The pre-print Israeli study that compared natural immunity from previous COVID-19 infection to vaccine-induced immunity continues to create a stir online as some use it to argue against COVID-19 vaccination. One widely shared article claims that the study, which is still under peer review, has “demolished” the case for COVID-19 vaccine requirements. The article has garnered more than 100,000 engagements across multiple social media platforms, including more than 56,000 engagements from a post by a U.S. senator. Natural immunity, while robust, is far more unpredictable and dangerous to acquire than vaccine immunity. The only way to gain natural immunity is by contracting COVID-19, which means risking serious illness, long-term effects, and death. Moreover, not everyone who has previously had COVID-19 develops enough antibodies to fight reinfection. One recent study found that vaccination after a previous infection decreases reinfection risk.

Recommendation: Direct Response Read More +

A rumor is gaining traction online that the newly FDA-approved Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, now marketed as Comirnaty, is different from the vaccine that was originally granted Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) and has been administered worldwide. An anti-vaccine site that has published COVID-19 misinformation in the past posted an article claiming that the vaccines are not only different but that the vaccines that will be administered for the foreseeable future are still under EUA to protect Pfizer from liability. Both of these claims are false, and rhetoric of this kind is being used to undermine the confidence of people who were waiting for FDA approval to get vaccinated. It’s common for drugs to be referred to by names used in clinical trials until they are FDA approved, at which point they receive a brand name. Prior to FDA approval, the vaccine developed and distributed by Pfizer and BioNTech was named BNT162b2 but called the Pfizer or Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine for clarity. The only difference between FDA-approved Comirnaty and the FDA-authorized Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine is the licensing and labeling. The vaccine is already being distributed under the name Comirnaty in the E.U. The change in status from EUA to FDA approval has no effect on liability protection.

Recommendation: Direct Response Read More +

An Israeli study that has not yet been peer-reviewed found that unvaccinated people who were previously infected with COVID-19 have longer-lasting and stronger immunity against Delta infection than those who are fully vaccinated. Some have claimed that this is proof that natural immunity is superior to vaccine-induced immunity and are using the study to discredit officials promoting vaccination. Although natural immunity can provide robust protection against COVID-19, it is unreliable, as not everyone who recovers from COVID-19 develops enough antibodies to fight reinfection. It’s also dangerous because natural immunity can only be gained by contracting a serious and potentially deadly disease. Another recent study found that reinfection risk in unvaccinated people was more than twice that of vaccinated people, while numerous studies have shown that vaccinated people are much better protected against hospitalization and death than unvaccinated people. 

Recommendation: Direct Response Read More +

A preprint of a Lancet study published earlier this month continues to gain traction online, including a feature on a popular conspiracy site shown to publish anti-vaccine misinformation. The site misrepresents the study’s results to conclude that vaccinated health care workers are more responsible for spreading COVID-19 to patients than their unvaccinated colleagues. The study did find that vaccinated people who contract the virus can transmit it to others, but made no conclusions about unvaccinated people as they were not a part of the study. Studies of health care workers in the U.S. have shown that unvaccinated people are more than twice as likely to contract Delta as vaccinated people.

Recommendation: Ignore Read More +

During a school board meeting in Ohio, a man repeated the debunked claim that a CDC study found that 80 percent of people who were pregnant at the time of COVID-19 vaccination suffered a miscarriage or stillbirth. The claim is based on manipulated data from the preliminary findings of a CDC study investigating COVID-19 vaccines and pregnancy. Because the study only included data from completed pregnancies, the vast majority of those vaccinated earlier in their pregnancy are still pregnant. The study explicitly states that “whereas some pregnancies with vaccination in the first and early second trimester have been completed, the majority are ongoing.” Bad actors online misrepresented the study’s results by removing data from later vaccination and only including data from completed pregnancies in people who were vaccinated early in their pregnancy. The result is a dataset of pregnancies that ended early, either due to premature birth or miscarriage. The results presented in the study are preliminary and data is still being collected. At this time, the results suggest that there is no increased risk of miscarriage following COVID-19 vaccination.

Recommendation: Passive Response Read More +