A viral video tracks the decline in the reported effectiveness of COVID-19 over time, insinuating that early headlines about the vaccines being “100 percent effective” were disinformation. A social media CEO shared the video in a post that has been viewed over 70 million times. The CEO also claimed that the COVID-19 booster almost sent him to the hospital and argued against vaccine mandates. The viral video is highly misleading because it doesn’t distinguish between trial efficacy and real-world effectiveness, or between effectiveness against severe disease and effectiveness against infection.
The high-profile source of the misinformation increases its risk. The video and the posts highlight a trend of questioning COVID-19 vaccine effectiveness by applying previous messaging on COVID-19 and vaccines to the current situation in an attempt to discourage vaccination and discredit health officials. Debunking messaging may explain how this type of rhetoric oversimplifies the complex relationship between viral evolution and vaccine effectiveness. The original COVID-19 vaccines were extremely effective against infection, severe disease, and death. As the SARS-CoV-2 continues to circulate and mutate, it becomes less recognizable to protective antibodies, making vaccine and infection immunity less effective and updated vaccines especially important. Messaging may also emphasize that COVID-19 vaccines are safe and serious side effects are extremely rare.
