COVID-19 vaccine misinformation and hesitancy#Vaccines as a cause of death

{{main|COVID-19 misinformation}}

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Various false theories have spread in different parts of the world regarding the COVID-19 vaccines.

Prior to the vaccine launch many citizens expressed skepticism that COVID-19 was a serious disease or that their countries had cases or high number of cases of the disease during 2020 and 2021. This prior skepticism that was pushed by the late President of Tanzania, John Pombe Magufuli is seen as a leading reason for vaccine hesitancy within the country. Magufuli declared Tanzania COVID-19 free in mid-2020 and pushed herbal remedies, praying and steam inhalation as remedies to COVID-19.{{Cite web | vauthors = Sippy P |date=7 September 2021 |title=Is it too late to fight Covid skepticism and vaccine hesitancy in Tanzania? |url=https://qz.com/africa/2055780/covid-skepticism-and-vaccine-hesitancy-is-widespread-in-tanzania/ |url-status=live |access-date=2021-09-30 |website=Quartz |language=en |archive-date=30 September 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210930145408/https://qz.com/africa/2055780/covid-skepticism-and-vaccine-hesitancy-is-widespread-in-tanzania/}}

As the delta variant of COVID-19 began to spread globally, disinformation campaigns seized on the idea that COVID-19 vaccines had caused the delta variant, despite the fact that the vaccines cannot replicate the virus.{{cite news |date=20 July 2021 |title=Fact Check-Delta variant did not come from the COVID-19 vaccine |publisher=Reuters |url=https://www.reuters.com/article/factcheck-delta-vaccine/fact-check-delta-variant-did-not-come-from-the-covid-19-vaccine-idUSL1N2OW1TA |url-status=dead |access-date=8 August 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210808183849/https://www.reuters.com/article/factcheck-delta-vaccine/fact-check-delta-variant-did-not-come-from-the-covid-19-vaccine-idUSL1N2OW1TA |archive-date=8 August 2021}} A French virologist likewise falsely claimed that antibodies from vaccines had created and strengthened COVID-19 variants through a previously debunked theory of Antibody-dependent Enhancement.{{cite news |date=3 June 2021 |title=Fact Check-No evidence vaccination efforts are causing new COVID-19 variants |publisher=Reuters |url=https://www.reuters.com/article/idUSL2N2NL1M2 |url-status=dead |access-date=8 August 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210808183850/https://www.reuters.com/article/idUSL2N2NL1M2 |archive-date=8 August 2021}}

A related debunked theory, out of India, claimed that COVID-19 vaccines were lowering people's ability to withstand new variants instead of boosting immunity.{{cite news |date=3 May 2021 |title=Fact Check-Multiple factors contributed to India's second wave |publisher=Reuters |url=https://www.reuters.com/article/factcheck-india-notvaccineeffect/fact-check-multiple-factors-contributed-to-indias-second-wave-idUSL1N2MQ0XA |url-status=dead |access-date=8 August 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210808183849/https://www.reuters.com/article/factcheck-india-notvaccineeffect/fact-check-multiple-factors-contributed-to-indias-second-wave-idUSL1N2MQ0XA |archive-date=8 August 2021}}

The website Natural News published an article in July 2021 claiming that CDC director Rochelle Walensky admitted that COVID-19 vaccines do not protect against the delta variant and that vaccinated people could be superspreaders due to having a higher viral load. Walensky actually said in a press briefing that vaccinated and unvaccinated people could have "similarly high" viral loads when infected with the delta variant, but did not say that vaccinated people had a higher viral loads or were "super-spreaders". She also stated that the vaccine "continues to prevent severe illness, hospitalization, and death", even against the delta variant.{{r|Gregory}} A July 2021 study in the New England Journal of Medicine reported that the Pfizer–BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine was 88 percent effective in preventing symptomatic infections caused by the delta variant.{{r|Gregory}}

In July 2021, Indian police arrested 14 people for administering doses of fake salt water vaccines instead of the Oxford–AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine at nearly a dozen private vaccination sites in Mumbai. The organizers, including medical professionals, charged between $10 and $17 for each dose, and more than 2,600 people paid to receive the vaccine.{{Cite news | vauthors = Kumar H |date=4 July 2021 |title=Indian police investigate whether scammers gave thousands of shots of salt water instead of vaccine. |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2021/07/04/world/asia/india-covid-vaccine-scam.html |url-access=limited |access-date=7 July 2021 |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=6 July 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210706144000/https://www.nytimes.com/2021/07/04/world/asia/india-covid-vaccine-scam.html |url-status=live}}{{Cite web |title=India: Fake vaccines undermine fight against COVID {{!}} DW {{!}} 1 July 2021 |url=https://www.dw.com/en/india-fake-vaccines-undermine-fight-against-covid/a-58122010 |access-date=10 July 2021 |website=Deutsche Welle-GB |archive-date=10 July 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210710163909/https://www.dw.com/en/india-fake-vaccines-undermine-fight-against-covid/a-58122010 |url-status=live}}{{Cite news |last=Pathak |first=Sushmita |date=9 July 2021 |title=Thousands Given Fake Vaccines Through Scam in India |url=https://www.npr.org/2021/07/09/1014512227/thousands-given-fake-vaccines-through-scam-in-india |work=Morning Edition |publisher=NPR |archive-date=18 July 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210718084722/https://www.npr.org/2021/07/09/1014512227/thousands-given-fake-vaccines-through-scam-in-india |url-status=live |access-date=29 September 2022}}

Interpol issued a global alert in December 2020 to law enforcement agencies in its member countries to be on the lookout for organized crime networks targeting COVID-19 vaccines, physically and online.{{Cite web | vauthors = Davis E |date=20 August 2021 |title=Black Market for Fake COVID-19 Vaccination Cards Flourishing |url=https://www.usnews.com/news/best-countries/articles/2021-08-20/global-black-market-for-fake-covid-19-vaccination-cards-flourishing |url-status=live |access-date=15 September 2021 |website=US News |archive-date=25 October 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211025173942/https://www.usnews.com/news/best-countries/articles/2021-08-20/global-black-market-for-fake-covid-19-vaccination-cards-flourishing}} The WHO also released a warning in March 2021 after many ministries of health and regulatory agencies received suspicious offers to supply vaccines. They also noted that some doses of the vaccines were being offered on the dark web priced between $500 and $750, but there was no way to verify the distribution pipeline.{{Cite web | vauthors = Jercich K |date=2021-03-29 |title=WHO warns about fake COVID-19 vaccines on the dark web |url=https://www.healthcareitnews.com/news/who-warns-about-fake-covid-19-vaccines-dark-web |url-status=live |access-date=2021-09-15 |website=Healthcare IT News |language=en |archive-date=15 September 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210915170636/https://www.healthcareitnews.com/news/who-warns-about-fake-covid-19-vaccines-dark-web}}

In the United States, there was a surge of individuals either looking to purchase fake vaccination cards, alter medical records to show vaccination, or create fake vaccination cards to sell. In Hawaii a vacationer was arrested after it was discovered she had a fake vaccination card, a California doctor was arrested for falsifying patients' vaccination records, and three state troopers in Vermont were arrested for helping create false cards.{{Cite web | vauthors = Clark J |date=13 September 2021 |title=Oklahoma Health Department warns that fake vaccine cards are illegal, dangerous to others |url=https://www.fox23.com/news/local/oklahoma-health-department-warns-that-fake-vaccine-cards-are-illegal-dangerous-others/WBHED6HBDFGZZBMSPTVQM53R3I/ |url-status=live |access-date=2021-09-15 |publisher=FOX23 News |language=en |archive-date=15 September 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210915170627/https://www.fox23.com/news/local/oklahoma-health-department-warns-that-fake-vaccine-cards-are-illegal-dangerous-others/WBHED6HBDFGZZBMSPTVQM53R3I/}} In August 2021 US Customs and Border Prevention agents seized 121 packages with more than 3,000 fake vaccination cards that had been shipped from Shenzhen to be distributed in the US.{{Cite news | vauthors = Shepherd K |date=16 August 2021 |title=Federal agents seize thousands of fake covid vaccination cards destined for locations across U.S. |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2021/08/16/border-patrol-fake-vaccine-cards/ |url-status=live |access-date=15 September 2021 |newspaper=The Washington Post |archive-date=25 October 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211025173937/https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2021/08/16/border-patrol-fake-vaccine-cards/}}

Check Point research released in August 2021 showed that fake vaccination cards were being sold via messaging apps and priced between $100 and $120 a card. Interpol announced that they were seeing a direct correlation between countries requiring negative COVID-19 tests to enter the country and the increased number of provided fake vaccination cards.

{{See also|COVID-19 vaccine#Adverse events}}

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Recurrent claims, based on misinterpretation of statistical data, have been made regarding the efficacy of COVID-19 vaccines. A frequent fallacy consisted in concluding on the ineffectiveness (or low effectiveness) of vaccines after noticing the apparently high proportion of vaccinated patients among COVID-19-related hospitalisations and deaths, without taking into account the high proportion of vaccinated people among the general population, thus committing the base rate fallacy;{{cite web |last=Aronczyk |first=Amanda |date=30 November 2021 |title=Planet Money Investigates the Base Rate Fallacy as It Pertains to the Pandemic |url=https://www.npr.org/2021/08/20/1029582399/planet-money-investigates-the-base-rate-fallacy-as-it-pertains-to-the-pandemic |work=Morning Edition |publisher=National Public Radio (NPR) |access-date=2 February 2022 |quote=The base rate fallacy. That means a very critical piece of information is missing, the base rate. The base rate is basically how common some characteristic is in a group. So in this case, the base rate that we care about is what percentage of the country's population has already been vaccinated. And the answer is 71%. Seventy-one percent of the total population of Iceland has been vaccinated. So that's a lot of people.}} or without taking into account the tendency of people at higher risk of developing severe illness from COVID-19 to be vaccinated in priority, thus ignoring the Yule–Simpson effect.{{cite web |url=https://www.ntu.ac.uk/about-us/news/news-articles/2021/11/in-the-wrong-hands,-vaccination-statistics-can-prove-deadly-simpsons-paradox-shows-why |title=Expert blog: In the wrong hands, vaccination statistics can prove deadly - Simpson's Paradox shows why |date=30 November 2021 |publisher=Nottingham Trent University |access-date=2 February 2022 |quote=Counter-intuitively, these statistics show that the death rates for the vaccinated in this age grouping were greater than for the unvaccinated. These numbers have since been heavily promoted and highlighted on social media by anti-vaccine advocates, who use them to argue that vaccination increases the risk of death.}}

In the United Kingdom, a report from the Scientific Pandemic Influenza Group on Modelling (SPI-M), published in March 2021, predicted that 60% of hospitalisations and 70% of deaths would be among people who had received two doses of the vaccine, despite the latter remaining highly effective. The report stated: "This (modelling) is not the result of vaccines being ineffective, merely uptake being so high".{{cite news | url=https://www.reuters.com/article/factcheck-mrna-vaccines-idUSL1N2MC0VF | title=Fact Check-There is no evidence mRNA vaccines reduce life expectancy or cause severe health issues including infertility and neuro-cognitive problems | work=Reuters Fact Check | date=19 April 2021 | agency=Reuters | accessdate=17 March 2022 |quote=However, this does not indicate that COVID-19 mRNA vaccines are ineffective or put someone at higher risk of death. Firstly, the report is based on projection modelling for when lockdown eases, rather than reporting existing data. Secondly, it is predicting deaths among older, vaccinated individuals because they had the highest jab uptake and the biggest health risk. The report clarifies: "This (modelling) is not the result of vaccines being ineffective, merely uptake being so high (page 18)."}}

Multiple studies have confirmed the effectiveness of a booster dose given on top of the two normal doses of the Pfizer–BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine. There is evidence that those who have received a boosted dose experience reduced severity of infection,{{cite journal |last1=Bar-On |first1=Yinon M. |last2=Goldberg |first2=Yair |last3=Mandel |first3=Micha |last4=Bodenheimer |first4=Omri |last5=Freedman |first5=Laurence |last6=Kalkstein |first6=Nir |last7=Mizrahi |first7=Barak |last8=Alroy-Preis |first8=Sharon |last9=Ash |first9=Nachman |last10=Milo |first10=Ron |last11=Huppert |first11=Amit |date=7 October 2021 |title=Protection of BNT162b2 Vaccine Booster against Covid-19 in Israel |journal=The New England Journal of Medicine |volume=385 |issue=15 |pages=1393–1400 |doi=10.1056/NEJMoa2114255 |pmid=34525275 |pmc=8461568 }} in addition to reduced likelihood of developing COVID-19 to begin with.{{cite journal |last1=Saciuk |first1=Yaki |last2=Kertes |first2=Jennifer |last3=Stein |first3=Naama Shamir |last4=Zohar |first4=Anat Ekka |date=2 November 2021 |title=Effectiveness of a Third Dose of BNT162b2 mRNA Vaccine |url=https://academic.oup.com/jid/article/225/1/30/6415586?login=false |journal=The Journal of Infectious Diseases |volume=225 |issue=1 |pages=30–33 |doi=10.1093/infdis/jiab556 |pmid=34726239 |pmc=8689889 |access-date=27 February 2023}}

On 17 January 2023, Ron DeSantis claimed, "Almost every study now has said with these new boosters, you're more likely to get infected with the bivalent booster," but PolitiFact rated that claim False, noting that, on the contrary, a "study found that the bivalent booster is 30% effective in preventing infection from the virus."{{cite web |last1=Reyes |first1=Yacob |title=Gov. Ron DeSantis falsely claims bivalent booster vaccine increases chances of COVID-19 infection |url=https://www.politifact.com/factchecks/2023/jan/20/ron-desantis/gov-ron-desantis-falsely-claims-bivalent-booster-v/ |website=PolitiFact |access-date=22 January 2023 |date=22 January 2023}}

{{See also|COVID-19 vaccine#Adverse events}}

Financial analyst and self-help entrepreneur David Martin claimed that mRNA vaccines do not fit the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's (CDC) or the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's (FDA) definitions of a vaccine because they do not prevent transmission of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19. While research has been ongoing to evaluate the effect of vaccination on SARS-CoV 2 transmission, neither the CDC nor the FDA stipulate that vaccines must stop transmission of a virus, both stating that a vaccine is a product that stimulates the immune system to produce immunity to an infectious agent.{{r|Gregory}}

