COVID-19 vaccines may have caused rise in excess deaths since pandemic, study claims
Coronavirus vaccine
Coronavirus (COVID-19) vaccines may have fuelled a rise in excess deaths reported in the United States and other Western countries in the three years since the pandemic, alatest study claims.
Published in BMJ Public Health on Monday (Jun 4), the study explored excess mortality in the Western World, including Australia, from 2020 until 2022.
Scientists from the Netherlands' Vrije Universiteit in Amsterdam found that excess mortality has "remained high" since 2020 even with massive vaccination drives, which were carried out by nations to curb the spread of Covid.
Scientists analysed mortality data from 47 Western countries.
The study noted that the excess mortality was assessed as a deviation between the reported number of deaths in a country during a certain week or month in 2020 until 2022 and the expected number of deaths in a country for that period under normal conditions.
The study found that the total number of excess deaths in 47 countries of the Western World was over three million (3,098,456) from January 1, 2020, until December 31, 2022.
It further claimed that the excess mortality was documented in 41 countries (87%) in 2020, 42 countries (89%) in 2021 and 43 countries (91%) in 2022.
The study noted that the death toll figures include fatalities directly linked to the virus, as well as "indirect effects of the health strategies to address the virus spread and infection".
The researchers also mentioned that ischemic strokes, acute coronary syndromes and brain haemorrhages were among the serious side effects of the vaccines that had been documented. Other studies have also weighed in on similar side effects of the vaccine, which are often refuted by pharmaceutical firms.
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"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.
"During the pandemic, it was emphasized by politicians and the media on a daily basis 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," they added.
(With inputs from agencies)