- More infants are dying in the U.S. than in the last two decades, according to data from the National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS)
- The U.S. provisional infant mortality rate rose 3% from 2021 to 2022 — the first increase since 2001 to 2002
- Infant mortality in the U.S. rose from 5.44 per 1,000 live births in 2021 to 5.6 in 2022, representing 20,538 deaths in infants under 12 months in 2022
- Other research found the 2020 infant mortality rate in the U.S, — 5.4 deaths per 1,000 live births — was the highest of all the countries analyzed; Norway had just 1.6 deaths per 1,000 live births, for comparison
- In the U.S., life expectancy is three to five years lower than that in other high-income countries, despite higher health care spending. Adopting a holistic approach to health can help you maintain wellness at all life stages
(Mercola)—More infants are now dying in the U.S. than in the last two decades, according to data from the National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS).1 The U.S. provisional infant mortality rate rose 3% from 2021 to 2022 — the first increase since 2001 to 2002. Prior to this increase, infant mortality rates had declined 22% between 2002 and 2021.
“Seeing an increase that hits the statistical significance mark indicates that this was a bigger jump than we’ve had in the last 20 years, and that is something we need to keep an eye on to see if it’s just a one-year anomaly or the start of increasing rates,” study author Danielle M. Ely, an NCHS health statistician, told The New York Times.2
The rise in infant mortality comes alongside other concerning health care news, including a drop in life expectancy, signaling deeper problems with the state of U.S. medical care.3 Fortunately, there are many steps you can take to stay healthy at all life stages.
US Infant Mortality on the Rise
Infant mortality in the U.S. rose from 5.44 per 1,000 live births in 2021 to 5.6 in 2022. Overall, this represents 20,538 deaths in infants under 12 months in 2022, up from 19,928 the year prior.4 From 2021 to 2022, there were notable increases in mortality rates across several categories in particular:5
- Neonatal and postneonatal infant deaths — Neonatal deaths, which are those that occur before the 28th day of life, rose 3%, while postneonatal deaths, those that occur between 28 and 364 days of life, rose 4%.
- Infants born to American Indian, Alaska Native and white women — Mortality rates increased significantly from 7.46 deaths per 1,000 live births to 9.06 among infants of American Indian and Alaska Native women, as well as from 4.36 to 4.52 among white women.
- Infants born to women ages 25 to 29 — Infant mortality rates increased significantly in this group, from 5.15 deaths per 1,000 live births to 5.37.
- Male infants — Deaths among male infants rose from 5.83 infant deaths per 1,000 live births to 6.06.
- Infants in four states — Infant mortality rates increased in Georgia, Iowa, Missouri and Texas.
Among the leading causes of death, infant mortality rates increased in cases of maternal complications and bacterial sepsis, according to the report.6 “Maternal complications may reflect the worsening state of care for pregnant women, about 6 million of whom live in areas devoid of maternal care. Also, pregnant women have increasing rates of obesity, diabetes, hypertension, and other conditions,” medical and science writer Janice Hopkins Tanne wrote in the BMJ.7
In 2022, more than one-third of the 3,143 counties in the U.S were classified as maternity “deserts” without hospitals or birth centers offering obstetric care, and with no obstetric providers. The lack of care was blamed on finances, as obstetric care services are “deemed unprofitable.”8
Were the COVID-19 Pandemic — and COVID Jabs — Involved?
The rise in infant mortality in 2022 could have links to the pandemic, since most babies born that year were conceived in 2021 during the COVID-19 pandemic — and the year that COVID-19 shots were widely rolled out. Maternal deaths rose by 40% during the pandemic9 and increases in stillbirths were reported.10
By November 12, 2021, there were 2,620 cases of fetal death or stillbirth among women who received a COVID-19 injection reported to the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS).11 Health Impact News ran the same VAERS search but excluded COVID-19 injections — so looking for fetal deaths in women who had been vaccinated with any vaccine other than a COVID-19 jab over the last 30+ years. They found:12
“We are currently on pace to see a yearly total of 2,838 recorded fetal deaths following COVID-19 shots, while the yearly average of recorded fetal deaths following the vaccination of pregnant women for the past 30 years has been an average of 74 fetal deaths per year.”
Problems began to appear shortly after COVID-19 shots were rolled out, such that a leaked email from a large California hospital was sent out in warning to 200 nurses. The email, from September 2022, contained the subject line, “Demise Handling,” referring to an increase in stillbirths and fetal deaths. A TCW report by journalist Sally Beck shared the email’s content, which read:13
“It seems as though the increase of demise patients [babies] that we are seeing is going to continue. There were 22 demises [stillbirths and fetal deaths] in August [2022], which ties [equals] the record number of demises in July 2021, and so far in September [2022] there have been 7 and it’s only the 8th day of the month.”
