Claims that 80 Canadian doctors died because of COVID-19 vaccines are unsubstantiated

A video circulating on social media paints an alarming picture of the COVID-19 vaccines by suggesting that they caused the deaths of dozens of Canadian doctors.

"Look on it!" said the man in the Dec. 10 Instagram video. "Eighty Canadian meds — medical doctors — who is vaxxed and dead."

As he spoke, he focused the camera on a group of photos that purported to show physicians who died because of the COVID-19 vaccines.

"Look at them," he said. "All of them dead. Every one of them — dead." 

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(Screenshot from Instagram.)

The video’s focus was the front page of the November 2022 issue of Druthers, a Canadian publication that spreads anti-vaccine misinformation and COVID-19 conspiracy theories, according to news reports. 

The first main headline read: "80 Canadian MDs VAXXED and Dead." The corresponding story suggested that each of the people shown died because of the COVID-19 vaccine.

The story claimed that death rates among young, vaccinated Canadian doctors "dramatically increased" in 2022. COVID-19 vaccines were never mentioned outright, but the claims follow the trend of vaccine misinformation targeting the novel coronavirus and COVID-19 vaccines.

A photo array of 80 doctors accompanied the story.

PolitiFact took a closer look at the circumstances of the deaths of several of the doctors Druthers identified and found no evidence to suggest that the COVID-19 vaccines were the cause. 

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Publicly available information showed that several of the doctors’ deaths were linked to illnesses such as cancer or other serious accidents. For example: 

• Dr. Richard Cartier, 60, died in July while descending K2, the world’s second-tallest mountain. CTV News Montreal reported that it is "believed he fell as he was descending with his team of climbers after reaching Camp 4 at 7,600 meters." 

• Dr. Barbara Cynthia Ng, 42, died in June 20, 2021, after a "fight against a rare, aggressive sarcoma," according to her obituary. 

• Dr. Annabella Isabella Zawada, 43, was killed in a highway collision Oct. 21, 2021, after "her SUV crossed the center line and collided with an oncoming commercial vacuum truck," according to TBNewsWatch, a local news organization covering Thunder Bay, Ontario. 

• Nelia Scheeres, a 24-year-old third-year medical student at the University of Limerick, died in an Aug. 16, 2021, car crash in Ireland. Scheeres "was driving home from her first day’s work on her GP placement at a practice in Lixnaw when her car collided with a truck at Pope's Cross" and she was pronounced dead at the scene, The Irish Times reported. 

• Dr. Cintia Vontobel Padoin, 44, died Dec. 21, 2021, after previously being diagnosed with malignant melanoma that she "fought her hardest to overcome," according to her obituary. 

PolitiFact had already fact-checked claims about the deaths of three other doctors who were featured on the publication’s front page. Before they died, Dr. Jakub Sawicki and Dr. Stephen McKenzie had previously been diagnosed with cancer and Dr. Lorne Segall had been seriously ill with an undisclosed diagnosis. 

Their deaths were blamed on the COVID-19 vaccines, but the hospital the doctors worked at denied those claims: "Dr. Jakub Sawicki, Dr. Stephen McKenzie and Dr. Lorne Segall were respected physicians who dedicated their lives to caring for their patients and community. The rumor circulating on social media is simply not true. Their passings were not related to the COVID-19 vaccine."

The phrases "died suddenly" and "died unexpectedly," were common refrains used to frame each of the doctors’ deaths. "Died suddenly," a phrase commonly used in obituaries, has become a lightning rod target for anti-vaccine conspiracy theories. "Died Suddenly," an anti-vaccine film released in November, recirculated debunked claims and promoted unsubstantiated conspiracy theories about COVID-19 vaccines. 

A person in an Instagram video repeated Druthers’ claim that the deaths of 80 Canadian doctors were linked to the COVID-19 vaccines. 

There’s no evidence to support that claim. Local news reports and public obituaries show that many of the physicians’ deaths were linked to illnesses or accidents.

We rate this claim False.

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