Fact checkers, study publisher reject news reports linking excess deaths, COVID vaccines

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

 

 

"In June 2024, researchers from the Netherlands published a study in the journal BMJ Public Health looking at excess mortality across 47 countries from January 2020 to December 2022. They identified that excess deaths were high during this period[1].

 

In its coverage of this study, the Daily Telegraph published an article with the headline “Covid vaccines may have helped fuel rise in excess deaths”. This article was widely shared online by people with a history of sharing misinformation, claiming that it was mainstream media recognition of the harms of COVID-19 vaccines. As this review will explain, the study provided no evidence that vaccines were responsible for these excess deaths and that the Telegraph’s headline runs contrary to findings from previous studies, which showed that COVID-19 vaccines saved millions of lives."

...

The study didn’t analyze the impact of vaccination, nor did it examine the relationship between mortality and vaccination status. There is therefore no evidence from these findings to support the Telegraph headline’s claim that vaccines may have contributed to excess deaths...

 

(more)

 

https://healthfeedback.org/claimreview/covid19-vaccines-lowered-excess-deaths-during-pandemic-contrary-headline-the-daily-telegraph/

 

Also:

 

BMJ, the publisher of the British Medical Journal and publisher of BMJ Public Health where the cited study was published, issued a public statement responding to news outlets' "misreporting" of the study, and clarifying that the study did not establish a causal link between COVID vaccination and excess mortality.

 

 

Link: https://bit.ly/3RfBJGA

 

https://twitter.com/bmj_company/status/1798751750046019666

 

 

Other experts in the field also weighed in with similar views rejecting the claims made by The Telegraph article and similar media reports elsewhere.

 

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

COVID vaccines saved millions of lives – linking them to excess deaths is a mistake

June 6, 2024

...

The major cause of the excess deaths reported in the first two years of the BMJ Public Health study was deaths from COVID. But by 2022, excess deaths exceeded COVID deaths in many countries.

 

Possible explanations for these excess deaths include longer-term effects of earlier COVID infections, the return of infections such as influenza that had been suppressed during the COVID control measures, adverse effects of lockdowns on physical and mental health, and delays in the diagnosis of life-threatening infections as health services struggled to cope with the pandemic and its aftermath.

 

We do need to look very carefully at how the pandemic was managed. There is still considerable debate about the effectiveness of different behavioural control measures, such as self-isolation and lockdowns. Even when such interventions were effective at reducing transmission of COVID, what were the harms and were the gains worth the harms? Nevertheless, we can be confident that the excess deaths seen in recent years were not a consequence of the vaccination campaign.

 

(more)

 

https://theconversation.com/covid-vaccines-saved-millions-of-lives-linking-them-to-excess-deaths-is-a-mistake-231776

 

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

Jeffrey S Morris, Professor of Public Health and Preventative Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, wrote on X:

“[T]his study does not accurately represent the existing understanding about sources of excess deaths, downplaying the COVID-19 deaths that are clearly the driving factor throughout 2020-2022, as I will show, and implicitly magnifying the potential role of vaccines beyond what is supported by the data.

 

“Also, many popular media articles about this study, including the Telegraph article […] blatantly misrepresent the content of the paper.

 

“They make it sound as if the paper was primarily about vaccines, which it is not, or provides evidence for vaccines being a potential driving factor, which it does not.”

 

https://healthfeedback.org/claimreview/covid19-vaccines-lowered-excess-deaths-during-pandemic-contrary-headline-the-daily-telegraph/

 

https://twitter.com/jsm2334/status/1798835958806405575

 

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

Journal article suggesting Covid-19 vaccines contributed to excess deaths skewed: S’pore experts

Jun 08, 2024

 

SINGAPORE – Covid-19 mRNA vaccines may have contributed to the 3.1 million excess deaths – that is, the number of deaths beyond what would be normal – in 47 Western countries between 2020 and 2022, suggested an article in a journal.

 

But experts in Singapore disagreed with the article published on June 3 in the BMJ Public Health journal, one of more than 60 titles published by the British Medical Journal.

 

They said the piece was “unbalanced” and that correlation is not the same as causation. The Ministry of Health (MOH) said it is aware of the article.