Beck reports that one nurse, Michelle Gershman, who works in the neonatal ward had her bonus withheld because she spoke out about the rise in fetal deaths. “We used to have one fetal demise per month. That rose to one or two per week,” Gershman said. Beck reported:14
“Her experience, and the experience of doctors working with pregnant women, is contrary to official ‘safe and effective’ observation and advice, but no one was free to speak out because of a gagging order imposed in September 202115 by the American Board of Obstetrics and Gynecology (ACOG).
… At the beginning of the rollout, in December 2020, pregnant women who were healthcare workers or deemed to be at risk from Covid began receiving the shots.
By May 2021, the vaccine was being recommended to all pregnant American women, despite the fact that none of the vaccine manufacturers had completed reproductive toxicology reports in animals, and none had started clinical trials in pregnant women. Two months later, hospitals noticed a huge increase in miscarriage, stillbirth, preterm births, pregnancy complications and menstrual abnormalities.”
Board-certified internist and cardiologist Dr. Peter McCullough stated COVID-19 shots should be given the Category X designation during pregnancy,16 which means, “The risk of use of the drug in pregnant women clearly outweighs any possible benefit. The drug is contraindicated in women who are or may become pregnant.”17
US Has Worst Infant and Maternal Mortality Rates Despite Highest Spending
The rising trend in infant mortality comes amidst already high mortality rates compared to other countries like Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Japan, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, South Korea, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom.
A report from the Commonwealth Fund compared U.S. health care to that in the listed countries, revealing, “The U.S. has the lowest life expectancy at birth, the highest death rates for avoidable or treatable conditions, the highest maternal and infant mortality, and among the highest suicide rates.”18
The 2020 infant mortality rate in the U.S. — 5.4 deaths per 1,000 live births — was the highest of all the countries analyzed. Norway had just 1.6 deaths per 1,000 live births, for comparison. Maternal mortality in the U.S. was also three-fold higher than most other high-income countries:19
“Women in the U.S. have long had the highest rate of maternal mortality related to complications of pregnancy and childbirth. In 2020, there were nearly 24 maternal deaths for every 100,000 live births in the U.S., more than three times the rate in most of the other high-income countries we studied.
A high rate of cesarean section, inadequate prenatal care, and socioeconomic inequalities contributing to chronic illnesses like obesity, diabetes, and heart disease may all help explain high U.S. infant and maternal mortality.”
The poor outcomes occur despite high spending on health care. “While the United States spends more on health care than any other high-income country, the nation often performs worse on measures of health and health care,” the report found. “… Other countries have achieved better health outcomes while spending much less on health care overall.”20
Past research published in the journal Human & Experimental Toxicology also showed infant mortality rates correlated with childhood vaccination rates, with high-uptake countries having higher child mortality.21 A reanalysis of the study, published in the peer-reviewed journal Cureus in February 2023, reaffirmed the positive correlation between number of vaccine doses and infant mortality rates.22
US Life Expectancy Lower Than Other High-Income Countries
In the U.S., life expectancy is also three to five years lower than that in other high-income countries.23 In 2022, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention also announced that life expectancy had dropped for two years in a row from 2020 to 2021, declining by nearly one year in that time.24
“That decline – 77.0 to 76.1 years – took U.S. life expectancy at birth to its lowest level since 1996. The 0.9 year drop in life expectancy in 2021, along with a 1.8 year drop in 2020, was the biggest two-year decline in life expectancy since 1921-1923,” the CDC stated.25
Medical errors remain a leading cause of death in the U.S., where an estimated 795,000 people become permanently disabled or die every year due to misdiagnoses.26 Among hospitalized adults who died or were transferred to the intensive care unit (ICU), diagnostic errors are also disturbingly common.27
Describing diagnostic errors as “the most under-resourced public health crisis we face,” researchers with Johns Hopkins School of Medicine said the public is largely unaware of the full scope of medical misdiagnoses in the U.S.28
One review of nearly 300 studies by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality showed about 1 in 18 people who visit an emergency room will be misdiagnosed, 1 in 50 will suffer an adverse event as a result and 1 in 350 will suffer from permanent disability or death.29
Out of the 130 million visits to emergency departments (EDs) that occur every year in the U.S., this amounts to 7.4 million misdiagnoses, 2.6 million related adverse events and 370,000 serious harms from diagnostic error.30
Protecting the Health of Future Generations
To address rising infant mortality rates in the U.S., experts recommend ensuring that all pregnant women have access to comprehensive prenatal care to help identify and manage health conditions that may lead to infant mortality.