The use of mRNA-based vaccines for COVID-19 has been the basis of misinformation circulated in social media, wrongly claiming that the use of RNA somehow alters a person's DNA.{{r|Gregory}}{{cite news |publisher=BBC |type=Reality Check |title=Vaccine rumours debunked: Microchips, 'altered DNA' and more |vauthors=Carmichael F, Goodman J |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/54893437 |date=2 December 2020 |access-date=13 September 2021 |archive-date=13 March 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210313050735/https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/54893437 |url-status=live}} The DNA alteration conspiracy theory was cited by a Wisconsin hospital pharmacist who deliberately removed 57 vaccine vials from cold storage in December 2020 and was subsequently charged with felony reckless endangerment and criminal damage to property by Ozaukee County prosecutors.{{cite news |vauthors=Almasy S, Moshtaghian A |title=Wisconsin pharmacist who left vials out believed vaccine could harm people and change their DNA, police say |url=https://www.cnn.com/2021/01/04/us/wisconsin-pharmacist-vaccine-vials-court-hearing/index.html |access-date=5 January 2021 |publisher=CNN |date=4 January 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210105034938/https://www.cnn.com/2021/01/04/us/wisconsin-pharmacist-vaccine-vials-court-hearing/index.html |archive-date=5 January 2021}}

mRNA in the cytosol is very rapidly degraded before it would have time to gain entry into the cell nucleus (mRNA vaccines must be stored at very low temperature to prevent mRNA degradation). Retrovirus can be single-stranded RNA (just as SARS-CoV-2 vaccine is single-stranded RNA) which enters the cell nucleus and uses reverse transcriptase to make DNA from the RNA in the cell nucleus. A retrovirus has mechanisms to be imported into the nucleus, but other mRNA lack these mechanisms. Once inside the nucleus, creation of DNA from RNA cannot occur without a primer, which accompanies a retrovirus, but which would not exist for other mRNA if placed in the nucleus.{{cite journal | vauthors = Skalka AM | title = Retroviral DNA Transposition: Themes and Variations | journal = Microbiology Spectrum | volume = 2 | issue = 5 | pages = MDNA300052014 | date = December 2014 | pmid = 25844274 | pmc = 4383315 | doi = 10.1128/microbiolspec.MDNA3-0005-2014 | isbn = 9781555819200 }}{{cite web |vauthors=Nirenberg E |title=No, Really, mRNA Vaccines Are Not Going To Affect Your DNA |work=Vaccines, Immunology, COVID-19 |publisher=deplatformdisease.com |date=24 November 2020 |url=https://www.deplatformdisease.com/blog/no-really-mrna-vaccines-are-not-going-to-affect-your-dna |access-date=28 January 2021 |archive-date=10 February 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210210211013/https://www.deplatformdisease.com/blog/no-really-mrna-vaccines-are-not-going-to-affect-your-dna |url-status=live}} Thus, mRNA vaccines cannot alter DNA because they cannot enter the nucleus, and because they have no primer to activate reverse transcriptase.{{Cite web |date=2021-09-10 |title=Why the mRNA vaccines are not 'gene therapy' {{!}} Chris von Csefalvay |url=https://chrisvoncsefalvay.com/2021/09/09/why-the-mrna-vaccines-are-not-gene-therapy/ |access-date=2021-09-12 |website=Chris von Csefalvay: Bits and Bugs |language=en-US |archive-date=11 September 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210911213852/https://chrisvoncsefalvay.com/2021/09/09/why-the-mrna-vaccines-are-not-gene-therapy/ |url-status=live}}

Because of misinformation suggesting that COVID-19 might alter DNA, some academics insisted that mRNA vaccines were not a "gene therapy" to prevent the spread of this misinformation, but others said that mRNA vaccines were a gene therapy because they introduce genetic material into cells.{{Cite journal |last1=Asaleh |first1=Amir |last2=Zhou |first2=Jichun |last3=Rahmanian |first3=Narges |date=2022-11-01 |title=Letter to the Editor: A Lesson for the Future—How Semantic Ambiguity Led to the Spread of Anti-Scientific Attitudes About COVID-19 mRNA Vaccines |url=https://www.liebertpub.com/doi/abs/10.1089/hum.2022.29223.aas |journal=Human Gene Therapy |volume=33 |issue=21–22 |pages=1213–1216 |doi=10.1089/hum.2022.29223.aas |doi-broken-date=17 November 2024 |pmid=36375123 |issn=1043-0342}}

In a December 2020 petition to the European Medicines Agency, German physician Wolfgang Wodarg and British researcher Michael Yeadon suggested, without evidence, that mRNA vaccines could cause infertility in women by targeting the syncytin-1 protein necessary for placenta formation.{{r|Gregory}}{{efn|Wodarg and Yeadon wrote, "There is no indication whether antibodies against spike proteins of SARS viruses would also act like anti-Syncytin-1 antibodies. However, if this were to be the case, this would then prevent the formation of a placenta which would result in vaccinated women essentially becoming infertile."{{cite web |vauthors=O'Rourke C |title=No, Pfizer's head of research didn't say the COVID-19 vaccine will make women infertile |url=https://www.politifact.com/factchecks/2020/dec/10/blog-posting/no-pfizers-head-research-didnt-say-covid-19-vaccin/ |website=PolitiFact |date=10 December 2020}} Multiple fact-checkers have debunked this claim.{{cite web |vauthors=Jaramillo C |title=No Evidence Vaccines Impact Fertility |url=https://www.factcheck.org/2021/02/scicheck-no-evidence-vaccines-impact-fertility/ |website=FactCheck.org |date=26 February 2021}}}} Their petition to halt vaccine trials soon began circulating on social media.{{cite journal | vauthors = Sajjadi NB, Nowlin W, Nowlin R, Wenger D, Beal JM, Vassar M, Hartwell M | title = United States internet searches for "infertility" following COVID-19 vaccine misinformation | journal = Journal of Osteopathic Medicine | volume = 121 | issue = 6 | pages = 583–587 | date = April 2021 | pmid = 33838086 | doi = 10.1515/jom-2021-0059 | doi-access = free }} A survey of young women in the United Kingdom later found that more than a quarter would refuse COVID-19 vaccines out of concerns for their effects on fertility.{{cite journal | vauthors = Male V | title = Are COVID-19 vaccines safe in pregnancy? | journal = Nature Reviews. Immunology | volume = 21 | issue = 4 | pages = 200–201 | date = April 2021 | pmid = 33658707 | pmc = 7927763 | doi = 10.1038/s41577-021-00525-y | doi-access = free }} A study in Andrologia found that Google searches relating to a supposed link between vaccination against COVID-19 and adverse effects on fertility increased following the Emergency Use Authorization of COVID vaccines in the United States, indicating that concerns about alleged impacts on fertility are a major contributor to vaccine hesitancy.{{cite journal |last1=Diaz |first1=Parris |last2=Reddy |first2=Pritika |last3=Ramasahayam |first3=Reshna |last4=Kuchakulla |first4=Manish |last5=Ramasamy |first5=Ranjith |date=28 June 2021 |title=COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy linked to increased internet search queries for side effects on fertility potential in the initial rollout phase following Emergency Use Authorization |journal=Andrologia |volume=53 |issue=9 |pages=e14156 |doi=10.1111/and.14156 |pmid=34181273 |pmc=8420403 }} Syncytin-1 and the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein targeted by the vaccines are largely dissimilar, sharing a sequence of only four amino acids out of several hundred.{{cite news |vauthors= |title=Fact check: Available mRNA vaccines do not target syncytin-1, a protein vital to successful pregnancies |url=https://www.reuters.com/article/uk-factcheck-syncytin-idUSKBN2A42S7 |work=Reuters |date=4 February 2021 |archive-date=14 August 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210814000922/https://www.reuters.com/article/uk-factcheck-syncytin-idUSKBN2A42S7 |url-status=live}} A study conducted on 44 rats injected with the Pfizer–BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine at doses over 300 times the human dose by body weight and 44 rats injected with placebo found no statistically significant evidence of any adverse effects on the fertility of female rats or on the health of the offspring of rats (the 3% lower pregnancy rate found in the vaccine group was not statistically significant).{{cite journal |last1=Bowman |first1=Christopher J. |last2=Bouressam |first2=Marie |last3=Campion |first3=Sarah N. |last4=Cappon |first4=Gregg D. |last5=Catlin |first5=Natasha R. |last6=Cutler |first6=Mark W. |last7=Diekmann |first7=Jan |last8=Rohde |first8=Cynthia M. |last9=Sellers |first9=Rani S. |last10=Lindemann |first10=Claudia |date=August 2021 |title=Lack of effects on female fertility and prenatal and postnatal offspring development in rats with BNT162b2, a mRNA-based COVID-19 vaccine |journal=Reproductive Toxicology |volume=103 |pages=28–35 |doi=10.1016/j.reprotox.2021.05.007 |pmid=34058573 |pmc=8163337 |bibcode=2021RepTx.103...28B |s2cid=235233335 }} David Gorski wrote on Science-Based Medicine that Wodarg and Yeadon were "stoking real fear [...] based on speculative nonsense".

False claims that a vaccinated person could "shed" SARS-CoV-2 spike proteins, allegedly causing menstrual irregularities or other harmful effects on the reproductive health of non-vaccinated women who are in proximity to them, such as miscarriage, were cited by the Centner Academy, a private school in Miami, which announced it would not employ teachers who received the COVID-19 vaccine.{{r|Gregory}}{{cite news |title=Private Florida school won't employ vaccinated teachers |url=https://apnews.com/article/health-florida-education-coronavirus-9ab40bfee7aac3c834faed7cd8e595eb |work=Associated Press |date=27 April 2021}}{{Cite news |vauthors=Mazzei P |date=26 April 2021 |title=A private school in Miami, citing false claims, bars vaccinated teachers from contact with students |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2021/04/26/us/florida-centner-academy-vaccine.html |issn=0362-4331 |url-access=limited |archive-date=11 May 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210511000406/https://www.nytimes.com/2021/04/26/us/florida-centner-academy-vaccine.html |url-status=live}}

Other businesses refused to serve vaccinated customers, citing concerns that vaccinated people could shed the virus.{{cite news |title='Vaccine won't give you Covid': health officials battle anti-vaccination messages in northern rivers |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/jun/08/vaccine-wont-give-you-covid-health-officials-battle-anti-vaccination-messages-in-northern-rivers |work=The Guardian |date=8 June 2021 |vauthors=Davey M}}{{cite news |title=Coronavirus: Okanagan business bans people vaccinated against COVID-19 from entering |url=https://globalnews.ca/news/7782133/coronavirus-okanagan-business-bans-people-vaccinated-against-covid-19-from-entering/ |work=Global News |date=22 April 2021 |vauthors=Matassa-Fung D}}{{cite news |title=Disability provider denies services to clients who get COVID–19 vaccine over unfounded shedding concerns |url=https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-04-22/ndis-provider-denies-services-to-clients-who-get-covid19-vaccine/100086902 |work=ABC News |publisher=Australian Broadcasting Corporation |date=22 April 2021 |vauthors=Boisvert E}}

Some promoters of this claim have recommended the use of face masks and social distancing to protect themselves from those who have been vaccinated.{{Cite web |vauthors=Lamoureux M |date=11 May 2021 |title=Anti-Maskers Ready to Start Masking—to Protect Themselves From the Vaccinated |url=https://www.vice.com/en/article/anti-maskers-ready-to-start-maskingto-protect-themselves-from-the-vaccinated/ |website=Vice |archive-date=14 May 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210514113906/https://www.vice.com/en/article/88nnwg/anti-maskers-ready-to-start-maskingto-protect-themselves-from-the-vaccinated |url-status=live}}

Gynecologist and medical columnist Jen Gunter stated none of the vaccines currently approved in the United States "can possibly affect a person who has not been vaccinated, and this includes their menstruation, fertility, and pregnancy".{{Cite web |vauthors=McCarthy B |date=5 May 2021 |title=Debunking the anti-vaccine hoax about 'vaccine shedding' |url=https://www.politifact.com/article/2021/may/06/debunking-anti-vaccine-hoax-about-vaccine-shedding/ |website=PolitiFact |archive-date=11 May 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210511051852/https://www.politifact.com/article/2021/may/06/debunking-anti-vaccine-hoax-about-vaccine-shedding/ |url-status=live}}

In late 2020, claims circulated on social media that the Pfizer–BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine caused Bell's palsy in trial participants. Several pictures which had originally been published prior to 2020 accompanied these posts, and were falsely labeled as these participants.{{cite news |title=Fact check: Photo does not show three recipients of Pfizer's COVID-19 vaccine that developed Bell's palsy |url=https://www.reuters.com/article/uk-factcheck-bells-palsy-photo/fact-check-photo-does-not-show-three-recipients-of-pfizers-covid-19-vaccine-that-developed-bells-palsy-idUSKBN28O2WD |access-date=27 August 2021 |work=Reuters |date=14 December 2020 |language=en |archive-date=27 August 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210827155124/https://www.reuters.com/article/uk-factcheck-bells-palsy-photo/fact-check-photo-does-not-show-three-recipients-of-pfizers-covid-19-vaccine-that-developed-bells-palsy-idUSKBN28O2WD |url-status=live}} During the trial, four of the 22,000 trial participants indeed developed Bell's palsy. The FDA observed that the "frequency of reported Bell's palsy in the vaccine group is consistent with the expected background rate in the general population".{{cite web |publisher=Snopes |url=https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/covid-vaccine-bells-palsy/ |title=Did 4 COVID-19 Vaccine Trial Patients Develop Bell's Palsy? |vauthors=Evon D |date=10 December 2020 |access-date=13 September 2021 |archive-date=16 February 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210216032426/https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/covid-vaccine-bells-palsy/ |url-status=live}}{{cite web |title=Medical conditions |url=https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/vaccines/recommendations/underlying-conditions.html |website=Centers for Disease Control and Prevention |access-date=27 August 2021 |language=en-us |date=19 August 2021 |archive-date=30 August 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210830081945/https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/vaccines/recommendations/underlying-conditions.html |url-status=live}}