 

Its spokesman told The Straits Times: “MOH has studied excess deaths in Singapore from 2020 to 2022. Our studies showed that the excess deaths could be accounted for by deaths directly due to Covid-19, or due to underlying medical conditions which were made worse by Covid-19 infections.”

 

(more)

 

https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/journal-article-suggesting-covid-19-vaccines-contributed-to-excess-deaths-skewed-s-pore-experts

 

 

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

Second fact-checking report rejecting news reports that the BMJ published study had linked pandemic excess deaths with COVID vaccinations:

 

 

No, scientists have not concluded that COVID-19 vaccines may have contributed to persistent excess deaths

June 7 2024

 

The Verdict Misleading

A study into excess deaths does not draw a causal link between COVID-19 vaccines and excess deaths, nor is it designed to.

...

The report discussed in The Telegraph article is a real, peer-reviewed study published in BMJ Public Health Journal. However, the study does not draw any causal link between COVID-19 vaccines and excess deaths, nor was it designed to do so. 

...

The verdict

An article from The Telegraph claims that scientists have found that COVID-19 vaccines may be linked to an increase in excess deaths. However, this is a misleading interpretation of a study that found that Western nations continued to report excess deaths after COVID-19 containment measures and vaccines had been introduced. The researchers did not draw a causal link between COVID-19 vaccines and excess deaths. We have, therefore, rated this claim as misleading. "

 

(more)

 

https://www.logicallyfacts.com/en/fact-check/misleading-no-scientists-have-not-concluded-that-covid-19-vaccines-may-have-contributed-to-persistent-excess-deaths

 

 

 

 

Edited June 8 by TallGuyJohninBKK

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

 

https://leadstories.com/hoax-alert/2024/06/fact-check-bmj-did-not-attribute-excess-deaths-since-covid-19-pandemic-to-vaccines.html

 

 

[Robert Paulson]

The “fact checkers”. Check into the funding of the fact checkers if you want some real facts

[Robert Paulson]

There was literally a “warp speed” vaccine that we did stuff on a timeline we never do. Ever. And now there’s all this excess death and people still aren’t putting 2 and 2 togther

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

1.  It's the publisher of the cited study, along with other experts, that is disavowing / denouncing the "misreporting" of the study by The Telegraph and other often right-wing publications that claimed the study's non existent link between vaccines and excess deaths, not just fact-checkers who have likewise rebuffed those unsupported claims.

 

From the publisher's above-cited/linked statement:

 

"Various news outlets have claimed that this research implies a direct causal link between COVID-19 vaccination and mortality. This study does not establish any such link."

 

2. As for people "putting 2 and 2 together," oh yes they have..... There were COVID excess deaths during the pandemic before COVID vaccines were rolled out predominantly in 2021, and there continued to be excess deaths after, as the study correctly reported.

 

But as above-cited/linked Health Feedback reported:

 

"The overwhelming cause of excess deaths between 2020 and 2022 was due to COVID-19 itself. There are many possible explanations for the remaining excess deaths that were not directly caused by COVID-19; however, the evidence is clear that the vaccines saved millions of lives and they are not associated with excess deaths."

...

Conclusion

The available evidence shows that COVID-19 vaccines saved millions of lives. Although many countries experienced excess deaths up to 2022, this total would have been far higher without the vaccine rollout."

 

Edited June 9 by TallGuyJohninBKK

[pomchop]

2 hours ago, Robert Paulson said:

There was literally a “warp speed” vaccine that we did stuff on a timeline we never do. Ever. And now there’s all this excess death and people still aren’t putting 2 and 2 togther

Care to post a copy of your degrees in medicine and science?  Maybe they do just put two and two together and come up with 4 because they actually study the stats and deal in facts?

[Robert Paulson]

37 minutes ago, pomchop said:

Care to post a copy of your degrees in medicine and science?  Maybe they do just put two and two together and come up with 4 because they actually study the stats and deal in facts?

I actually do have degrees in science lol

 

You don’t need to though. When a vaccine is developed on a timeline different from every other vaccine in history, even a cracked out truck driver could figure. Especially after indemnity is required upon release. 

[Amethyst]

Posts with unsourced claims have been removed for contravening the forum's rules, along with an ensuing reply:

 

"In factual areas such as news forums and current affairs topics member content that is claimed or portrayed as a fact should be supported by a link to a relevant reputable source."

 

 

[KhunLA]

Here's my thoughts on excess deaths, before & after vaccines were made available.

