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: We recommend directly addressing and debunking the misinformation
- Medium risk alerts: We recommend monitoring the situation but not actively engaging.
- Low risk alerts: Provided for informational purposes. We do not recommend additional action at the moment.
The FDA recently approved the anthrax vaccine Cyfendus for adults up to age 65 with suspected or confirmed exposure to Bacillus anthracis, the bacteria that causes anthrax. Several vaccine opponents claim that the approval was “rushed” and misleadingly claim that the vaccine was approved for all people, falsely implying that it will be a routinely administered vaccination.
Recommendation: The criticism demonstrates opposition to any new vaccine among COVID-19 vaccine opponents. Messaging may emphasize that the vaccine is not new, nor was its approval rushed. Cyfendus has been used since 2019 under emergency use authorization as post-exposure anthrax prevention. Fact Checking Source(s): Fierce Pharma, Reuters
A video circulating on social media claims that the lipid nanoparticles that protect vaccine mRNA as it is delivered to cells can interact with and be programmed by 5G wireless technology. The claim is based on a patent filed by Moderna related to lipid nanoparticle delivery of mRNA and other genetic material. The patent has nothing to do with 5G or any other cellular or wireless technology.
Recommendation: Responding to conspiracy theories may detract from priority talking points. Many health organizations have already debunked the conspiracy theory that COVID-19 vaccines have any link to 5G. Fact-checking sources:
Last week, a University of Southern California basketball player and son of an NBA star was admitted to the hospital after going into cardiac arrest during a workout. Shortly after the news broke, vaccine opponents began baselessly claiming that his cardiac arrest was vaccine-related. Speculation about the young athlete having vaccine-induced myocarditis has garnered millions of views and thousands of shares on social media.
Recommendation: Vaccine opponents have a well-established pattern of seizing on high-profile illness and death as alleged evidence of a COVID-19 vaccine injury. These false claims are the conclusion of a consistent, multi-year misinformation campaign. Debunking messaging may explain that there is no evidence that the athlete’s condition is vaccine-related and that this is just the latest example of the well-established trend of vaccine opponents exploiting a high-profile injury or death to spread misinformation about vaccine safety. Messaging may also emphasize that cardiac events, while rare, are the leading cause of sports-related deaths among young athletes. The issue has been a major concern for over a decade, so much so that the NCAA released specific guidance in 2016 to prevent cardiac events in college athletes. Fact-Checking Source(s):
A discredited research scientist best known for promoting health-related conspiracy theories recently accused Pfizer of “covering up” a batch of the diphtheria, tetanus, and pertussis (DTaP) vaccines linked to sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) cases. According to the post, instead of simply recalling the batch, the company deliberately distributed it throughout the country to avoid clusters of injury and death and then recorded the plot in a memo. This claim is related to the recently resurfaced myth that the U.S. Supreme Court declared vaccines “unavoidably unsafe.”
Recommendation: Myths about childhood vaccines and SIDS are widespread, increasing the risk of this misinformation. Debunking messaging may emphasize that anti-vaccine groups have attempted for decades to falsely link childhood vaccines to SIDS despite evidence conclusively showing no link between the condition and any vaccine. SIDS occurs at the same rate in vaccinated and unvaccinated children and has not increased with higher vaccination rates. Vaccines are rigorously monitored for safety, and the batches are recalled immediately when contamination is detected. Fact Checking Source(s): AP News, Health Feedback
An informed consent advocacy group posted a series of images repeating a host of myths about vaccine safety. The post claims that pediatric clinical trials are short, lack controls, and do not include safety training, a previously debunked anti-vaccine argument.