Debate is still ongoing about whether or not there is a causal link between any of the major COVID-19 vaccines and Bell's palsy.{{cite journal | vauthors = Ozonoff A, Nanishi E, Levy O | title = Bell's palsy and SARS-CoV-2 vaccines | journal = The Lancet. Infectious Diseases | volume = 21 | issue = 4 | pages = 450–452 | date = April 2021 | pmid = 33639103 | pmc = 7906673 | doi = 10.1016/S1473-3099(21)00076-1 }}{{cite journal | vauthors = Colella G, Orlandi M, Cirillo N | title = Bell's palsy following COVID-19 vaccination | journal = Journal of Neurology | volume = 268 | issue = 10 | pages = 3589–3591 | date = October 2021 | pmid = 33611630 | pmc = 7897359 | doi = 10.1007/s00415-021-10462-4 | hdl-access = free | s2cid = 231971415 | hdl = 11343/270145 }}{{cite journal | vauthors = Cirillo N, Doan R | title = Bell's palsy and SARS-CoV-2 vaccines-an unfolding story | language = English | journal = The Lancet. Infectious Diseases | volume = 21 | issue = 9 | pages = 1210–1211 | date = September 2021 | pmid = 34111409 | pmc = 8184125 | doi = 10.1016/S1473-3099(21)00273-5 }} However, experts agree that even if an association exists, it occurs extremely rarely and the effect is small (~10 cases per 100,000 vs 3-7 cases per 100,000 in a typical pre-pandemic year).{{cite web | publisher = Government of Canada | work = Health Canada |title=Health Canada updates Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine label to reflect very rare reports of Bell's Palsy |url=https://healthycanadians.gc.ca/recall-alert-rappel-avis/hc-sc/2021/76203a-eng.php |access-date=27 August 2021 |date=6 August 2021 |archive-date=24 August 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210824025047/https://healthycanadians.gc.ca/recall-alert-rappel-avis/hc-sc/2021/76203a-eng.php |url-status=live}}{{cite web |title=Can the COVID-19 Vaccine Cause Bell's Palsy? Experts Say No. |url=https://thehealthnexus.org/can-the-covid-19-vaccine-cause-bells-palsy-experts-say-no/ |website=Health Nexus |access-date=27 August 2021 |date=25 January 2021 |archive-date=27 August 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210827155039/https://thehealthnexus.org/can-the-covid-19-vaccine-cause-bells-palsy-experts-say-no/ |url-status=live}} Bell's palsy is usually temporary and known to occur following many vaccines.{{cite journal | vauthors = Zhou W, Pool V, DeStefano F, Iskander JK, Haber P, Chen RT | title = A potential signal of Bell's palsy after parenteral inactivated influenza vaccines: reports to the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS)--United States, 1991-2001 | journal = Pharmacoepidemiology and Drug Safety | volume = 13 | issue = 8 | pages = 505–510 | date = August 2004 | pmid = 15317028 | doi = 10.1002/pds.998 | url = https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/15317028/ | access-date = 27 August 2021 | url-status = live | s2cid = 6607832 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20210827162509/https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/15317028/ | archive-date = 27 August 2021 }}{{cite web |title=Bell's Palsy and influenza, pneumococcal and hemophilus vaccine |url=https://www.aaaai.org/allergist-resources/ask-the-expert/answers/old-ask-the-experts/bell |publisher=American Academy of Allergy, Asthma, and Immunology |access-date=27 August 2021 |archive-date=27 August 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210827162517/https://www.aaaai.org/allergist-resources/ask-the-expert/answers/old-ask-the-experts/bell |url-status=live}}

Videos posted to Facebook and Instagram have claimed without evidence that 62 percent of people given an mRNA vaccine develop blood clots,{{cite news |author1= |title=Fact Check-There is no evidence that mRNA vaccines are linked to blood clots |url=https://www.reuters.com/article/factcheck-mrna-clots/fact-check-there-is-no-evidence-that-mrna-vaccines-are-linked-to-blood-clots-idUSL1N2PY1K2 |access-date=4 February 2022 |agency=Reuters Fact Check |date=27 August 2021 |language=en}} and that Pfizer's COVID-19 vaccine causes blood to clot "in a minute or two".{{cite web | vauthors = Kertschner T |title=No evidence that Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine causes blood clots |url=https://www.politifact.com/factchecks/2021/oct/29/instagram-posts/no-evidence-pfizer-covid-19-vaccine-causes-blood-c/ |website=PolitiFact |date=29 October 2021}} Studies have found possible causal links between the AstraZeneca and Janssen COVID-19 vaccines and a rare clotting disorder known as thrombosis with thrombocytopenia syndrome (TTS),{{r|Reuters blood clots}} but the risk is low for most people, with 47 confirmed reports of the condition out of more than 15 million recipients of the Janssen vaccine in the United States {{As of|2021|October|lc=yes}}.{{r|Kertschner Oct 2021}} A 2021 study published in the British Medical Journal suggested that SARS-CoV-2 infection is approximately 200 times more likely to cause blood clots in patients than the AstraZeneca vaccine.{{cite news | vauthors = Gitau M |title=Blood Clot Risk Greater From Covid-19 Than Vaccines |url=https://www.bloomberg.com/news/newsletters/2021-08-31/blood-clot-risk-greater-from-covid-19-than-vaccines |access-date=4 February 2022 |agency=Bloomberg |date=31 August 2021 |url-access=limited}}

The website Natural News has published claims that mRNA vaccines for COVID-19 can cause cancer by inactivating tumor-suppressing proteins. This claim was based on a misrepresentation of a 2018 study at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (MSKCC), which did not involve the mRNA used in vaccines.{{r|Gregory}} The study found that transcription errors in certain mRNA molecules could disrupt production of tumor-suppressing proteins. However, mRNA used in vaccines is made artificially, and poses no risk of transcription errors once made.{{cite news |title=Study did not find link between Covid-19 mRNA vaccines and cancer |url=https://factcheck.afp.com/study-did-not-find-link-between-covid-19-mrna-vaccines-and-cancer |work=AFP Fact Check |agency=Agence France-Presse |date=18 March 2021 |language=en}}

A widely reposted 2021 Facebook post claiming that the mRNA vaccines against COVID-19 could cause prion diseases was based on a paper by J. Bart Classen.{{r|Gregory}} The paper was published in Microbiology and Infectious Diseases, whose publisher, Scivision Publishers, is included in Beall's list of publishers of predatory journals.{{r|Himmelman}} Classen's only published evidence for his claim was a brief summary of an "unspecified analysis of the Pfizer/BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine", according to NewsGuard.{{r|Gregory}} Vincent Racaniello, professor of microbiology and immunology at Columbia University, described the claim as "completely wrong".{{cite news |vauthors=Himmelman K |title=Could the mRNA Vaccines Lead to an Increase in Neurodegenerative Disorders? |url=https://factcheck.thedispatch.com/p/could-the-mrna-vaccines-lead-to-an |access-date=8 April 2021 |agency=The Dispatch |date=8 April 2021 |archive-date=8 April 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210408194745/https://factcheck.thedispatch.com/p/could-the-mrna-vaccines-lead-to-an |url-status=live}}

Previous mRNA vaccines have been tested in humans, and were not found to cause prion disease.{{r|Gregory}} The mRNA contained in the vaccine is degraded within a few days of entering the cells of a person receiving it and does not accumulate in the brain.{{cite web |title=How long do mRNA and spike proteins last in the body? |url=https://www.nebraskamed.com/COVID/where-mrna-vaccines-and-spike-proteins-go |publisher=Nebraska Medicine |language=en |date=2 July 2021}} The U.S. Alzheimer's Association has stated that currently available COVID-19 vaccines are safe for persons with Alzheimer's disease and other forms of dementia.{{cite news |author1= |title=Fact Check-No evidence that Pfizer's COVID-19 vaccine causes Alzheimer's disease |url=https://www.reuters.com/article/fact-check-no-evidence-that-pfizers-covi/fact-check-no-evidence-that-pfizers-covid-19-vaccine-causes-alzheimers-disease-idUSL1N2MZ382 |work=Reuters |date=12 May 2021}}

Social media posts in Cameroon pushed a conspiracy theory that polio vaccines contained COVID-19, further complicating polio eradication beyond the logistical and funding difficulties created by the COVID-19 pandemic.{{Cite news |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/polio-was-almost-eradicated-then-came-the-coronavirus-then-came-a-threat-from-president-trump/2020/05/15/ed9d26fe-831c-11ea-81a3-9690c9881111_story.html |title=Polio was almost eradicated. Then came the coronavirus. Then came a threat from President Trump. |vauthors=Rauhala E, Paquette D, George S |date=15 May 2020 |newspaper=The Washington Post |url-access=limited |access-date=13 September 2021 |archive-date=1 July 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200701014250/https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/polio-was-almost-eradicated-then-came-the-coronavirus-then-came-a-threat-from-president-trump/2020/05/15/ed9d26fe-831c-11ea-81a3-9690c9881111_story.html |url-status=live}}

Antibody-dependent enhancement (ADE) is the phenomenon in which a person with antibodies against one virus (i.e. from infection or vaccination) can develop worse disease when infected by a second closely related virus, due to a unique and rare reaction with proteins on the surface of the second virus.{{cite journal | vauthors = Arvin AM, Fink K, Schmid MA, Cathcart A, Spreafico R, Havenar-Daughton C, Lanzavecchia A, Corti D, Virgin HW | display-authors = 6 | title = A perspective on potential antibody-dependent enhancement of SARS-CoV-2 | journal = Nature | volume = 584 | issue = 7821 | pages = 353–363 | date = August 2020 | pmid = 32659783 | doi = 10.1038/s41586-020-2538-8 | s2cid = 220509274 | doi-access = free }}{{cite journal | vauthors = Huisman W, Martina BE, Rimmelzwaan GF, Gruters RA, Osterhaus AD | title = Vaccine-induced enhancement of viral infections | journal = Vaccine | volume = 27 | issue = 4 | pages = 505–512 | date = January 2009 | pmid = 19022319 | pmc = 7131326 | doi = 10.1016/j.vaccine.2008.10.087 }} ADE has been observed in vitro and in animal studies with many different viruses that do not display ADE in humans.{{cite journal | vauthors = Duehr J, Lee S, Singh G, Foster GA, Krysztof D, Stramer SL, Bermúdez González MC, Menichetti E, Geretschläger R, Gabriel C, Simon V, Lim JK, Krammer F | display-authors = 6 | title = Tick-Borne Encephalitis Virus Vaccine-Induced Human Antibodies Mediate Negligible Enhancement of Zika Virus Infection In Vitro and in a Mouse Model | journal = mSphere | volume = 3 | issue = 1 | pages = e00011-18 | date = 7 February 2018 | pmid = 29435494 | pmc = 5806211 | doi = 10.1128/mSphereDirect.00011-18 }} Researchers acknowledge that "Fundamentally, this question should be asked of all vaccine candidates under development, despite the rarity of the phenomenon."

Prior to the pandemic, ADE was observed in animal studies of laboratory rodents with vaccines for SARS-CoV, the virus that causes severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS). However, {{as of|lc=yes|2022|01|27}} there have been no observed incidents with vaccines for COVID-19 in trials with nonhuman primates, in clinical trials with humans, or following the widespread use of approved vaccines.{{cite journal |last1=Hotez |first1=Peter J. |last2=Bottazzi |first2=Maria Elena |title=Whole Inactivated Virus and Protein-Based COVID-19 Vaccines |journal=Annual Review of Medicine |date=27 January 2022 |volume=73 |issue=1 |pages=55–64 |doi=10.1146/annurev-med-042420-113212 |pmid=34637324 |s2cid=238747462 |issn=0066-4219|doi-access=free }}{{cite news |vauthors=Hackethal V |title=Why ADE Hasn't Been a Problem With COVID Vaccines |url=https://www.medpagetoday.com/special-reports/exclusives/91648 |access-date=1 July 2021 |work=www.medpagetoday.com |date=16 March 2021 |archive-date=25 June 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210625153011/https://www.medpagetoday.com/special-reports/exclusives/91648 |url-status=live}}{{cite journal |last1=Haynes |first1=Barton F. |last2=Corey |first2=Lawrence |last3=Fernandes |first3=Prabhavathi |last4=Gilbert |first4=Peter B. |last5=Hotez |first5=Peter J. |last6=Rao |first6=Srinivas |last7=Santos |first7=Michael R. |last8=Schuitemaker |first8=Hanneke |last9=Watson |first9=Michael |last10=Arvin |first10=Ann |title=Prospects for a safe COVID-19 vaccine |journal=Science Translational Medicine |date=4 November 2020 |volume=12 |issue=568 |pages=eabe0948 |doi=10.1126/scitranslmed.abe0948 |pmid=33077678 |s2cid=224809822 |issn=1946-6242|doi-access=free }} Molecular simulations indicate that ADE might play a role in new strains such as delta, but none in the strains that the vaccines were originally designed for.{{cite journal | pmc=8351274 | year=2021 | last1=Yahi | first1=N. | last2=Chahinian | first2=H. | last3=Fantini | first3=J. | title=Infection-enhancing anti-SARS-CoV-2 antibodies recognize both the original Wuhan/D614G strain and Delta variants. A potential risk for mass vaccination? | journal=The Journal of Infection | volume=83 | issue=5 | pages=607–635 | doi=10.1016/j.jinf.2021.08.010 | pmid=34384810 }} Anti-vaccination activists cited ADE as a reason to avoid vaccination against COVID-19.{{cite web |website=Science-Based Medicine |vauthors=Gorski DH |title=It was inevitable that antivaxxers would claim that COVID-19 vaccines make females infertile |url=https://sciencebasedmedicine.org/it-was-inevitable-that-antivaxxers-would-claim-that-covid-19-vaccines-make-females-infertile/ |date=14 December 2020 |access-date=13 September 2021 |archive-date=9 February 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210209003222/https://sciencebasedmedicine.org/it-was-inevitable-that-antivaxxers-would-claim-that-covid-19-vaccines-make-females-infertile/ |url-status=live}}{{cite web |publisher=Health Feedback |url=https://healthfeedback.org/claimreview/no-evidence-that-covid-19-vaccines-cause-more-severe-disease-antibody-dependent-enhancement-has-not-been-observed-in-clinical-trials/ |date=27 November 2020 |type=Fact check |title=No evidence that COVID-19 vaccines cause more severe disease; antibody-dependent enhancement has not been observed in clinical trials |veditors=Teoh F |access-date=13 September 2021 |archive-date=4 February 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210204065329/https://healthfeedback.org/claimreview/no-evidence-that-covid-19-vaccines-cause-more-severe-disease-antibody-dependent-enhancement-has-not-been-observed-in-clinical-trials/ |url-status=live}}

{{further|Use of fetal tissue in vaccine development}}

In November 2020, claims circulated on the web that the Oxford–AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine contained tissue from aborted fetuses. While it is true that cell lines derived from a fetus aborted in 1970 plays a role in the vaccine development process, the molecules for the vaccine are separated from the resulting cell debris.{{cite web |date=2 December 2020 |title=Does AstraZeneca's COVID-19 Vaccine Contain Aborted Fetal Cells? |url=https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/astrazeneca-covid-vaccine-fetal/ |website=Snopes |vauthors=Kasprak A |access-date=13 September 2021 |archive-date=16 February 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210216032441/https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/astrazeneca-covid-vaccine-fetal/ |url-status=live}}{{cite web |date=November 2020 |title=Innovating Production and Manufacture to meet the Challenge of COVID-19 |url=https://www.astrazeneca.com/what-science-can-do/topics/technologies/innovating-production-and-manufacture-to-meet-the-challenge-of-covid-19.html |publisher=AstraZeneca |access-date=13 September 2021 |archive-date=16 February 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210216032534/https://www.astrazeneca.com/what-science-can-do/topics/technologies/innovating-production-and-manufacture-to-meet-the-challenge-of-covid-19.html |url-status=live}}

