Covid Vaccines Did Not Create a 6,000 Increase in Deaths
The Claim
CDC data proves that coronavirus vaccines have caused a 6,000% increase in deaths in the first quarter of 2021 compared to 2020.
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Emerging story
In early April, an article appeared on the conspiracy theory website Global Research. It claimed that by comparing CDC data of deaths after vaccines in the first quarter of 2020 to the first quarter of 2021, there was a 6,000% increase in “vaccine deaths.”
By April 27th, the article had been shared on Facebook over 2,200 times and on Twitter over 400 times, according to the site's own metrics.
A range of people have also been posting the 6,000% increase in vaccine deaths claim to social media without linking the article or by posting similar articles:
Misbar’s Analysis
Misbar’s investigation has discovered that it is wrong to refer to the deaths as “vaccine deaths.” It is true to state that the CDC’s Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System saw significantly more deaths after people received a vaccine in the first quarter of 2021 compared to 2020. These are not deaths caused by the vaccine. Instead, they are almost all unrelated to the vaccine and would have occurred regardless of the individual being vaccinated.
As the Global Research article points out, 80% of the so-called 2021 vaccine deaths occured in people aged over 65. This is because older people are naturally more likely to die and because older people were prioritized to get the coronavirus vaccines first. This can make it seem like the coronavirus vaccines are causing thousands of deaths, when that is not the case.
Essentially, the 6,000% increase in deaths after vaccines is due to large increases in the total number of people getting vaccines in 2021. The Global Research article, and the sharers of the Global Research article, are incorrectly believing that correlation is causation. This means that two separate occurrences may happen without one affecting the other, despite parallels between the occurences. For instance, the use of the video conferencing software Zoom increased significantly during the pandemic, but the increase in Zoom usership is not the cause of the increased deaths during the pandemic.
As of April, 2021, the CDC has not conclusively proven that anyone has died due to a coronavirus vaccine. It believes that the Johnson and Johnson vaccine may be linked to the deaths of three women in the USA. There is no evidence that the other US coronavirus vaccines have caused any deaths. Overall, the CDC states that the coronavirus vaccines are safe.
