Bad news: TV portrays Covid vax victims as Coronavirus deaths

The three screenshots below come from the closing one-minute segment of the nightly news show News Watch 9 on NHK, the Japanese equivalent to the BBC, which aired on Monday. The segment title in the top-right reads “Various feelings about returning to normality.” The full segment (which can be viewed with English subtitles here) is a montage of footage contrasting Tokyo streets deserted during states of emergency and now full of tourists in addition to the three bereaved people below and photos of their dead family members. You get the idea.

Now, based on what NHK shows them saying, what would you assume their family members died from?

Mrs Kono who lost her husband: “Covid. What on earth happened?”

Mr Miyagi who lost his father: “Just because Covid has gone down to Category 5 doesn’t mean it’s gone away. I don’t want to let the memories fade.”

Ms Sato who lost her mother: “I really want the voices of bereaved relatives to be heard.”

If you assumed they died from Covid, as the millions of NHK viewers who saw the segment doubtlessly did, you’d be completely wrong. The three people above are actually members of the Bereaved Families of Covid Vaccination Victims that I wrote about in November. But the segment didn’t mention that fact or anything about vaccines.

Bereaved families call for Japanese government to acknowledge post-jab deaths

NHK’s creatively deceptive editing generated such a tsunami of criticism on social media that it issued an apology at the end of News Watch 9 the following night.

NHK News Watch 9 broadcasts apology. Says it was inappropriate to report post-vaccine deaths as if they were Covid deaths.

So how did this episode of news behaving badly come about? According to the Asahi Shimbun, the families’ lawyer, Kazuhisa Ukawa, was contacted by an NHK representative who apparently wanted to report about people left behind as a result of vaccine harms. He thus introduced the NHK news crew to the three bereaved relatives above, who frankly expressed their feelings about their loved ones’ deaths and frustration with the government’s continued recommendation of the Covid jabs.

Asked about the segment by the Yomiuri Shinbun, the person in charge of the production responded that “In looking back on the Corona Crisis, I don’t think we deviated from the aim of conveying the feelings of bereaved families.” I get the feeling the NHK side were expecting the bereaved relatives to just lament their misfortune rather than bluntly blame the jabs and pointedly criticise the government. In the end, the segment suggests to the viewers that Covid’s deadliness justified the past three years of masks and other NPIs, so everyone can now move on with no reason to be bitter about anything, which is far from how the bereaved relatives feel.

The families’ other lawyer, former upper house MP Masayuki Aoyama, wants NHK to properly broadcast the interviews. But I can’t see that happening. NHK has issued its publicly apology, which is often how these incidents end in Japan. The public broadcaster has maintained its omerta towards vaccine injuries and deaths for over two years now and doesn’t look likely to break it any time soon.

And now the good news

But at least one person this month has benefited from the government’s decision to keep pushing the jabs no matter how unmistakably bright the safety signals have flashed. Meet the WHO’s new Assistant Director-General for Access to Medicines and Health Products, Dr Yukiko Nakatani!

So who is she?

Immediately prior to taking up this position, Dr Nakatani served as Director of the Cancer and Disease Control Division of the Japanese Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare and as the Technical Advisor to the Minister of State for the COVID-19 Vaccination Task Force in Japan.

And what exactly will she be doing for the WHO?

As Assistant Director-General for Access to Medicines and Health Products, Dr Nakatani oversees the development and implementation of WHO’s norms and policies to ensure equitable access to quality medicines, vaccines and diagnostics for all populations everywhere, including for preventing and responding to epidemics.

Interviewed by the Yomiuri Shimbun, Dr Nakatani says “I want to apply the experiences I had in Japan” and “I want to contribute to strengthening the medical systems in developing countries with the experience and know-how I have gained in infectious disease control.”

Basically, Dr Nakatani’s job will be to get jabs into the arms of people in poor countries, which is something the G7 is aiming for.

And it’s easy to see why Dr Nakatani got the job. Thanks to her, Japan injected almost 6 times as many Covid jabs per person as Africa!

Which meant Japan was able to report over 3 times as many Covid deaths, mostly since early 2022.

I wish Dr Nakatani good luck. And I wish even more luck to the populations she’s going to target for “equitable access.” They’re certainly going to need it.