Far more people died in 2021, after the rollout of the COVID-19 shots, and in 2022, than during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020

Largely because the healthcare system was overwhelmed & people with regular needs couldn't get in.

TL:DR - A non-practicing general practitioner (with some extra training in the human musculoskeletal system but nothing extra in anything to do with global pandemics) presents the opinions of - surprisingly - a practicing doctor who thinks it's because of the strain on the system, plus the opinions of a bunch of other people with the same lack of expertise as Mercola or even less, who think it's the vaccines.

The long version:

Dr. Joseph Mercola is a licensed MD with a few hundred extra hours of training in the human musculoskeletal system. He "stopped seeing patients in 2007"

He has no extra training or experience in immunology, virology, public health, or anything else relevant to covid. He appears to make a living selling supplements & stuff and collecting $20K - $30K each time he speaks at live events. He has claimed to have made $100 million doing this.

Sarah Knapton, a journalist, references studies but does not link to them. The doctor she quotes does not blame vaccines: "Delays in seeking and receiving healthcare are no doubt the driving force, in my view."

Mercola presents claims from the anonymous Ethical Skeptic, whose expertise is unknown. This a technical document, and would be known as a preprint if it was a conventional paper. But it is not being submitted for peer review, is it?, so it's actually just one anonymous person's opinion.

Next is a comment from Kenji Yamamoto on a Feb '22 study that tells us covid vaccine effectiveness fades over time. Who knew? It concludes: "The results strengthen the evidence-based rationale for administration of a third vaccine dose as a booster." Mr.Yamamoto claims "The study showed that immune function among vaccinated individuals 8 months after the administration of two doses of COVID-19 vaccine was lower than that among the unvaccinated individuals …" but does not indicate where this information is in the study, and the tables in the study do not show this except in one minor instance. Characterizing the whole study this way is gross misinformation.

Reference is made to an article from Thailand which studied 301 students 13 - 18 years old after vaccination, 7 of whom (7!) might have "had suspected subclinical myocarditis". Several quotes were chosen for their scare value but this one was left out: "all cases fully recovering within 14 days."

Next is a report on a discussion between a hedge fund manager and Steve Bannon, both non-experts, about excess mortality in youth. They suspect vaccines but fail to discuss the possibility that the virus causing the global pandemic might be involved. Perhaps the fact that the system was overrun with covid patients at all levels might mean that people with normal heart attacks, cancer, etc couldn't get the help they needed. <s> Just guessing here.</s>

Then there's a graph labelled Exhibit 4. It shows a sharp decrease in the excess death rate (Age 25-44) after each of lockdowns, early vax, late vax, mandates, and boosters. It seems to counter their argument, but maybe I'm missing something.

That's followed by speculations from Steve Kirsch and Marc Girardot, two more non-experts. Again, no recognition of a weakened healthcare system as a factor.

On to Alex Berenson, "The Pandemic's Wrongest Man", making hay out of a statistically insignificant difference - 36 instead of 33.46 out of over a milion.

And that's it folks - 99% speculation by non-expert individuals, plus a contradiction by Dr. Charles Levinson who is in the thick of it.

https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2022/12/covid-deaths-anti-vaccine-republican-voters/672575/ (use 12 foot ladder for article)

Yeah, hm. I wonder if a bunch of people didn't get vaccines and subsequently died. That would be quite something wouldn't it.