The Claim:
A new poll published by the University of Pennsylvania’s Annenberg Public Policy Center found that Americans are more likely to believe COVID vaccine misinformation now than they were when the vaccine was first released. Among the findings, 28% of Americans believe that the vaccine has caused thousands of deaths (up from 22%), 22% believe it is safer to get COVID than the vaccine (up from 10%), and 15% believe that the vaccine can change your DNA (up from 8%).
The Facts:
These claims are based on laypeople searching the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System, or VAERS. As noted on the VAERS website, anyone can report anything to VAERS, regardless of causation.
The most important warning on the website helps put the above claims into context: “VAERS reports may contain information that is incomplete, inaccurate, coincidental, or unverifiable. Reports to VAERS can also be biased. As a result, there are limitations on how the data can be used scientifically. Data from VAERS reports should always be interpreted with these limitations in mind.”
These death claims usually don’t have any proof to back them up. In fact, the life-saving benefits of the COVID vaccine vastly outweigh the rare risks of an adverse event.
It is also important to shout from the rooftops that the mRNA from the vaccine can’t enter the nucleus of a cell, where our DNA is stored, and go about changing it.
Disclaimer: Science is always evolving and our understanding of these topics may have evolved too since this was originally posted. Be sure to check out our most recent posts and browse the latest Just the Facts Topics for the latest.
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