From spring break parties to Mardi Gras, many people remember the last major 鈥渘ormal鈥� thing they did before the novel coronavirus pandemic dawned, forcing governments worldwide to issue stay-at-home advisories and shutdowns.
Even before the first case of covid-19 was detected in the U.S., fears and uncertainties helped spur misinformation鈥檚 rapid spread. In March 2020, schools closed, employers sent staff to work from home, and grocery stores called for physical distancing to keep people safe. But little halted the flow of misleading claims that sent fact-checkers and public health officials into overdrive.
Some people听 covid鈥檚 symptoms were associated with 5G wireless technology. Faux cures and听听populated social media and political discourse. Amid uncertainty about the virus鈥檚 origins, some people at all. PolitiFact named 鈥渄ownplay and denial鈥� about the virus its听.鈥澨�
Four years later, people鈥檚 lives are largely free of the extreme public health measures that restricted them early in the pandemic. But covid misinformation persists, although it鈥檚 now centered mostly on vaccines and vaccine-related conspiracy theories.
PolitiFact has published听听related to covid vaccines alone.
鈥淔rom a misinformation researcher perspective, [there has been] shifting levels of trust,鈥� said Tara Kirk Sell, a senior scholar at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security. 鈥淓arly on in the pandemic, there was a lot of: 鈥楾his isn鈥檛 real,鈥� fake cures, and then later on, we see more vaccine-focused mis- and disinformation and a more partisan type of disinformation and misinformation.鈥�
Here are some of the most persistent covid misinformation narratives we see today:
A Loss of Trust in the Vaccines
Covid vaccines were quickly developed, with U.S. patients receiving the first shots in December 2020, 11 months after the first domestic case was detected.
Experts credit the speedy development with helping to听听and preventing hospitalizations. Researchers at the University of Southern California and Brown University calculated that听听in 141 countries starting from the vaccines鈥� rollout through August 2021 alone. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data shows there were 1,164 U.S. deaths provisionally听听the week of March 2, down from nearly 26,000 at the pandemic鈥檚 height in January 2021, as vaccines were just rolling out.
But on social media and in some public officials鈥� remarks, misinformation about covid vaccine efficacy and safety is common.听U.S. presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has built his 2024 campaign on a movement that seeks to legitimize conspiracy theories about the vaccines. PolitiFact made that its .鈥�
PolitiFact has seen claims that spike proteins from vaccines are听听in vaccinated males. (That鈥檚听false.) We鈥檝e researched the assertion that vaccines can change your DNA. (That鈥檚听). Social media posts poked fun at Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce for encouraging people to get vaccinated, asserting that the vaccine actually shuts off recipients鈥� hearts. ()听And some people pointed to an American Red Cross blood donation questionnaire as evidence that shots are unsafe.听
Experts say this misinformation has real-world effects.
A September 2023 survey by听听鈥渟ay they are very or somewhat confident鈥� in covid vaccines. And those who distrust them are more likely to identify as politically conservative: Thirty-six percent of Republicans compared with 84% of Democrats say they are very or somewhat confident in the vaccine.
Immunization rates for routine vaccines for other conditions have also taken a hit. Measles had been eradicated for more than 20 years in the U.S. but there have been recent outbreaks in听,听. Florida鈥檚 surgeon general has 听about vaccines and听听听from the CDC about how to contain potentially deadly disease spread.
The vaccination rate among kindergartners has declined from 95% in the 2019-20 school year to 93% in 2022-23, . Public health officials have set a 95% vaccination rate target to prevent and reduce the risk of disease outbreaks. The CDC also found听exemptions had risen to 3%, the 听in the U.S.
Unsubstantiated Claims That Vaccines Cause Deaths or Other Illness
PolitiFact has seen repeated and unsubstantiated听claims that covid vaccines have caused mass numbers of deaths.
