- Covid vaccines may have helped fuel rise in excess deaths
Scientists believe Covid vaccinations contributed to the pandemic-related mortality toll.
The Netherlands researchers examined data from 47 Western countries and found more than three million additional fatalities since 2020, despite immunisations and containment efforts.
They called on governments to explore the causes, including vaccination effects, because the “unprecedented” findings “raised serious concerns”.
The authors from Vrije Universiteit, Amsterdam, wrote in BMJ Public Health: “Although Covid-19 vaccines were provided to protect civilians from morbidity and mortality by the virus, suspected adverse events have been documented.
“Both medical professionals and citizens have reported serious injuries and deaths following vaccination to various Western World official databases.”
They added: “Politicians and the media stressed daily that every COVID-19 death mattered and deserved protection through containment and vaccines. Similar morals should apply after the pandemic.”
During the epidemic, Europe, the US, and Australia saw over one million additional fatalities in 2020, 1.2 million in 2021, and 800,000 in 2022 after steps were taken.
Researchers claimed the figure comprised Covid-19 mortality and “indirect effects of the health strategies to address the virus spread and infection”.
They warned that the Covid vaccination could cause ischemic stroke, acute coronary syndrome, cerebral haemorrhage, cardiovascular illnesses, coagulation, gastrointestinal problems, and blood clotting.
German researchers said the timing of excess mortality in early 2021 coincided with vaccine rollouts, which “warranted further investigation”.
The experts noted that countries have their own harm databases, which rely on public and doctor self-reporting, thus more recent side-effect data is not available.
Although it was difficult to establish, researchers believed containment efforts, restricted healthcare, and socioeconomic instability during the epidemic were “likely” to have caused deaths.
Gordon Wishart, chief medical officer at Check4Cancer and visiting professor of cancer surgery at Anglia Ruskin University, repeatedly warned that postponing cancer detection will kill.
He said early in the lockdown that limited access to healthcare for non-Covid conditions would delay the diagnosis and treatment of time-critical conditions like cancer, cardiac disease, diabetes, and dementia, resulting in more deaths.
NHS England data shows that pre-lockdown cancer incidence was 521 per 100,000 people, then dropped to 456 in 2020-2021, meaning 45,000 malignancies were missed in the first pandemic year.
The next year, the incidence rate climbed to 540 per 100,000, suggesting many tumours were discovered late, when therapy was less successful.
Mr. Wishart added: “The authors are correct that many vaccine-related serious adverse events may have been unreported, and that the simultaneous onset of excess mortality and Covid vaccination in Germany warrants further investigation.
The report raises more questions than solutions, but it is hard to deny that additional research is needed to understand the reasons of excess mortality to better manage pandemic situations.
