Did preservative and stabilizer ingredients in COVID-19 vaccines cause more deaths than the virus itself? No, that's not true: most COVID-19 vaccines used in Korea do not contain preservatives, and at the time of writing, the number of deaths caused by the COVID-19 disease far exceeds the number of deaths reported after receiving the COVID-19 vaccine.
The claim appeared in a video (archived here) where it was published on TikTok by @tiktokmanim0 on September 14, 2022, with a photo of billionaire philanthropist Bill Gates speaking at a podium. The opening caption referred to COVID-19 as "Cororong," a neologism that emerged on social media posts during the pandemic to avoid getting posts removed for violating COVID-19 guidelines. A caption reads:
Do you know about the horror story around Cororong?
This is what the post looked like on TikTok at the time of writing:
(Source: TikTok screenshot taken on Thu Jun 8 17:11:19 2023 UTC)
The video showed a screenshot of an anonymous online post, with narration claiming that COVID-19 vaccine manufacturers made a fortune, and the number of deaths from the preservatives and stabilizers contained in the vaccine had surpassed the number of deaths from the virus. It drew the conclusion that many people "doubt" the vaccines and believe that they are "fake."
According to statistics from Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency, the number of deaths reported after getting a COVID-19 jab in Korea from February 26, 2021, the start date for inoculations, to May 21, 2023, was 1,974. This number refers to the deaths that have been reported by medical professionals following vaccination but it does not prove causality by confirming the death was due to the vaccine and not other factors. The number instead is used to identify potential concerns, not to suggest causation between an adverse health event and a given vaccine. The number of deaths caused by COVID-19 in Korea as of May 21, 2023, was 34,670, nearly 18 times the number of deaths reported after vaccination.
Moreover, the vaccines approved for use in Korea include AstraZeneca, Johnson & Johnson, Pfizer, Moderna, Novavax and Skycovione, according to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency and only one, AstraZeneca, contains a preservative and stabilizer ingredient.
