As with many medical products, the mRNA COVID-19 vaccines may contain trace amounts of residual DNA from the manufacturing process. It is not considered adulteration, and the Food and Drug Administration is not “required” to pull the vaccines from the market, contrary to viral claims online.
Misconception: Safety
COVID-19 Vaccines Have Not Been Shown to Alter DNA, Cause Cancer
Small amounts of DNA from the manufacturing process may remain in the mRNA COVID-19 vaccines. Purification and quality control steps ensure any leftover DNA is present within regulatory limits. There isn’t reason to think that this residual DNA would alter a person’s DNA or cause cancer, contrary to claims made online.
Posts Push Unproven ‘Spike Protein Detoxification’ Regimen
Serious side effects after COVID-19 vaccination are rare, and there isn’t evidence people need to undergo a “spike protein detoxification” regimen after getting vaccinated, contrary to claims made online. Nor has such a regimen been shown to help people recover from long COVID, or long-term health problems after having COVID-19.
Video Falsely Claims 850 People Died of Myocarditis in Mexico
COVID-19 Vaccines Have Not Been Shown to Cause ‘Turbo Cancer’
People with cancer are particularly vulnerable to severe disease and death from COVID-19. Vaccines provide needed protection. It has not been shown that COVID-19 vaccines cause or accelerate cancer. Nor does a recent paper about a mouse that died of lymphoma “prove” that the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine induced “turbo cancer,” contrary to social media claims.
Viral Video Repeats Bogus Claim About Vaccines and Visible Ailments
Posts Exaggerate Significance of Swiss Study on Heart Risk and COVID-19 Vaccination
A Swiss study found that after a COVID-19 booster, less than 3% of people briefly had a slightly elevated blood level of a protein that can be a marker of heart injury. No one in the study had any serious heart damage, and other experts say the findings are unlikely to be clinically significant. Viral posts, however, are spinning the results to falsely claim that the study shows the vaccine’s risks are “off the scale.”
RFK Jr.’s COVID-19 Deceptions
Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s battle against vaccines — and against the institutions that promote them — goes back to at least the mid-2000s, as we explain in the first article of this series. But the arrival of COVID-19 gave the environmental attorney fresh grounds to intensify his attacks and a timely platform to gain new followers and revenue.
TikTok Video Mangles American Cancer Society Breast Cancer Estimates
Breast cancer in younger women has been increasing gradually in recent decades. But a social media post misrepresents case number projections for 2022 and 2023 to falsely claim they show a dramatic rise in early-onset breast cancer — and then baselessly ties its faulty comparisons to COVID-19 vaccines.
Database Errors Fuel False Claims about HIV Cases in Military
The rate of new HIV infections in the military has been relatively unchanged since 2017. But social media posts falsely claim that the military has recorded a “500% increase in HIV since the COVID vaccine rollout.” A Defense Department spokesperson said errors in a military database sparked the inaccurate claim.