Recommendation: The persistence and widespread nature of this claim elevates its risk. Debunking messaging may emphasize that new vaccines are tested in placebo-controlled clinical trials before they are approved. Updated versions of vaccines may be tested against the previous already safety-tested version rather than a placebo. Denying children access to a safe and effective existing vaccine while testing a new one is an unethical and unnecessary practice. Fact Checking Source(s): STAT News, The Dispatch Science-Based Medicine
A conservative website claims COVID-19 vaccines caused 74 percent of deaths in vaccinated people. The post cites a non-peer-reviewed study that went viral after being pulled from the medical journal The Lancet’s website because its conclusions were unsupported.
Recommendation: The continued circulation of the study as a credible source increases its risk. Debunking messaging may emphasize the low quality of the study and the fact that it was never peer-reviewed or published by a legitimate journal. Messaging may also explain that over three years of research has consistently demonstrated COVID-19 vaccine safety. Fact Checking Source(s): Lead Stories
A video repeats the claim that public health experts discredited ivermectin to ensure that COVID-19 vaccines got emergency authorization.
Recommendation: Vaccine opponents continue to promote disproven COVID-19 treatments as an alternative to vaccination. Messaging may explain that multiple large studies and clinical trials show that ivermectin does not effectively prevent or treat COVID-19. Fact-checking sources:
A prominent vaccine opponent claims that his study analyzing autopsies reports of people who died after COVID-19 vaccination found that vaccines caused 74 percent of the deaths. He further claims that the study was removed from the website of the prestigious medical journal The Lancet less than a day after it was published. The authors and their supporters now claim the “medical establishment” is censoring them.
Recommendation: The widespread nature of this type of misinformation and its potential to negatively influence vaccine conversations even after the studies are discredited increases its risk. Debunking messaging may explain that, contrary to the author's claims, the paper is not a “Lancet study.” It was never published in the journal and has not yet been peer-reviewed. The authors uploaded the study to the Lancet’s preprint database, where it was removed because the journal found that it violated its screening criteria and its conclusions were not supported. Messaging may also emphasize how bad actors use preprint, low-quality, and retracted studies to circulate COVID-19 and vaccine misinformation. Fact-Checking Source(s):
A low-quality screenshot of an apparent blood clot is being attributed to an embalmer who claims to have observed large clots in the bodies of people who have died from heart attacks or strokes since the COVID-19 vaccine’s rollout.
Recommendation: These types of imaging have circulated online for over two years. Emphasizing that there is no evidence to support these claims is recommended. In over two years since the vaccine roll-out, no peer-reviewed analysis or case reports have found “strange blood clots” in the bodies of vaccinated people. Several of the viral images showing supposed vaccine-related clots were actually pictures taken before 2020 and, in some cases, not blood clots at all. Fact-checking sources:
An advocacy group founded to protest COVID-19 vaccine mandates is shifting its attention to routine vaccines. In a recent post, the group proposes a decades-old anti-vaccine argument that a decrease in infectious diseases was due to improved sanitation and hygiene rather than vaccines.
Recommendation: Anti-vaccine rhetoric targeting routine vaccines may increase vaccine hesitancy, which increases the risk of this alert. Debunking messaging may explain that Improved sanitation standards, hygiene, and nutrition all played a role in reducing mortality and the spread of infectious diseases. But many diseases are not spread through these means, making vaccination the best and most reliable form of protection. Failure to vaccinate against these diseases leaves people unnecessarily vulnerable. Many infections can spread regardless of how clean or healthy people are. If people are not vaccinated against diseases we have managed to control, such as polio and measles, these diseases could quickly reappear. Explaining that, before vaccines, parents could not protect their children from devastating diseases like polio and rubella as they swept through communities is recommended. Fact Checking Source(s): CDC, Boost Oregon, PublicHealth.org
Alerts are categorized as high, medium, and low risk.
- High risk alerts: We recommend directly addressing and debunking the misinformation
- Medium risk alerts: We recommend monitoring the situation but not actively engaging.
- Low risk alerts: Provided for informational purposes. We do not recommend additional action at the moment.
Vaccine Misinformation Guide
Get practical tips for addressing misinformation in this new guide. Click image to download, or see highlights.