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South Korea study does not show Covid vaccine causes cancer

Influencers claim that a study from South Korea shows that covid jabs cause cancer. That is not true.

In Autumn 2025 a paper in South Korea was published that excited many a vaccine sceptic online. The paper claimed that receiving a vaccination against Covid19 was linked to a 27% increase in cancer risk.

However, when you dig into the data there is no evidence that the vaccine caused the cancer. We spoke to Professor Justin Fendos to explain why we cannot take this type of statistical analysis at face value.

Presenter: Tim Harford
Producer: Lizzy McNeill
Series Producer: Tom Colls
Editor: Richard Vadon
Production co-ordinator: Brenda Brown
Sound engineer: James Beard

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9 minutes

Last on

Sun 18 Jan 2026 11:50GMT
麻豆社 World Service except East and Southern Africa, Europe and the Middle East & West and Central Africa

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  • Sat 17 Jan 2026 05:50GMT
    麻豆社 World Service except Australasia, East and Southern Africa, East Asia & South Asia
  • Sun 18 Jan 2026 05:50GMT
    麻豆社 World Service East and Southern Africa
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    麻豆社 World Service Europe and the Middle East & West and Central Africa only
  • Sun 18 Jan 2026 11:50GMT
    麻豆社 World Service except East and Southern Africa, Europe and the Middle East & West and Central Africa

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