False: Official data from Europe confirms COVID-19 vaccines are killing children.

By: Rahul Adhikari
November 21 2022

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Context

A post on Instagram claimed that official data confirmed that COVID-19 vaccine Pfizer was killing European children. A screenshot of an article published by the anti-vaxxer website The Daily Exposé was shared in the post. The headline read: "Official Data confirms the COVID-19 Vaccine is killing Children – Europe has suffered a 552 percent increase in Excess Deaths among Children ever since EMA first approved the Pfizer Jab for Kids."

The Daily Expose is a conspiracy website created in November 2020. According to a Logically investigation, the website promotes a standard portfolio of COVID-19-denialist, anti-vaxxer, and Great Reset myths framed as breaking news. 

In Fact

The Daily Expose cited EuroMOMO as the source of the official child mortality data in Europe. EuroMOMO is a project that collects data on mortality from 29 European countries to detect and measure an excess number of deaths related to influenza and other possible public health threats. According to its website, the EuroMOMO has been supported by and has worked closely with the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) and the World Health Organization (WHO) Regional Office for Europe. The data on the website shows a surge in excess child mortality in Europe in 2022 compared to the death rate in 2017-2020. Till week 45, the excess child mortality (0-14 years) was 131 in 2017, 200 in 2018, 528 in 2019, -155 in 2020, 279 in 2021, and 1009 in 2022.

The European Medicines Agency (EMA) approved the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine for children aged 12 to 15 years in May 2021. Six months later, in November, the authorization was extended for children aged 5 to 11 years. The Daily Expose argued that the number of child deaths increased from May 2021 as the vaccine was rolled out for children. They compared weekly, monthly, and yearly death rates to attribute the surge in child mortality to the Pfizer vaccine. One part of the article read, "Is this just a coincidence? It seems far too good to be true if it is. So let's take a look at how deaths among children have fared since the EMA extended emergency use authorization of the COVID-19 vaccine to them compared to previous years." However, their assumptions are wrong, as the death rate increased in 2019 as well. The excess mortality was 200 in 2018, which climbed to 528 in 2019, a 164% surge.

The data on EuroMOMO gives an approximate estimate of the excess deaths related to influenza, pandemic, and other possible public health threats. It does not provide data on deaths caused by COVID-19 vaccine. The website forewarns that the "cumulated excess mortality outputs for the COVID-19 pandemic period may be unreliable due to some model issues."

According to a two-year study by members of several U.K. government health bodies and researchers from the University of London published on June 20, 2022, COVID-19 deaths in children are extremely rare. The research concluded that COVID-19 deaths in children remain extremely rare. Most fatalities occur within 30 days of infection and in children with specific underlying conditions.

A Pfizer's clinical trial published by The New England Journal of Medicine on January 6, 2022, stated that the vaccine is safe and effective for children aged between 5-11. It added that no deaths were reported during the trial.

The Daily Expose doesn't cite any official data or government source that proves that the excess mortality rate in European children has increased because of the vaccine. The references given in the article don't establish that the statement "vaccine killing children" is accurate.

Medical experts, health websites, and fact-checkers have previously published multiple reports debunking COVID-19 and vaccine-related misinformation. Logically has also debunked various false claims regarding COVID-19 vaccines.

According to an article by ABC News, experts attribute the rise in infant mortality in Europe to the post-lockdown resurgence of respiratory infections such as influenza and pneumonia and the "long-term consequences of the pandemic," such as overloaded public health systems and postponed treatments.  

The Verdict

There is no official data to prove that COVID-19 vaccines killed children and led to a surge in excess child mortality rate in Europe. Therefore, we have marked this claim as false.