The anti-covid vaccine has caused the deaths of seventeen million people worldwide. This is claimed by the article on the website Renovatio21, but it is fake news. A number of controversial studies are reported in the article in an attempt to confirm the claim, but we find that the news is false right from the title. In truth, the WHO, the World Health Organization reports that seven million people have died worldwide due to covid and seventeen to eighteen million-as the Lancet and Nature studies specify-considering other causes as well. In fact, some patients with serious illnesses (heart attack and cancer) unrelated to covid-19 were not hospitalized because of the shortage of beds in hospitals, while others avoided hospitalization for fear of contracting the virus. These factors contributed to the overall number of pandemic-related deaths. If we continue reading, the fake news becomes more obvious as we read on: Renovatio 21 translates this article courtesy of Children’s Health Defense. Children’s Health Defense is known as a site that spreads anti-vaccine misinformation. Mention is made of the study, also linked to Children’s Health Defense, by Danis Rancourt-a former professor of physics at the University of Ottawa-known for his conflicting views on various topics, such as covid-19. Rancourt writes that it was not covid that caused the deaths, but all the deaths were the result of covid interventions and vaccines. The study, which spreads misinformation about the covid vaccine, is also spread through social channels, such as his Twitter profile, and, then, the post is re-shared by numerous users.
«Rancourt’s bias is evident in his paper when he discusses other ‘potential causes’ of excess deaths and completely ignores Covid deaths». Speaking on the point is Jeffrey S. Morris – professor of public health and preventive medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, professor and director of the division of biostatistics at the Perelman School of Medicine – an internationally recognized expert in biostatistics, bioinformatics and cancer research.
«If we look at the graphs for deaths, compared to covid cases, and compared to vaccinations, we see that the number of deaths tends to accumulate during the peaks of covid waves. Most of the excess deaths are attributed to Covid itself. In some countries, vaccination campaigns have occurred during Covid waves, which may lead some people to think that vaccines cause the deaths. However, if we look at other places where vaccinations did not occur during Covid spikes, we do not see a significant increase in excess deaths».
«This suggests that vaccination is actually not the main cause of excess deaths, and that the benefits of vaccines in preventing Covid-related deaths outweigh the risks. It is not possible to determine how many people died as a result of the vaccine by simply looking at general data on deaths in a country, even if you break down the data by vaccination status. This is because mortality data are influenced by several variables. One cannot establish a direct relationship between vaccination and deaths by looking only at these general data. To better understand whether there are vaccine-related risks, it is important to do studies that look at individual data, considering who was vaccinated and who was not, and also seeing other factors that may influence mortality. For example, in Hungary, a study was conducted that found that people who were vaccinated had a lower risk of death overall than those who were not vaccinated, especially during a period of high covid prevalence. Scientists took into account factors such as age and health conditions to get a more accurate picture».
«Although this is not a comprehensive study that considers all factors, in the United Kingdom the Office for National Statistics (ONS) analyzed data on causes of death in England, distinguishing between vaccinated and unvaccinated people. They found that immediately after vaccination, vaccinated people had much lower death rates than unvaccinated people».
«There are many studies showing that vaccines significantly reduce the risk of hospitalizations and deaths due to Covid-19. Looking at global data, deaths caused by Covid account for the majority of deaths in excess of predictions. Regarding vaccine risks, there are few confirmed cases of serious effects. For example, AstraZeneca and Johnson & Johnson have caused a very rare but potentially fatal clotting syndrome, with a probability of about 1 in a million or similar. For mRNA vaccines, the main risk is myocarditis, but studies suggest that most cases are mild and resolve quickly».
«A recent study in Korea found that about 1 in 2 million died from myocarditis after vaccination, but it is still unclear whether all of these cases are directly caused by the vaccine. In addition, there are studies showing that vaccinated people actually have a lower risk of death than unvaccinated people after vaccination. These data suggest that the benefits of vaccination outweigh the risks, but it is important to continue monitoring vaccine safety».
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Zeta, a news site of the “Massimo Baldini” School of Journalism – Luiss Guido Carli School of Journalism, is a supplement to Reporter Nuovo, a newspaper legally registered with the Court of Rome (Regional Court Rome No. 13/08 of Jan. 21, 2008), within which a Zeta Check unit has been established for the purpose of fact-checking, which will regularly publish reports on the factual accuracy of statements by public figures and institutions and widely disseminated statements in text, visual and other formats, focusing mainly on statements related to issues of public interest.
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