Several other COVID-19 vaccine candidates use fetal cell lines descended from fetuses aborted between 1972 and 1985. No fetal tissue is present in these vaccines.{{r|Gregory}}

In 2021, anti-vaccination misinformation circulated on social media saying that SARS-CoV-2 spike proteins were "very dangerous" and "cytotoxic". At that time, all COVID-19 vaccines approved for emergency use either contained mRNA or mRNA precursors for the production of the spike protein. This mRNA consists of instructions which, when processed in cells, cause production of spike proteins, which trigger an adaptive immune response in a safe and effective manner.{{cite web |date=18 June 2021 |title=COVID-19 vaccines are not 'cytotoxic' |url=https://www.reuters.com/article/factcheck-vaccine-cytotoxic-idUSL2N2O01XP |publisher=Reuters |type=Fact check |access-date=13 September 2021 |archive-date=27 June 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210627224723/https://www.reuters.com/article/factcheck-vaccine-cytotoxic-idUSL2N2O01XP |url-status=live}}{{cite web |date=24 May 2021 |title=The 'deadly' coronavirus spike protein (according to antivaxxers) |url=https://sciencebasedmedicine.org/the-deadly-coronavirus-spike-protein/ |website=Science-Based Medicine |vauthors=Gorski DH |access-date=13 September 2021 |archive-date=2 July 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210702230700/https://sciencebasedmedicine.org/the-deadly-coronavirus-spike-protein/ |url-status=live}}

In October 2021, the website The Exposé used data published by the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA), which misleadingly indicated that COVID-19 infection rates were higher among fully-vaccinated than unvaccinated people, to falsely claim that the COVID-19 vaccines were not only ineffective but were also causing vaccinated people to develop AIDS "much faster than anticipated". The website's claims were cited in a speech by Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro.{{Cite web |last=Benedictus |first=Leo |date=2021-11-05 |title=How the UK Health Security Agency's misleading data fuelled a global vaccine myth |url=https://fullfact.org/health/phe-ukhsa-bolsonaro/ |access-date=2022-10-17 |website=Full Fact |language=en}}{{Cite web |date=2021-11-05 |title=Article by The Exposé failed to account for caveats listed in U.K. vaccine surveillance reports; falsely claims fully vaccinated people have weakened immunity |url=https://healthfeedback.org/claimreview/article-by-the-expose-failed-to-account-for-caveats-listed-in-u-k-vaccine-surveillance-reports-falsely-claims-fully-vaccinated-people-have-weakened-immunity/ |access-date=2022-10-19 |website=Health Feedback |language=en-US}} The video of Bolsonaro's speech was removed from Facebook, Instagram and YouTube for violating their policies regarding COVID-19 vaccines.{{Cite web |last=Biller |first=David |date=2021-10-25 |title=Facebook yanks Bolsonaro video claiming vaccines cause AIDS |url=https://apnews.com/article/coronavirus-pandemic-technology-health-caribbean-brazil-9abd4832762e9ed405858248547955c3 |access-date=2022-10-22 |website=Associated Press |language=en}}{{Cite web |date=26 October 2021 |title=Facebook, YouTube remove Bolsonaro video over vaccine claims |url=https://www.aljazeera.com/economy/2021/10/26/facebook-youtube-remove-bolsonaro-video-over-vaccine-claims |access-date=2022-10-22 |website=Al Jazeera |language=en}}{{Cite web |date=26 October 2021 |title=Facebook yanks Bolsonaro video claiming vaccines cause AIDS |url=https://www.nbcnews.com/news/latino/facebook-yanks-bolsonaro-video-claiming-vaccines-cause-aids-rcna3771 |access-date=2022-10-22 |website=NBC News |language=en |agency=Reuters}}

In January 2022, The Exposé promoted a conspiracy theory claiming that Germans fully-vaccinated against COVID-19 "[would] have full blown Covid-19 vaccine induced acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) by the end of [the month]."{{Cite web |date=2022-01-10 |title=Vaccinated Germans won't have AIDS by the end of January 2022 |url=https://fullfact.org/health/germany-covid-omicron-aids-expose-false/ |access-date=2022-09-04 |website=Full Fact |language=en}}{{cite web |last1=Zhang |first1=Legu |last2=Echols |first2=William |date=2022-04-01 |title=Made by Moderna? China Spreads Yet Another Debunked COVID-19 Conspiracy Theory |url=https://www.polygraph.info/a/fact-check-moderna-vaccine-covid-conspiracy/31781624.html |access-date=10 August 2022 |website=Polygraph.info}}

Claims have been made that data from the United States Department of Health and Human Services's Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS) reveals a hidden toll of COVID-19 vaccine related deaths.{{Cite web |date=20 April 2021 |title=Data from vaccine reporting site being misrepresented online |url=https://apnews.com/article/fact-checking-9957832237 |access-date=6 August 2021 |website=AP News |archive-date=6 August 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210806235221/https://apnews.com/article/fact-checking-9957832237 |url-status=live}}{{Cite news |author= |date=14 February 2021 |title=Fact check: Reports of adverse effects in US database aren't confirmed to be linked to vaccination |work=Reuters |url=https://www.reuters.com/article/uk-factcheck-vaers-idUSKBN2AE0QQ |access-date=6 August 2021 |archive-date=6 August 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210806234021/https://www.reuters.com/article/uk-factcheck-vaers-idUSKBN2AE0QQ |url-status=live}}{{Cite web | vauthors = Goldin M, Gregory J, McDonald K |date=25 May 2021 |title=How a well-meaning U.S. government database fuels dangerous vaccine misinformation |url=https://www.newsweek.com/how-well-meaning-us-government-database-fuels-dangerous-vaccine-misinformation-1594392 |access-date=6 August 2021 |website=Newsweek |archive-date=12 August 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210812234857/https://www.newsweek.com/how-well-meaning-us-government-database-fuels-dangerous-vaccine-misinformation-1594392 |url-status=live}}{{Cite web |date=3 May 2021 |title=Federal VAERS database is a critical tool for researchers, but a breeding ground for misinformation |url=https://www.politifact.com/article/2021/may/03/vaers-governments-vaccine-safety-database-critical/ |website=Politifact |vauthors=Settles G |access-date=13 September 2021 |archive-date=12 August 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210812155213/https://www.politifact.com/article/2021/may/03/vaers-governments-vaccine-safety-database-critical/ |url-status=live}} This claim have been debunked as a misleading misrepresentation by anti-vaccine sources.{{Cite news |date=2021-09-23 |title=Fact Check-COVID-19 vaccines do not kill more people than they save; FDA experts did not make this false claim |language=en |work=Reuters |url=https://www.reuters.com/article/factcheck-coronavirus-usa-idUSL1N2QP18K |access-date=2021-10-22 |archive-date=22 October 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211022200801/https://www.reuters.com/article/factcheck-coronavirus-usa-idUSL1N2QP18K |url-status=live}}{{Cite news |date=2021-10-04 |title=Fact Check-VAERS data does not suggest COVID-19 vaccines killed 150,000 people, as analysis claims |language=en |work=Reuters |url=https://www.reuters.com/article/factcheck-coronavirus-usa-idUSL1N2R00KP |access-date=2021-10-22 |archive-date=22 October 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211022200619/https://www.reuters.com/article/factcheck-coronavirus-usa-idUSL1N2R00KP |url-status=live}} The VAERS is known to report and store co-occurring health events with no proof of causation, including suicides, mechanical incidents (car accident), natural deaths by chronic diseases, old age and others. The websites Medalerts.org by the National Vaccine Information Center, a known and leading anti-vaccine center, and OpenVAERS have been linked to this misinformation. Comparative studies of VAERS, which look at relative reporting rates, have found that the data does not support these claims.{{Cite medRxiv |vauthors=von Csefalvay C |date=2021-06-13 |title=Early evidence for the safety of certain COVID-19 vaccines using empirical Bayesian modeling from VAERS |language=en |medrxiv=10.1101/2021.06.10.21258589v1}}{{cite journal | vauthors = Gee J, Marquez P, Su J, Calvert GM, Liu R, Myers T, Nair N, Martin S, Clark T, Markowitz L, Lindsey N, Zhang B, Licata C, Jazwa A, Sotir M, Shimabukuro T | display-authors = 6 | title = First Month of COVID-19 Vaccine Safety Monitoring - United States, December 14, 2020 – January 13, 2021 | journal = MMWR. Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report | volume = 70 | issue = 8 | pages = 283–288 | date = February 2021 | pmid = 33630816 | pmc = 8344985 | doi = 10.15585/mmwr.mm7008e3 }}

A 2021 transparency report from Facebook found that the most popular shared link in the United States from January to March was an article from the South Florida Sun-Sentinel about a doctor's death two weeks after getting a COVID-19 vaccine. The medical examiner later found no evidence of a link to the vaccine, but the article was promoted and twisted by anti-vaccine groups to raise doubt about vaccine safety.{{Cite web |vauthors=Dwoskin E |url=https://www.bostonglobe.com/2021/08/21/nation/facebook-says-post-that-cast-doubt-coronavirus-vaccine-among-most-popular-platform-this-year/ |title=Facebook says post that cast doubt on coronavirus vaccine among the most popular on the platform this year |work=The Boston Globe |agency=The Washington Post |date=21 August 2021 |archive-date=15 September 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210915091545/https://www.bostonglobe.com/2021/08/21/nation/facebook-says-post-that-cast-doubt-coronavirus-vaccine-among-most-popular-platform-this-year/ |url-status=live |url-access=limited}} Anti-vaccine activists Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Del Bigtree have suggested without evidence that the death of Baseball Hall of Fame member Hank Aaron was caused by receiving the COVID-19 vaccine. Aaron's death was reported as being due to natural causes, and medical officials did not believe the COVID-19 vaccine had any adverse effect on his health.{{r|Gregory}}

On 7 October 2022, Florida Surgeon General Dr. Joseph Ladapo issued a press release discouraging men aged 18 to 39 from taking the COVID-19 vaccine since a study by the Florida Department of Health concluded vaccinated men of the age group had an 84% increased likelihood of dying from heart problems. The study was neither peer-reviewed, nor published in a scientific journal, while its authors, source of funding, and methods of analysis were not disclosed. The study faced ample criticism, contending misrepresentation of data, that the time frame for examining deaths was too long, a lack of transparency, and that the efficacy and safety of the vaccines were ignored. Steve Kirsch, an entrepreneur who promotes COVID-19 vaccine misinformation, cited the study as proof that mRNA vaccines are fatal to children.{{Cite web|last=Settles|first=Gabrielle|date=2022-10-13|title=Why an analysis of COVID-19 vaccines from Florida's surgeon general is flawed|url=https://www.politifact.com/article/2022/oct/13/why-analysis-covid-19-vaccines-floridas-surgeon-ge/|website=PolitiFact|access-date=2022-11-25|language=en}}{{Cite web|last=Gorski|first=David|date=2022-10-10|title=The State of Florida spreads antivaccine disinformation disguised as an epidemiological 'study'|url=https://sciencebasedmedicine.org/the-state-of-florida-spreads-antivaccine-disinformation-disguised-as-an-epidemiological-study/|website=Science-Based Medicine|access-date=2022-11-25|language=en}} A study published in JAMA showed an increased risk for myocarditis within seven days of vaccination. The group with most recorded cases (males aged 16 to 17) had 106 per million doses, though the actual incidence is likely higher due to overall underreporting. 96% of patients were hospitalized, but most cases were mild and patients typically experienced symptomatic recovery by discharge.{{Cite journal |vauthors=Oster M, Shady D, Su J, Gee J, Creech C, Broder K, Edwards K, Soslow J, Dendey J, Schlaudecker E, lang S, Barnett E, Ruberg F, Smith M, Campbell M, Lopes R, Sperling L, Baumblatt J, Thompson D, Marquez P, Strid P, Woo J, Pugsley R, Reagen-Steiner S, DeStefano F, Shimanukuro T |date=2022-01-25 |title=Myocarditis Cases Reported After mRNA-Based COVID-19 Vaccination in the US From December 2020 to August 2021 |journal=JAMA |language=en |volume=327 |issue=4 |pages=331–340 |doi=10.1001/jama.2021.24110 |pmc=8790664 |pmid=35076665 |quote=“[A]s a passive system, VAERS data are subject to reporting biases in that both underreporting and overreporting are possible.38 Given the high verification rate of reports of myocarditis to VAERS after mRNA-based COVID-19 vaccination, underreporting is more likely. Therefore, the actual rates of myocarditis per million doses of vaccine are likely higher than estimated.”}}

The Falun Gong-affiliated news channel New Tang Dynasty Television spread misrepresentation of Taiwan's VAERS surveillance data to suggest COVID-19 vaccines, including the Taiwanese-developed Medigen vaccine, killed more people than the virus.{{Cite web |title=Vaccines Are Not More Deadly Than COVID-19 in Taiwan |url=https://www.polygraph.info/a/fact-check-taiwan-covid-vaccine-death/31521527.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211021144937/https://www.polygraph.info/a/fact-check-taiwan-covid-vaccine-death/31521527.html |archive-date=21 October 2021 |access-date=2021-10-21 |website=Polygraph.info |date=21 October 2021 |language=en}}{{Cite web |last=Kochhar |first=Nikita |date=9 December 2021 |title=Misleading: COVID-19 vaccine related deaths in Taiwan are higher than those due to the virus. |url=https://www.logicallyfacts.com/en/fact-check/misleading-the-number-of-deaths-due-to-covid-19-vaccines-in-taiwan-is-higher-than-those-due-to-the-virus |access-date=2023-01-07 |website=Logically |language=en-gb}}{{Cite web |date=2021-10-21 |title=Tajvanskih 865 smrti nakon vakcine za Covid-19 nije prouzrokovano cepivom |url=https://cinjenice.afp.com/http%253A%252F%252Fdoc.afp.com%252F9Q62M6-1 |access-date=2021-10-25 |website=Provera činjenica |language=sr}}

Similar misrepresentation of known "deaths after vaccination" as "deaths due to vaccination" have been mentioned in various countries, including Italy, Austria, South Korea, Germany, Spain, USA, Norway, Belgium, Peru,{{Cite web | work = Deutsche Welle |title=Fact check: No links found between vaccination and deaths {{!}} DW {{!}} 15.03.2021 |url=https://www.dw.com/en/fact-check-no-links-found-between-vaccination-and-deaths/a-56458746 |access-date=2021-10-19 |language=en-GB |archive-date=27 September 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210927090710/https://www.dw.com/en/fact-check-no-links-found-between-vaccination-and-deaths/a-56458746 |url-status=live}} and Canada.{{cite web|first=Ashleigh|last=Stewart|title=Kraken, Elon Musk and dead Canadian doctors: Disinformation surges 3 years into the pandemic|date=14 January 2023|work=Global News|url=https://globalnews.ca/news/9405373/covid-conspiracy-theory-doctors-canada/|access-date=15 January 2023}} These have been debunked as misrepresentation of the cases and data.

