I think it's even more nuanced than that. The people suffering issues here are young people that would otherwise probably not die or have serious long term effects of Covid-19. People are going to think "Why should I risk death, even if it's just a relatively small risk?"

7 cases in Germany, with 3 deaths. Patients were aged 20 to 50 years.

https://www.pei.de/EN/newsroom/hp-news/2021/210315-pei-infor...

https://www.pei.de/EN/service/faq/coronavirus/faq-coronaviru...

Thanks, I’ve updated my comment. I still believe my original point stands.

so what's puzzling is that the fatality rate from this complication is so high in Germany (3 of 7) where it's so much lower in the US and UK. Pausing vaccination with the AZ vaccine in Germany doesn't seem like an overreaction. At the very least, reviewing & communicating best practices for detecting and treating this would be in order.

Did you read the article? The Norwegians claim that one of the health workers died.

I meant to write “confirmed deaths”, sorry. Updated my comment.

“confirmed” might seem like nitpicking but it’s widely speculated that the actual death count for COVID is much higher than the confirmed number too.

> But my general point still stands, COVID is far, far more dangerous than the vaccine.

It is worth breaking that down by age, sex, and other risk factors.

For an 80 year old male obese smoker, who lives in a country with high COVID-19 rates, I have no problem believing that COVID-19 is more dangerous than the AstraZeneca vaccine.

For a 25 year old female with no comorbidities, who lives in a country with low COVID-19 rates, this is much less clear and will now have to be determined statistically.

In Norway, five women below 50 years have died of COVID-19 (in total) and one from the vaccine

Source (in English): https://www.fhi.no/en/id/infectious-diseases/coronavirus/dai...

But did these women have any comorbidities?

The sample is so small that even if they did it wouldn't be possible to say anything definitive about any possible connection. The death rate here in Norway is minuscule compared to the UK, US, France, etc.

> 538K confirmed deaths in 328 million (the US population)

That is a hugely inflated numbers. For example, people who died in motorcycle accidents who tested positive for COVID at the time are counted in that total. It may be useful to the CDC to count that way but it is not an accurate number to show how dangerous COVID actually is.

Flu death statistics are way down this year. Did the flu magically disappear this year? I doubt it. Almost all respiratory infections were counted as COVID out of an abundance of caution.

Yes, COVID is dangerous. However, the count that is published is way over stated.

This is not necessarily the case, and based on excess mortality data if the number is off it is most likely under reported (look at the senior home reporting in NY state and the reluctance of certain states, like Flordia, to openly share this data).

In the case of the motorcycle accident: the man was in a crash and hospitalized for over a week where he died of COVID related respiratory failure. While he would not have been in the hospital had it not been for the accident, had it not been for COVID he very well may have survived his time there.

Regarding the Flu, it is way down this year precisely because of the measures that have been taken for COVID. It is less transmissible than COVID, so it stands to reason that it would die out during a time when most people are taking precautions to prevent the spread of a more transmissible virus.

This canard is still being trailed out?

Excess death counts are available, and they are even higher than the COVID death counts, suggesting that the official count may actually be an underestimate of total fatalities. However, the claim that that it is "way over stated" is not borne out by the actual statistics.

Your only response to the well known fact that the data has flaws [0,1] is more unspecified statistics. Why should I put any trust in those if I know the death count statistic has clear flaws?

I'd rather our society not be directed based on easily manipulated statistics. It cloaks hidden agendas behind the guise of science and math which is dishonest.

[0]: https://www.denverpost.com/2020/05/15/colorado-covid-coronav... [1]: https://www.fox35orlando.com/news/fox-35-investigates-questi...

The hospital near me has not found ANY positive flu cases in the last year. It seems like the Covid restrictions (masks, handwashing, and social distancing) were extremely effective at preventing the spread of the flu. It wasn’t magic. It was basic hygiene.

Sounds too good to be true so it probably is not. If that is the case why didn't this 'basic hygiene' eliminate or curb the coronavirus?

Because covid is considerably more contagious than most flu strains.

COVID is not the virus, it is the disease that results from the coronavirus. The virus is the contagious part.

Sure, but do you really believe everyone was so hygienic that the flu was entirely eliminated in some areas? Most of the trips I have taken out involve at least a couple encounters with people wearing their masks improperly, touching their face, sneezing, coughing, etc. We should see at least some small amount of flu. Zero is suspicious IMHO.

The actual data does not show zero cases, but it does show an incredible decline in flu infections this year.

There will always be a small number of people wearing masks incorrectly but that doesn’t invalidate everyone that does. And it’s not just masks etc, it’s also the lengthy lockdown, working from home instead of commuting on public transit, etc etc. It does seem strange that a hospital would report absolutely zero but we have no idea of the context. Maybe the OP lives in a sparsely populated area.

UNC is in the Research-Triangle, not a sparse area: https://chapelboro.com/news/health/unc-hospitals-report-zero...