“Died Suddenly” Is Anti-Vaxxers’ New Favorite Phrase

Slate ^ | JAN 23, 2023 | Lizzie O'Leary

[nickcarraway]

Mis- and disinformation have been prevalent throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, but in recent months anti-vax activists and conspiracy theorists have latched on to a new phrase to help their cause: “died suddenly.” Anti-vaxxers hoping to convince people that COVID vaccines are linked to sudden deaths among younger people have invoked the term while trying to exploit tragic events like the death of soccer journalist Grant Wahl, or Damar Hamlin suffering a cardiac arrest during an NFL game. Though that theory has no scientific evidence to support it, the “died suddenly” rhetoric has gained a lot of traction on social media. What makes COVID misinformation so spreadable, and how can public health officials combat the rumors?

On Friday’s episode of What Next: TBD, I spoke with Katelyn Jetelina, an epidemiologist and data scientist, about the rise of the viral dog whistle “died suddenly.” Our conversation has been edited and condensed for clarity.

Lizzie O’Leary: In your latest newsletter, you had a heading that said “Deaths by Vaccination Status: It’s not even close.” What does the data show?

Katelyn Jetelina: Underlying all these rumors is the belief that COVID-19 vaccines are harmful, in an intention to possibly depopulate the planet. If that had any merit, we would expect that those who are vaccinated are more likely to die than those are unvaccinated. And we are clearly seeing the opposite. The U.K. CDC released data evaluating all deaths—car accidents, strokes, COVID-19—by vaccination status. And when you visually display that on a graph, there is a clear distinction between the unvaccinated dying (of whatever cause) much higher than the vaccinated, leading to confirm that vaccines continue to save lives.

How big a data set are we talking about?

We have more evidence than any other vaccine or any other disease in the history of

[grey_whiskers]

[griswold3]

I’m not “anti-vax”, just cautious about what I put in my body.

[heavy metal]

my refusing to trust our federal government to protect me and my health doesn’t make me an anti-vaxxer...

the shot sheep need to get over themselves...

[Leep]

I was
.am..anti mandate .. anti mask ..anti lockdowns .. anti destroying the economy .. anti electing a basement dweller.. who has been doing something illegal with top secret fies going back to the days he was in the Senate in the early 1900s..and who
.according to his daughter..took inappropriate showers with her when she was a kid.. telling me right from wrong... Much less letting a corrupt pervert clown run out country.

[mewzilla]

https://slate.com/author/lizzie-oleary

Nuff said.

[Leep]

Oh,and anti giving the clot shot to children.
Psychos!

[Mr. K]

"The U.K. CDC released data evaluating all deaths—car accidents, strokes, COVID-19—by vaccination status. And when you visually display that on a graph, there is a clear distinction "

1) Lies
2) Damnable Lies
3) Statistics

And now a new category:
4) liberal talking points

[frogjerk]

The counting on that side isn’t accurate.

I just want to know how many they will admit to.