Outside Canada · U.S. hearing clip · COVID vaccine safety claim · source-check · 2026-08-30
McCullough autopsy-review clip claims 73.9% vaccine-caused deaths — what the disputed paper and safety records say
A Facebook Reel from Nutrition with Tom and Lauren uses a U.S. hearing clip of Dr. Peter McCullough to claim the “largest autopsy study” found that 73.9% of reviewed post-vaccination deaths were caused by COVID-19 vaccines. PBC preserved the video and checked the study trail, withdrawal history, and official safety context.
Original Facebook shareSource noteClaim tableCaptured videoAutopsy-review PDF
What the Reel says
[0.00-3.84] And do you have any science to back up your opinion? [3.84-5.60] The best data are autopsies. [5.60-9.24] So in the largest autopsie series published to date, [9.24-11.54] I know because I'm the senior author. [12.64-15.08] Of all the death we examined [15.08-16.48] and we re-reviewed them. [16.48-17.88] We had an adjudication committee. [17.88-20.28] We had ways of arbitration deciding [20.28-22.08] on did the vaccine cause death. [22.08-24.80] The answer is of these cases that came in [24.80-27.36] for autopsie after vaccination, [27.36-31.40] 73.9% of individuals, [31.40-34.48] it was determined that the vaccine was the cause of death. [34.48-35.96] First off, there's whole sharing colleagues [35.96-37.12] who's sitting right behind me.
The Facebook caption goes further than the clip, listing fatal blood clots, stroke, heart attacks, myocarditis, infertility, miscarriage, brain disorders and “turbo cancers,” then promotes an “Ultimate Detox Guide.” Those additional claims are preserved as social-media claims, not treated as established medical findings.
What the autopsy review says
The preserved Science, Public Health Policy, and the Law PDF is titled A Systematic Review Of Autopsy Findings In Deaths After COVID-19 Vaccination. Its abstract says the authors screened published autopsy and organ-restricted autopsy reports, included 44 papers containing 325 autopsy cases plus one organ-restricted case, and that three physicians adjudicated whether vaccination directly caused or significantly contributed to death.
The paper’s own abstract reports 240 deaths, or 73.9%, adjudicated by the authors as directly due to or significantly contributed to by COVID-19 vaccination. That is the number McCullough cites.
Why the conclusion is disputed
The publication trail matters. Search records and source captures show the paper circulated as a Lancet-linked preprint that was removed with a notice saying the conclusions were not supported by the study methodology. A ScienceDirect / Forensic Science International version is marked withdrawn. FactCheck.org, AFP and other reviewers argue the review suffers from selection bias and causal-inference problems.
PBC’s cautious read: autopsy reports can be valuable, and vaccine injury should be investigated seriously. But a selected autopsy review cannot be converted into a population-level claim that “74% died from the vaccines.”
What official safety records do confirm
Health Canada and other safety systems acknowledge rare serious adverse-event signals after COVID-19 vaccination, including thrombosis with thrombocytopenia syndrome and myocarditis/pericarditis. Health Canada also emphasizes that adverse events reported after vaccination are not necessarily caused by the vaccine and require causality assessment.
CDC’s VAERS page makes the same basic point: a VAERS report alone does not mean a vaccine caused or contributed to an adverse event; public-health professionals investigate further when signals appear.
Claim table
| Claim | Evidence label |
|---|---|
| “Largest autopsy study” found 73.9% of deaths were caused by mRNA COVID vaccines. | The 73.9% figure appears in the Hulscher/Alexander/McCullough review, which says 240 of 325 autopsy cases were adjudicated as directly due to or significantly contributed to by COVID-19 vaccination. But this was a selected set of post-vaccination autopsy reports, not a population death-rate study, and causality assessment is disputed. |
| The paper is settled science. | Disputed. The Lancet-linked preprint was removed with a notice that conclusions were not supported by methodology; a ScienceDirect/Forensic Science International version is marked withdrawn; the paper was later republished in Science, Public Health Policy, and the Law, a venue critics identify as outside mainstream consensus. |
| Autopsy is valuable evidence. | Supported in principle. Autopsy and pathology can be important for causality questions. The issue is whether this review’s case selection, adjudication process and causal inference justify the broad social-media conclusion. |
| COVID vaccines caused fatal clots/myocarditis in some rare cases. | Supported in official safety systems as rare safety signals. Health Canada lists confirmed signals including thrombosis with thrombocytopenia syndrome and myocarditis/pericarditis; CDC/FDA pages also monitor myocarditis/pericarditis and other adverse events. |
| Reports after vaccination prove vaccine causation. | Not supported. CDC/VAERS and Health Canada emphasize that adverse-event reports after vaccination are not necessarily caused by the vaccine; causality requires medical review and supporting evidence. |
| The FDA found risk remains up to 15 years after injection. | Not verified as stated. Search results tied this to claims fact-checkers say misread unrelated FDA guidance. FDA has required updated myocarditis/pericarditis warnings and long-term follow-up studies for post-vaccine myocarditis, but that is not the same as proving 15 years of broad blood-clot/death risk for all recipients. |
| mRNA/spike/heavy metals are now inside all of us. | Overbroad/unproven as stated. The Reel’s caption does not provide evidence that “heavy metals” are inside everyone because of vaccines, and that claim was not substantiated by official vaccine safety pages in this pass. |
| Natural detox solutions are proven/censored. | Not established. The post appears to market an “Ultimate Detox Guide.” PBC should not endorse detox claims; people with symptoms or vaccine-injury concerns should seek qualified medical care and report adverse events through official systems. |
| Billions worldwide will suffer consequences. | Speculative and unsupported by the records gathered. Official systems acknowledge rare serious events and ongoing monitoring, but do not support this scale of harm as an established finding. |
Records wanted
- The full original hearing video and transcript identifying date, committee/roundtable and all speakers.
- The complete peer-review/withdrawal correspondence for the autopsy review.
- Independent pathology review of the cases included in the 325-case dataset.
- Any official long-term follow-up data behind the Reel’s “15 years” claim.
- Evidence for or against the caption’s infertility, miscarriage, “turbo cancer,” heavy-metal and detox claims.
Source package
PBC preserved the MP4, metadata, transcript, thumbnail, frame/contact sheet, study PDF, publication-history sources, FactCheck/AFP reviews, and official CDC/FDA/WHO/Health Canada safety-context pages. See the source note and claim table linked above.