Covid vaccine were rolled out started in February...

Covid vaccine were rolled out started in February 2021.

Therapeutic Goods Administration, which regulates vaccines in Australia, warned that despite a rise in deaths this year, it was "false and unscientific to automatically conclude that vaccines caused these deaths".

"There is no credible evidence to suggest that COVID-19 vaccines have contributed to excess deaths in Australia or overseas."

According to the TGA's October 6 weekly vaccine safety report, only 14 deaths have been directly linked to COVID-19 vaccines in Australia, of which 13 occurred after one dose of Vaxzevria (AstraZeneca).

As for the increase, the ABS makes clear that its provisional data "does not provide official estimates of excess mortality".

Partly that's because it "does not take into account changes in population size and age-structures of that population, as well as expected improvements in mortality rates over time".

Adjusting for this, the Actuaries Institute estimates that excess mortality in the first half of 2022 was closer to 13 per cent (11,200).

Roughly half (5,620) of those deaths were "from" COVID-19, it found, meaning non-COVID excess deaths stood at roughly 6.5 per cent.

Major contributors to the rise were dementia, cancer, ischaemic heart disease and cerebrovascular diseases.

(There were also more deaths from other "unspecified diseases", though the institute notes that "this is a large 'catch-all' category" from which it is difficult to draw conclusions.)