Covid vaccines may have caused rise in excess deaths since pandemic: study

The “adverse effects” of Covid-19 vaccines have been linked to an increase in worldwide deaths, according to a new study. Read the report.

Covid vaccines could be partly to blame for a rise in “unprecedented” excess deaths in the US and other Western countries in the three years since the pandemic took hold, a new study suggests.

Analysing mortality data from 47 Western countries, scientists from the Netherlands’ Vrije Universiteit found that excess mortality has “remained high” since 2020 — despite the widespread rollout of Covid vaccines, social guidance, and various public restrictions and containment measures.

The researchers said the trend “raised serious concerns” as they urged government leaders and policymakers to “thoroughly investigate the underlying causes of persistent excess mortality,” according to the study published in BMJ Public Health.

A patient after a Covid-19 vaccine at Sydney Road Family Medical Practice in Balgowlah on January 10, 2022. Picture: Jenny Evans/Getty Images

“Although COVID-19 vaccines were provided to guard civilians from suffering morbidity and mortality by the COVID-19 virus, suspected adverse events have been documented as well,” the researchers wrote.

“Both medical professionals and citizens have reported serious injuries and deaths following vaccination to various official databases in the Western World,” the report said.

“During the pandemic, it was emphasised by politicians and the media daily that every Covid-19 death mattered and every life deserved protection through containment measures and Covid-19 vaccines. In the aftermath of the pandemic, the same moral should apply,” the study’s researchers added.

The study found there had been more than three million excess deaths across Australia, the US, and Europe since 2020.

Of those excess deaths, more than one million occurred in 2020 at the height of the pandemic, according to the study.

Those figures, however, remained high in the following years, with 1.2 million in 2021 and 800,000 in 2022, researchers added.

Chart from the BMJ Public Health report which shows increase in mortality worldwide 2020-2022, with a 10% to 20% increase in Australians’ mortality in 2022. Picture: Supplied

The death toll numbers include fatalities directly linked to the virus, as well as “indirect effects of the health strategies to address the virus spread and infection,” the study notes.

The researchers added that serious side effects of the vaccines had been documented, including ischaemic strokes, acute coronary syndromes and brain haemorrhages.

“This commonality hinders clinical suspicion and consequently its detection as adverse vaccine reactions,” the study stated.

A report by BMJ Public Health said that in trials, the Pfizer Covid vaccine had a 36% risk rate of adverse affects. Picture: AFP

The Moderna Covid vaccine had a 6% risk rate of adverse effects, according to the BMJ Public Health report. Picture: AFP

The report finds that “risk factors” were substantially present in clinical trials of the vaccines.

“The secondary analysis of the placebo-controlled, phase III randomised clinical trials of mRNA COVID-19 vaccines showed that the Pfizer trial had a 36% higher risk of serious adverse events in the vaccine group. The Moderna trial had a 6% higher risk of serious adverse events among vaccine recipients. … By definition, these serious adverse events lead to either death, are life-threatening, require inpatient (prolongation of) hospitalisation, cause persistent/significant disability/incapacity, concern a congenital anomaly/birth defect or include a medically important event according to medical judgement,” the report stated.

While data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics show that there were roughly 17 per cent (13,526) more Australian deaths than average in the first six months of 2022, a link between that and the vaccines themselves was dismissed by officials and experts.

In a statement to RMIT’s FactLab in October 2022, the Therapeutic Goods Administration, which regulates vaccines in Australia, said that despite a rise in deaths it was “false and unscientific to automatically conclude that vaccines caused these deaths”.

“There is no credible evidence to suggest that Covid-19 vaccines have contributed to excess deaths in Australia or overseas,” the TGA said.

Experts from the Australian Actuaries Institute, and from Melbourne University’s School of Population and Global Health, have similarly backed that claim.

My Place Bundaberg organised a Forest of the Fallen to pay respects to people who were believed to have died in connection to receiving a Covid-19 vaccine. Picture: Supplied

However, the BMJ Public Health study stated numerous overseas bodies had reported and documented links between morbidity and Covid vaccines: “Both medical professionals and citizens have reported serious injuries and deaths following vaccination to various official databases in the Western World, such as VAERS in the USA, EudraVigilance in the European Union and Yellow Card Scheme in the UK.

“A study comparing adverse event reports to VAERS and EudraVigilance following mRNA COVID-19 vaccines versus influenza vaccines observed a higher risk of serious adverse reactions for COVID-19 vaccines. These reactions included cardiovascular diseases, coagulation, haemorrhages, gastrointestinal events and thromboses.

“Numerous studies reported that COVID-19 vaccination may induce myocarditis, pericarditis and auto-immune diseases.

“Post-mortem examinations have also ascribed myocarditis, encephalitis, immune thrombotic thrombocytopenia, intracranial haemorrhage and diffuse thrombosis to COVID-19 vaccinations,” the report said.

Originally published as Covid vaccines may have caused rise in excess deaths since pandemic: study