An article has been shared stating that the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) silently confirmed that COVID-19 vaccines caused the death of 118,000 people, including children. However, there is no evidence that this happened. A spokesperson for CDC said the institute has not yet found patterns suggesting that the vaccines in deed caused deaths.
The misleading article has tried to connect recent child and young adult deaths in the United States to COVID-19 vaccines. Its headline reads – "CDC quietly confirms at least 118k Children & Young Adults Have 'Died Suddenly' in the USA since the roll-out of the COVID Vaccines". An identical headline was carried on The Expose.
What the Article Says
This article, which cites CDC data as published by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, was shared multiple times on social media platforms via Facebook and Instagram posts, with one such post getting more than 15,500 likes. The data shared says there were about 118,000 excess US deaths in the 0-t0-44 age group between December 2020 and October 2022, compared to 2015-2019 average. It blames COVID-19 vaccines for the deaths – "mysterious sudden rise which has contributed to half a million American children and young adults dying since late 2020, most likely due to COVID-19 injections."
However, CDC says the COVID vaccine helps protect people from getting seriously ill. Its official Twitter account states that staying up to date with COVID-19 vaccines is especially important if you are 65+ or have a health condition that increases the risk of getting very sick.
Deaths Not Related to COVID-19 Vaccine
An OECD spokesperson told Reuters that the organization extracts figures published by the CDC. "The data in the article appears to be consistent with the data published by OECD which shows weekly excess deaths, that is the number of deaths in each week compared to an average of the deaths observed in the same week in the years 2015-19."
The spokesperson highlighted that the figures show "the number of additional deaths recorded from all courses – both sudden and otherwise – in each week compared to the average expected. It does not relate to the deaths due to COVID-19 vaccines as stated by the article. Moreover, data on the CDC portal shows excess mortality rates for all ages, separated by those with or without COVID-19. It also suggests that excess mortality in the US was due to the coronavirus pandemic and not the vaccines.
Furthermore, an analysis by Yale School of Public Health found that once COVID vaccines were introduced, excess deaths were lower in the most highly-vaccinated parts of the country, compared to regions with low vaccination rates. The CDC spokesperson said the institute has not seen any unusual or unexpected patterns for deaths following immunization that would indicate that COVID vaccines are causing or contributing to deaths.
