Fact Check: Did 75% of Covid deaths occur in people who had four comorbidities?
Social media users are claiming that 75% of people who died of COVID-19 were having at least four comorbidities.
By Newsmeter Network Published on 20 Jan 2022 10:37 AM IST
Hyderabad: Social media users are claiming that 75% of people who died of COVID-19 were having at least four comorbidities.
"75% of `Covid Deaths' were in people with at least 4 comorbidities according to the CDC (sic)," reads the post.
Click here to view the post.
Fact Check:
The claim is false.
NewsMeter checked the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) website. We found that 75% of such deaths among fully vaccinated individuals involved people with four comorbidities.
Contrary to the posts, this study supports the idea that vaccinations are quite effective against COVID-19.
https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/
The claim comes from remarks made by CDC Director Rochelle Walensky about a recent COVID-19 study during an appearance on the television show "Good Morning America."
He was responding to a question about some "encouraging headlines" regarding a new study talking about "how well vaccines are working to prevent severe illness."
Walensky briefly summarised the study on 1.2 million vaccinated individuals. "The overwhelming number of deaths, over 75%, occurred in people who had at least four comorbidities. So really these are people who were unwell, to begin with," he said.
It is this last sentence that went viral on social media. In the clip's full context, however, it's clear that Walensky wasn't talking about all COVID-19 deaths, but COVID-19 deaths among fully vaccinated individuals.
This exchange can be glimpsed around the 2:30 mark of the following video:
it's clear in the original video that Walensky was talking about fully vaccinated individuals, an edited version of this clip makes it seem as if Walensky was referring to all COVID-19 deaths. Hence, the claim is false.
