Anti-vaccine doctor promotes the “long vax” myth

A controversial physician whose board certification was revoked for promoting “false or inaccurate medical misinformation” claimed in a recent interview to have treated hundreds of patients with COVID-19 vaccine injuries. The doctor insists without evidence that 70 percent of the people he treats have so-called “long vax, not long COVID.” Posts sharing the interview claim that “long COVID is code for vaccine injuries.” The interview garnered over two million views in under 48 hours. 

Recommendation: 

These types of false claims promote confusion, downplay the risk of long COVID,  and may promote distrust in public health messaging about long COVID. Ensuring that informational materials use prebunking messaging to explain what long COVID is and how vaccines help to protect against it is recommended. Community-based organizations and other partners may also benefit from updated long COVID FAQs and one pagers. Debunking messaging may emphasize that reports of long COVID predate COVID-19 vaccines by nearly a year, and there is no evidence that the condition is a vaccine side effect. Communication campaigns promoting the COVID-19 vaccine may emphasize that vaccination dramatically reduces long COVID risk.