This comes from former University of Ottawa physics professor Denis Rancourt, who argues there was no actual pandemic caused by a virulent pathogen. Instead, he claims excess mortality during the COVID period resulted from government responses and medical interventions rather than the virus itself.
Multiple fact-checking organizations have identified significant flaws in Rancourt's methodology and conclusions. Science Feedback's analysis reveals a critical issue with his approach: Rancourt's team correlated spikes in excess mortality during the post-vaccination period with vaccine rollout timing. This correlation-based argument fails on two fronts. First, correlation alone cannot establish causation. Second, and more importantly, these mortality spikes corresponded directly to surges in COVID-19 deaths, making the virus—not vaccines—the most likely cause.
Factcheck.org reached similar conclusions, noting that "Rancourt's conclusions are flawed because they rely on assumptions that spikes in deaths were caused by COVID-19 vaccines without showing evidence of this—and when COVID-19 itself is a clear contributor to excess deaths."
Peer-reviewed studies consistently contradict Rancourt's claims. Science Feedback notes that "published studies haven't found that vaccinated people are more likely to experience higher all-cause mortality compared to unvaccinated people." Research published in Frontiers in Medicine demonstrates that vaccination mortality rates were significantly lower than the 2019 monthly all-cause mortality rate of 0.3% for adults 65 and older and the 30-day all-cause mortality rate of 21.5% among U.S. nursing home residents with COVID-19. The study concludes that "the benefits of COVID-19 vaccines outweigh the potential risks in older frail populations."
