Harald Walach, Ph.D., founder of Germany's Change Health Science Institute and professional research fellow at Kazimieras Simonavicius University in Lithuania, told The Defender the survey results likely don't show the full extent of COVID-19 vaccine-related injuries.

The survey, conducted by Germany's Forsa Institute on behalf of the newspaper and the online magazine "Multipolar," polled 1,002 people between Oct. 7-8.

According to The Gateway Pundit, "A significant 17 percent of respondents openly stated they did not 'tolerate the COVID vaccination well overall.'"

Commenting on the 1 in 6 statistic, Steve Kirsch, founder of the Vaccine Safety Research Foundation, told The Defender, "That is not a safe vaccine. I mean, you should be calling up these guys who are promoting the vaccine and ask them, with 1 in 6 people reporting side effects, how that's a safe vaccine?"

According to the survey, 73% of respondents did not report adverse reactions. An additional 10% of respondents reported not getting the COVID-19 vaccine.

Christof Plothe, D.O., a member of the World Council for Health's steering committee, said the survey "also asked whether the respondents 'personally knew' someone who experienced severe side effects after the mRNA treatment. The number is also explosive: 35% answered 'yes.'"

Harald Walach, Ph.D., founder and director of the Change Health Science Institute in Germany and professional research fellow at Kazimieras Simonavicius University in Lithuania, told The Defender the survey results likely don't show the full extent of adverse events following COVID-19 vaccination.

"Whether people or doctors attribute causality of the symptoms to the vaccination depends on their attitude," Walach said. "So it might be the case that side effects that start later, say six months later, such as an autoimmune disease, will not easily be attributed to the vaccination, even though it might be."

Plothe noted there are "hardly any recognized vaccination injuries, and people are still told by their doctor that their changes in health are not gene therapy-related. "But here, 17% complained of adverse side effects, according to the survey, so 11 million Germans could have experienced side effects," Plothe said.

"The actual number, including the long-term results, is expected to be even higher," Plothe added.

The Gateway Pundit cited data from Germany's IMPF COVID-19 Vaccination Dashboard showing that, as of April 2023, 77.9% of the German population had received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine, 62.6% had received at least one booster and 15.2% received at least two booster doses. The data show 22.1% of the population were unvaccinated.