In November 2021, a White House correspondent for the conservative outlet Newsmax falsely tweeted that the Moderna vaccine contained luciferase "so that you can be tracked."{{Cite web |url=https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/luciferase-covid-19-vaccines/ |title='Luciferase' Is Not an Ingredient in COVID-19 Vaccines |date=2 November 2021 |author=Dan Evon |website=Snopes.com}}{{Cite news |url=https://www.reuters.com/article/factcheck-moderna-luciferin-idUSL1N2MT265 |title=Fact Check-Moderna's COVID-19 vaccine does not contain luciferin or luciferase |newspaper=Reuters |date=6 May 2021 |via=www.reuters.com}}

In November 2021, erroneous claims arose that a "detox bath" of epsom salt, borax and bentonite clay can remove the effects of the vaccine.{{Cite web |title=Vaccine holdouts are caving to mandates — then scrambling to 'undo' it |url=https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/tech-news/covid-vaccine-mandates-push-holdouts-get-shot-detox-rcna4859 |access-date=2021-11-14 |website=NBC News |language=en}} In fact, a rapid review of literature shows that no known mechanism exists for removing a vaccine from a vaccinated person.{{Cite web |date=2021-11-14 |title=Can you reverse COVID-19 vaccination? |url=https://chrisvoncsefalvay.com/2021/11/13/reverse-covid-19-vaccination/ |access-date=2021-11-14 |website=Chris von Csefalvay: Bits and Bugs |language=en-US |archive-date=14 November 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211114042654/https://chrisvoncsefalvay.com/2021/11/13/reverse-covid-19-vaccination/ |url-status=dead }}

Under U.S. FDA regulations, a product approved under an Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) is considered "legally distinct" from a product that has received full approval by the FDA. Besides differences in naming and labeling to account for its approval, and increased FDA oversight over its production, there are no formulaic differences between the EUA and approved versions of a vaccine, and the two are considered interchangeable once approved. For example, the Pfizer vaccine has been labeled as "Pfizer–BioNTech COVID-19 Vaccine" since distribution began, but was assigned the United States Adopted Name "Comirnaty" upon its approval.

Some anti-vaccine advocates have made claims surrounding scenarios where this distinction is allegedly applicable; claims have been made that no FDA-approved vaccine is "available" in the United States because doses labeled as "Pfizer–BioNTech COVID-19 Vaccine" were still being distributed, and not "Comirnaty".{{Cite web | vauthors = Funke D |title=Fact check: Pfizer's FDA-approved vaccine is available in US |url= https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/factcheck/2021/10/20/fact-check-comirnaty-pfizers-fda-approved-vaccine-available-us/8538861002/ |access-date=2022-01-08 |website=USA TODAY |language=en-US}} This claim was cited by a group of Louisiana Republican lawmakers, Senator Ron Johnson,{{cite news |last=Blake |first=Aaron |date=5 October 2021 |title=Ron Johnson takes 2 covid conspiracy theories from fever swamps to Fox News prime time |newspaper=Washington Post |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2021/10/05/ron-johnson-takes-2-covid-conspiracy-theories-fever-swamps-fox-news-primetime/ |access-date=5 October 2021}} and in a lawsuit filed by the First Liberty Institute against a COVID-19 vaccine mandate implemented by the U.S. military. In the case of the latter, the plaintiffs claimed that the mandate applied specifically to Comirnaty only, and not the "experimental" Pfizer–BioNTech COVID-19 Vaccine.{{Cite web |vauthors=Shomaker C |title=New River Marine, N.C. Marine officer plaintiffs in military vaccine mandate lawsuits |url=https://www.jdnews.com/story/news/2021/11/26/multiple-lawsuits-pending-that-challenge-militarys-vaccine-mandate-as-deadlines-near/8673596002/ |access-date=2022-01-08 |website=The Daily News |language=en-US |archive-date=8 January 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220108210259/https://www.jdnews.com/story/news/2021/11/26/multiple-lawsuits-pending-that-challenge-militarys-vaccine-mandate-as-deadlines-near/8673596002/ |url-status=dead }}

Another claim was that the approved version does not share the same liability protection as the version produced under an EUA. Under the Public Readiness and Emergency Preparedness (PREP) Act, individuals are eligible for compensation via the Countermeasures Injury Compensation Program (CICP) for severe outcomes or death caused by COVID-19 countermeasures such as vaccines.{{Cite news |last=Mandavilli |first=Apoorva |date=2024-05-03 |title=Thousands Believe Covid Vaccines Harmed Them. Is Anyone Listening? |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2024/05/03/health/covid-vaccines-side-effects.html |access-date=2024-05-03 |work=The New York Times |language=en-US |issn=0362-4331}} This applies generally to all COVID-19 vaccines, including those not yet given formal approval.{{Cite web |title=What's in a name? Louisiana lawmakers wrongly say name change scuttles FDA COVID-19 vaccine approval |url=https://www.politifact.com/factchecks/2021/oct/07/10-louisiana-lawmakers/whats-name-louisiana-lawmakers-wrongly-say-name-ch/ |access-date=2022-01-08 |website=PolitiFact |language=en-US}}{{Cite news |date=2021-08-30 |title=The false claim that the fully-approved Pfizer vaccine lacks liability protection |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2021/08/30/false-claim-that-fully-approved-pfizer-vaccine-lacks-liability-protection/ |access-date=2022-01-08 |newspaper=Washington Post}}

A statement on the Moderna website which likens mRNA vaccines to operating systems as an analogy, but does not literally state that the vaccines were operating systems.{{cite news | url=https://www.reuters.com/article/uk-factcheck-operating-system-idUSKBN2A913W | title=Fact check: The COVID-19 vaccine is not an operating system designed to program humans | newspaper=Reuters | date=9 February 2021 }}

{{main|ChinaAngVirus disinformation campaign}}

A Reuters investigation found that the United States Department of Defense (DoD), as retaliation for China's attempts to blame the United States for the pandemic, undertook a disinformation campaign in the Philippines, later expanded to Central Asia and the Middle East, which sought to discredit China, in particular its Sinovac vaccine.{{cite web | last1=Bing | first1=Chris | last2=Schectman | first2=Joel | title=Pentagon ran secret anti-vax campaign to incite fear of China vaccines | website=Reuters | date=June 14, 2024 | url=https://www.reuters.com/investigates/special-report/usa-covid-propaganda/ | access-date=June 18, 2024}} The campaign was described as "payback" for COVID-19 disinformation by China directed against the U.S. and an effort to counter China's vaccine diplomacy.{{Cite web |last=Toropin |first=Konstantin |date=2024-06-14 |title=Pentagon Stands by Secret Anti-Vaccination Disinformation Campaign in Philippines After Reuters Report |url=https://www.military.com/daily-news/2024/06/14/pentagon-stands-secret-anti-vaccination-disinformation-campaign-philippines-after-reuters-report.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240614223757/https://www.military.com/daily-news/2024/06/14/pentagon-stands-secret-anti-vaccination-disinformation-campaign-philippines-after-reuters-report.html |archive-date=2024-06-14 |access-date=2024-06-19 |website=Military.com |language=en}} The campaign ran from 2020 to 2021 and was overseen by Special Operations Command Pacific as well as the United States Central Command. Military personnel at MacDill Air Force Base in Florida operated phony social media accounts, some of which were more than five years old according to Reuters. During the COVID-19 pandemic, they disseminated hashtags of #ChinaIsTheVirus and posts claiming that the Sinovac vaccine contained gelatin from pork and therefore was haram or forbidden for purposes of Islamic law. US diplomats aware of the campaign were against the idea, but they were overruled by the military, which also asked tech companies not to take down the content after it was discovered by Facebook and X. A retrospective review by the DoD subsequently uncovered other social and political messaging that was "many leagues away" from acceptable military objective. The primary defence contractor on the project was General Dynamics IT, which received $493 million for its role.

{{see also|Protests over responses to the COVID-19 pandemic}}

Multiple social media posts promoted a conspiracy theory claiming that in the early stages of the pandemic, the virus was known and that a vaccine was already available. PolitiFact and FactCheck.org noted that no vaccine existed for COVID-19 at that point. The patents cited by various social media posts reference existing patents for genetic sequences and vaccines for other strains of coronavirus such as the SARS coronavirus.{{cite web |url=https://www.politifact.com/factchecks/2020/jan/23/facebook-posts/there-outbreak-china-wuhan-coronavirus-there-not-v/ |title=No, there is no vaccine for the Wuhan coronavirus |vauthors=Kertscher T |website=Politifact |date=23 January 2020 |access-date=7 February 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200207133056/https://www.politifact.com/factchecks/2020/jan/23/facebook-posts/there-outbreak-china-wuhan-coronavirus-there-not-v/ |archive-date=7 February 2020 |url-status=live}}{{cite web |vauthors=McDonald J |date=24 January 2020 |title=Social Media Posts Spread Bogus Coronavirus Conspiracy Theory |url=https://www.factcheck.org/2020/01/social-media-posts-spread-bogus-coronavirus-conspiracy-theory/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200206102802/https://www.factcheck.org/2020/01/social-media-posts-spread-bogus-coronavirus-conspiracy-theory/ |archive-date=6 February 2020 |access-date=10 February 2020 |work=Factcheck.org}} The WHO reported that as of 5 February 2020, despite news reports of "breakthrough drugs" being discovered, there were no treatments known to be effective;{{Cite news |url=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-china-health-treatments-who-idUSKBN1ZZ1M6 |title=WHO: 'no known effective' treatments for new coronavirus |date=5 February 2020 |work=Reuters |access-date=6 February 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200205155653/https://www.reuters.com/article/us-china-health-treatments-who-idUSKBN1ZZ1M6 |archive-date=5 February 2020 |url-status=live}} this included antibiotics and herbal remedies not being useful.{{cite news |title=Dispelling the myths around the new coronavirus outbreak |url=https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020/2/2/dispelling-the-myths-around-the-new-coronavirus-outbreak |access-date=8 February 2020 |publisher=Al Jazeera |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200206033735/https://www.aljazeera.com/amp/news/2020/02/dispelling-myths-coronavirus-outbreak-200202093426388.html |archive-date=6 February 2020 |url-status=dead}}

On Facebook, a widely shared post claimed in April 2020 that seven Senegalese children had died because they had received a COVID-19 vaccine. No such vaccine existed, although some were in clinical trials at that time.{{cite web |vauthors=Faivre Le Cadre AS |url=https://factcheck.afp.com/senegalese-children-did-not-die-coronavirus-vaccine-which-does-not-yet-exist |title=Senegalese children did not die from a coronavirus vaccine (which does not yet exist) |date=8 April 2020 |website=AFP Fact Check |access-date=13 September 2021 |archive-date=8 March 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210308134151/https://factcheck.afp.com/senegalese-children-did-not-die-coronavirus-vaccine-which-does-not-yet-exist |url-status=live}}

Some social media users have falsely asserted COVID-19 vaccines cause people to become magnetized such that metal objects stick to their bodies.{{cite news |vauthors=Camero K |title=No, COVID vaccines don't make you magnetic. Experts debunk social media videos |url=https://www.miamiherald.com/news/coronavirus/article251955083.html |work=Miami Herald |date=7 June 2021 |access-date=13 September 2021 |archive-date=15 June 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210615023357/https://www.miamiherald.com/news/coronavirus/article251955083.html |url-status=live}} Video clips of people showing magnets sticking to the injection site have been spread on social media platforms such as Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and TikTok, claiming that vaccination implants a microchip in people's arms.{{cite news |vauthors=Wade N |title=Covid-19 vaccines do not contain magnetic microchips |url=https://factcheck.afp.com/covid-19-vaccines-do-not-contain-magnetic-microchips |work=AFP Fact Check |agency=Agence France-Presse |date=13 May 2021}}{{cite news |vauthors=Fichera A |title=Magnet Videos Refuel Bogus Claim of Vaccine Microchips |url=https://www.factcheck.org/2021/05/scicheck-magnet-videos-refuel-bogus-claim-of-vaccine-microchips/ |work=FactCheck.org |date=14 May 2021}} Called by Republicans as an expert witness before a June 2021 hearing of the Ohio House Health Committee, anti-vaccine activist Sherri Tenpenny promoted the false claim, adding, "There's been people who have long suspected that there's been some sort of an interface, yet to be defined interface, between what's being injected in these shots and all of the 5G towers."{{Cite web |url=https://www.dispatch.com/story/news/2021/06/09/doctor-sherri-tenpenny-testimony-ohio-lawmakers-vaccines-magnetized-5-g/7616027002/ |title=GOP-invited Ohio doctor Sherri Tenpenny falsely tells Ohio lawmakers COVID-19 shots 'magnetize' people, create 5G 'interfaces' |vauthors=Bischoff LA |website=The Columbus Dispatch |access-date=13 September 2021 |archive-date=14 June 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210614222249/https://www.dispatch.com/story/news/2021/06/09/doctor-sherri-tenpenny-testimony-ohio-lawmakers-vaccines-magnetized-5-g/7616027002/ |url-status=live}}

5G-compatible chips are about 13 times too large to fit through the needles used to administer COVID-19 vaccines, whose internal diameter is between 0.26 and 0.41 millimeters.{{cite news |vauthors=Black E, Schoolov K |title=Why the Covid vaccines can't contain a tracking microchip or make you magnetic |url=https://www.cnbc.com/video/2021/10/01/why-theres-no-5g-tracking-microchip-in-the-covid-vaccine.html |work=CNBC |date=1 October 2021}} Most microchips do not contain ferromagnetic components, being made mostly of silicon.{{r|Fichera}} It is possible for smooth objects such as magnets to stick to one's skin if the skin is slightly oily.{{r|AFP microchips}} No COVID-19 vaccines authorized for use in the U.S. or Europe contain magnetic or metal ingredients or microchips. Instead the vaccines contain proteins. lipids, water, salts, and pH buffers.{{r|Gregory|Fichera|AFP microchips}}

