Under a ruling last week by the U.K. Information Commissioner’s Office, the UK Health Security Agency is not required to publicly release data that could link COVID-19 vaccines to excess deaths. The ruling, which ended a two-year battle over the data, has led to accusations of a “cover-up,” according to The Telegraph, which first reported the story.

by Michael Nevradakis, Ph.D.

This article was originally published by The Defender — Children’s Health Defense’s News & Views Website

The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) is not required to publicize data that may link COVID-19 vaccines to an increase in excess deaths in the United Kingdom during the pandemic, following a ruling last week by the U.K. Information Commissioner’s Office.

The ruling, which concludes a two-year battle for the release of the data, has led to accusations of a “cover-up,” according to The Telegraph, which first reported the story.

In 2023, UsForThem, a nonprofit advocacy group, requested the data under the country’s freedom of information laws. However, UKHSA challenged the request, citing concerns that releasing the data could fuel “misinformation” and cause “distress” to the vaccine-injured.

In a statement provided to The Defender, Luke Weeks, senior communications manager at UKHSA’s press office, said:

“Protecting patient confidentiality is of critical importance. Releasing this data presented a real possibility that it could be used to identify individuals, which could result in significant distress.

“UKHSA provided a carefully anonymised version of the dataset that removed the risk of identification. We welcome the decision of the tribunal to dismiss the appeal.”

UKHSA previously told the Information Commissioner’s Office that releasing the data may lead to “distress or anger” on the part of the relatives of the deceased and that the figures might be used to fuel “misinformation” about the COVID-19 vaccines, potentially fueling vaccine hesitancy.

According to TrialSite News, UKHSA’s “single justification — fear of public reaction — is now driving intense criticism.”

Dr. Angus Dalgleish, a medical oncologist at St. George’s, University of London, called the decision to withhold the data “a ridiculous cover-up.”

“The excuse of [vaccine] confidence is patently absurd,” Dalgleish said.

Dr. Aseem Malhotra, a British cardiologist who is chief medical adviser to Make Europe Healthy Again (MEHA) and medical adviser to MAHA Action, said the decision to withhold the data is “appalling,” as the data “would very likely make the link between the COVID jabs and excess deaths.”

Malhotra said this is “not the first time” that U.K. government health agencies “have been involved in a cover-up.” He said the U.K.’s Department of Health and the country’s National Health Service “covered up the ambulance delays” that resulted in the 2021 death of his father, Dr. Kailash Chand, a general practitioner and former deputy chair of the British Medical Association.

‘Not having access to clear and concise data is what fuels misinformation’

TrialSite News noted that while it is impossible to claim with certainty that the data withheld by the UKHSA show a definitive link between COVID-19 vaccinations and an increase in excess deaths, “refusal to release the data suggests an unwillingness to examine the question openly.”

Ben Kingsley, legal director of UsForThem, told The Telegraph that the UKHSA’s decision to withhold the data indicates “a desperation that this data should not, in any form, see the light of day.”

“You have to ask yourself why it is that the public are considered incapable of handling this data,” Kingsley said. “It reveals a patronising mindset, which also characterised the pandemic response — ‘do what we say, don’t ask any questions, we know what is best for you.’”

TrialSite News called it a “staggering” communication failure. “By invoking emotional harm rather than methodological concerns, UKHSA inadvertently strengthened the very narrative it likely hoped to avoid. Transparency is not optional — it is the foundation of scientific legitimacy,” TrialSite News wrote.

Vaccine injury victims questioned UKHSA’s claim that releasing data that might show a link between COVID-19 shots and excess deaths would cause “distress.”

Danielle Baker, formerly a certified hospice and palliative care registered nurse, was injured in 2021 after her employer coerced her into getting the COVID-19 vaccine. Baker, now permanently disabled, said, “Not having access to clear and concise data is what fuels misinformation.”

“The lack of transparency leaves all to question and speculate on what the ‘real’ numbers may be, impacting our ability to be heard,” Baker said. “Our voices are lost among the many because of this, leaving us to wonder if this is by design. It is just one of the many roads that leads to the ‘distress’ they are claiming to ‘protect’ us from.”

British health freedom activist and podcaster Dan Astin-Gregory, a member of MEHA’s steering committee, said that if “the data exonerated the program, it would be published immediately. The refusal alone shows that transparency has been traded for institutional self-preservation. Families who have lost loved ones deserve honesty, not secrecy.”

