Autopsy Findings of Vaccinated People (With Covid Vaccines): An Update

Fatalities from mRNA vaccine-induced fulminant myocarditis are possible but extremely rare — in about 1 in 10 suspected post-vaccine deaths (i.e., 1 in 20,000,000 vaccinated individuals).
There’s nothing more powerful than seeing reality for oneself. That’s why an autopsy, ‘the act of seeing for oneself’ in Greek, the dissection of a dead body to reveal the inner physiology, is gold-standard for finalizing the cause of death.
Now, using the same keywords again, the number of articles has risen to 123. So, in this update, I will describe what new developments have surfaced and what they mean for the safety of Covid-19 vaccines, a highly contentious topic that often sets people apart into two polarizing sides of vaccines being safe or unsafe when, in fact, the reality is rarely ever black and white.
Part I: A summary
Among the 33 post-covid vaccine deaths, the cause of death of:
19 cases were unrelated to the vaccine.
2 cases were suspected but unconfirmed AstraZeneca’s DNA vaccine-induced VITT.
*VITT: Vaccine-induced thrombotic thrombocytopenia is a known risk of adenovirus-vectored DNA vaccines from AstraZeneca and Johnson & Johnson, especially among younger females, characterized by life-threatening blood clots with low platelets. Platelets are blood-clotting cells, so their depletion makes one prone to excessive bleeding. VITT also has a specific biomarker: anti-platelet factor 4 (anti-PF4) antibodies.
Overall, the autopsies show that most cases (19 out of 33) of post-vaccine death are unrelated to the vaccine. The related ones are mostly a result of DNA vaccine-induced VITT. Pre-existing diseases, most notably cardiovascular diseases, are usually the cause of death instead.
While the autopsy studies discussed have small sample sizes and are not sampled at random, thus prone to sampling bias, such limitations also work in favor of vaccines. For example, in the study of Schneider et al. (2021), the autopsies were requested by prosecutors as the post-vaccine death was suspicious (otherwise, why request an autopsy?). Yet, only two out of 18 autopsied cases showed convincing evidence indicating AstraZeneca’s DNA vaccine as the cause of death.
This finding tells us a vital thing: A suspicious or suspected vaccine-related death is usually due to causes unrelated to the vaccine.
Moreover, the prosecutors only requested autopsy for 18 cases out of the 873 post-covid vaccine deaths reported to the German surveillance system as of 31 May 2021. By this date, 15.2 million and 20.9 million people were fully and partially vaccinated, respectively, totaling 36.1 million people in Germany. The 873 post-vaccine deaths, thus, represent 0.0024% of the vaccinated population. And the 18 suspected or suspicious post-covid vaccine deaths only represent 0.0000499% of the vaccinated population.
So, the work of Schneider et al. also tells us another crucial thing about suspected post-covid vaccine deaths — that they are very, very rare.
Post-covid vaccine deaths — deaths occurring shortly after the vaccine — are extremely rare, affecting <0.003% of the vaccinated population.
Post-covid vaccine deaths — with the suspected cause of death being the vaccine — are even rarer, affecting <0.00005% of the vaccinated population. And most of these suspected deaths are due to causes unrelated to the vaccine, usually pre-existing cardiovascular diseases.
Nearly all post-covid vaccine deaths are due to DNA vaccine-induced VITT, an acknowledged risk of DNA vaccines, particularly in younger females. This is why many countries have limited the use of DNA vaccines to the older population only.
Part II
From this overview, it seems that more post-mRNA vaccine deaths have been published compared to Part I. As all autopsy papers on post-DNA vaccine deaths are case reports, a bulk of Part II will focus on post-mRNA vaccine deaths.
Author’s note: As Part II is rather lengthy and technical, feel free to jump to the last section for the key points on Covid-19 vaccine safety.
Part II: Autopsy reports on post-mRNA vaccine deaths
1. Suzuki et al., 2022, Japan (54 cases):
In this small study, the authors described the autopsy findings of 54 individuals (34 men, mean age of 68 years, ranging from 24–91 years) who died within 7 days of vaccination, of which 37 and 6 individuals received Pfizer’s and Moderna’s mRNA vaccine, respectively. Vaccine history was unknown for the remaining 11 cases.
Based on the autopsy findings, the cause of death was natural in 43 cases (i.e., due to diseases), non-natural in 8 cases (e.g., drowning and poisoning), and undetermined in 3 cases.
Among the 43 natural deaths, ischemic heart disease was the most frequent cause of death (16 cases). A causal relationship to the vaccine was ruled out in 36 cases. In the remaining 7 cases, the cause of death was:
Myocarditis with pre-existing ischemic heart disease being the competing cause of death in 1 case who received Moderna’s mRNA vaccine. A causal link to the vaccine is unclear.
Ischemic colitis secondary to superior mesenteric artery thrombosis (blood clots blocking intestinal blood supply) in 1 case who received Pfizer’s mRNA vaccine. A causal link to the vaccine is unclear.
Pulmonary artery thromboembolism (blood clot in the lungs) in 2 cases, with one case who received Pfizer’s mRNA vaccine and the other case with unknown vaccine history. But organized thrombi were found in these cases. As organized thrombi take 1–3 months to form, the cause of death was unlikely to be related to recent (<7 days) vaccination.
Among the 3 undetermined deaths, a causal relationship to the vaccine was ruled out in 2 cases and considered unknown in 1 case, where slight immune cell infiltration in the heart muscle tissue was observed.
The cause of death in all cases was confirmed to be a heart attack, as evidenced by coronary thrombosis (blood clots obstructing heart arteries). Anti-PF4 antibodies and tryptase were negative, ruling out VITT and allergic reactions. None had a history of cardiovascular disease, except for some common risk factors (e.g., hypertension). But genetic testing revealed that all cases carried at least one pro-thrombotic gene mutation, suggesting that genetic risk factors may be involved.
As the pathology seen during the autopsy was typical of what we would normally see for heart attacks, the authors concluded that “no definitive causal relationship with vaccine administration could be postulated in the subjects analyzed in this series.”
This case series described 4 individuals (all men, aged 23–52 years) who died within 10 days of vaccination (3 received Moderna’s and 1 received Pfizer’s mRNA vaccine). Autopsies revealed no obvious cause of death, concluding those cases as sudden deaths with unknown causes.
This study also performed RNA sequencing of the blood sample from the autopsied cases and another two control cases (mRNA vaccine-vaccinated women who died from blood loss and strangulation). Results showed that genes related to neutrophil activation and cytokine production were upregulated in the autopsied vs. control cases, suggesting cytokine storm as the cause of death in the autopsied cases.
This case series examined 3 cases (2 women; age range of 52–84 years; SARS-CoV-2-negative) of deaths following Pfizer’s mRNA vaccine. Autopsies confirmed the cause of death to be lung thrombosis (blood clots) in the two 81- and 84-year-old women and heart thrombosis in the 52-year-old man.