Major Countries Officially Report 100 Deaths Caused by COVID-19 Vaccines
COVID Vaccines

Major Countries Officially Report 100 Deaths Caused by COVID-19 Vaccines

Concerns about side effects and under-researched adverse events have prompted nations around the world to call for the suspension of the COVID-19 vaccine.
(Amornrat Phuchom/ Getty Images)
March 18, 2023
Updated:
January 15, 2024
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This is part 1 in Overlooked COVID Vaccine Adverse Events

We evaluate some of the lesser-known yet common adverse events occurring after COVID vaccination, and more importantly, doctors offer advice on how to address them.

On March 10, the Japanese government reported its first death deemed to be directly caused by the COVID-19 vaccine.

A 42-year-old woman took her fourth dose of the Pfizer vaccine. In less than 10 minutes, she started feeling sick and experienced respiratory distress. Five minutes after, she fell unconscious. She didn’t respond to resuscitation and was pronounced dead from pulmonary edema, which is caused by a sudden build-up of fluid in the lungs.

Japan isn’t the first country to officially disclose deaths caused by the COVID-19 vaccines.

Since the COVID-19 vaccine rollout, 102 deaths have been officially documented by major countries, including the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom, of which, 97 deaths were causally related to COVID-19 vaccines. Vaccine side effects have also become increasingly recognized by governments across the world.

Deaths Causally Related to COVID-19 Vaccines

United States: 9 Deaths

As of March 1, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has received 19,475 preliminary reports of deaths through its Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS).

So far, nine deaths from rare blood clots have been causally associated with Johnson & Johnson (J&J) COVID-19 vaccinations.

Other vaccines haven’t been officially linked with any deaths, although Pfizer and Moderna vaccinations make up the majority of adverse event and death reports on the CDC’s VAERS.

But local news reports based on coroner statements have shown that at least two young men have died from myocarditis complications related to mRNA vaccines (1, 2).
Board-certified cardiologist and internist Dr. Peter McCullough argued that the deaths being officially reported only “represent the tip of the iceberg,” writing to The Epoch Times that it’s unclear how the regulatory agencies are making the assessment on causally-linked deaths.

Canada: 4 Deaths

As of March 3, 427 post-vaccine deaths have been reported to the Canadian government, of which four deaths were “consistent with causal association to immunization,” a statement on the Canadian government’s Health Infobase website reads.
Three of the deaths were reported by CBC News in 2021 with blood clotting from AstraZeneca vaccines being the cause of death (1, 2, 3). The cause of death for the fourth deceased individual is unknown, as is the vaccine’s manufacturer.

UK: 52 Deaths

The UK hasn’t officially released any statements on COVID-19 vaccines. However, the UK’s Office for National Statistics shows that between March 2020 and January 2023, 59 death certificates had the ICD code for “COVID-19 vaccines causing adverse effects in therapeutic use,“ meaning that adverse events were ”involved” in the deaths of the individuals.

Among these, 51 deaths listed the same ICD code as an underlying cause, meaning that the deaths were fully or partly due to adverse events from the vaccine.

In Wales, one death was reported with vaccine-caused adverse events as an underlying causal factor. None of the vaccines involved nor the causes of death were specified.

Australia: 14 Deaths

As of January, the Australian drug regulatory agency, the Therapeutic Goods Administration, has linked COVID-19 vaccines to the deaths of 14 people.
Thirteen of these deaths occurred after the first dose of the AstraZeneca vaccine, while the last death was due to myocarditis from a Moderna booster.

New Zealand: 4 Deaths

The New Zealand Ministry of Health has linked four deaths to the Pfizer mRNA vaccines.

The ministry couldn’t confirm if the four deaths were directly caused by vaccination, but determined that at least three out of the four deceased individuals developed myocarditis, which could be directly linked to the Pfizer vaccine.

Details on the other confirmed death haven’t been fully disclosed.

Japan: 1 Death

Japan confirmed its first COVID-19 vaccine-induced death on March 10, following 2,000 reports of deaths after vaccination.
A report published by the Japanese Ministry of Health, Labor, and Welfare states that “a causal relationship” between the vaccine and the death of the 42-year-old woman “cannot be denied.” (pdf)
The woman died from pulmonary edema.

India: 15 Deaths

As of February, the Indian Ministry of Health & Family Welfare has documented 15 deaths causally linked to COVID-19 vaccinations in its Adverse Events Following Immunization (AEFI) database.

All 15 deaths were linked to the AstraZeneca vaccine, with blood clots documented as the most common adverse reaction. Deaths from brain bleeds and anaphylaxis were also documented.

More than 400 deaths in COVID-19-vaccinated individuals have been reported to the AEFI system.

Singapore: 1 Death

In a Feb. 17 statement, the Singapore state coroner confirmed the city’s first potentially vaccine-related death.

The deceased individual was a 28-year-old Bangladeshi man who died on July 9, 2021, three weeks after getting the Moderna vaccine. He collapsed at his work, and it was ruled that he died from myocarditis.

“On the balance of probabilities, it was likely to be related to COVID-19 vaccination,” the statement reads.

South Africa: 2 Deaths

The South African Health Products Regulatory Authority (SAHPRA) confirmed that J&J vaccines were causally linked to two deaths.

On Sep. 13, 2022, SAHPRA confirmed the second case of death following vaccination. Both individuals died of Guillain-Barré syndrome (GBS) following vaccination.

“Causality assessment of the reported case was conducted by the National Immunization Safety Expert Committee (NISEC) using the World Health Organization’s methodology,” the SAHPRA wrote in a statement.
“The case was classified as a vaccine product-related event following investigations conducted and causality assessment. The events reported in the vaccine recipient were consistent with the case definition of GBS and no other likely cause of GBS was identified at the time of illness.”

