BMJ just called out misreporting by the New York Post, and The Telegraph, on a controversial study on COVID-19 vaccines and excess deaths! Find out what’s going on!
Updated @ 2024-06-13 : Added official statements by The Princess Maxima Center and World Child Cancer NL
Originally posted @ 2024-06-12
Claim : BMJ Study Shows COVID Vaccines May Have Caused Excess Deaths!
The New York Post and The Telegraph recently posted articles on a controversial study by scientists from the Vrije Universiteit in The Netherlands, claiming or suggesting that it shows that COVID-19 vaccines may have caused excess deaths!
New York Post : COVID vaccines may have helped fuel rise in excess deaths since pandemic: study
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.
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 and policymakers to “thoroughly investigate the underlying causes of persistent excess mortality,” according to the study published in BMJ Public Health.
Recommended : Did COVID-19 Vaccines Cause Rise In Excess Deaths?!
BMJ Calls Out Misreporting By New York Post + Telegraph!
As the New York Post and The Telegraph are major news outlets, their articles covering the BMJ Public Health study were read widely, and eagerly shared by anti-vaccine activists as “proof” that they were right all along, and that the COVID-19 vaccines were indeed killing people.
However, not only has BMJ come out publicly against the news reports, so has the Princess Máxima Center, and Ariel Karlinksy – one of the two founders of the World Mortality Dataset, which was used in the study.
For more details WHY the study has many troubling issues, and should not be taken at face value, please read our separate article – Did COVID-19 Vaccines Cause Rise In Excess Deaths?!
Fact #1 : BMJ Called It “Misreporting”
Let me start by pointing out that on 7 June 2024, BMJ Public Health publicly refuted news reports which claimed that the study showed that COVID-19 vaccines caused excess deaths, calling it “misreporting“.
Statement in response to misreporting of BMJ Public Health research on excess deaths since the COVID-19 pandemic
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. The researchers looked only at trends in excess mortality over time, not its causes. While the researchers recognise that side effects are reported after vaccination, 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.
The message of the research is that understanding overall excess mortality since the COVID-19 pandemic is crucial for future health policy, but that identifying specific causes is complex due to varying national data quality and reporting methods.
As the BMJ Public Health clearly stated, those news outlets misreported what the study said, and that the study did not establish any causal link between COVID-19 vaccination and deaths.
While the New York Post appears to have amended its article and title (albeit without mentioning the corrections), it did not include BMJ Public Health’s statement. The Telegraph though does not appear to have made any changes / corrections. Neither has it attached that BMJ Public Health statement to better inform its readers…
Recommended : Did Japan Declare Emergency Over mRNA Vaccine Cancers?!
Fact #2 : Princess Máxima Center Distanced Itself From Study
The controversial study, called “Excess mortality across countries in the Western World since the COVID-19 pandemic: ‘Our World in Data’ estimates of January 2020 to December 2022” was written by Saskia Mostert, Marcel Hoagland, Minke Huibers, and Gertjan Kasper’s – three of whom are from the Princess Máxima Center for Pediatric Oncology in Utrecht, The Netherlands.
The Princess Máxima Center quickly distanced itself from the study, and issued a statement virtually denouncing the study, and said that it would be investigating how the paper was written, and possibly retract it from BMJ Public Health:
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. The Máxima Center therefore emphatically distances itself from this publication. We should have been more alert to the formation and results of this publication and will further investigate the way it was created. If it turns out that carelessness was involved in the realization of this publication, it will of course be withdrawn.
We, as the Princess Máxima Center, want to emphasize that we strongly support vaccination, and that this publication should certainly not be read as an argument against vaccination. The study in no way demonstrates a link between vaccinations and excess mortality; that is explicitly not the researchers’ finding. We therefore regret that this impression has been created.
Recommended : Did Japan study show explosion of mRNA cancer deaths?!
Fact #3 : World Child Cancer Denies Funding Study
The Mostert et. al. study claimed that it was sponsored by the Foundation World Child Cancer NL. However, World Child Cancer NL publicly refuted that in a statement (translated) on 12 June 2024:
The Netherlands Foundation is not a financier of 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”.
World Child Cancer is wrongly referred to as a financier.
Fact #4 : Ariel Karlinsky Condemned The Study
The Mostert et. al. study used data from The World Mortality Dataset, which was created and maintained by Ariel Karlinsky and Dmitry Kobak.
Ariel Karlinsky spoke out (again) publicly against the study, and even suggested that some plagiarism was involved!
The onus here is on BMJ Public Health which published a really bad paper with a misleading title (nothing to do with OWID) and copies some of our work in WMD almost verbatim and misleadingly.
The researchers who wrote it then talked with Telegraph and this is the result.
How on earth @BMJPublicHealth editors and reviewers allowed such blatant copy-pasting is beyond me.
He also said that BMJ should retract the study, and open an inquiry into how such a study could ever make it past its editors and reviewers.
I say BMJ PH should retract it and open an inquiry into what happened there with editors and reviewers.
I agree – BMJ should not only retract the study, it should open an investigation into how this study actually passed its reviewers and its editors!
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