President Donald Trump cast doubt on the value of influenza vaccines, saying he only got a flu shot because he was required to as president. “I don’t know if I should have. Who knows?” But the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says each year the vaccine saves thousands of lives and prevents tens of thousands of hospitalizations.
A claim being pushed on social media and by an organization skeptical of vaccines is using a military study to falsely suggest that the flu vaccine increases someone’s risk of contracting COVID-19.
A popular Instagram post falsely claims “over 1,100 people died from reactions to the [flu] shot” in 2018, and suggests that the immunization gave some children polio. The flu vaccine cannot give anyone polio and there is no evidence to support the 1,100 figure.
A self-described “alternative news” story suggests the flu shot was responsible for the death of a New York state senator. The official cause of death is still pending.
President Donald Trump did not call the flu shot a “scam,” as is being claimed by a number of widely circulated blog articles.