Mon, Apr 24th 2023
At least 19 Swiss people died in 2021 because of Covid-19 vaccinations, according to new data from the Swiss Federal Statistical Office (FSO). Swissmedic, the regulatory body that approved of the Covid-19 vaccine for Switzerland, told public radio SRF that there is no evidence to support that number.
In late 2020, Swissmedic approved of Covid-19 vaccines for Swiss residents. Swiss individuals considered to be “high-risk” patients had access to the vaccines first and began receiving the vaccines in early 2021. About six million Swiss residents received a Covid-19 vaccine by the end of 2021 out of a population of 8.7 million.
While Covid-19 vaccines were never mandatory in Switzerland, they were heavily encouraged. Over the course of 2021, Switzerland launched a nationwide campaign persuading residents to get vaccinated. Vaccines were touted to be harmless to one’s health and powerful against preventing serious illness or death from Covid.
As part of that campaign, Switzerland created a Mobile Covid Certificate to distinguish between residents who had been vaccinated and those who had not. Swiss restaurants, bars, cinemas, and other public places required patrons to first show proof they had been vaccinated before entering. Residents who chose not to be vaccinated said they felt ostracized and protested by the thousands against the certificate.
In October 2021, now-President Alain Berset went onto a national television show during prime time viewing hours and announced that those who have the Covid-19 vaccine cannot spread the virus. At the time Berset was serving as the head of the Federal Office of Public Health (FOPH).
“With the certificate, you can show you are not contagious,” Berset said on the TV program. But, a FOPH study published nearly three months before Berset’s statement proved otherwise and Berset had those results.
The study was published August 3, 2021 and led by Virginie Masserey, head of infection control and vaccines at the FOPH. Masserey and her team of researchers found that the vaccine did not reduce the contagiousness of Covid-19, even if vaccinated people were not showing Covid-19 symptoms. Berset made the claim just days before the Swiss population voted on whether to extend the use of the Mobile Pass, which they did through February 2022. Days after Berset’s statement, Masserey announced she was resigning from the FOPH.
By the beginning of 2023, Switzerland’s FOPH would remove all recommendations on getting vaccinated against Covid.
During the course of 2021, at least 19 older Swiss residents died as a result of the Covid-19 vaccine as is stated by their physicians on their death certificates, the FSO says. In each instance, federal authorities contacted these doctors and collected all information on the patients.
“Confirmation was obtained that the cause of death was not a concomitant cause, but that the cause of death was confirmed to be the Covid-19 vaccination,” FSO epidemiologist Rolf Weitkunat told SRF.
Meanwhile, Swissmedic counters that it has investigated more 200 cases of reported vaccine-related deaths, including the 19 in the FSO report, and says not a single death can be correlated with the vaccine.
“Swissmedic is looking for a possible causal relationship and to achieve this goal we request all available documentation,” Swissmedic drug safety head Christoph Küng told SRF. He added “We often have queries to the family doctor, to the physician. We go to the professional literature. We consult internationally.”
Swissmedic also reviews autopsy reports on suspected vaccine-related deaths; but, the group says autopsies were not conducted on the 19 deceased individuals in question.
“Where we already have sufficient information to assess the case, we can even dispense with the autopsy,” Küng says. “And it must also be said that autopsies do not always lead to a conclusive result either.”
While the body of research on vaccine-related mortality is still slim, it is growing. Stay tuned.
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