US infant mortality uptick falsely linked to Covid-19 vaccination

"CDC data shows babies born are now dying at a >50% excess rate -- YEARS after mass mRNA vaccination of young women," epidemiologist Nicolas Hulscher, who has previously been fact-checked for spreading disinformation about Covid-19 vaccines, claimed on X on April 14, 2026.

"Mississippi recently declared a PUBLIC HEALTH EMERGENCY over soaring infant deaths, now linked to transgenerational mRNA 'vaccine' fatal adverse events," he continued in posts also shared on Instagram and Facebook.

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Screenshot of an X post taken April 17, 2026

The posts include video from Lindell TV, a right-wing broadcast network and streaming platform founded by US businessman and election denier Mike Lindell.

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Screenshot of an Instagram post taken April 17, 2026

The same clip spread rapidly across social media platforms, making it the latest in a series of false anti-Covid vaccine claims pushed by Hulscher and others associated with the McCullough Foundation.

The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) did report an increase in the infant mortality rate, from 5.44 to 5.60 deaths per 1,000 live births nationwide, in 2022 -- the first rise in 20 years (archived here). The rate did not fall significantly in 2023 and 2024 (archived here and here).

The posts are also accurate that the Mississippi State Department of Health declared a public health emergency after 2024 data showed the state's infant mortality rate had "increased to 9.7 deaths per 1,000 live births," the highest in more than a decade (archived here).

But experts told AFP there is no evidence Covid-19 vaccines are causing the increase -- and AFP's review of Mississippi's communications about the public health emergency did not show any mention of concerns regarding the shots.

The CDC's National Center for Health Statistics shows the five leading causes of infant mortality were the same before the first Covid-19 cases were reported in 2019 as they were in 2022 after Covid-19 vaccines were routinely recommended during pregnancy (archived here and here). These causes were: 

1. Birth defects
2. Preterm birth and low birth weight
3. Sudden infant death syndrome
4. Unintentional injuries 
5. Maternal pregnancy complications

Public health expert Jessica Steier (archived here) told AFP these same causes have been prominent in the United States for decades.

"The idea that the vaccines reshaped infant mortality is not supported by the data, which shows remarkable consistency across pre-pandemic, pandemic, and post-vaccination windows," she said in an April 24, 2026 email.

Steier, who serves as CEO of Unbiased Science, said Hulscher's claim misleadingly treats any deviation to the infant mortality rate after February 2021 as "caused by the vaccine," while ignoring all the other ways the pandemic disrupted health care, including by overwhelming hospital capacity.

Infant health was also impacted following the lifting of most mask mandates in early 2022, which saw unusually severe respiratory syncytial virus and flu seasons (archived here and here ).

Worse infant outcomes during the pandemic were found not following vaccination, Steier said, but after maternal infection with the virus SARS-CoV-2, "which has been associated with roughly doubled risks of stillbirth and preterm birth" (archived here and here). 

Risk factors

A key predictor of outcomes for infants is access to quality prenatal care (archived here). Studies have shown excess infant mortality is also linked to the quality of the hospital handling the birth (archived here).

"Improving maternal health is the best way to reduce preterm births and infant mortality," Daniel Edney, Mississippi's state health officer, said in a January 2026 press release (archived here and here). 

Juanita Chinn, program director for the Eunice Kennedy Schriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (archived here), told AFP that economic factors clearly contribute to infant mortality (archived here).

Infection with the virus that causes Covid-19 was a key risk factor during pregnancy, but Chinn said the pandemic also led to high unemployment "and we have research that shows that job loss adversely affects birth outcomes" (archived here).

Pre-pandemic research showed that unintentional injury increases when the economy declines (archived here). The economic stress of the pandemic may have contributed to such injuries surfacing as "one of the leading causes of infant mortality," she said on April 28.

She also pointed to evidence showing positive impacts of paid family or maternity leave, as well as investments in education and public infrastructure (archived here, here, here and here).

Vaccine safety

The CDC under vaccine skeptic Robert F. Kennedy Jr changed its 2025-2026 Covid-19 vaccine guidance to emphasize "individual decision making," but the agency's website continues to recommend the shots to people who are pregnant, breastfeeding or trying to get pregnant (archived here and here).

The site says: "Covid-19 vaccination during pregnancy has not been linked to increased health risks for pregnant women or babies."

Multiple large-scale studies from different countries have found far lower risks of stillbirths in vaccinated individuals (archived here and here).

Victoria Male, associate professor of reproductive immunology at Imperial College (archived here), tracks research examining the safety of Covid-19 vaccination. She has reported that studies have not found an increased risk of serious illness or death in vaccinated groups (archived here).

A 2024 study she highlighted on neurodevelopment found "no difference between babies in the vaccinated and unvaccinated groups" (archived here).

While birth defects were the leading cause of infant mortality in 2022, an examination of data from the CDC's Covid-19 Vaccine Pregnancy Registry found the prevalence of congenital disorders were similar to pre-pandemic rates (archived here).

Read more of AFP reporting on vaccine misinformation here.