There’s no question that countries in the Western world continued to see excess deaths in 2022, despite COVID-19 vaccines having been introduced in late 2020 to combat the pandemic. Vaccine skeptics have expressed the view that COVID-19 vaccination is to blame for these excess deaths. However, published studies show that vaccinated people aren’t more likely to die than unvaccinated people. This view is therefore inconsistent with the scientific evidence. Various other issues, such as long COVID and strain on healthcare systems, are more plausible explanations for excess mortality.