Misinformation Alerts

TikTok videos using the same Q&A-style script and wording are questioning the benefits of COVID-19 vaccination. They argue that there is no point to vaccination, given that people must continue to follow public health guidelines even after vaccination (masks and distancing), and it remains unclear whether vaccines prevent transmission. While these videos do not contain misinformation, they are misleading. They create a false equivalency between the significant individual and community protection provided by approved COVID-19 vaccines and the necessary, temporary inconvenience of mask wearing and social distancing to protect others until studies provide confirmation of the risk of spreading the virus after being vaccinated.

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On the controversial online forum 8Kun (formerly called 8chan), a QAnon message board is starting a “meme campaign” to spread false information that the KKK is behind distribution of the COVID-19 vaccine, as a way to deter Black people from getting vaccinated.

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An organization with a history of fighting vaccine mandates has declared intent to file a lawsuit against CDC, claiming that CDC's website inaccurately states that there is no link between vaccines and autism. Research has repeatedly shown that vaccines do not cause autism. The declaration has led to a spike in related misinformation.

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A widely shared article from an anti-vaccine group states that one-third of deaths reported to the CDC occurred within 48 hours of COVID-19 vaccination, implying that vaccination was the cause of death. This conclusion was made using data from the Vaccine Adverse Reporting System (VAERS). This post continues a trend of incorrectly using self-reported VAERS data to draw causal links between vaccines and adverse health events. The VAERS is a passive surveillance system in which any individual can self-report any health problem following self-reported immunization. VAERS is the official US vaccine adverse event reporting system, maintained and monitored by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. However, reports to the VAERS do not determine if a vaccine caused a reaction or death; if a report is found to have merit, it begins the first of many subsequent steps taken by health officials to investigate adverse events.

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A widely circulating post on social media states that increases in Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS) began after vaccines became more widely available in the 1950s. The post uses a quote from a discredited physician who has published now-discredited vaccine research. Vaccines have not been shown to cause SIDS. Health researchers have previously documented that anti-vaccine organizations and advocates routinely reach out to mothers who have lost infants due to SIDS. Understandably intense feelings of grief and loss are capitalized upon to recruit women to the anti-vaccine movement, by claiming vaccines caused their child’s death rather than accidental or unknown causes. This tactic is expected to increase as more women receive COVID-19 vaccines.

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