Government health agencies disclosed a potential safety concern for strokes in those 65 and older with one of the COVID-19 vaccines, but the agencies haven’t found any causal relationship and the concern was flagged by just one of several monitoring systems. Anti-vaccine campaigners, however, have wrongly claimed the agencies have found a link between the boosters and strokes.
Since his diagnosis in 1991, NBA player Magic Johnson has repeatedly said he contracted HIV through sexual transmission. But a viral social media post by a spreader of vaccine misinformation falsely claims that Johnson was exposed to the virus from a hepatitis B vaccine.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention hosted an online seminar about the treatment of blood clots, which is expected to grow as the U.S. population ages and the obesity rate increases. But some vaccine opponents misrepresented the webinar to falsely suggest that the projected rise in blood clots is related to the COVID-19 vaccines.
Denmark announced a plan for its fall COVID-19 vaccination drive, saying it will offer omicron-specific booster shots to high-risk individuals, including everyone 50 and over. But U.S.-based misinformation peddlers misleadingly suggest that means the shots are unsafe for those under 50. The Danish Health Authority said that is a misinterpretation.
A post published in English and Spanish repeats the debunked idea that the current monkeypox outbreak might have resulted from a virus that was created in a lab. The post also baselessly alleges that the World Health Organization’s decision to declare the outbreak a public health emergency was due to financial incentives.
In this story, we’ll explain what we know about the financial and conflict-of-interest disclosure requirements for Dr. Anthony Fauci, other National Institutes of Health higher-ups and members of two U.S. vaccine advisory committees.
An executive at the German pharmaceutical company Bayer referred to mRNA vaccines used against COVID-19 as an example of innovation in biotech at the World Health Summit 2021. But a website post takes the executive’s words out of context to falsely claim he said the vaccines are gene therapy.
Former President Donald Trump and his son Eric have been dishing out revisionist history with claims that vaccine hesitancy soared once Biden assumed office and that “people were getting the vaccine in record numbers” until Biden implemented vaccine mandates.
Livestock and poultry are not being vaccinated against COVID-19. But a meme is spreading the falsehood that those who eat meat from vaccinated animals will get “VAXXED” by consuming the meat. That simply isn’t possible, according to immunologists.
The Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System accepts any reports of adverse side effects following vaccination to help regulators detect potential problems. Anyone can submit a report, whether or not the incident is vaccine-related. Fox News host Tucker Carlson misrepresented the VAERS data to suggest that thousands have died from COVID-19 vaccines.