Excess deaths since pandemic need to be ‘thoroughly’ investigated: study (2024)

COVID vaccines could have contributed to excess deaths in the US and other Western countries in the three years since the pandemic took hold, according to a new study that argues that world leaders and policymakers need to “thoroughly investigate” the aftermath of the contagion.

Analyzing 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 and various containment measures.

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

“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,” they continued.

The study found there had been more than 3 million excess deaths across the US, Europe and Australia since 2020.

Of those excess deaths, more than 1 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.

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 added that serious side effects of the vaccines had been documented, including ischemic strokes, acute coronary syndromes and brain hemorrhages.

While the study does not establish a link between COVID vaccinations and excess mortality, it argues that more research is needed in order to help better dictate future health policy.

“Consensus is also lacking in the medical community regarding concerns that mRNA vaccines might cause more harm than initially forecasted… Despite these concerns, clinical trial data required to further investigate these associations are not shared with the public. Autopsies to confirm actual death causes are seldom done,” it noted.

“Governments may be unable to release their death data with detailed stratification by cause, although this information could help indicate whether COVID-19 infection, indirect effects of containment measures, COVID-19 vaccines or other overlooked factors play an underpinning role,” it added.

Meanwhile, various studies have shown that COVID-19 vaccinations saved millions of lives throughout the pandemic.

The shots are estimated to have saved 14 million lives worldwide within their first year alone, according to Science Feedback.

“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,” the non-profit organization said of the study, noting that the researchers “didn’t analyze the impact of vaccination, nor did it examine the relationship between mortality and vaccination status.”

Jeffrey S Morris, Professor of Public Health and Preventative Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, questioned the study 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,” Morris wrote.

“I am not sure why this article is classified as ‘original research’ and not a ‘narrative review’ or ‘commentary.’ There is no primary data collection or original data analysis in this paper,” he added.

More than 1.1 million Americans have died from COVID since the pandemic broke out, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

“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,” the Vrije Universiteit researchers wrote in the study.

Vrije Universiteit ranks 150th out of more than 20,000 universities globally, according to the Center for World University Rankings.

Editors Note: An earlier version of this article did not reflect that the study did not analyze the impact of vaccination nor establish a link between mortality and vaccination status.