Anchor Rising received information that a Brown University student had been hospitalized in March, 2021 with myopericarditis after receiving a COVID-19 vaccine.

This raised a couple of important matters regarding Brown University’s strict vaccine mandate on students, staff and professors.  Has the university been tracking adverse COVID-19 vaccine effects, including among the student body?  If so, had they publicized this data; in part, for the benefit of students so that they would have informed consent when they considered whether to conform to the vaccine mandate? After all, it was known early in the pandemic that not only did the virus have a sky-high all-age survival rate but it skews significantly by age, making the medical and public health necessity of vaccinating young people quizzical at best.

A search of the internet turned up no such data publicized by Brown University, or any other source. The search did turn up Brown University’s webpage entitled “Vaccine Safety and Effectiveness”, subtitled “Studies show that COVID-19 vaccines are both safe and effective at keeping individuals from getting COVID-19”. The webpage includes a partial list of non-life-threatening “Possible Side Effects” of COVID-19 vaccines but contains no data about adverse vaccine effects.  The page was last updated over a year ago.

Absent this information online, I contacted Brown University officials directly starting on July 6 and asked them the following questions.

– How many Brown undergraduate and graduate students have been hospitalized or died from myocarditis and/or myopericarditis from January 1, 2021 to the present?  If any, had the student received a COVID-19 vaccination?

– How many Brown undergraduate and graduate students have been hospitalized or died from adverse effects of a COVID-19 vaccine from January 1, 2021 to the present?

– How many Brown undergraduate and graduate students have been hospitalized or died from COVID-19 since the start of the pandemic?

No identification of any student is sought; this is a request for data only.

I e-mailed these questions to Brown President Christina Paxson; Russell Carey, Executive Vice President for Planning and Policy; and Dr. Eric Estes, Vice President for Campus Life.  When no reply was received to these e-mails, I called each office and left voicemail messages with Mr. Carey and Dr. Estes’ office.  (President Paxson’s office number routes to Brown’s main phone number so it was not possible to leave her a message.)

None of these Brown University officials has responded to this outreach.

Anchor Rising is not the first to pose such questions to Brown.  Dr. Andrew Bostom did so and also received no response.

And he reports that the concerned parent of a Brown student e-mailed President Paxson similar questions.  Dr. Paxson did reply to that person; her response was apparently short, dispassionate and non-responsive to the questions asked.

Brown University’s “Vaccinations” webpage, last updated in January, states [emphasis added]

Brown is committed to providing up-to-date information about COVID-19 vaccination and resources to help the community understand this important next step in addressing the global pandemic.

Yes, please, Brown University.  For the sake of properly informed Brown students and for the advancement of vital medical information, your own “up-to-date information about COVID-19 vaccination” is badly needed.  Please reconsider your current course and provide it.

[Photo Credit: von Vix via Unsplash]