It is false that 111 airline pilots died in 2021 from the covid-19 vaccine, 1,750% more since the pandemic, as shown in an obituary from the American pilots union Air Line Pilots Association (ALPA).
The published list is an incomplete registry of deceased and does not specify the cause of their deaths. In addition, ALPA ensures that in 2019 and 2020 there were more pilots killed than in 2021.
Publications on social networks and digital media assure that young pilots died in the first nine months of 2021 because of the vaccine, since, in 2020, before the first doses were injected, only 6 pilots died, and in 2019, one.
As proof, they attach an image of an obituary with a row of the names of the pilots and the airlines they worked for, ordered by the year of their death, which they attribute to Air Line Pilot Magazine, a monthly publication of ALPA, a union representing US and Canadian airline pilots.
“111 pilots die after vaccination. The deaths of US pilots increase by 1,750% after the launch of the covid vaccine”, adds the disinformation, shared thousands of times at least since December 8, 2021 also in French, Italian, Portuguese or English.
FACTS: It is not true that 111 airline pilots have died with an increase of 1,750% since the pandemic, since ALPA itself registered more deaths in 2019 and 2020 than in 2021, according to a statement, and the image that has been shared corresponds to a partial registry of the deceased.
MOST DEATHS IN 2019 AND 2020, ACCORDING TO ALPA
The union responded on December 9 in a tweet that, “according to verified information provided by their families, we report the death of more pilots in both 2019 and 2020 than in 2021” and clarified that, in the magazine, they publish “the list of deceased as they receive information from families”.
“Information in one issue of the journal does not provide a complete account of total losses for each of the years listed,” he added.
EFE found an issue of the ALPA magazine from September 2010, in which the same method is observed. In the obituary of that edition, tribute is paid to a person who died in 2004; to 6 in 2009, and to 50 in 2010, which gives rise to say that there were more deaths in 2010 than in 2009 or 2004. But, instead, in an October 2014 edition, only one death is noted in 2010.
Additionally, a search of some of the names in the viral post reveals full obituaries of the deceased published in local newspapers, noting that far from being young pilots who died suddenly, they were elderly, like 97-year-old Elmer Udd. who even fought in World War II.
VACCINES ARE SAFE AND EFFECTIVE
Vaccines are safe and effective, as has been shown by the clinical trials carried out on their effects and the evaluations of the same specialized agencies and regulatory agencies, such as the European Medicines Agency (EMA), which constantly monitors the possible appearance of adverse effects.
Vaccines against covid-19 also cannot alter, diminish or destroy the immune system, as experts affirm, a theory that anti-vaccines and deniers frequently fan.
In summary, the published obituary does not record the pilots killed by the vaccine or all the employees who died in 2021: it is an incomplete obituary that does not show that deaths have increased in this group due to injections against covid.
–
