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 trending video clip features a comedian repeating the debunked myth that Bill Gates admitted that vaccines are a part of his plan to depopulate the planet. The claim misrepresents Gates’s comments about the climate crisis, in which he stated that global access to “new vaccines, health care, and reproductive health services” would lead to slower population growth. This is supported by decades of research showing that birth rates decrease as living conditions improve.
Recommendation: 
A clip has resurfaced of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. claiming that COVID-19 vaccines cause heart attacks in vaccinated people at five times the rate of unvaccinated people. The clip originally circulated in January.
Recommendation: 
A far-right conspiracy article circulating on social media misleadingly claims that 1 in 3 COVID-19 vaccine recipients experience “neurological side effects.” Several popular anti-vaccine accounts shared the article.
Recommendation:
Several widely circulated posts claim that the spike protein mRNA in COVID-19 vaccines and the lipid nanoparticles (LNPs) that transport the RNA to the cells are harmful. One post claims that the mRNA in the vaccine “hijacks” cells, causing them to produce “poison” spike protein indefinitely.
Recommendation:
Trending social media posts are promoting misleading and inaccurate claims about flu vaccines. Well-known vaccine opponents claimed flu vaccines “do not work at all” and shared a video asserting the “flu shot is no longer really necessary.” Some posts claim vaccines contain toxic ingredients, while others promote supplements and vitamin regimens as flu vaccine alternatives.
Recommendation:
Shortly after news broke that an actor and star of a popular sitcom died in an apparent drowning accident, vaccine conspiracists began speculating that his death was linked to COVID-19 vaccines. Vaccine opponents circulated a 2021 social media post of the actor encouraging others to get vaccinated as alleged “proof” for the cause of death.
Recommendation:
A recipe for a homemade herbal remedy called the “flu bomb” has gone viral on multiple social media platforms. The so-called “magical elixir” is purported to fight respiratory illnesses, including colds, COVID-19, flu, pneumonia, bronchitis, and sinus congestion.
Recommendation:
A video is circulating of the son of the first World Economic Forum (WEF) chair, claiming that he and his mother are dying from injuries caused by “poison” COVID-19 vaccines. In the video, he calls for the arrests of Bill Gates, WHO and Pfizer leadership, and current WEF chair Klaus Schwab.
Recommendation:
An FDA preprint study monitoring the safety of pediatric COVID-19 vaccines flagged seizures and convulsions as a potential safety signal in children ages 2 to 5. The analysis explains that the new safety signal should be interpreted cautiously due to the study’s limitations, a warning ignored by social media users sharing the study without context. Vaccine opponents, including a popular anti-vaccine organization, are circulating the preliminary safety signal as though it is an established vaccine risk.
Recommendation: 
A tech entrepreneur that has previously promoted false claims about COVID-19 vaccines is now claiming that COVID-19 vaccine recipients can sue vaccine manufacturers for damages because of “DNA contamination” that is considered “adulteration.” Although some vaccine conspiracists have shared baseless claims, others have criticized it as dishonest and a “counterproductive fantasy.”
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.