Excess deaths in UK increased sharply in 2022, early 2023

The ruling not to release the data has further fueled an ongoing “political firestorm” in the U.K. over the safety of the COVID-19 vaccines and the increase in excess deaths in the country during and after the pandemic, TrialSite News reported.

Last year, a U.K. cross-party parliamentary group cited “growing public and professional concerns” regarding the U.K.’s rising excess death rate — and noted that Big Pharma had been provided access to the data.

In its letter to the UKHSA and the U.K.’s Department of Health, the cross-party parliamentary group called for the data to be released “on the same anonymised basis that it was shared with the pharmaceutical groups.”

According to The Telegraph, Reform UK — the party that holds just five of the 650 seats in the House of Commons but is leading in nationwide polling — “has committed to a public inquiry into excess deaths and alleged Covid vaccine harms.”

According to Our World In Data, excess deaths — defined as “the difference between the observed numbers of deaths in specific time periods and expected numbers of deaths in the same time periods” — increased by 8% in the U.K. during the 2020-2024 time period, compared to 2015-2019.

In 2023, statistics released by the U.K.’s Office for National Statistics and Office for Health Improvement and Disparities showed a sharp increase in excess deaths throughout the country in 2022 and early 2023 — but did not attribute the increase to COVID-19 vaccination.

In May, U.K.-based medical commentator John Campbell, Ph.D., analyzed excess death figures from the U.K. and 19 other countries with varying mRNA COVID-19 vaccination rates, finding high excess death rates in several “highly vaccinated” countries following the introduction of the COVID-19 vaccines.

 

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Malholtra: COVID Shots most likely the ‘no. 1 driving factor behind the increase in excess deaths’

Several studies have found a link between COVID-19 shots and excess deaths:

• A study published in March in Discover Medicine found that Japan recorded an abnormal increase in excess deaths in the years since the COVID-19 vaccines were introduced.
• Excess mortality during the COVID-19 pandemic was “substantial” and “unprecedented,” reaching almost 3.1 million across the countries sampled during this period, according to a 2024 paper published in BMJ Public Health.
• A study published last year of excess mortality in 125 countries during the COVID-19 pandemic found that higher-than-average excess deaths were due to the public health establishment’s response and the COVID-19 vaccines.
• A 2024 study published in the European Society of Medicine’s official journal, Medical Research Archives, found that the number of excess deaths in Australia is positively correlated with the number of COVID-19 booster vaccinations received.
• A study published last year in the journal Microorganisms showed that COVID-19 vaccines were linked to an increase in all-cause mortality in Italy.
• And a 2024 study published in the Journal of Community Medicine & Public Health found a “substantial, statistically significant” increase in mortality in Cyprus from all causes in 2021 and 2022 following the rollout of the COVID-19 vaccines.

Malhotra said there is “no question whether there is a link” between COVID-19 vaccination and excess deaths, “because it is irrefutable.”

Instead, the UKHSA is likely attempting to conceal the extent of the link, as the COVID-19 vaccines are “most likely the no. 1 driving factor behind the increase in excess deaths,” Malhotra said.

“We can only assure quality care when there is full transparency and accountability on the data on people’s health,” Malhotra said. “The sooner there can be accountability, the sooner there can be justice for the victims and their families.”

Related articles in The Defender

 

• Media Silent as UK Data Show Sharp Increase in Excess Deaths
• Why Aren’t We Talking About Excess Deaths in Countries With High mRNA Vaccine Rates?
• Australian Researcher Finds Link Between COVID Vaccines and Excess Deaths
• Breaking: Largest Study of Its Kind Finds Excess Deaths During Pandemic Caused by Public Health Response, Not Virus
• ‘The Dam Has Broken’: Mainstream Media Reports on Study Showing COVID Vaccines Likely Fueled Rise in Excess Deaths
• ‘Unambiguous’: Excess Deaths in Cyprus Tied to COVID Vaccine Rollout

 

Michael Nevradakis, Ph.D.

Michael Nevradakis, Ph.D., based in Athens, Greece, is a senior reporter for The Defender and host of "The Defender In-Depth" on CHD.TV.

This article was originally published by The Defender — Children’s Health Defense’s News & Views Website under Creative Commons license CC BY-NC-ND 4.0. Please consider subscribing to The Defender or donating to Children’s Health Defense.