Misinformation Alerts
Knowing what misinformation is being shared can help you generate effective messaging.
These insights are based on a combination of automated media monitoring and manual review by public health data analysts. Media data are publicly available data from many sources, such as social media, broadcast television, newspapers and magazines, news websites, online video, blogs, and more. Analysts from the Public Good Projects triangulate this data along with other data from fact checking organizations and investigative sources to provide an accurate, but not exhaustive, list of currently circulating misinformation.
Misinformation Alerts
Knowing what misinformation is being shared can help you generate effective messaging.
These insights are based on a combination of automated media monitoring and manual review by public health data analysts. Media data are publicly available data from many sources, such as social media, broadcast television, newspapers and magazines, news websites, online video, blogs, and more. Analysts from the Public Good Projects triangulate this data along with other data from fact checking organizations and investigative sources to provide an accurate, but not exhaustive, list of currently circulating misinformation.
Alerts are categorized as high, medium, and low risk.
- High risk alerts: Narratives with widespread circulation across communities, high engagement, exponential velocity, and a high potential to impact health decisions. Are often more memorable than accurate information.
- Medium risk alerts: Narratives that are circulating in priority populations and pose some threat to health. Potential for further spread due to the tactics used or because of predicted velocity. Often highlights the questions and concerns of people.
- Low risk alerts: Narratives that are limited in reach, don’t impact your community, or lack the qualities necessary for future spread. May indicate information gaps, confusion, or concerns.
A misleading graphic that is circulating online falsely claims that COVID-19 vaccines had no effect on overall mortality in the U.S. The claim ignores that vaccinated people have had dramatically lower death rates from COVID-19 than unvaccinated people. High COVID-19 mortality has been driven almost entirely by those who are unvaccinated.
Recommendation: 
A document is circulating on social media falsely claiming to be a nine-page list of Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine side effects. The document is part of a Pfizer report that was required for FDA approval. The report recorded 42,086 self-reported adverse events—more than half of which were not medically confirmed—out of over 155 million vaccine doses. The data presented in the report cannot be used to determine if the adverse events were caused by the vaccine. Additionally, the reported adverse events are listed in a single table with the remainder of the nine pages outlining potential adverse events that should be watched for.
Recommendation:
An article on a U.K. conspiracy website misrepresents a Health Security Agency report, claiming that 90 percent of COVID-19 deaths in England were fully vaccinated. The article does not take into account that the most vaccinated group in the U.K. is the elderly, who are also most at risk of dying from COVID-19. More than 95 percent of U.K. residents aged 65 or older and 100 percent of those in their 70s are fully vaccinated.
Recommendation: 
An article on an anti-vaccine website misrepresented the findings of a recent case study that describes the autopsy results of two teen boys who died shortly after receiving the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine. The article falsely claims that the report conclusively proves that the teens’ deaths resulted from vaccine-related myocarditis. The purpose of the report was to add to existing knowledge about suspected myocarditis after COVID-19 vaccination so that doctors are better able to recognize and treat it. The evidence presented in the report does not support the conclusion that the deaths were caused by the vaccine. Overwhelming evidence shows that vaccines are safe and effective for adolescents and the risk of serious adverse events like myocarditis is much smaller than the risk of serious COVID-19 infection in the age group.
Recommendation:
A conspiracy website published an investigative piece that claims to prove that mRNA vaccine causes AIDS. Although the article is simply rehashing several debunked myths about COVID-19 vaccines, it has been trending online for the past week. There is no evidence to support the article’s false claims that COVID-19 vaccines weaken the immune system, increase the risk of HIV infection, or cause so-called “vaccine-acquired immunodeficiency syndrome.”
Recommendation:
Posts are circulating online falsely claiming that the CDC and American Academy of Pediatrics are changing child development milestones to account for developmental delays that resulted from young children and adult educators and caretakers wearing masks. The developmental milestones are routinely reviewed and updated when necessary. The latest update was based on data gathered through March 2019, months before COVID-19 was discovered and a full year before masks were in widespread use in the U.S.
Recommendation: 
A video has recently resurfaced of a Canadian physician falsely claiming that COVID-19 vaccination has increased stillbirths. The video, which has been shared globally across multiple social media platforms since it was posted in November, falsely states that one Vancouver hospital saw 13 stillbirths in 24 hours. The regional health authority disputed the claims, noting that the doctor is not affiliated with the authority or hospital in question.
Recommendation:
Social media posts on multiple platforms are spreading the false claim that the cardiac unit of a Toronto children's hospital has had to expand to accommodate a rising number of patients with side effects from COVID-19 vaccination. A spokesperson for the hospital confirmed that it has not expanded its cardiology department and noted that heart inflammation related to COVID-19 vaccination is extremely rare in children. The risk of myocarditis and serious illness, including multi-system inflammatory syndrome in children (MIS-C), is increased by COVID-19 infection.
Recommendation:
Late last year, the CEO of a life insurance company said that the industry was seeing historic death rates among working-age adults. In the last week, several prominent social media accounts and a popular political commentary program have resurfaced the executive’s statement with the false claim that the excess deaths are due to COVID-19 vaccines. The U.S. recorded over half a million excess deaths before COVID-19 vaccines were being administered, and will soon reach a total of one million deaths from COVID-19. People who are unvaccinated are at a much greater risk than those who are fully vaccinated to die from Covid-19.
Recommendation:
Fueled by the anti-vaccine mandate trucker protest in Canada, online organizers are planning similar protests in the U.S. The protests are being rebranded as “the People's Convoy” and are planned to take place in California and Washington, D.C. next month. Several far-right extremist groups have seized on the momentum and media coverage of the Canadian protests to try to replicate the disruption in the U.S. In Canada, the protests are being led by fringe groups, who are not representative of popular opinions about vaccine mandates. Online groups across multiple social media platforms promoting the U.S. protests are a hotbed of vaccine misinformation and conspiracy theories.
Recommendation:
Alerts are categorized as high, medium, and low risk.
- High risk alerts: Narratives with widespread circulation across communities, high engagement, exponential velocity, and a high potential to impact health decisions. Are often more memorable than accurate information.
- Medium risk alerts: Narratives that are circulating in priority populations and pose some threat to health. Potential for further spread due to the tactics used or because of predicted velocity. Often highlights the questions and concerns of people.
- Low risk alerts: Narratives that are limited in reach, don’t impact your community, or lack the qualities necessary for future spread. May indicate information gaps, confusion, or concerns.
Vaccine Misinformation Guide
Get practical tips for addressing misinformation in this new guide. Click image to download.
Vaccine Misinformation Guide
Get practical tips for addressing misinformation in this new guide. Click image to download, or see highlights.