 

IMHO ... sure does seem like they sky rocketed after vaccines were distributed.

Edited June 9 by KhunLA

[pomchop]

20 minutes ago, Robert Paulson said:

I actually do have degrees in science lol

 

You don’t need to though. When a vaccine is developed on a timeline different from every other vaccine in history, even a cracked out truck driver could figure. Especially after indemnity is required upon release. 

so u  reviewed all the various scientific reports and have concluded that most are wrong....if you say so.

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

16 minutes ago, KhunLA said:

IMHO ... sure does seem like they sky rocketed after vaccines were distributed.

 

Not quite, as the U.S. Census Bureau has explained:

 

"Throughout 2020, as mandates changed and more became known about the virus, we saw spikes and dips in deaths that reached a peak by November and December during the holiday and winter months, when people were more likely to gather indoors.

 

Deaths began to drop In January 2021. By April that year, the United States saw a decline in deaths corresponding to increases in vaccinations. And that June, death levels returned to near June 2019 levels. [emphasis added]

 

This decline was short-lived, though, as the Delta variant caused another spike in deaths in July and August. Deaths dropped slightly in the fall, but then the Omicron variant emerged just as holiday travel picked up in December 2021."

 

https://www.census.gov/library/stories/2022/03/united-states-deaths-spiked-as-covid-19-continued.html

 

Edited June 9 by TallGuyJohninBKK

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

More piling on The Telegraph's study-publisher discredited report:

How a blunder by a respected medical journal is fueling an anti-vaccine lie

"The paper published by the respected British Medical Journal earlier this month was eye-opening, to say the least. It questioned why excess deaths in Western countries remained unusually elevated during the COVID-19 pandemic even after vaccines were introduced in 2021.

 

The implication seemed clear: Rather than reducing cases and deaths, the COVID vaccines had fueled the tragic tide.

 

That finding was picked up within 48 hours by the Telegraph, a conservative British daily. It leaped across the Atlantic Ocean to the New York Post, a part of the Murdoch media empire, one day later.

...

Here's what you need to know: There is no truth to this finding, or to the anti-vaccine camp's interpretation of the BMJ paper."

 

(more)

 

Los Angeles Times

https://www.aol.com/news/blunder-respected-medical-journal-fueling-100025654.html

 

 

Edited June 11 by TallGuyJohninBKK

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

USA Today adds its fact-checking voice to the many that have rejected the false claims made about the Netherlands COVID excess deaths study in right-wing media, such as The Telegraph whose original report helped spread the deception.

No, study didn't blame COVID-19 vaccines for excess pandemic deaths | Fact check

The claim: A study identified COVID-19 vaccines as a cause of excess deaths

Our rating: False

The study cited in the post does not conclude COVID-19 vaccines were linked to the excess deaths. It encouraged further studies to identify the causes.

 

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/factcheck/2024/06/11/covid-19-vaccines-excess-deaths-fact-check/74058898007/

Edited June 12 by TallGuyJohninBKK

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

And....

Dutch hospital distances itself from Covid excess death report

June 12, 2024

 

A Dutch children’s cancer hospital has formally distanced itself from a publication on excess mortality since the coronavirus pandemic involving several members of its staff, after its quality has been questioned.

 

The Princess Máxima Center says serious doubts have arisen about the publication in the British Medical Journal and that it “deeply regrets” it may give the impression that the importance of vaccinations is being questioned.

 

The publication was picked up by the British press, some who misrepresented the content of the paper to the enthusiasm of anti-vax campaigners. The Telegraph, for example, headlined its article “Covid vaccines may have helped fuel rise in excess deaths”.

...

“We want to emphasise that we strongly support vaccination, and that this publication should certainly not be read as an argument against vaccination,” the hospital said.

 

(more)

 

https://www.dutchnews.nl/2024/06/dutch-hospital-distances-itself-from-covid-excess-death-report/

 

 

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

The Dutch hospital where three authors of the disputed study work issuing a statement confirming that it supports COVID vaccinations:

The Princess Máxima Center distances itself from publication Excess mortality during COVID-19 pandemic

11-06-2024

 

"The Princess Máxima Center distances itself from the publication “Excess mortality across countries in the Western World since the COVID-19 pandemic: ‘Our World in Data’ estimates of January 2020 to December 2022”.

