DEBUNKED: “Millions Saved” COVID-19 Vaccine Study Torn to Shreds

You won’t see this on the front page of any newspaper—but it should be the lead story.

This article originally appeared on Focal Points and was republished with permission.

Guest post by Nicolas Hulscher, MPH

Dr. Raphael Lataster’s new meta-critique exposes the flawed math, false assumptions, and hidden conflicts behind the infamous “14 million lives saved” vaccine claim.

In this revealing episode, epidemiologist Nicolas Hulscher sits down with Dr. Raphael Lataster to dismantle the widely cited Watson et al study, published in The Lancet, which claimed COVID-19 vaccines saved 14.4 million lives in a single year.

Dr. Lataster presents his rigorous meta-critique published in the Journal of Independent Medicine, exposing the study’s deeply flawed assumptions, hidden conflicts of interest, and misleading methodology:

Key Points

• False Vaccine Effectiveness Claims
  Watson et al. used exaggerated estimates of vaccine effectiveness, derived from flawed clinical trial data that ignored adverse events and misclassified cases in "partially vaccinated" individuals—artificially inflating efficacy.

• Static Vaccine Assumptions
  The study assumed constant vaccine protection (e.g., 90% against disease) over time, despite clear real-world evidence showing rapid waning effectiveness—which turns negative after several months.

• Manipulated IFR/CFR Inputs
  The paper relied on inflated infection fatality rates (IFRs) and was non-transparent about their sources—likely overestimating the deadliness of COVID-19 to make vaccine impact appear larger.

• No Risk-Benefit Analysis
  Watson et al completely ignored vaccine risks—including myocarditis, deaths, and subclinical injury—rendering any benefit claims scientifically meaningless.

• Garbage In, Garbage Out Modeling
  The study was not based on real-world outcomes but on speculative modeling riddled with biased inputs, unrealistic assumptions, and circular logic.

• Massive Conflicts of Interest
  The lead authors and funding bodies have extensive ties to vaccine manufacturers, the WHO, GAVI, and the Gates Foundation. The team operated under the leadership of Neil Ferguson—infamous for his failed pandemic models and lockdown advocacy.

• Excess Deaths Correlate with Vaccination
  Dr. Lataster shared findings from his other research showing a correlation between high vaccination rates and increased excess mortality and hospitalizations in multiple countries.

The Watson et al study has been used by people like Dr. Peter Hotez to justify dangerous genetic injections, vaccine mandates, suppress dissent, and shield pharmaceutical companies from accountability.

Dr. Lataster’s meta-critique of Watson et al reinforces the findings of the study “The Discrepancy Between the Number of Saved Lives with COVID-19 Vaccination and Statistics of Our World in Data,” which used real-world data to show that the claim of millions of lives saved by mRNA injections is mathematically and observationally impossible:

NEW STUDY - COVID-19 Vaccine “Millions of Lives Saved” Claim Debunked by Real-World Data

Both analyses converge on the same conclusion:
The COVID-19 vaccines did not and could not have saved the millions of lives claimed—those figures are the product of flawed models, inflated assumptions, and statistical manipulation.

Be sure to follow Dr. Raphael Lataster on Substack:

DEBUNKED! Hugely influential COVID vaccine study (Watson et al) claiming they saved millions torn to shreds

and on X: https://x.com/OkayThenNews/status/1920282935510638982

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Nicolas Hulscher, MPH

Epidemiologist and Foundation Administrator, McCullough Foundation

www.mcculloughfnd.org

Please consider following both the McCullough Foundation and my personal account on X (formerly Twitter) for further content.

Copyright 2025 Focal Points

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