A video shared on social media states that the Pfizer / BioNTech vaccine for COVID-19 caused fatal reactions in recipients from Israel. However, there is no evidence to support this claim.
The clip, which was shared to Facebook on February 7 (here), was originally posted on YouTube a week earlier by an Israeli blogger (here) recording his opinions on home affairs and religion (here). In his footage, the video blogger makes numerous allegations about the Pfizer / BioNTech mRNA vaccine, such as that it is not “as friendly” as “it killed several people”. Other claims fall outside the scope of this check.
“What our government, the government of Israel, is doing is quite evil,” he says. ‘By withholding the information from the citizens of this country, there are people who react negatively and die after receiving the vaccine, both the first and the second dose. I am not a medical expert, but I will tell you: for me I see something extremely dangerous. ”
To make his point, the man plays a five-minute clip from an English-language radio program in which the host reads out a list of names – which are apparently those of people who died after being vaccinated.
According to the host (here), most names come from an unofficial website that collects reports of such deaths (here). This site uses personal Facebook testimonials from relatives and friends of the deceased (bit.ly/3tGsgL1, bit.ly/3tGbewu), and in some cases, news reports (bit.ly/3jvQRxn). The evidence does not provide evidence of a causal link between vaccination and death; they present a personal timeline of a dose of vaccination and a death that occurred thereafter. In at least one case listed on the website, the death occurred after a diagnosis of COVID-19 (bit.ly/3jvQRxn).
In Israel, the Ministry of Health has an official form for anyone experiencing a detrimental side effect of the vaccine (here). On January 21, the Israeli Society for Allergy and Clinical Immunology said that 20 million doses of the Pfizer vaccine had been administered worldwide, with only a few serious adverse reactions and ‘no single deaths’ (here).
A January 27 report by the Ministry of Health outlined the side effects of vaccines, saying that most of what was seen in Israel was ‘mild and short-lived’ and that it was ‘similar to the symptoms reported after others’. vaccinations given to the population are ‘bit.ly/3cWP2Zn). This included consequences such as pain at the injection site or headache (here). One of the concerns was several cases of anaphylactic shock – a treatable but severe allergic reaction. This type of reaction is extremely rare, and no deaths have been reported (here).
Several other countries, including Norway, Germany and Belgium, recently reported deaths after a COVID-19 vaccine was administered, but no causal link has been found (here, here, here).
According to the World Health Organization’s Strategic Advisory Group of Experts on Immunization (SAGE), the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 mRNA vaccine is safe and effective, although there are some populations for which vaccination is not recommended (here, here).
On February 9, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said more than 97% of COVID-related deaths in Israel in the previous month were in people not vaccinated against the disease (here).
VERDICT
Untrue. There is no evidence that the Pfizer / BioNTech vaccine has caused fatal reactions among recipients in Israel.
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