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Some of the most popular but completely bogus stories and visuals of the week include this one. It is not legitimate, although it has been widely shared on social media. The Associated Press verified them. Here are the facts:
CLAIM: People may be more likely to contract serious illness from COVID-19 after being vaccinated.
FACTS: An Instagram post with more than 4,000 likes falsely claims that people who receive the COVID-19 vaccine may experience more severe symptoms if exposed to the virus.
“Studies have warned that COVID-19 vaccines can lead to more serious illness when exposed to the virus through pathogen priming and immune boosting,” the article read, which was shared by Joseph Mercola, a doctor who runs a natural health website.
But the scientists told The Associated Press that such effects just weren’t in the data. Research has shown that Pfizer and Moderna vaccines are 95% effective in preventing COVID-19 disease. It’s true that some vaccines can, on rare occasions, cause more serious illness later on, but scientists say this effect – known as antibody-dependent boosting – has not been seen with COVID vaccines. 19.
Such an improvement has occurred with older vaccines and more recently with a vaccine against the dengue virus. There is “abundant evidence” that vaccine-enhanced disease “won’t be a problem” with COVID-19 injections, wrote Dr Paul Offit, director of a vaccine education center at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, in a report to the National Institutes of Health.
The Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna vaccines have been tested in thousands of people, some of whom were likely subsequently exposed to the virus. The effect was not seen in the trials.
The AP asked to see the studies mentioned in Mercola’s request, and his organization responded with links. All of the studies were published before Pfizer and Moderna released data from their late trials, and some of the studies specifically contradicted his claims.
Dr. Timothy Cardozo, associate professor at NYU Langone Health, is the author of one of the studies cited by Mercola.
Data from Pfizer and Moderna released after the publication of his study dramatically reduced his concern about antibody-dependent improvement, he told the AP in a statement. He also noted that his document made no statement on whether COVID-19 vaccines should be taken or avoided.
Mercola did not respond to a request for a response. If Mercola’s message was correct, vaccinated people would have had more infections than unvaccinated ones, said Dr Matthew Woodruff, an immunologist at Emory University. It was not the case.
“We are now six months away from vaccinating these people, with continued exposure, and no emerging evidence of increased disease,” Woodruff said.
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