Twitter and YouTube users circulated video clips purporting to show that vaccine injections given to health care workers were staged for the press using syringes with "disappearing needles". The syringes used were actually safety syringes, which automatically retract the needle once the vaccine is injected in order to reduce accidental needlestick injuries to nurses and lab workers.{{r|Gregory}}{{cite news |title=Millions move into tier 3 of virus rules in England |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/live/world-55345020 |work=BBC News |date=17 December 2020}}

Discourses against COVID vaccines became part of QAnon's set of beliefs, as adherents used the pandemic to promote the conspiracy theory.Mike Rothschild, The Storm Is Upon Us: How QAnon Became a Movement, Cult, and Conspiracy Theory of Everything, Melville House, 2021, pp 122-123{{Cite web |last=Elliott |first=Josh K. |date=13 September 2021 |title=Anti-vax activist dies of COVID-19 amid QAnon demands for ivermectin |url=https://globalnews.ca/news/8186493/veronica-wolski-anti-vax-qanon-ivermectin-covid-19/ |access-date=9 February 2022 |website=Global News}}{{cite news |last1=Dowd |first1=Katie |title=Popular QAnon promoter dies of COVID in California |url=https://www.sfgate.com/coronavirus/article/Popular-QAnon-promoter-dies-of-COVID-in-California-16760824.php |access-date=10 February 2022 |work=SF Gate |date=9 January 2022}}{{cite news |last1=Spring |first1=Marianna |last2=Wendling |first2=Mike|title=How Covid-19 myths are merging with the QAnon conspiracy theory |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/blogs-trending-53997203|access-date=10 February 2022 |work=BBC News |date=3 September 2020}} In 2021, Romana Didulo, a QAnon-affiliated Canadian conspiracy theorist calling herself the "Queen of Canada" caused her online followers to harass Canadian businesses and public authorities with demands that they cease all measures related to combating the pandemic.{{cite news |author=Marc Lamoureux |title=QAnons Are Harassing People at the Whim of a Woman They Say Is Canada's Queen|url=https://www.vice.com/en/article/qanons-are-harassing-people-at-the-whim-of-a-woman-they-say-is-canadas-queen-romana-didulo/|access-date=14 February 2022 |work=Vice.com |date=17 June 2021}} She was apprehended in late November after calling on her 73,000 Telegram followers to "shoot to kill" all healthcare workers administering COVID-19 vaccines.{{cite news |author1=Andrew Russell |author2=Stewart Bell |title=Self-declared 'Queen of Canada' detained by RCMP after alleged threats to health-care workers |url=https://globalnews.ca/news/8417379/queen-of-canada-covid-online-threats/ |access-date=3 February 2022 |work=Global News |date=1 December 2021 |location=Toronto ON}}

Anti-government groups such as sovereign citizens and freemen on the land also took part in the anti-vaccine movement.{{citation |title= Anti-vaxxers, anti-maskers and the sovereign citizen movement|work = New York Daily News|date=14 August 2021 |url= https://www.tribpub.com/gdpr/nydailynews.com/ |access-date= 2022-01-13}}{{citation |title= Anti-vax protests: 'Sovereign citizens' fight UK Covid vaccine rollout|work= |publisher = BBC|date=18 January 2022 |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/59870550 |access-date= 2022-01-18}}{{citation |title=Putting the UK on notice: How US legal fiction inspired aggressive action from UK anti-vaxxers|work = The Independent|date=31 October 2021 |url= https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/sovereign-citizens-uk-antivaxxers-b1947186.html |access-date= 2022-01-24}}{{citation |title=Republic of Kanata convener says its sheriffs will stop distribution of COVID-19 vaccines in Vancouver |work= |publisher=The Georgia Straight |url= https://www.straight.com/news/republic-of-kanata-convener-says-its-sheriffs-will-stop-distribution-of-covid-19-vaccines-in |date= 10 December 2020|access-date= 5 February 2022 }}

During lockdowns in Bulgaria, many Roma neighborhoods claimed that they were subject to lockdowns without proper explanations even though the level of infections to other parts of the country were higher than their neighborhoods. The communities already held a distrust of institutions and the government, and helped create an even more strained relationship and lack of trust.{{Cite web | vauthors = Kottasová I |title=They have all the vaccines they need, yet these EU nations are still miles behind their neighbors |url=https://www.cnn.com/2021/10/01/europe/eastern-europe-vaccine-takeup-bulgaria-romania-intl-cmd/index.html |access-date=2021-10-01 |website=CNN |date=October 2021 |archive-date=1 October 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211001153611/https://www.cnn.com/2021/10/01/europe/eastern-europe-vaccine-takeup-bulgaria-romania-intl-cmd/index.html |url-status=live}}

In France, Florian Philippot and Nicolas Dupont-Aignan, right-wing candidates to the 2022 presidential election, have both cast doubts about the vaccine's effectiveness and safety.{{Cite news | vauthors =Roussey E |title="Non je ne suis pas vacciné": l'échange houleux entre Florian Philippot et le médecin Ludovic Toro|url=https://www.bfmtv.com/sante/non-je-ne-suis-pas-vaccine-l-echange-houleux-entre-florian-philippot-et-ludovic-toro_AV-202108050429.html |access-date=2022-02-14 |date= 8 August 2021|work=BFM TV}}{{Cite news | vauthors = Garin V |title=FACT CHECKING - 63% des morts du Covid étaient-ils vaccinés, comme l'affirme Dupont-Aignan ?|url=https://www.rtl.fr/actu/politique/fact-checking-63-des-morts-du-covid-etaient-ils-vaccines-comme-l-affirme-dupont-aignan-7900108030 |access-date=2022-02-14 |date= 22 December 2021|work=RTL}}

In December 2022, vaccine-skeptical Florida Governor Ron DeSantis requested the impaneling of a grand jury to "investigate criminal or wrongful activity in Florida relating to the development, promotion, and distribution of vaccines purported to prevent COVID-19 infection, symptoms, and transmission", specifically mentioning statements made by drug manufacturers and federal officials.{{cite news |title=Florida Supreme Court impanels grand jury on COVID-19 vaccines |url=https://wusfnews.wusf.usf.edu/health-news-florida/2022-12-23/florida-supreme-court-impanels-grand-jury-on-covid-19-vaccines |publisher=WUSF |author=Jim Saunders |agency=News Service of Florida

|date=23 December 2022}}

{{Further|Vaccine hesitancy|Vaccine misinformation}}

{{expand section|date=September 2021}}

Concerns about menstrual irregularities caused by COVID-19 have led to vaccine hesitancy. A meta-analysis from 2023 indicated that COVID-19 vaccination can lead to menstrual irregularities but that more studies are required to establish a causal relationship.{{Cite journal |last1=Al Kadri |first1=Hanan M. |last2=Al Sudairy |first2=Atika A. |last3=Alangari |first3=Abdulaziz S. |last4=Al Khateeb |first4=Badr F. |last5=El-Metwally |first5=Ashraf A. |date=May 2023 |title=COVID-19 vaccination and menstrual disorders among women: Findings from a meta-analysis study |journal=Journal of Infection and Public Health |volume=16 |issue=5 |pages=697–704 |doi=10.1016/j.jiph.2023.02.019 |issn=1876-0341 |pmc=9979695 |pmid=36934644}}

A 2022 meta-analysis on COVID-19 vaccines and pregnancy found that pregnant people were less likely to get vaccinations compared with non-pregnant cohorts. Factors associated with lower takeup of vaccination during pregnancy included younger age, lower education, lower socioeconomic status, and lack of adherence to influenza vaccination recommendations.{{Cite journal |last1=Badell |first1=Martina L. |last2=Dude |first2=Carolynn M. |last3=Rasmussen |first3=Sonja A. |last4=Jamieson |first4=Denise J. |date=2022-08-10 |title=Covid-19 vaccination in pregnancy |url=https://www.bmj.com/content/378/bmj-2021-069741 |journal=BMJ |language=en |volume=378 |pages=e069741 |doi=10.1136/bmj-2021-069741 |issn=1756-1833 |pmid=35948352|pmc=9363819 }}

One study in the analysis found varying influence of education and influenxa vaccination history depending on race, suggesting that lived experiences with systemic racism may have an effect on vaccine hesitancy in pregnancy.File:Facts about COVID-19 vaccines (English).pdf Fact sheet about COVID-19 vaccines]]

In Hong Kong, the lower perceived risk of catching COVID-19 when it was under control, misinformation about the vaccines' side effects and efficacy, as well as political events and distrust of the HKSAR government, contributed to a low rate of vaccination.{{cite news |last1=Silver |first1=Andrew |title='COVID zero' regions struggle with vaccine complacency |url=https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-022-00554-0 |journal=Nature |date=4 March 2022 |language=en |doi=10.1038/d41586-022-00554-0}}{{cite news |last1=Stevenson |first1=Alexandra |last2=Ramzy |first2=Austin |title='I Don't Dare Get the Shot': Virus Ravages Unvaccinated Older Hong Kongers |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2022/02/25/business/hong-kong-unvaccinated-elderly.html |work=The New York Times |date=25 February 2022}} To some extent, similar complacency occurred in Taiwan, Macau, and mainland China. Many Hongkongers felt that the government was actively pushing the SinoVac vaccine despite its lower efficacy compared with BioNTech and AstraZeneca. Older residents might believe the BioNTech vaccine lead to severe side effects. Officials also stated that people with "uncontrolled severe chronic diseases" should not receive the SinoVac vaccine and urged those who weren't sure to consult with their doctors first. Conspiracy theories about the government spread as well due to a packaging issue with the BioNTech vaccine.{{Cite web|url=https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2021/04/hong-kong-trust-vaccine/618469/|title=The Place With Surprisingly High Vaccine Hesitancy|first=Timothy|last=McLaughlin|date=1 April 2021|website=The Atlantic|access-date=9 April 2021|archive-date=8 April 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210408054242/https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2021/04/hong-kong-trust-vaccine/618469/|url-status=live}} Skepticism of Western and preventive medicine further contributed to the hesitancy.{{cite web|url=https://apnews.com/article/hong-kong-lifestyle-travel-coronavirus-vaccine-coronavirus-pandemic-28c1947c8576453ac08ecacf614b7dea|title=Get a jab, win a condo: Hong Kong tries vaccine incentives|first=Zen|last=Soo|work=AP News|date=17 June 2021|access-date=12 July 2021}}

Towards the end of May 2021, about 19% of Hongkongers had received their first dose and 13.8% their second.{{Cite web|url=http://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/may/25/covid-vaccine-hesitancy-could-see-hong-kong-throw-away-millions-of-doses|title=Covid vaccine hesitancy could see Hong Kong throw away doses|date=25 May 2021|website=The Guardian|access-date=1 June 2021|archive-date=2 June 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210602081539/https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/may/25/covid-vaccine-hesitancy-could-see-hong-kong-throw-away-millions-of-doses|url-status=live}} By 1 January 2022, 62% of the population was fully vaccinated, but as of 7 February, only 33% of those aged 80 or older had received one dose. As Omicron subvariants spread across the city, a study showed that 15% of those aged 80 or older who weren't immunized at all died after contracting the disease, compared with 3% of those who got two SinoVac shots and 1.5% of those who received two BioNTech doses.{{cite news |last1=Cortez |first1=Michelle Fay |last2=Lew |first2=Linda |title=Sinovac's Low Efficacy in Hong Kong Is a Worrying Sign for China |url=https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-03-20/hk-s-immunized-who-died-of-covid-mainly-got-sinovac-ming-pao |work=Bloomberg.com |date=20 March 2022 |language=en}}

File:202003- Cumulative county COVID-19 death rates - by share of votes for Donald Trump.svg

File:Covid misinformation mobile.jpg

In the United States, COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy varies largely by region; however, regardless of region, medical professionals are vaccinated at higher rates than the general public.{{Cite web |date=2021-08-08 |title=Vaccination rates among hospital staffs in Alabama likely '50-60%' |url=https://www.al.com/news/2021/08/vaccination-rates-among-hospital-staffs-in-alabama-likely-50-60.html |access-date=2021-09-04 |website=al |language=en |archive-date=4 September 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210904145613/https://www.al.com/news/2021/08/vaccination-rates-among-hospital-staffs-in-alabama-likely-50-60.html |url-status=live}} Estimates from two surveys were that 67% or 80% of people in the U.S. would accept a new vaccination against COVID-19, with wide disparity by education level, employment status, ethnicity, and geography.{{cite journal | vauthors = Malik AA, McFadden SM, Elharake J, Omer SB | title = Determinants of COVID-19 vaccine acceptance in the US | journal = eClinicalMedicine | volume = 26 | pages = 100495 | date = September 2020 | pmid = 32838242 | pmc = 7423333 | doi = 10.1016/j.eclinm.2020.100495 | title-link = doi | doi-access = free }} A US study conducted in January 2021 found that trust in science and scientists was strongly correlated with likelihood to get vaccinated for COVID-19 among those who had not already gotten vaccinated.{{cite journal | vauthors = Agley J, Xiao Y, Thompson EE, Golzarri-Arroyo L | title = Factors associated with reported likelihood to get vaccinated for COVID-19 in a nationally representative US survey | journal = Public Health | volume = 196 | pages = 91–94 | date = July 2021 | pmid = 34171616 | pmc = 8157318 | doi = 10.1016/j.puhe.2021.05.009 }} In March 2021, 19% of US adults claimed to have been vaccinated while 50% announced plans to get vaccinated.{{cite news |date=5 March 2021 |title=More in U.S. Embrace Covid Vaccines, Pew Poll Shows |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2021/03/05/world/americans-vaccinations-survey.html |access-date=8 March 2021 |archive-date=6 March 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210306080550/https://www.nytimes.com/2021/03/05/world/americans-vaccinations-survey.html |url-status=live}}{{cite web |vauthors=Funk C |title=Growing Share of Americans Say They Plan To Get a COVID-19 Vaccine – or Already Have |website=Pew Research Center Science & Society |date=5 March 2021 |url=https://www.pewresearch.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/16/2021/03/PS_2021.03.05_covid-19-vaccines_REPORT.pdf |archive-date=6 March 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210306185703/https://www.pewresearch.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/16/2021/03/PS_2021.03.05_covid-19-vaccines_REPORT.pdf |url-status=live |access-date=8 March 2021}} * {{Lay source | url=https://www.pewresearch.org/science/2021/03/05/growing-share-of-americans-say-they-plan-to-get-a-covid-19-vaccine-or-already-have/ | title = Growing Share of Americans Say They Plan To Get a COVID-19 Vaccine – or Already Have | work = Pew Research Center }}

A 2022 study found a link between online COVID-19 misinformation and early vaccine hesitancy and refusal.{{cite journal |last1=Pierri |first1=Francesco |last2=Perry |first2=Brea |last3=DeVerna |first3=Matthew |last4=Yang |first4=Kai-Cheng |last5=Flammini |first5=Alessandro |last6=Menczer |first6=Filippo |last7=Bryden |first7=John |title=Online misinformation is linked to early COVID-19 vaccination hesitancy and refusal |journal=Scientific Reports |date=2022 |volume=12 |issue=1 |page=5966 |doi=10.1038/s41598-022-10070-w |pmid=35474313 |pmc=9043199 |arxiv=2104.10635 |bibcode=2022NatSR..12.5966P |url=https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-022-10070-w}} Despite a strong association between vaccine hesitancy and Republican vote share at the US county and state levels, the authors found that the associations between vaccine outcomes and misinformation remained significant when accounting for political, demographic, and socioeconomic factors.