 

Serious questions have arisen regarding the publication “Excess mortality across countries in the Western World since the COVID-19 pandemic: ‘Our World in Data’ estimates of January 2020 to December 2022”. Therefore, we will further investigate the scientific quality of this study. The Princess Máxima Center deeply regrets that this publication may give the impression that the importance of vaccinations is being questioned.

Originally, the idea was to look at the effect of COVID measures on, among other things, the mortality rate of children with cancer in low-income countries. During the course of the study, the focus shifted and diverted in a direction that we felt was too far from our expertise: pediatric oncology. We are not experts in epidemiology, nor do we want to give that impression....  If it turns out that carelessness was involved in the realization of this publication, it will of course be withdrawn."

 

(more)

 

https://www.prinsesmaximacentrum.nl/en/news-events/news/the-princess-maxima-center-distances-itself-from-publication-excess-mortality-during-covid-19-pandemic

 

 

Edited June 12 by TallGuyJohninBKK

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

Quotes of the day from the above Dutch oncology hospital's statement:

 

1. "We are not experts in epidemiology, nor do we want to give that impression....

 

Duh!!! And yet three of your oncologist staff managed to publish a paper exactly on that in a British Medical Journal publication apparently without you knowing what they were espousing.

 

2. "If it turns out that carelessness was involved in the realization of this publication, it will of course be withdrawn."

 

Maybe the hospital here will look into how what was supposed to start out as a look at the pandemic's impact on child cancer care and mortality in low-income countries, ended up mutating into a read-between-the-lines anti-vax screed on global excess mortality... And the hospital only now is becoming aware of this?

 

[Amethyst]

A post linking to a non-credible "questionable source" social media video has been removed.

 

[Captain Flack]

Post removed, as same post used to start a new thread, comments can be made there.
 

https://aseannow.com/topic/1329644-my-son-adam-41-had-everything-to-live-for-but-he-died-after-the-astrazeneca-vaccine/#comment-18987215

 

 

 

 

[danferguson]

On 6/12/2024 at 6:48 PM, TallGuyJohninBKK said:

And....

Dutch hospital distances itself from Covid excess death report

June 12, 2024

 

A Dutch children’s cancer hospital has formally distanced itself from a publication on excess mortality since the coronavirus pandemic involving several members of its staff, after its quality has been questioned.

 

The Princess Máxima Center says serious doubts have arisen about the publication in the British Medical Journal and that it “deeply regrets” it may give the impression that the importance of vaccinations is being questioned.

 

The publication was picked up by the British press, some who misrepresented the content of the paper to the enthusiasm of anti-vax campaigners. The Telegraph, for example, headlined its article “Covid vaccines may have helped fuel rise in excess deaths”.

...

“We want to emphasise that we strongly support vaccination, and that this publication should certainly not be read as an argument against vaccination,” the hospital said.

 

(more)

 

https://www.dutchnews.nl/2024/06/dutch-hospital-distances-itself-from-covid-excess-death-report/

 

 

 

How that study ever got published at all is beyond me. BMJ Journals should be taking a good look in the mirror right now.

 

This is also not the first time that the Telegraph Science Editor has been called out on dubious articles she has written.

 

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

Reuters Fact Check also chimes in on the fake, study-publisher rejected news reports here blaming vaccines in connection with the COVID excess deaths study:

Fact Check: Study does not say COVID vaccines may have fuelled excess deaths

By Reuters Fact Check

June 13, 2024

 

"A newly released study does not say COVID-19 vaccines may have fuelled excess deaths across the world, contrary to claims on social media.

 

The journal which published the analysis has issued a statement,  calling news from “various outlets” about the paper “misreporting” and emphasising that “the research does not support the claim that vaccines are a major contributory factor to excess deaths since the start of the pandemic”.

 

Health data experts interviewed by Reuters also said that while the paper, published by BMJ Public Health, discusses excess mortality during the 2020-2022 pandemic, it does not say COVID vaccines were driving the deaths."

 

 

(more)

 

https://www.reuters.com/fact-check/study-does-not-say-covid-vaccines-may-have-fuelled-excess-deaths-2024-06-13/

 

Meanwhile, the above Reuters report also noted that the Dutch nonprofit World Child Cancer Foundation -- which was listed by the BMJ as the funding entity for the disputed study -- has issued a statement denying that it was the funder.

