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A growing political and scientific backlash is unfolding in the U.K. after The Telegraph reported that the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) refused to release data that could reveal whether COVID-19 vaccines are linked to excess deaths.
Medical commentator John Campbell, Ph.D., condemned the decision. Campbell ccused officials of hiding information that could shed light on what is driving the country’s rising mortality.
According to The Telegraph, UKHSA argued that disclosing vaccine dates and corresponding dates of death could cause “distress” to bereaved families and fuel “misinformation.”
Campbell said the agency’s logic defies belief.
“They argued that release of data would lead to distress of bereaved relatives if a link … was discovered,” he said. “‘So the reason we’re not telling you why your mom died is because it might upset you.’”
Campbell said the public is being denied the most fundamental data required to assess vaccine safety. He noted that only two simple data points are needed to conduct a basic correlation analysis: vaccine dose dates and dates of death.
Campbell said:
“That’s basically … the only two pieces of information we need. Then we can look at the date of individual vaccine doses, see when individuals died and correlate those two. Why won’t they give us the information to do that? So it looks like the pharmaceutical industries have done that, but we’re not allowed to.”
‘What form of irrationality is this?’
A cross-party parliamentary group also pressed government health officials to release the data “on the same anonymised basis” they shared it with pharmaceutical companies, according to The Telegraph.
In its letter to UKHSA and the UK Department of Health & Social Care, the group cited “growing public and professional concerns” about the U.K.’s persistent excess death numbers.
According to Campbell, member of Parliament Richard Tice called the decision to withhold the data “totally unacceptable” and accused UKHSA of a “scandalous cover-up.”
“If we are not prepared to learn lessons about why people are dying, what sort of society are we?” Tice asked.
The advocacy group UsForThem requested the data in 2023, through the Freedom of Information Act 2000, asking UKHSA to disclose, for every adult who died between 2021 and 2023, their age at first dose, the dates of each vaccine dose and the date of death.
UKHSA refused, arguing that releasing the information would fuel “misinformation,” could reduce vaccine uptake and might cause “distress or anger” among relatives of the deceased.
In November 2025, the U.K.’s information commissioner ruled in the agency’s favor.
“So giving accurate information can lead to misinformation. … What form of irrationality is this?” Campbell asked.
‘Desperation that this data should not, in any form, see the light of day’
UsForThem co-founder Ben Kingsley said health officials’ refusal to release the data exposes an entrenched, paternalistic mindset.
“It is perverse for UKHSA to argue that this data should not be released because the public could feel distressed or angry if patterns or correlations were to be identified,” Kingsley said, according to Campbell. “You have to ask yourself why it is that the public are considered incapable of handling this data?”
Kingsley said the agency’s resistance suggests “a desperation that this data should not, in any form, see the light of day.”
Campbell said the U.K. government cannot rebuild trust while withholding fundamental data. “They owe us this, but they’re not giving it to us,” he said.
He added that officials were effectively telling the public to accept being kept in the dark.
“If one of your relatives [died] after a COVID vaccine, then you are just not grown up enough to know that,” Campbell said. “Just accept that and say thank you to your government for protecting you from mental distress.”
Studies increasingly flag COVID vaccines as a factor in excess deaths
Excess mortality — deaths above what historical trends predict — has remained elevated in the U.K. since the pandemic.
Scientists have proposed several explanations, including long-term effects of past COVID-19 infections, harms linked to lockdowns and delays in the diagnosis of serious diseases due to strained health systems, according to The Daily Mail.
But a growing body of research raises questions about vaccine-related risks.
Recent international findings include:
- In November, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration acknowledged that “at least” 10 children died following COVID-19 vaccination.
- An analysis published in September in Royal Society Open Science found that excess deaths in Germany rose sharply in 2023, even as COVID-19 deaths fell, with researchers noting a positive correlation between mortality and vaccination rates.
- A study published in March in Discover Medicine found that Japan recorded an abnormal increase in excess deaths in the years since the introduction of the COVID-19 vaccines.
- A 2024 study published in the European Society of Medicine’s official journal, Medical Research Archives, found that the number of excess deaths in Australia is positively correlated with the number of COVID-19 booster vaccinations received.
- A 2024 study published in Microorganisms linked COVID-19 vaccines to an increase in all-cause mortality in Italy.
Watch John Campbell discuss the controversy here:
Related articles in The Defender- UK Government Wins 2-Year Battle to Withhold Data Linking COVID Vaccines to Excess Deaths
- Leaked Memo: FDA Confirms ‘At Least’ 10 Child Deaths From COVID Vaccine, Promises Sweeping Reforms
- CHD Asks FDA to Revoke COVID Vaccine Licenses, Calls on Public to Submit ‘Hundreds of Thousands’ of Comments
- Flawed Study Downplays Children’s Risk of Myocarditis From COVID Vaccine
