A Facebook user made several false claims about COVID-19 vaccines in a video shared thousands of times.
On January 25, the user posted a video on Facebook in which he told his audience that the vaccine “does not mean you are protected” and that its “most common” side effects are anaphylactic shock and paralysis of Bell. you have a 10-15% chance of catching one of them ”. He further says that the ingredients will make a patient more susceptible to the onset of HIV (here).
His claim reads: ‘Remember only when you had your vaccine and that we, first one, tell us that the vaccine does not mean that you are protected. You can still catch COVID. Not only can you still catch COVID, coronavirus, you can still transmit it … You have a 15% chance of having an adverse reaction – so you had a 0% chance of not getting the vaccine and also do not catch a cold or sniff to inoculate yourself and give yourself a 15% increase to have an adverse reaction. The most common reaction so far is anaphylactic shock and the paralysis of the clock is in my opinion the most important side effects we see. So, just to make you aware of it, you have a 10-15% chance of catching one of them […] “Now about the ingredients … they say you have a good chance of getting HIV through this vaccine, so it makes you more susceptible.”
First, scientists are not yet sure whether the vaccine will reduce the transmission of the virus that causes COVID-19, because it has not been tested in the trials (here, here). However, this does not mean that you are not protected. Candidate vaccines have been found to prevent symptomatic and severe effects of COVID-19 (here). Reuters has previously (here) factually checked claims on this topic.
Second, anaphylactic shock and paralysis of Bell are not the most common side effects of the vaccine, and you also have no 10-15% chance of developing. In December, the doctor who led the US vaccine under Donald Trump’s government said 10-15% of recipients of the Pfizer / BioNTech and Modern vaccines had “significantly noticeable” side effects, causing pain at the injection site. , fever, chills were. , muscle aches and headaches (here). The NHS mentions the same effects as the most common and says that it should not last longer than a week (here, here). The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) says these are “normal signs that your body is building up protection” (here).
Anaphylactic shock is a treatable but severe allergic reaction caused by anaphylaxis (here). It is also extremely rare. According to recent figures, ten cases of anaphylaxis in the US were reported between 10 December 2020 and 10 January 2021 after the Moderna vaccine was administered. This is a rate of 2.5 cases per million doses (here). For Pfizer / BioNTech, between 14 and 23 December, this rate was 11.1 cases per million doses (here). The U.S. CDC released updated data on January 18 that showed a lower rate of severe allergic reactions and dropped to about 5 cases per million doses (here).
To offset this small risk, the NHS advises people to inform healthcare professionals of previous experiences of anaphylaxis. It also ensures that these reactions usually take place within minutes of vaccination, and that on-site staff are trained to treat them (here).
Bell’s paralysis, meanwhile, causes the temporary weakness or paralysis of one side of the face. It is treatable and the majority of patients recover within nine months (here). The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) released a safety analysis of the Pfizer / BioNTech vaccine in December. The study involved 38,000 people and four people developed Bell’s paralysis in weeks three, nine, 37 and 48 after vaccination. No one in the placebo group developed the condition (here). According to the FDA, this figure is “in line with the expected background figure of the general population”, meaning that this number of people would be expected to develop Bell’s paralysis anyway – with or without vaccination. Therefore, the FDA said it could not deduce whether it was caused by the vaccine, ensuring that further monitoring would be underway. This is also reflected on the CDC website (here).
Finally, there is no evidence to suggest that a person is susceptible to HIV if he or she takes one of the approved vaccines for COVID-19. An article published in The Lancet warned years ago about HIV trials that vaccinated men were more susceptible to the virus after being administered an adenovirus type 5 (Ad5) -infected vaccine (here) – but no of the COVID-19 vaccines have not been approved in the UK using this vector (here). The Moderna and Pfizer / BioNTech vaccines use mRNA, while Oxford / AstraZeneca use the ChAdOx1 vector (here).
VERDICT
Untrue. The vaccines for COVID-19 protect an individual by preventing serious consequences of the disease. Scientists are still investigating whether the vaccines also stop the transmission. The most common symptoms of the vaccine include pain at the injection site and redness – not anaphylaxis and not Bell’s paralysis. While four vaccines in a U.S. study developed Bell’s disability, it has not been linked to the vaccine. Researchers have also warned about the susceptibility to HIV in vaccines using a specific viral vector, but no COVID-19 vaccines using this vector have been approved for use in the UK.
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