In addition, initiatives aimed at improving women’s health before and during pregnancy can reduce the risks associated with childbirth and infancy. This includes managing chronic conditions, promoting healthy lifestyles and providing mental health support.
Returning to fundamental health practices, such as consuming whole foods, getting high-quality sleep, engaging in regular exercise, maintaining daily activity and managing stress, is crucial. Additionally, each reduction in toxic exposure contributes to improved health.
Therefore, it’s essential not only to incorporate healthy habits but also to eliminate potentially harmful elements, especially during pregnancy. This includes toxic personal care and cleaning products, electromagnetic field exposures and unnecessary medications — and that includes the COVID shots. By adopting a holistic approach to health, you can help maintain wellness at all life stages.
Orwell’s Warning
Sadly, the increase in infant mortality likely has to do with pregnant women being advised to get the COVID shot during pregnancy. The media have been known as “the Fourth Estate” because they have the power and capacity for advocacy and the framing of political issues. But when it comes to the mRNA jabs — whether intentionally or through ignorance — the media have misled the people, resulting in needless death and suffering.
Rather than investigating and shedding light on important issues and concerns, they’ve hidden and suppressed one side of the story and twisted the other side out of all proportion. Orwellian doublespeak has also become commonplace.
In George Orwell’s “1984,” the context is a society where an all-knowing, all-seeing “Big Brother” rules with an iron fist. Citizens are under constant watch. Privacy is nonexistent, and language is twisted to justify and glorify oppression. Tragically, many so embraced the fear culture, they didn’t even need an authoritarian figure to tell them to comply with rules, even when it was clear they had no medical benefit. Rising infant mortality rates and excess death rates are the result.
- 1 NCHS Vital Statistics Rapid Release, November 2023, Report No. 33
- 2, 9 The New York Times November 1, 2023
- 3 The American Journal of Managed Care January 31, 2023
- 4, 7 BMJ 2023;383:p2569
- 5, 6 U.S. CDC November 1, 2023
- 8 BMJ 2022;379:o2487
- 10 The Phaser November 18, 2021 (Archived)
- 11, 12 Health Impact News November 20, 2021
- 13, 14 TCW March 20, 2023
- 15 The Gazette of Medical Sciences March 1, 2022
- 16 Substack, Courageous Discourse March 2, 2023
- 17 America Out Loud November 28, 2022
- 18, 19, 20 The Commonwealth Fund, U.S. Health Care From a Global Perspective, 2022, January 31, 2023
- 21 Human & Experimental Toxicology May 4, 2011
- 22 Cureus February 2, 2023; 15(2): e34566
- 23 CNBC April 11, 2023
- 24, 25 U.S. CDC, August 31, 2022
- 26 BMJ Quality & Safety Published Online First: 17 July 2023. doi: 10.1136/bmjqs-2021-014130
- 27 JAMA Intern Med. Published online January 8, 2024. doi: 10.1001/jamainternmed.2023.7347
- 28 USA Today July 18, 2023
- 29, 30 Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, Diagnostic Errors in the Emergency Department August 14, 2023
Two Storms, One Harvest
Every food crisis in living memory has been a one-shock event. The 2008 price spike was a commodity bubble. The 2020 shortages were a logistics failure. The 2022 grain scare was a war on one exporter’s ports. Each time, the system bent, adjusted, and recovered, and each time the experts assured us afterward that global markets are simply too big and too diversified to fail.
What nobody in Washington seems eager to discuss is that 2026 is shaping up to be something the modern food system has never actually faced. Two independent shocks, one climatic and one geopolitical, are converging on the same harvest cycle at the same time. Not sequentially. Simultaneously.
Start with the weather. The Pacific Ocean is currently building toward what forecasters now openly call a record event. NOAA’s Climate Prediction Center puts the odds of at least a strong El Niño near 88 percent, with roughly two in three odds it reaches “very strong” status, the tier reserved for perhaps three or four events in the entire satellite era. Every major global model now projects a median peak in Super El Niño territory, and most of them project it exceeding the 2015-16 event, which until now held the modern record. Sea surface anomalies were already brushing the super threshold in mid-July, months before these events normally peak. The atmosphere has already shifted into El Niño mode, and the event is forecast to crest in late fall and early winter.
This is not about “climate change.” It’s about the standard cycles of weather, and the cycle we’re currently in is one that has likely devastated societies in the past. We’re better prepared as a society today, but not all Americans are equally prepared.