In the United States, vaccine hesitancy could be seen in certain social groups due to lack of trusted medical sources, traumatic past experiences with medical care and widespread theories.{{Cite web | vauthors = Wazir Z |date=30 September 2021 |title=Vaccine Hesitancy Higher in Wealthy Nations, Survey Shows |url=https://www.usnews.com/news/best-countries/articles/2021-09-30/vaccine-hesitancy-isnt-unique-to-the-us-survey-shows |url-status=live |access-date=1 October 2021 |website=US News |archive-date=25 October 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211025173751/https://www.usnews.com/news/best-countries/articles/2021-09-30/vaccine-hesitancy-isnt-unique-to-the-us-survey-shows}}{{Cite web | vauthors = Choi HA |date=7 September 2021 |title=Why some US Blacks and Latinos remain COVID-19 'vaccine deliberate' |url=https://abcnews.go.com/Health/us-blacks-latinos-remain-covid-19-vaccine-deliberate/story?id=79830353 |url-status=live |access-date=2021-10-01 |website=ABC News |language=en |archive-date=1 October 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211001155507/https://abcnews.go.com/Health/us-blacks-latinos-remain-covid-19-vaccine-deliberate/story?id=79830353}} Distrust can be seen in the African American population where many see the history in the United States of using African Americans as experiments, such as the Tuskegee experiments and the work of J. Marion Sims, as basis to refuse the vaccine.{{Cite web | vauthors = Jeter J |date=3 September 2021 |title=Vaccination hesitancy among Blacks based on mistrust of an unjust system |url=https://spokesman-recorder.com/2021/09/03/vaccination-hesitancy-among-blacks-based-on-mistrust-of-an-unjust-system/ |url-status=live |access-date=2021-10-01 |website=spokesman-recorder.com |language=en-US |archive-date=1 October 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211001155513/https://spokesman-recorder.com/2021/09/03/vaccination-hesitancy-among-blacks-based-on-mistrust-of-an-unjust-system/}}

According to The New York Times, only 28 percent of Black New Yorkers ages 18 to 44 years were fully vaccinated {{As of|2021|August|lc=yes}}, compared with 48 percent of Latino residents and 52 percent of White residents in that age group. Interviewees cited mistrust of the government, personal experiences of medical racism, and historical medical experimentation on Black people such as the Tuskegee Syphilis Study as reasons for their reluctance to be vaccinated.{{Cite news | vauthors = Goldstein J, Sedacca M |date=2021-08-12 |title=Why Only 28 Percent of Young Black New Yorkers Are Vaccinated |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2021/08/12/nyregion/covid-vaccine-black-young-new-yorkers.html |url-access=limited |issn=0362-4331 |access-date=9 October 2021 |archive-date=25 October 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211025173742/https://www.nytimes.com/2021/08/12/nyregion/covid-vaccine-black-young-new-yorkers.html |url-status=live}} A professor from the University of Warsaw in Poland, claimed that her research found that medical mistrust was higher in nations that had experienced Soviet-style communism in the past, and vaccine hesitancy could be seen if the countries introduced compulsory vaccination regulations. Medical mistrust is also seen in Russia where one person described a lack of understanding what the vaccine is and claimed that if there was more statistics and research about the Sputnik V and other Russian made vaccines they would be more "loyal". She also stated that there was also mistrust over the lack of consistent medical information about the vaccine coming from many sources including the authorities of the region.{{Cite news | vauthors = Galpin R |date=2021-10-21 |title=Russia's Covid nightmare driven by vaccine rejection |language=en-GB |work=BBC News |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-58998366 |access-date=2021-10-22 |archive-date=22 October 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211022130349/https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-58998366 |url-status=live}}

According to prominent biomedical researcher Peter Hotez, he and other scientists who publicly defend vaccines have been attacked on social media, harassed with threatening emails, intimidated, and confronted physically by opponents of vaccination. He further attributes the increase in aggressiveness of the anti-vaccination movement to the influence of the extreme wing of the Republican Party. Hotez estimates that roughly 200,000 preventable deaths from COVID-19, mainly among Republicans, occurred in the US because of refusal to be vaccinated. A 2023 study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association found "evidence of higher excess mortality for Republican voters compared with Democratic voters in Florida and Ohio after, but not before, COVID-19 vaccines were available to all adults in the US".{{cite journal|title=Excess Death Rates for Republican and Democratic Registered Voters in Florida and Ohio During the COVID-19 Pandemic|first1=Jacob|last1=Wallace|journal=JAMA Internal Medicine|first2=Paul|last2=Goldsmith-Pinkham|first3=Jason L.|last3=Schwartz|date=2023 |volume=183 |issue=9 |pages=916–923 |doi=10.1001/jamainternmed.2023.1154 |pmid=37486680 |pmc=10366951}}

Some countries are using vaccination tracking systems, apps, or passports that are labeled as passes to allow individuals certain freedoms. In France, every adult must present a "pass sanitaire" before entering specific locations such as restaurants, cafes, museums, and sports stadiums after a new law was passed in July 2021.{{Cite web |title=A Covid pass takes France by storm |url=https://www.wlfi.com/content/national/575351212.html |access-date=2021-09-20 |website=WLFI News |language=en |archive-date=20 September 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210920212523/https://www.wlfi.com/content/national/575351212.html |url-status=live}} Italy reported a 40% increase in the number of people who received the first dose of the vaccine after a governmental decree in September 2021 requiring a health pass for all workers either in the public or private sectors starting in October 2021. Similar passes have been put into effect in countries such as Slovenia and Greece.{{Cite web |date=18 September 2021 |title=Coronavirus: What's happening in Canada and around the world on Saturday |url=https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/coronavirus-covid19-canada-world-sept18-2021-1.6181116 |url-status=live |access-date=20 September 2021 |website=CBC |archive-date=20 September 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210920024633/https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/coronavirus-covid19-canada-world-sept18-2021-1.6181116}} Lithuania introduced vaccination certificates that citizens 12-years and older must show to enter most public indoor spaces.{{Cite web | vauthors = Mackintosh E |date=3 December 2021 |title=Making Covid-19 vaccines mandatory was once unthinkable. But European countries are showing it can work |url=https://www.cnn.com/2021/11/30/europe/covid-vaccine-mandates-austria-europe-cmd-intl/index.html |access-date=2021-12-28 |website=CNN}}

Many public figures and celebrities have publicly declared that they have been vaccinated against COVID-19, and encouraged people to get vaccinated. Many have made video recordings or otherwise documented their vaccination. They do this partly to counteract vaccine hesitancy and COVID-19 vaccine conspiracy theories.{{cite news |date=21 December 2020 |title='I'm ready': Joe Biden receives coronavirus vaccine live on TV |work=The Guardian |url=https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/dec/21/joe-biden-coronavirus-vaccine-covid-public |access-date=26 December 2020 |vauthors=Bekiempis V}}{{cite news |date=18 December 2020 |title=Mike Pence receives Covid-19 vaccine on live TV: 'I didn't feel a thing' |work=The Guardian |url=https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/dec/18/mike-pence-receives-covid-19-vaccine-live-tv |access-date=26 December 2020 |vauthors=Aratani L}}{{cite news |date=3 December 2020 |title=Obama, Clinton and Bush pledge to take Covid vaccine on TV to show its safety |work=The Guardian |url=https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/dec/03/obama-clinton-bush-covid-vaccine-safety |access-date=26 December 2020 |vauthors=Gabbatt A |archive-date=28 December 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201228213932/https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/dec/03/obama-clinton-bush-covid-vaccine-safety |url-status=live}}

Many current and former heads of state and government ministers have released photographs of their vaccinations, encouraging others to be vaccinated, including Kyriakos Mitsotakis, Zdravko Marić, Olivier Véran, Mike Pence, Joe Biden, Barack Obama, George W. Bush, Bill Clinton, the Dalai Lama, Narendra Modi, Justin Trudeau, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Nancy Pelosi and Kamala Harris.{{cite web |title=See Amy Schumer, Oprah Winfrey and More Celebs and Politicians Who've Gotten Their COVID-19 Vaccines |url=https://people.com/health/celebrities-and-politicians-get-covid-19-vaccine-photos/ |access-date=31 March 2021 |website=People |archive-date=29 March 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210329030136/https://people.com/health/celebrities-and-politicians-get-covid-19-vaccine-photos/ |url-status=live}}{{cite news |vauthors=Elan P |date=12 March 2021 |title=Why are male politicians in love with topless vaccine selfies? |work=The Guardian |url=http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/mar/12/male-politicians-vaccine-selfies-vaxxie |access-date=31 March 2021 |archive-date=31 March 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210331042759/https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/mar/12/male-politicians-vaccine-selfies-vaxxie |url-status=live}}

Elizabeth II and Prince Philip announced they had the vaccine, breaking from protocol of keeping the British royal family's health private.{{cite web |title=COVID-19: Celebrities who have had the coronavirus vaccination |url=https://news.sky.com/story/covid-19-celebrities-who-have-had-the-coronavirus-vaccination-12165332 |access-date=31 March 2021 |website=Sky News |archive-date=25 April 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210425174547/https://news.sky.com/story/covid-19-celebrities-who-have-had-the-coronavirus-vaccination-12165332 |url-status=live}} Pope Francis and Pope Emeritus Benedict both announced they had been vaccinated. In a call-in-television special President Vladimir Putin told listeners that he had received the Sputnik V vaccine and stressed that all the vaccines were safe.{{Cite web | vauthors = Burakovsky A |date=2021-08-28 |title=Russia's COVID-19 response slowed by population reluctant to take domestic vaccine |url=https://www.krqe.com/health/coronavirus/russias-covid-19-response-slowed-by-population-reluctant-to-take-domestic-vaccine/ |url-status=live |access-date=2021-09-20 |website=KRQE NEWS 13 - Breaking News, Albuquerque News, New Mexico News, Weather, and Videos |language=en-US |archive-date=21 September 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210921011759/https://www.krqe.com/health/coronavirus/russias-covid-19-response-slowed-by-population-reluctant-to-take-domestic-vaccine/}}

{{quote box | align = right | width = 25em | bgcolor = MistyRose |quote =Today was a good day. I have never been happier to wait in a line. If you're eligible, join me and sign up to get your vaccine. Come with me if you want to live!

| source = Arnold Schwarzenegger[https://www.wthr.com/article/entertainment/arnold-schwarzenegger-quotes-the-terminator-after-getting-covid-19-vaccine/531-6d4ec77e-8d09-46c1-8894-d474873b951c {{"'}}Come with me if you want to live': Arnold Schwarzenegger quotes 'The Terminator' after getting COVID-19 vaccine"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210901212420/https://www.wthr.com/article/entertainment/arnold-schwarzenegger-quotes-the-terminator-after-getting-covid-19-vaccine/531-6d4ec77e-8d09-46c1-8894-d474873b951c |date=1 September 2021 }}, WTHR, 21 Jan. 2021[https://hollywoodlife.com/feature/stars-coronavirus-vaccine-4285517/ "Ariana Grande, Miley Cyrus & More StarsGet The COVID Vaccine & Urge Others to Do the Same — Photos"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210910223812/https://hollywoodlife.com/feature/stars-coronavirus-vaccine-4285517/ |date=10 September 2021 }}, Hollywood Life, 2 August 2021}}

Dolly Parton recorded herself getting vaccinated with the Moderna vaccine she helped fund, she encouraged people to get vaccinated and created a new version of her song "Jolene" called "Vaccine". Several other musicians like Patti Smith, Yo-Yo Ma, Carole King, Tony Bennett, Mavis Staples, Brian Wilson, Joel Grey, Loretta Lynn, Willie Nelson, and Paul Stanley have all released photographs of them being vaccinated and encouraged others to do so. Grey stated "I got the vaccine because I want to be safe. We've lost so many people to COVID. I've lost a few friends. It's heartbreaking. Frightening."

Many actors including Amy Schumer, Rosario Dawson, Arsenio Hall, Danny Trejo, Mandy Patinkin, Samuel L. Jackson, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Sharon Stone, Kate Mulgrew, Jeff Goldblum, Jane Fonda, Anthony Hopkins, Bette Midler, Kim Cattrall, Isabella Rossellini, Christie Brinkley, Cameran Eubanks, Hugh Bonneville, Alan Alda, David Harbour, Sean Penn, Amanda Kloots, Ian McKellen and Patrick Stewart have released photographs of themselves getting vaccinated and encouraging others to do the same. Judi Dench and Joan Collins announced they have been vaccinated.

{{quote box | align = right | width = 25em | bgcolor = Lightcyan |quote =Please and reassure yourself why getting vaxxed is the move. Save a life or two. Who knows?

| source = Ariana Grande}}

Other TV personalities such as Martha Stewart, Jonathan Van Ness, Al Roker and Dan Rather released photographs of themselves getting vaccinated and encouraged others to do the same. Stephen Fry also shared a photograph of being vaccinated; he wrote, "It's a wonderful moment, but you feel that it's not only helpful for your own health, but you know that you're likely to be less contagious if you yourself happen to carry it{{spaces}}... It's a symbol of being part of society, part of the group that we all want to protect each other and get this thing over and done with." Sir David Attenborough announced that he has been vaccinated. Dutch TV personality Beau van Erven Dorens got his vaccination on live TV in his late-night talk show on 3 June 2021.{{cite web |url=https://www.ad.nl/show/beau-laat-zich-live-in-eigen-talkshow-vaccineren~a82a44e0/ |title=Beau laat zich live in eigen talkshow vaccineren |trans-title=Beau gets vaccinated live in own talkshow |language=Dutch |website=Algemeen Dagblad |date=3 June 2021 |access-date=28 June 2021 |archive-date=28 June 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210628152833/https://www.ad.nl/show/beau-laat-zich-live-in-eigen-talkshow-vaccineren~a82a44e0/ |url-status=live}}

Magic Johnson and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar released photographs of themselves getting vaccinated and encouraged others to do the same; Abdul-Jabbar said, "We have to find new ways to keep each other safe."

