Here’s a look at false and misleading allegations circulating online as news about COVID-19 vaccines and uncertainty surrounding coronavirus relief in the US dominates the headlines. None of this is legal, although it has been widely shared on social media. Associated Press checked them. Here are the facts:
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No, a Tennessee nurse did not die after receiving the vaccine
CLAIM: Tiffany Dover, a nursing manager in Chattanooga, Tennessee, who fainted after receiving her first dose of Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine on Thursday, is now dead.
THE FACTS: Allegations of Dover’s death have no basis in reality. According to Lisa McCluskey, vice president of marketing communications, she worked a shift at CHI Memorial Hospital on Monday. The claim appeared on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube over the weekend following videos in which the nurse received a few minutes after the vaccination on December 17 fainted. It also appears on Reddit, on a subreddit dedicated to conspiracy theories, and on a website indicating that it shows obituaries of deceased people. Some reports have used screenshots of Dover’s Facebook and Instagram accounts to claim she must be dead because she has not posted for several days. Others shared screenshots of a public records website, indicating that Dover’s name in the search results somehow indicated she was dead. These allegations are false, McCluskey confirmed to The Associated Press. Dover told reporters after the fainting that she had a condition that could cause her to faint if she experienced pain. “It’s common to me,” she told reporters.. “I feel good now.” In the days since, the CHI Memorial Hospital has confirmed that Dover is doing well and on Monday afternoon shared several tweets and a video of the nurse posing with colleagues. The CDC provides guidance in fainting after vaccination, which may be common. It is said that although fainting has a variety of possible causes, “it is usually caused by pain or anxiety.”
—Ali Swenson
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Doctor who vaccinated Pelosi did not leave the shell on the syringe
CLAIM: Photos of home speaker Nancy Pelosi receiving the first dose of COVID-19 vaccine show that the doctor never removed the orange cap from the syringe, so she never got the chance.
THE FACTS: The doctor did not leave a cap on the syringe when Pelosi received her first dose of the two-part Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine on December 18 to reporters. Photos and news reports clearly document every step in the process, from the moment Dr. Capitol Dr. Brian Monahan administered the shot to Pelosi, who then posed with her vaccine card. Over the weekend, however, social media users began sharing basic theories that the doctor never removed an orange cap from the syringe, so Pelosi was not actually vaccinated. “Difficult to get a chance with the cap still on,” reads one report that was widely circulated last weekend. “What’s going on here in Sam’s Hill?” read another. “I want to be like Nancy Pelosi and also get the vaccine with the cap on it!” Some of the posts contain photos showing an orange section near the end of the syringe. However, the orange part is not a cap. Photos prove it; they show how the needle gets past there to Pelosi’s arm. Instead, the orange piece is probably the needle hub, a plastic piece that attaches the syringe to the needle. Pelosi admits in a tweet that she received the first dose of the vaccine and said, ‘Today I received the COVID-19 vaccine with confidence in science and under the direction of the attending physician’s office.’
—Ali Swenson
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Photo of Pelosi during indoor meeting was taken last January
CLAIM: A photo shows Nancy Pelosi during an indoor party, in which he defies COVID-19 restrictions.
THE FACTS: A photo of Pelosi during a rally taken last January, before the US imposed strict COVID-19 restrictions, has been widely shared on Facebook over the past few weeks with a false description. In fact, the outside focus is photo shows Pelosi gesturing to a crowd during the opening party for Danny Meyer’s Maialino Mare, an Italian restaurant in the Navy Yard of Washington. Anna Spiegel, a food editor at Washingtonian magazine, took the photo on Jan. 7 and posted the day on Twitter. However, the same image was posted more recently with the false claim that it shows Pelosi taking social distance. “Ladies and gentlemen, here’s your speaker from the house having a party after she told you you can not hold social gatherings,” reads a fake Facebook post. Several Facebook users have posted the same false claim and shared it thousands of times. It was also shared on Parler, a social media platform popular with some conservatives. ‘Taken 3 days ago’, wrote one Facebook user who shared the fake message last week. The position held more than 2,400 shares. In fact, it was taken almost a year ago before restrictions on wearing masks and social distance were introduced. In March, the CDC recommended that meetings of 50 or more people be canceled or postponed. DC Mayor Muriel Bowser issued an order on March 24 which requires non-essential businesses to close temporarily and prohibit the gathering of ten or more people.
—Arijeta Lajka
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No, Congress did not give itself a salary increase this year
CLAIM: Congressmen gave themselves more than $ 40,000 in salary increases this year, while Americans only gave $ 1,200 checks and voted to give only $ 600 more.
THE FACTS: Congress has not given itself a salary increase this year. The Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act (CARES), signed by President Donald Trump at the end of March, awarded $ 1,200 stimulus checks to most Americans. As news spread this week that Congress had implemented a $ 900 billion COVID aid package at the end of the year that would pay directly to $ 600 to those earning up to $ 75,000, a popular message on Facebook falsely claimed members of Congress have given themselves massive salary increases of more than $ 40,000. “They gave you $ 1200 … six months later they will give you $ 600 … in the same year they gave themselves $ 40,000 + salary increases,” reads the widespread report. It concludes: “Are you already angry? You have to be. “Home Credit Committee spokesman Evan Hollander confirmed to The Associated Press that Congress’s salaries have not risen this year.” The legislation just passed specifically blocks the COLA that would otherwise be in force, ” Hollander said, referring to an automatic payment of living expenses, members of Congress have not received the adjustment since 2009. President Donald Trump has proposed that he not sign the dual COVID relief bill unless the $ 600 to $ incentive payments Most senators and members of the US House earn an annual salary of $ 174,000, the Speaker of the House earns $ 223,500, and the president pro tempors the Senate and the majority and minority leaders in the House and Senate earns $ 193,400. The false claim that Congress gave an increase also spread online in March when the CARES law was passed.
—Jude Joffe-Block
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Biden family does not own Dominion Voting Systems
CLAIM: Elected President Joe Biden’s sister is married to Stephen Owens, co-founder of private equity firm Staple Street Capital, which owns Dominion Voting Systems.
THE FACTS: Dominion Voting Systems was a target of a group of false fraud claims since the 2020 election, and the latest theory trying to link the elected president to the company is also false. Stephen Owens has no relationship with the Biden family, a Staple Street Capital spokesman confirmed. This false claim is based on two people having a common surname. “Biden’s sister is married to Stephen Owens, who owns Dominion Voting Systems,” read Facebook posts that were viewed hundreds of thousands of times this week. Another variation of the claim suggests an even more tortuous connection. “Valerie Biden Owens (Joe’s sister) is married to John Owens,” reads a Facebook post. “His brother, Kevin Owens, is founder of Staple Street Investors, which owns Dominion Voting.” It’s true that the president – elect’s sister is married to a man named John Owens, according to a New York Times wedding announcement. from 1975. According to the Times, the groom’s brother, R. Kevin Owens, was the best man. But Stephen Owens has no connection to any of these individuals, according to Tony Fratto, a partner at PR firm Hamilton Place Strategies, who spoke to The Associated Press on behalf of Staple Street Capital and Dominion. Fratto says Stephen Owens, co-founder of Staple Street Capital, has no relationship with the Biden family. In a fact check page Dominion says on its website that it is not affiliated with any political figures or political parties.
—Ali Swenson
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