UK stillbirth study falsely linked to Covid-19 vaccination

A report on a rise of stillbirths and babies dying in early weeks of life did not examine any data on the mothers’ Covid 19 vaccination status, despite social media posts misleadingly linking the results to vaccination efforts.

The annual report by researchers at Oxford and Leicester universities found perinatal mortality and stillbirth rates increased slightly across the UK in 2021 after years of decline.

It reported 3.54 stillbirths per 1 000 births in 2021, up from 3.33 per 1 000 in 2020 and the rate of neonatal deaths, when a baby dies within 28 days of birth, rose to 1.65 per 1 000 in 2021 from 1.53 in 2020.

Users of messaging platform X, formerly known as Twitter and Facebook shared a Daily Mail headline about the report alongside comments suggesting a link between the mortalities and Covid vaccination.

One X user quoting the headline, for example, addressed it with hostile remarks toward Viki Male, an immunologist who has advocated for the safety of Covid vaccination during pregnancy.

“The NHS and the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists strongly recommend getting vaccinated against Covid during pregnancy. I have often shared our national guidance, as well as the evidence in support of it”, Male, a senior lecturer in reproductive immunology at Imperial College London, who was not involved in the perinatal mortality study, said by email.

The annual report itself cannot calculate the risk of stillbirth and neonatal death associated with Covid-19 vaccination as the group does not collect this data, one of the study’s authors, Elizabeth Draper, professor of perinatal and paediatric epidemiology at the University of Leicester, told

The study found factors contributing to stillbirths included healthcare inequalities affecting the most deprived, and black and ethnic minority communities, with Covid-19 infection tied to at least some stillbirths in 2021.