Romesh Ranganathan, Meera Syal, Adil Ray, Sadiq Khan and others produced a video specifically encouraging ethnic minority communities in the UK to be vaccinated including addressing conspiracy theories stating "there is no scientific evidence to suggest it will work differently on people from ethnic minorities and that it does not include pork or any material of fetal or animal origin."{{cite web |title=COVID-19 vaccine: Stars bust myths in video urging people from ethnic minority communities to get the jab |url=https://news.sky.com/story/covid-19-vaccine-stars-bust-myths-in-video-urging-people-from-ethnic-minority-communities-to-get-the-jab-12199469 |access-date=31 March 2021 |website=Sky News |archive-date=25 April 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210425174547/https://news.sky.com/story/covid-19-vaccine-stars-bust-myths-in-video-urging-people-from-ethnic-minority-communities-to-get-the-jab-12199469 |url-status=live}}

Oprah Winfrey and Whoopi Goldberg have spoken about being vaccinated and encouraged other black Americans to be so. Stephanie Elam volunteered to be a trial volunteer stating "a large part of the reason why I wanted to volunteer for this COVID-19 vaccine research{{snd}}more Black people and more people of color need to be part of these trials so more diverse populations can reap the benefits of this medical research."

Many news articles, TV interviews and posts on social media appeared in 2021 to highlight either the anger of individuals whose children or immune compromised family members either caught COVID-19 or were vaccine hesitant and later tested positive. The Chief Medical Officer for England, Prof. Chris Whitty, tweeted in September 2021 that "The majority of our hospitalised Covid patients are unvaccinated and regret delaying their vaccines" with about 60% of all hospitalisations due to COVID-19 in the UK being of unvaccinated individuals.{{Cite web | vauthors = Kale S |date=14 September 2021 |title='The virus is painfully real': vaccine hesitant people are dying – and their loved ones want the world to listen |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/sep/14/the-virus-is-painfully-real-vaccine-hesitant-people-are-dying-and-their-loved-ones-want-the-world-to-listen |url-status=live |access-date=30 September 2021 |website=The Guardian |archive-date=30 September 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210930142806/https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/sep/14/the-virus-is-painfully-real-vaccine-hesitant-people-are-dying-and-their-loved-ones-want-the-world-to-listen}} While some cases have allowed for more discussions to open up about the vaccine and the effects of the disease, some still have remaining hesitancy about the vaccination process,{{Cite news | vauthors = Varney S |date=2021-09-03 |title=This Teen's Community Rallied as She Fought COVID. But Many Still Shun the Vaccine |url=https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2021/09/03/1032665979/child-near-death-covid-vaccine-hesitancy-mis-c |access-date=2021-09-30 |archive-date=30 September 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210930155722/https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2021/09/03/1032665979/child-near-death-covid-vaccine-hesitancy-mis-c |url-status=live |language=en |department=Shots |publisher=NPR }} others have expressed their regret for not pushing the vaccine or determination to get vaccinated.{{Cite magazine | vauthors = Dellenger R |date=12 September 2021 |title=I Didn't Want to Push My Aunt to Get the Vaccine. Now I Live With Regrets |url=https://time.com/6096505/covid-19-vaccine-hesitancy-family/ |url-status=live |access-date=2021-09-30 |magazine=Time |language=en |archive-date=30 September 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210930142806/https://time.com/6096505/covid-19-vaccine-hesitancy-family/}}

Austria and Germany both announced in late 2021 that they would introduce lockdowns for only unvaccinated citizens. These targeted lockdowns faced criticism from various quarters, including from the far-right Freedom Party which labeled the measures as creating a group of second-class citizens. Additionally, thousands protested in Vienna against the vaccine mandate, expressing concerns over personal freedoms and governmental overreach.{{Cite news |date=2021-11-14 |title=Covid: Austria introduces lockdown for unvaccinated |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-59283128 |access-date=2025-04-06 |language=en-GB}} In Greece, those who refused to get vaccinated and were above the age of 60 were fined 100 euros a month, with the payments put towards a hospital service fund. In Singapore, all citizens who chose not to get vaccinated were required to pay their medical bills in full if they tested positive and receive hospital care, while in Ukraine all teachers and government officials who remain unvaccinated were placed on unpaid leave, and restaurants, shopping malls and fitness centers must have 100% of their employees vaccinated to operate.{{Cite web |date=1 December 2021 |title=These Countries Are Slapping the Unvaccinated With Fines and Bans |url=https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-12-01/these-countries-are-slapping-the-unvaccinated-with-fines-bans|access-date=2021-12-28 |website=www.bloomberg.com}}

The Kremlin announced in 2021 that it was supporting a lottery that would give 1,000 chosen vaccinated individuals the equivalent of $1,350. The Mayor of Moscow also announced that the city would give away five cars every week to vaccinated residents. In the United States, many states such as Alaska,{{Cite web | vauthors = Early W |date=2021-09-17 |title=Here are the first 2 winners of the state's $49K COVID vaccine sweepstakes |url=https://www.alaskapublic.org/2021/09/16/first-two-winners-of-the-states-covid-19-vaccine-sweepstakes-announced/ |access-date=2021-09-20 |website=Alaska Public Media |language=en-US |archive-date=20 September 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210920212434/https://www.alaskapublic.org/2021/09/16/first-two-winners-of-the-states-covid-19-vaccine-sweepstakes-announced/ |url-status=live}} Pennsylvania,{{Cite web | vauthors = Yu A |date=25 August 2021 |title=The results of Philadelphia's COVID-19 vaccine lottery? 'Discouraging' |url=https://whyy.org/articles/the-results-of-philadelphias-covid-19-vaccine-lottery-discouraging/ |url-status=live |access-date=2021-09-20 |website=WHYY |language=en-US |archive-date=20 September 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210920212057/https://whyy.org/articles/the-results-of-philadelphias-covid-19-vaccine-lottery-discouraging/}} and Ohio,{{Cite news | vauthors = Vigdor N, Paybarah A |date=2021-05-12 |title=Ohio Lottery to Give 5 People $1 Million Each to Encourage Vaccination |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2021/05/12/us/ohio-lottery-coronavirus-vaccine.html |access-date=2021-09-20 |issn=0362-4331}} along with cities and universities, offered scholarships, money, and physical items in lotteries. These benefits had varying success in raising vaccination numbers. In July 2021, the Polish government launched the National Vaccination Programme Lottery to encourage vaccinations against COVID-19. It was open to people aged 18 years and over who had completed the COVID-19 vaccination programme and had registered for the lottery by 30 September 2020. The final prize draw took place on 6 October 2021, and there were two cash prizes of PLN 1 million (US$264,000) and two Toyota C-HR cars to be won.{{Cite web |title=Poland launches lottery to promote Covid-19 vaccinations |url=https://www.pap.pl/en/news/news%2C902316%2Cpoland-launches-lottery-promote-covid-19-vaccinations.html |access-date=2021-12-02 |website=Polska Agencja Prasowa SA |language=en}}

First Capital Bank, based out of Malawi, issued a statement that they would only give the annual performance bonuses to vaccinated employees.{{Cite web | vauthors = Karombo T |title=Africa's largest telecom operator mandates vaccines for employees |url=https://qz.com/africa/2100119/mtn-employees-who-refuse-vaccination-will-be-fired/ |access-date=2021-12-28 |website=Quartz |date=8 December 2021 |language=en}}

{{See also|COVID-19 vaccination mandates in the United States}}

{{Expand section|date=April 2022}}

In France, since September 2021, all health care workers must have received at least one dose of the vaccine to continue working with any resisters suspended without pay. Additional worker groups that have been mandated to do so earlier in the year are military members and firefighters. In November 2021, Austria announced that it would introduce a nationwide vaccine mandate.

In the United States, many businesses,{{Cite web | vauthors = Schaffler R |date=3 August 2021 |title=Mandating COVID-19 vaccines for workers? Employers weigh their options {{!}} Video |url=https://www.njspotlight.com/video/mandating-covid-19-vaccines-for-workers-employers-weigh-their-options/ |url-status=live |access-date=2021-09-15 |website=NJ Spotlight News |language=en-US |archive-date=15 September 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210915163124/https://www.njspotlight.com/video/mandating-covid-19-vaccines-for-workers-employers-weigh-their-options/}} schools{{Cite web | vauthors = Dukes D |date=2021-09-14 |title=Decatur schools mandate COVID-19 vaccines for staff, no decision yet for students |url=https://www.fox5atlanta.com/news/decatur-schools-to-weigh-covid-19-vaccine-mandate-for-staff-students |access-date=2021-09-15 |website=FOX 5 Atlanta |language=en-US |archive-date=15 September 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210915163123/https://www.fox5atlanta.com/news/decatur-schools-to-weigh-covid-19-vaccine-mandate-for-staff-students |url-status=live}} and universities,{{Cite web | vauthors = Snyder S |date=28 June 2021 |title=The vaccination debate on college campuses: A mandate or not? And for whom? |url=https://www.inquirer.com/news/vaccination-debate-college-campuses-mandate-or-not-who-20210628.html |url-status=live |access-date=2021-09-15 |website=The Philadelphia Inquirer |language=en |archive-date=15 September 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210915163122/https://www.inquirer.com/news/vaccination-debate-college-campuses-mandate-or-not-who-20210628.html}} healthcare providers,{{Cite web |date=2021-09-14 |title=AlohaCare Implements COVID-19 Vaccine Mandate for Employees |url=https://www.khon2.com/local-news/alohacare-implements-covid-19-vaccine-mandate-for-employees/ |access-date=2021-09-15 |website=KHON2 |language=en-US |archive-date=15 September 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210915163124/https://www.khon2.com/local-news/alohacare-implements-covid-19-vaccine-mandate-for-employees/ |url-status=live}} and governmental and state departments have enacted vaccine mandates.{{Cite web | vauthors = Liptak K, Collins K |date=9 September 2021 |title=Biden announces new vaccine mandates that could cover 100 million Americans |url=https://www.cnn.com/2021/09/09/politics/joe-biden-covid-speech/index.html |url-status=live |access-date=2021-09-15 |website=CNN |archive-date=15 September 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210915163440/https://www.cnn.com/2021/09/09/politics/joe-biden-covid-speech/index.html}} While many of the mandates allowed for a person to opt out due to medical or religious reasons and be regularly tested, the federal mandate signed in September 2021 did not include these options. The federal mandate was eventually struck down.{{Cite news |last=Kendall |first=Brent |last2=Bravin |first2=Jess |date=2022-01-13 |title=Supreme Court Blocks Biden Vaccine Rules for Large Employers |url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/supreme-court-blocks-biden-vaccine-rules-for-private-employers-allows-them-for-healthcare-workers-11642103130 |access-date=2025-04-06 |work=Wall Street Journal |language=en-US |issn=0099-9660}} Some of the mandates were focused only on specific groups, such as Rutgers University, which only mandated the vaccine for students and health-care and public-safety employees. The mandates have seen push back with a New York Judge temporarily blocking one for healthcare workers who claimed they could not opt out due to religious reasons,{{Cite web | vauthors = Wiessner D |date=2021-09-14 |title=U.S. judge blocks N.Y. vaccine mandate for healthcare workers |url=https://www.reuters.com/world/us/us-judge-blocks-ny-vaccine-mandate-healthcare-workers-2021-09-14/ |url-status=live |access-date=2021-09-15 |website=Reuters |language=en |archive-date=15 September 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210915163122/https://www.reuters.com/world/us/us-judge-blocks-ny-vaccine-mandate-healthcare-workers-2021-09-14/}} and Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich suing the Biden administration for its vaccine mandate for federal employees and private businesses with over 100 employees.{{Cite web | vauthors = Shaw A |date=2021-09-14 |title=Arizona sues Biden administration over COVID-19 vaccine mandate |url=https://www.foxnews.com/politics/arizona-sues-biden-administration-covid-19-vaccine-mandate |access-date=2021-09-15 |publisher=Fox News |language=en-US |archive-date=15 September 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210915163123/https://www.foxnews.com/politics/arizona-sues-biden-administration-covid-19-vaccine-mandate |url-status=live}} Additional push back on vaccine mandates were seen at local levels with at least one sheriff's department in California announcing they would not enforce any vaccine mandates as "the last line of defense from tyrannical government overreach",{{Cite web | vauthors = Smith H |date=2021-09-14 |title=Riverside County sheriff says he will not enforce COVID-19 vaccine mandates |url=https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2021-09-14/riverside-county-sheriff-wont-enforce-covid-vaccine-mandates |url-status=live |access-date=2021-09-15 |website=Los Angeles Times |language=en-US |archive-date=15 September 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210915163123/https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2021-09-14/riverside-county-sheriff-wont-enforce-covid-vaccine-mandates}} while others have seen mass resignation.{{Cite web | vauthors = Joseph E |title=NY hospital pausing delivering babies after Covid-19 resignations |url=https://www.cnn.com/2021/09/12/health/ny-hospital-pausing-baby-deliveries-covid-19-resignations/index.html |access-date=2021-09-15 |publisher=CNN |date=12 September 2021 |archive-date=15 September 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210915163122/https://www.cnn.com/2021/09/12/health/ny-hospital-pausing-baby-deliveries-covid-19-resignations/index.html |url-status=live}}

• COVID-19 misinformation
• Vaccine misinformation
• Died Suddenly, an anti-vaccine documentary that promotes false claims about COVID-19 vaccines and the Great Reset conspiracy
• Tobacco industry playbook
• Operation Denver

{{notelist}}

{{reflist|30em|refs=

{{cite web |vauthors=Gregory J |title=The Top COVID-19 Vaccine Myths Spreading Online |url=https://www.britannica.com/list/the-top-covid-19-vaccine-myths-spreading-online |agency=NewsGuard |website=Encyclopedia Britannica |date=13 September 2021}}

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{{#invoke:COVID-19 pandemic|}}

{{Vaccines|short=yes}}

{{Disinformation}}

{{Conspiracy theories}}

{{#invoke:Portal bar|main|COVID-19|Medicine|Modern history|Viruses|Current events}}

Category:COVID-19 misinformation

Category:Vaccine hesitancy