 

Screen capture of the original BMJ journal study-funding reference:

 

 

https://www.bmj.com/company/newsroom/high-excess-death-rates-in-the-west-for-3-years-running-since-start-of-pandemic/

 

Edited June 14 by TallGuyJohninBKK

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

An update from the website Dutch News:

 

"The article [study] was widely criticised in the scientific community after international newspapers including the New York Post and the Daily Telegraph reported on its findings, with the Telegraph running the headline “Covid vaccines may have helped fuel rise in excess deaths“.

 

Some compared the publication to the 1998 paper in The Lancet by former doctor Andrew Wakefield that claimed vaccines were a possible cause of autism in children. The paper was withdrawn 12 years later after a BMJ investigation found Wakefield guilty of dishonesty and fraud.

 

Stuart McDonald, an expert in demographics and longevity at consultancy firm Lane, Clark & Peacock, said the Dutch study into vaccines should “not have been published in its current form”.

 

(more)

 

https://www.dutchnews.nl/2024/06/cancer-hospital-regrets-paper-linking-vaccines-to-covid-deaths/

 

And the above cited news report also has separate researchers -- whose data on excess deaths during the pandemic was used by this disputed study -- essentially accusing the study authors of plagiarism.

 

From the above news report:

 

 

Edited June 14 by TallGuyJohninBKK

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

Expression of concern coming for paper some used to link COVID-19 vaccines to deaths

June 14, 2024

 

"The journal BMJ Public Health is placing an expression of concern on a paper it said “gave rise to widespread misreporting and misunderstanding,” namely, “claims that it implies a direct causal link between COVID-19 vaccination and mortality.” 

 

The article, “Excess mortality across countries in the Western World since the COVID-19 pandemic: ‘Our World in Data’ estimates of January 2020 to December 2022,” appeared online June 3, and quickly attracted attention and criticism. The expression of concern is not yet live. 

...

On June 13, BMJ sent a press release to reporters saying it is “investigating the quality of the research and the messaging” of the paper, and would place an expression of concern on the article."

 

(more)

 

https://retractionwatch.com/2024/06/14/expression-of-concern-coming-for-paper-some-used-to-link-covid-19-vaccines-to-deaths/

 

As of this writing, the journal's "expression of concern" has yet to be posted/added to the subject study.

 

As noted in prior posts above, the Dutch hospital where three of the study's authors work has subsequently distanced itself from the study and disavowed its findings relating to COVID vaccines. The listed funder of the study also has issued a public statement denying that it was the funder.

 

https://www.prinsesmaximacentrum.nl/en/news-events/news/the-princess-maxima-center-distances-itself-from-publication-excess-mortality-during-covid-19-pandemic

 

https://www.reuters.com/fact-check/study-does-not-say-covid-vaccines-may-have-fuelled-excess-deaths-2024-06-13/

 

The journal/publisher itself, BMJ, also issued a public statement rejecting various news reports that it said had falsely linked excess deaths during the pandemic to COVID vaccines, stating that the subject study never made that explicit finding.

 

Edited June 15 by TallGuyJohninBKK

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

The journal BMJ Public Health, which originally published the disputed study cited in this thread, now has publicly posted its formal "Expression of concern" regarding the study, and announced it is formally investigating "the quality and messaging" of the study, as follows:

 

Correction | Published: 14 June 2024

 

Expression of concern: Excess mortality across countries in the western world since the COVID-19 pandemic: ‘Our World in Data’ estimates of January 2020 to December 2022

 

"The integrity team and editors are investigating issues raised regarding the quality and messaging of this work. The Princess Máxima Centre, which is listed as the affiliation of three of the four authors, is also investigating the scientific quality of this study.1 The integrity team has contacted the institution regarding their investigation.

 

Readers should also be alerted to misreporting and misunderstanding of the work. It has been claimed that the work implies a direct causal link between COVID-19 vaccination and mortality. This study does not establish any such link. The researchers looked only at trends in excess mortality over time, not its causes. The research does not support the claim that vaccines are a major contributory factor to excess deaths since the start of the pandemic. Vaccines have, in fact, been instrumental in reducing the severe illness and death associated with COVID-19 infection."

 

https://bmjpublichealth.bmj.com/content/2/1/e000282eoc