Covid vaccination sceptics urge probe into mortality rate

The fundamentalist group says it is concerned about a possible relation between the increase in excess mortality and the high anti-Covid vaccination rate. Keystone / Gian Ehrenzeller

A far-right conservative political party has called for an independent enquiry into the high mortality rate in Switzerland this year.

The Federal Democratic Union said it handed in nearly 10,000 signatures collected over the past two week for a – non-binding – petition to parliament and the government.

About 3,000 people more than expected have died this year so far, according to official statistics. But the federal authorities have not provided conclusive reasons, according to the party which has a strong following among fundamentalist Evangelical communities.

The party said large parts of the population – especially vaccinated people – were unsettled because possible negative effects of anti-Covid vaccines couldn’t be ruled out without a “serious analysis”.

The petitioners want an independent and extra-parliamentary commission to investigate what they called  “conspicuously high excess mortality rate” in 2022.

The party won about 1% of the vote in the 2019 parliamentary elections and has one seat in the House of Representatives.