Serious households have started doing the quiet math on their own. Grocery bills tell part of the story, and the forecast maps tell the rest, which is why long-term food storage has moved from fringe hobby to mainstream line item in the family budget, with established suppliers like Heaven’s Harvest seeing demand from people who five years ago would have rolled their eyes at the idea. That instinct is not paranoia. It is pattern recognition, and the pattern is worth walking through carefully.
Editor’s Note: Heaven’s Harvest IS a sponsor, but the warnings of this article are real and would be written even if we didn’t have a survival food sponsor. With that said, those who take advantage of what they offer can use promo code “Patriot” for 15% off.
The Fertilizer Clock Is Already Running
While the Pacific warms, the second shock has been unfolding in the Strait of Hormuz. The conflict with Iran turned the world’s most important energy chokepoint into a contested waterway, and the consequences reach far beyond the gas pump. Roughly a third of global fertilizer trade moves through Hormuz, and the disruption sent urea prices up 86 percent year over year by March, with a 53 percent jump in a single month.
The World Bank projects energy prices rising about 24 percent in 2026 and fertilizer about 31 percent. By its own accounting, fertilizer prices ran 35 percent higher in the first five months of this year than the same period last year.
Here is the mechanism the nightly news will not explain. Fertilizer is not a grocery item. It is a time-delayed input. The nitrogen a farmer in Iowa or Punjab could not afford to apply this spring does not show up as a problem this spring. It shows up as a thinner harvest six to twelve months later.
The World Bank’s own food security brief concedes that the effects of reduced applications earlier this season “are likely to become visible only later in harvest outcomes.” Translate that from institutional language into plain English and it means this. The damage is already done, it is already in the ground, and we are simply waiting for it to arrive on the shelf.
Now check the calendar. Six to twelve months from the spring planting season lands us squarely in late 2026 and early 2027. Which is precisely when the strongest El Niño in the instrumental record is forecast to peak, bringing its signature droughts to Southeast Asia, Australia, southern Africa, northern Brazil, and South Asia, the very regions that grow the world’s rice, sugar, and oilseeds.
The World Bank warns openly that a strong El Niño “could disrupt multiple crop belts simultaneously” on top of the conflict-driven input costs. Their baseline projection assumes the Middle East disruptions ease by autumn. What in the last two years of Middle East history suggests that assumption is safe?
The System Has No Slack Left
The comfortable answer is that global markets always adjust. But adjustment requires slack, and the slack is gone. Global cereal production is expected to decline from last year’s records even before El Niño does its work. The UN World Food Programme, hardly a den of right-wing preppers, is calling this the most significant disruption to its supply chains since Covid and the invasion of Ukraine, and its supply chain director put the stakes bluntly.
Today’s supply chain challenges are tomorrow’s hunger crisis.
There is also a political dimension that markets cannot price. When food gets scarce, governments do not behave like economists. They behave like politicians. Export bans, hoarding mandates, and panic buying at the national level turned the modest rice shortfall of 2008 into a global crisis, and analysts are already warning that import-dependent nations are the first dominoes.
The 2015-16 Super El Niño, a far weaker event than what is now forecast, threw tens of millions into food stress across Africa and Asia. This one is projected to be stronger, and it arrives with fertilizer already rationed by price and shipping lanes already contested by missiles.
What Joseph Knew
Scripture does not treat preparation for lean years as faithlessness. It treats it as wisdom delivered in advance to those willing to act on it.
Behold, there come seven years of great plenty throughout all the land of Egypt: And there shall arise after them seven years of famine; and all the plenty shall be forgotten in the land of Egypt.
Joseph did not respond to that warning with a hashtag or a committee. He stored grain during the years of abundance, and when the famine came, Egypt stood while its neighbors begged. The lesson is not that famine is certain. It is that the time to prepare is precisely when preparation still looks optional.
Nobody who filled a pantry in a year of plenty has ever regretted it, and nobody standing in an empty aisle has ever been glad he waited for certainty.
None of this calls for panic, and panic is the enemy of sound judgment anyway. It calls for the same unglamorous prudence our grandparents considered ordinary. Keep some cash margin, know your local growers, and put real food in deep storage while it is cheap and available, because the entire arc of this story is that cheap and available is a closing window.
Families looking for a straightforward place to start can visit Heaven’s Harvest and use promo code Patriot for 15 percent off long-term storable food. The forecasts may yet soften, the strait may yet reopen, and we should pray they do. But hope is a fine thing to hold and a foolish thing to eat.
