by: Ravi Philemon
We must always have a critical mind and be quick to change our firmly held beliefs in the face of strong evidence. That is what I have been taught and that is a value I never depart from.
Towards this, I was intrigued by The Telegraph article, “Covid vaccines may have helped fuel rise in excess deaths”, which was also carried in Yahoo News. Intrigued enough to go and read the BMJ Research Paper for myself. It is here: https://bmjpublichealth.bmj.com/content/2/1/e000282.
After reading the research, my conclusions are:
- There were 3 million excess deaths in 47 Western countries during 2020-2022 as a result of the pandemic, containment measures, and the rollout of the vaccine.
- Many of these excess deaths were due to delays in diagnosis and treatment of time-critical conditions such as cancer, cardiac disease, diabetes, and dementia during successive lockdowns.
- The paper provides more questions than answers.
It is hard to disagree with the paper’s conclusion that further analysis is required to understand the underlying causes of excess mortality to better prepare for the future management of pandemic crises. But for the two newspapers to jump from that to “Covid vaccines may have helped fuel rise in excess deaths” is misleading and sensationalist.
When it comes to matters of public health, while keeping an open mind about new developments and having a critical mind to decide things for ourselves, we must trust the government to lead us on what is right. Of course, choices are important too. After all, it is our own body, and so, only we can and should decide on what’s right for ourselves.
But as it stands, there is no credible evidence yet, anywhere in the world, to suggest that Covid-19 vaccines have contributed to excess deaths.
