplete, inaccurate, or unverified information. Correlation does not equal causation.
The two most widely administered vaccines in the U.S. have vastly different VAERS profiles. But the numbers alone don't tell the full story.
COVID-19 vaccines have 1,164,334 VAERS reports compared to 251,174 for influenza vaccines. That's a 5x difference. But this comparison requires context:
The death report rate for COVID-19 vaccines is 2.32% of reports, compared to 0.87% for influenza. The hospitalization rate shows a similar pattern: COVID at 10.9% vs flu at 6.3%.
These differences are largely explained by demographics. COVID-19 vaccines were prioritized for the elderly and those with comorbidities — groups with inherently higher mortality and hospitalization rates. Flu vaccines are distributed more evenly across age groups.
A fair safety comparison would need: age-adjusted rates per million doses, stratified by risk factors, with background rate comparisons. VAERS provides none of these. For rigorous safety analysis, researchers use linked databases like the Vaccine Safety Datalink (VSD).
As VAERS reporting normalizes following the COVID-19 pandemic surge, the data landscape for COVID-19 vs influenza vaccine comparison is shifting. Annual VAERS reports in 2025-2026 have returned to the 35,000-45,000 range typical of the pre-pandemic era (2015-2019), making year-over-year comparisons more meaningful again.
The HHS administration has signaled increased focus on vaccine safety data analysis, including the development of AI-powered tools for pattern detection in VAERS reports. While these tools are still under development, they represent a potential evolution in how adverse event data is analyzed and interpreted.
New vaccines entering the market — including RSV vaccines for older adults and pregnant women, updated COVID-19 formulations, and potential H5N1 avian flu vaccines — continue to add new data streams to VAERS. Each new vaccine type provides additional context for understanding COVID-19 vs influenza vaccine comparison across the full spectrum of vaccine safety surveillance.
This analysis is based entirely on VAERS passive surveillance data, which carries important limitations that must be understood:
For these reasons, VAERS data is best used for signal detection — identifying potential safety concerns that warrant further investigation — rather than for definitive risk assessment. When VAERS surfaces a potential signal, it is investigated using more rigorous systems like the Vaccine Safety Datalink (VSD) and controlled epidemiological studies.
All data on VaccineWatch comes from the official VAERS public-use datasets published by the CDC and FDA. Our current dataset covers reports from 1990 through early 2026. We process the raw data without filtering or editorializing — every metric is a transparent aggregation of official government data.
As VAERS reporting normalizes following the COVID-19 pandemic surge, the data landscape for COVID-19 vs influenza vaccine comparison is shifting. Annual VAERS reports in 2025-2026 have returned to the 35,000-45,000 range typical of the pre-pandemic era (2015-2019), making year-over-year comparisons more meaningful again.
The HHS administration has signaled increased focus on vaccine safety data analysis, including the development of AI-powered tools for pattern detection in VAERS reports. While these tools are still under development, they represent a potential evolution in how adverse event data is analyzed and interpreted.
New vaccines entering the market — including RSV vaccines for older adults and pregnant women, updated COVID-19 formulations, and potential H5N1 avian flu vaccines — continue to add new data streams to VAERS. Each new vaccine type provides additional context for understanding COVID-19 vs influenza vaccine comparison across the full spectrum of vaccine safety surveillance.
This analysis is based entirely on VAERS passive surveillance data, which carries important limitations that must be understood:
For these reasons, VAERS data is best used for signal detection — identifying potential safety concerns that warrant further investigation — rather than for definitive risk assessment. When VAERS surfaces a potential signal, it is investigated using more rigorous systems like the Vaccine Safety Datalink (VSD) and controlled epidemiological studies.
All data on VaccineWatch comes from the official VAERS public-use datasets published by the CDC and FDA. Our current dataset covers reports from 1990 through early 2026. We process the raw data without filtering or editorializing — every metric is a transparent aggregation of official government data.