The 24% Rasmussen poll: Too bad to be true?
Large number of Americans who know a COVID-19 mRNA vaccine deaths could actually be correct
Rasmussen Reports is a New Jersey-based polling company that appears to be slightly conservative-leaning, if we want to believe Wikipedia. On 2 Nov 2023, the pollster made waves when they reported about a telephone and online survey completed in late October with some 1,100 American participants. Their report title references the undeniably most disturbing finding: “Killer Jab? 24% Say Someone They Know Died From COVID-19 Vaccine.”
These results are not a one-off either. For example, in January 2023, Rasmussen already reported almost identical findings in “‘Died Suddenly’? More Than 1-in-4 Think Someone They Know Died From COVID-19 Vaccines“. But can this be true, that some 80 million Americans “know someone personally who died from side effects of the COVID-19 vaccine”? How many vaccine deaths would there need to be for such a result? The latest poll also includes a few other telling figures that we’ll explore today.
The first question reported in the demographic cross-tabulation for the poll is “Do you know someone personally who died from the COVID-19 virus?” with a 47% affirmative response. This also seems very high to me, but it does give us a great reference point. As of late October, the CDC Data Tracker reports about 1,150,000 COVID-19 deaths. If the distribution of knowing a vaccine death corresponds to that of knowing a COVID-19 death, the 24% killer-jab answer would correspond to approximately 600,000 vaccine deaths in the US (24% / 47% * 1.15m).
The primary American vaccine safety monitoring system, to which „Healthcare providers who administer COVID-19 vaccines should report“ any serious adverse events, is VAERS. As of late September 2023, that database contained over 18,000 domestic death reports after COVID-19 vaccination, about 33 times less than the above estimate. However, what’s interesting is that this multiplier is almost identical to the VAERS under-reporting factor of 31 that Dr. Jessica Rose has been suggesting. In other words, the estimate of 600,000 US vaccine deaths based on the Rasmussen poll is highly consistent with actual deaths reported after COVID-19 vaccination.
If, in a truly skeptical manner, you don’t believe that 600,000 deaths after vaccination equal 600,000 deaths from vaccination, you’ll also have to scrutinize the 1,150,000 COVID-19 death count for the US. The proportion of COVID fatalities with one or more co-morbidities, i.e. concurrent deadly illness(es), has been known to be extremely high, leading to the distinction between deaths from COVID vs. deaths with COVID. As early as 9 April 2020, I have written about the 97% incidence of co-morbidities among COVID (hospital) deaths found in Northern Italy. In a recently archived page dated September 2023, the CDC still reports a meager 5% COVID-only deaths.
Since among those other 95% fatalities, COVID may have been only the trigger, as could have been another respiratory virus, or even just a coincidental, inconsequential finding, the 1,150,000 “COVID deaths” may shrink to as little as 57,500 deaths that were genuinely caused by COVID. What number of vaccine deaths do we think are proportionate to an illness of that impact? 500,000? 50,000? 5,000? Fifty?
Four is the number of “deaths .. consistent with causal association to immunization”, according to Health Canada. Given the two countries’ total populations, this would correspond to some 35 vaccine deaths in the US. (I don’t find any American source for accepted/approved reports on fatal COVID-19 vaccine side effects.) To paraphrase a pandemic propaganda video I vividly recall, which nudged people into compliance with public health measures: If you agree with vaccination mandates, which 35 fellow citizens would you choose to suffer a deadly adverse event from their shots?
The Rasmussen poll includes a few other details of note. Somewhat surprisingly, the responses are almost all within the survey’s 3% margin of error when tabulated by party affiliation. The only exception is the degree to which Democrats and Republicans reject participation in a potential class action lawsuit against pharma, with the former choosing “not at all likely” at 29%, while the latter prefer “not very likely” at 24%. Even for this question, Democrat and Republican voters are almost equal in terms of the affirmative options “very likely” (27% / 29%) and “somewhat likely” (19% / 18%). The highly similar responses suggest that the poll was not biased by the respondents’ politics.
The racial profile of responses is in line with expectations, where more Black and “Other”, presumably including Hispanic, respondents personally know a COVID death (52%, 57%) and/or a vaccine death (28%, 32%) than White respondents (43% and 20%, respectively). This could be explained by the greater proportion of the Black and other non-White groups among those exposed to both the virus and vaccination requirements at the workplace as well as generally experiencing a greater socio-economic burden during the pandemic (and thus looking more keenly for related experiences in their social circles?).
In terms of age, younger adults <40 are least likely (43%) to know someone who died “from” COVID-19, while older adults >65 are least likely (17%) to know a vaccine victim. I’m not too sure how to interpret these patterns nor the fact that men were more likely to know a COVID death than women (51% to 44%) while the two genders were almost identical in terms of knowing a vaccine death (25% to 24%). Another oddity is the preponderance of married over non-married respondents in knowing a COVID death (55% to 39%) and/or a vaccine death (30% to 18%). With respect to education, no clear pattern emerges other than that those who are “not sure” about their level of education have by far the lowest knowledge of COVID deaths (19%) and vaccine deaths (16%). Other than these elusive respondents, high school grads are the least likely to know a COVID death (39%) and college drop-outs are the least likely to know a vaccine death (21%), with the other education groups being relatively close together on both questions.
When looking at income and employment, those with an income over $200,000 are the most likely to know both, a COVID death (56%) and a vaccine death (33%). I expected the well-to-do to go along with the dominant narrative and thus perhaps be more attentive to the impact of the virus, but I am puzzled by their high degree of personally knowing a vaccine death. Similarly, government employees are more likely than other employment groups to know a COVID death (also 56%) and a vaccine death (40%), with the latter percentage being more than twice as high as those working in the private sector (18%). The explanation I’d propose here are the attempted federal and various regional and local government vaccination mandates that may have caused more actual harm, alienated larger groups of public servants, and/or created more extreme positions on both ends (COVID believers and vaccine skeptics) within the public services.
Lastly, the cross-tabulation of the answers to the two questions of primary interest suggests a split of Americans into an alert and an inattentive faction. Of those who know a COVID death, 41% also know a vaccine death, yet of those who do not know a COVID death, only 9% know a vaccine death (compare to 24% baseline). Conversely, of those who know a vaccine death, 81% also know a COVID death, yet of those who do not know a vaccine death, only 36% know a COVID death (compare to 47% baseline).
So, assuming this poll will stand the test of time and not be “adjusted” or retracted, it may add evidence to two areas of concern: (1) the abhorrent safety record of the COVID-19 mRNA vaccines, and (2) a significant fissure in the social fabric of the US and by extension many Western liberal democracies. Nevertheless, with the question about vaccine deaths, an issue that could not easily be broached with COVID-righteous people until this year, if that, the poll suggests some potential for growing awareness of the ubiquitous vaccine harms.
No medical professionals Are NOT REQUIRED to report to VAERS. Contrary to assertion. .