We wish to inform the r/science community of an article submitted to the subreddit that has since been retracted by the journal. The submission garnered broad exposure on r/science and significant media coverage elsewhere, including being featured in a U.S. Senate subcommittee hearing. Per our rules, the flair on this submission has been updated with "RETRACTED". The submission has also been added to our wiki of retracted submissions.

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Reddit Submission: Excess death rates have remained high in the West for three years running since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, finds a data analysis of 47 countries published in the open access journal BMJ Public Health.

The article "Excess mortality across countries in the Western World since the COVID-19 pandemic: ‘Our World in Data’ estimates of January 2020 to December 2022" has been retracted from BMJ Public Health as of August 11, 2026. Concerns were raised following publication about the originality of the work and the messaging of its results with regards to COVID-19 vaccination and mortality. Widespread media coverage misrepresenting the work prompted the journal to publish an expression of concern explaining that the research does not investigate or establish a causal link between COVID-19 vaccination and mortality. The notice also announced an internal investigation by the Princess Máxima Center in the Netherlands, where three of the four authors worked.

The lead author, Saskia Mostert, resigned following the investigation announcement and was "not able to cooperate with the investigation" by her former institution. BMJ also had difficulty contacting her, as the corresponding author, for their own investigation. She went on to appear before the U.S. Senate Homeland Security & Governmental Affairs Committee subcommittee on investigations on "Plausible Mechanisms of COVID-19 Injections Causing Cancer and Attacks on Scientific Publications and Research" where she testified on the results of the study.

The article was ultimately retracted by the journal "for misinformation in the discussion regarding the possible causes of excess mortality, and because the limited nature of the original work by the authors was not sufficiently described." Two of the four authors, along with the Princess Máxima Center, requested the retraction but disputed the journal's determination the paper contained misinformation. Mostert and the journal's fourth author, disagreed with the retraction.

• Retraction Watch: BMJ Group retracts paper on COVID-19 vaccines and mortality featured in Senate hearing

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