Tag Archives: Vrije Universiteit

BMJ Calls Out Misreporting By New York Post + Telegraph!

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.

The Telegraph : Covid vaccines may have helped fuel rise in excess deaths

Covid vaccines could be partly to blame for the rise in excess deaths since the pandemic, scientists have suggested.

Researchers from The Netherlands analysed data from 47 Western countries and discovered there had been more than three million excess deaths since 2020, with the trend continuing despite the rollout of vaccines and containment measures.

They said the “unprecedented” figures “raised serious concerns” and called on governments to fully investigate the underlying causes, including possible vaccine harms.

Writing in the BMJ Public Health, the authors from Vrije Universiteit, Amsterdam, said: “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.

“Both medical professionals and citizens have reported serious injuries and deaths following vaccination to various official databases in the Western World.”

They added: “During the pandemic, it was emphasised 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.”

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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…

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.

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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Did COVID-19 Vaccines Cause Rise In Excess Deaths?!

Claim : COVID-19 Vaccines Caused Rise In Excess Deaths!

Some people and/or websites are claiming or suggesting that new research from The Netherlands show that the COVID-19 vaccines are partly to blame for the rise in 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.

The Telegraph : Covid vaccines may have helped fuel rise in excess deaths

Covid vaccines could be partly to blame for the rise in excess deaths since the pandemic, scientists have suggested.

They said the “unprecedented” figures “raised serious concerns” and called on governments to fully investigate the underlying causes, including possible vaccine harms.

“Both medical professionals and citizens have reported serious injuries and deaths following vaccination to various official databases in the Western World.”

DiedSuddenly : The media is finally forced to admit the truth that we’ve known for years:

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Truth : COVID-19 Vaccines Did Not Cause Rise In Excess Deaths!

This is yet another example of misinformation about the COVID-19 vaccines, and here are the reasons why, with some help from Stuart McDonald:

Fact #1 : BMJ Called It “Misreporting”

You can read more about this in our separate article – BMJ Calls Out Misreporting By New York Post + Telegraph!

Suffice to say – BMJ Public Health clearly stated that those news outlets misreported what the study said, and that the study did not establish any causal link between COVID-19 vaccination and deaths.

Fact #2 : Princess Máxima Center Distanced Itself From Study

Ironically, the Princess Máxima Center quickly distanced itself from the study., and said that it would conduct an investigation. You can read more about this in our separate article – BMJ Calls Out Misreporting By New York Post + Telegraph!

Fact #3 : Ariel Karlinsky Called For Study To Be Retracted

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 publicly against the study, and even suggested that there was plagiarism! He also called for the BMJ to retract the study, and open an inquiry into how such a study could ever make it past its editors and reviewers.

Fact #4 : Study Did Not Include 2023 Data

Interestingly, the Mostert et. al. study used excess death data from January 2020 to December 2022, skipping the whole of 2023 for some reason.

If the researchers included the 2023 data, they would have seen a precipitous 79% drop in excess deaths in 2023, following a large drop in 2022. That would tie in quite nicely with the waning COVID-19 pandemic, as vaccination progressed globally.

Even if you don’t look at the data in detail, the trend would have suggested that the excess deaths were mostly caused by COVID-19, and not the vaccines.

Fact #5 : COVID-19 Drove Increase In Excess Deaths

The truth is – the data clearly shows that COVID-19 was driving the increase in excess deaths. As Stuart McDonald shows in these charts – officially-reported COVID-19 deaths (the black lines) almost perfectly lines up with excess deaths (the red lines).

The question of whether Covid drove global excess deaths in 2020-2022 is not a hard one to answer. Not now anyway! The same source the authors copied from contains good analysis. Black line is Covid deaths. Red line is excess deaths. You can see by eye how well these line up.

Fact #6 : Study Looked At Selected “Western” Countries

The Mostert et. al. study bizarrely used only data from selected “Western” countries, which the authors defined as:

“various countries in Europe and to countries in Australasia (Australia, New Zealand) and North America (the USA, Canada) that are based on European cultural heritage. The latter countries were once British colonies that acquired Christianity and the Latin alphabet and whose populations comprised numerous descendants from European colonists or migrants”

Why those “Western” countries, and not countries with high vaccination rates? After all, vaccination rates are not uniformly high across those 47 “Western” countries used in the study.

While countries like Malta, Germany, and Finland recorded over 70% vaccination rates by end of 2022, other “Western” countries like Moldova, Bulgaria, and Bosnia and Herzegovina had vaccination rates that were less than 40%!

Fact #7 : Countries With Higher Vaccination Had Lower Excess Deaths!

In fact, the data actually shows that countries with high vaccination rates (over 70%) had much lower excess deaths from 2020 to 2022!

With the exception of Lithuania, the top 10 countries with the highest excess deaths were those with low vaccination rates.

Fact #8 : mRNA Vaccines Are Not Gene Therapy Products

While the Mostert et. al. study does not outright claim that COVID-19 vaccines cause excess deaths in those 47 “Western” countries, it does make the bizarre claim that “French studies suggest that COVID-19 mRNA vaccines are gene therapy products requiring long-term stringent adverse events monitoring.“

Those “French studies” are not actual “scientific studies”, but appear to be opinion pieces. But more importantly – mRNA vaccines are clearly not gene therapy products!

mRNA vaccines do not change our genes. After all – the mRNA strands in mRNA COVID-19 vaccines do not enter the cell nucleus!

On the other hand, the COVID-19 coronavirus – SARS-CoV-2, integrate its genes with the our cell DNA, to hijack the cell and use it to produce copies of itself!

If you are truly worried about anything modifying your cell’s DNA, you should try to avoid viral infections like COVID-19.

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