A recent widely shared post claimed听听because of the vaccine, despite contrary evidence from multiple studies and institutions such as the World Health Organization and CDC that the vaccines are safe and help to prevent severe illness and death.听
Another online post claimed the booster vaccine had听听and would kill 23% of the population. Vaccine manufacturers publish the听; they do not include HIV. People living with HIV were among the people听given priority accessduring early vaccine rollout to protect them from severe illness.
Covid vaccines also have been blamed for听听and听. Experts have found no evidence the vaccines cause either conditions.
鈥溾�嬧�媃ou had this remarkable scientific or medical accomplishment contrasted with this remarkable rejection of that technology by a significant portion of the American public,鈥� said Paul Offit, director of the Vaccine Education Center at the Children鈥檚 Hospital of Philadelphia.听
More than three years after vaccines became available, about 70% of Americans have completed a primary series of covid vaccination,听. About 17% have gotten the most recent听.
听often pull听from and misuse data听from the听. The database, run by the CDC and the FDA, allows anybody to report reactions after any vaccine. The reports themselves are unverified, but the database is designed to help researchers find patterns for further investigation.
An听听published in November by the Annenberg Public Policy Center at the University of Pennsylvania found 63% of Americans think 鈥渋t is safer to get the covid-19 vaccine than the covid-19 disease鈥� 鈥� that was down from 75% in April 2021.
Celebrity Deaths Falsely Attributed to Vaccines
,听, and听听are just a few of the many celebrities whose deaths were falsely linked to the vaccine. The anti-vaccine film听鈥溾�� tried to give credence to false claims that the vaccine causes people to die shortly after receiving it.
C茅line Gounder, editor-at-large for public health at 麻豆女优 Health News and an infectious disease specialist, said these claims proliferate because of two things:听cognitive bias and more insidious motivated reasoning.听
鈥淚t鈥檚 like saying 鈥業 had an ice cream cone and then I died the next day; the ice cream must have killed me,鈥� she said. And those with preexisting beliefs about the vaccine seek to attach sudden deaths to the vaccine.
Gounder experienced this听personally when her husband, the celebrated sports journalist Grant Wahl, died while covering the 2022 World Cup in Qatar. Wahl died of a ruptured aortic aneurysm but anti-vaccine accounts falsely linked his death to a covid vaccine, forcing Gounder to听.
鈥淚t is very clear that this is about harming other people,鈥� said Gounder, who was a听guest听at in 2023. 鈥淎nd in this case, trying to harm me and my family at a point where we were grieving my husband鈥檚 loss. What was important in that moment was to really stand up for my husband, his legacy, and to do what I know he would have wanted me to do, which is to speak the truth and to do so very publicly.鈥�
Out-of-Control Claims About Government Control
False claims that the听听by government leaders and those in power abound.
At any given moment, Microsoft Corp. co-founder and philanthropist Bill Gates, World Economic Forum head Klaus Schwab, or Anthony Fauci, former director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, are blamed for orchestrating pandemic-related threats.
In November, Rep. Matt Rosendale (R-Mont.) falsely claimed Fauci 鈥渂rought鈥� the virus to his state a听year before the pandemic.听There is听no evidence听of that. Gates, according to the narratives, is using dangerous vaccines to push a depopulation agenda. . And Schwab has not said he has an 鈥渁genda鈥� to establish a totalitarian global regime using the coronavirus to depopulate the Earth and reorganize society. That鈥檚 part of a听听that鈥檚 come to be called听鈥溾�澨齮hat has been听听听.
The United Nations鈥� World Health Organization is frequently painted as a global force for evil, too, with detractors saying it is using vaccination to control or harm people. But the WHO has not declared that听听is happening, as some have claimed. Its current pandemic preparedness treaty is in no way positioned to remove human rights protections or restrict freedoms, as听. And the organization has not announced plans to deploy troops to corral people and听. The WHO is, however, working on a new treaty to help countries improve coordination in response to future pandemics.