Suspension of COVID-19 Vaccinations

Concerns about side effects and under-researched adverse events have prompted health professionals from nations around the world to call for the COVID-19 vaccines to be suspended. Since the rollout in 2021, some countries have gradually suspended and limited the use of certain vaccines.

AstraZeneca

AstraZeneca’s vaccine received conditional approval in the UK in December 2020 and was soon thereafter rolled out across Europe.
Beginning in March 2021, reports of blood clots, pulmonary embolism, and subsequent deaths started to surface among Austrians vaccinated with AstraZeneca, leading Austria to pause one batch of AstraZeneca vaccines on March 7 as the country investigated these events.
On March 11, 2021, Norway, Denmark, and Iceland stated that they would suspend the vaccine entirely until they had more evidence of potential side effects. Other countries, including Romania, Ireland, Sweden, France, Germany, Italy, Spain (pdf), and many more also applied temporary suspensions to the batch.
By April 7, 2021, the European Medicines Agency safety committee had listed unusual blood clots with low blood platelets as a very rare side effect of the AstraZeneca vaccine.
After the update on side effects, Norway and Denmark stopped the vaccines permanently.

Johnson & Johnson

J&J received emergency and conditional authorizations in the United States and Europe in February 2021 and March 2021, respectively.

Like AstraZeneca, J&J is an adenovirus vaccine, and it also causes similar side effects of thrombosis, thrombocytopenia, and Guillain-Barré syndrome.

Concerns about blood clots initially surfaced in April 2021. As a response to these reports, Denmark removed J&J from its vaccination program, although people could still choose to take the vaccine if they wished.
In the United States, J&J is restricted to individuals aged 18 and older.

Moderna

Several Nordic countries, including Sweden, Norway, and Finland, suspended the use of Moderna COVID-19 vaccines in young people because of concerns about myocarditis and pericarditis.
On Oct. 6, 2021, Sweden announced a suspension of the Moderna vaccine in people born in 1991 or later, although the country described the risk of being affected as “very low.”

Deaths by Non-mRNA Vaccines More Prevalent, Expert Raises Questions

Although most countries have linked deaths and taken action against the AstraZeneca or the J&J vaccines, indicating they may be less safe than the more popular mRNA vaccines, Kim Witczak, president of drug safety advocacy group Woody Matters and consumer representative on the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) advisory committee for new therapeutics, speculated about whether political motivations were the main factor in steering vaccine popularity.
The lack of official acknowledgment from government and health agencies only adds to the narrative that mRNA vaccines may be safer than adenovirus vaccines, despite their safety being called into question.

“The U.S. had the highest uptake of mRNA injections manufactured by Pfizer and Moderna,” professor Linda Wastila from the University of Maryland, whose expertise is in pharmacotherapy and drug policy, told The Epoch Times, referring to the more than 650 million doses of Pfizer and Moderna vaccines that have been administered.

Although the population-uptake trends don’t show it, Wastila noted that other countries, including India, the UK, Canada, and many other European countries favored non-mRNA vaccines in their policies.
India didn’t purchase any mRNA vaccines. The country was in negotiation with Pfizer, but the two parties reached a dispute over vaccine indemnity with Pfizer. Citing adverse reactions, India’s Subject Expert Committee also ruled that the vaccine shouldn’t be recommended for emergency use authorization with Pfizer, ultimately withdrawing its application as a result. Canada was the first country to give J&J vaccines full authorization. The AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccines were the products of a partnership between AstraZeneca and Oxford in the UK, which hints at why they were also favored over mRNA vaccines.
In the United States, however, non-mRNA vaccines appeared to have been subject to greater scrutiny by the health regulatory agencies, as was the case with Novavax, a protein adjuvant vaccine, according to Wastila.

Lack of Investigation

While Norway, Brazil, and many other countries have made public admissions that the deaths of mRNA-vaccinated individuals need to be investigated, there have been no such public admissions from U.S. federal health agencies.
The Epoch Times’ exclusive reporting on the CDC shows that the agency didn’t perform a data mining analysis on the VAERS database despite making a promise to do so back in January 2021. A CDC spokesperson told The Epoch Times that this analysis had only begun on May 25, 2022: almost a year and a half after it was promised.
Research by applied mathematician and computational biologist Jessica Rose shows that 2021 saw the greatest spike in VAERS reporting, particularly in relation to COVID-19 vaccines. This same trend can also be seen in the number of VAERS reports from 2020 through 2022.

“The same people that approve these drugs are the same people who are looking at the data, so you need to have people who are completely detached from results and be willing to also find something,” Witczak said. “But if there’s no curiosity, you’re never going to find it ... But again, it tells you to go in and actually do a deep dive, deep study, and make sure that we’re not manipulating the data.”

Signals for Other Potential Side Effects

Signals for other potential side effects may be impending.
The European Medicines Agency in August 2021 revealed that it has been investigating the link between mRNA vaccines and a rare skin disorder, as well as two kidney diseases (pdf 1, pdf 2).
In January, the CDC’s Vaccine Safety Datalink (VSD) detected sufficient incidents of stroke in people aged 65 and older to trigger a safety signal, finding that those who had taken bivalent boosters (which protect against two or more viral strains) were more likely to experience an ischemic stroke within 21 days than within 22 to 42 days after vaccination, although the signal may have also been related to an influenza vaccine taken in combination.

Several of the unofficial but well-documented adverse events will be successively explored over the next several articles in this series. Stories will include accounts from individuals suffering from such events, doctors clinically observing such cases, and documentation in the literature.

New Hampshire state Rep. Mike Belcher, a Republican, has been suffering from ocular migraines for almost two years. He took his first Pfizer COVID-19 mRNA immunization in April 2021, and things haven't been the same since.