COVID-19 vaccines did not increase COVID-19 deaths
Fact check - COVID-19 vaccines did not increase deaths
(Reuters) - Social media users are comparing the number of 7-day average deaths in the United States in September 2020 with September 2021 and falsely claiming that the numbers prove COVID-19 vaccines have caused the increase in COVID-19 deaths.
The text in the posts read: “Tracking the Pharma Genocide. September 27, 2021. 7-day average deaths = 2,052. [Shots] injected to date: 390,664,923. September 27, 2020. 7-day average deaths = 748. [Shots] injected to date: 0. Comparing “7-day average deaths” exactly a year apart, the v campaign increased COVID deaths by a factor of 2.74 (174% increase).”
The data on the website of Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) here , shows 1,466 for 7-day moving average deaths on Sept. 27, 2021 and 672 7-day moving average deaths on Sept. 27, 2020.
The graph on the same page shows that in September 2020, the average number of daily deaths were low and subsequently increased until the peak in January 2021.
The average number of daily deaths was running close to what were then record highs on Dec. 11, 2020, when the first COVID-19 vaccine by Pfizer-BioNTech was granted emergency use authorization by the FDA (here)
A clear difference between 2020 and 2021 is the emergence of the Delta variant, which the CDC reports is more transmissible than previous strains. Some data also suggests that the Delta variant may cause more severe illness in unvaccinated individuals, according to the CDC (here).
The Delta variant spreads more easily than other SARS-CoV-2 variants. Help stop the spread of Delta and other variants by getting vaccinated against #COVID19 as soon as you can.https://t.co/xbvNiaVJKV— CDC (@CDCgov) July 8, 2021
Changes in characteristics such as transmission, disease severity and immune evasion occur when a mutation starts to impact how the virus behaves (here).
There is no medical evidence to show the COVID-19 vaccines cause COVID-19 deaths. The COVID-19 vaccines have been proven to reduce severe illness and hospitalization, as discussed in a previous Reuters fact check here .
As COVID-19 vaccines became more widely available to the public, the United States began to see its lowest death numbers in more than a year in May 2021.
VERDICT
False. COVID-19 vaccines did not increase COVID-19 deaths. The higher number of deaths is likely due to the more transmissible Delta variant.
This article was produced by the Reuters Fact Check team. Read more about our fact-checking work.
