Last week, several vaccine opponents with large social media platforms cited an Ohio State University study to falsely claim that COVID-19 vaccines increase the risk of death from COVID-19 infection. This study initially circulated on the social media accounts of vaccine opponents in March. The study, which was published in...
The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals overturned the dismissal of a lawsuit against the state of California over the now-expired COVID-19 vaccine mandates for Los Angeles school employees. The ruling allows the case to move forward, a year after a lower district court dismissed the suit because a previous Supreme...
A new study published in BMJ assessed data from 47 countries from Our World in Data between 2020 and 2022, finding a total of three million reported excess deaths, with 2021 having the highest number of reported deaths. The study concluded that “excess mortality has remained high in the Western...
A new study found that 7 percent of U.S. adults have had long COVID. Among its findings, the study discovered that women were more likely to report having long COVID and that adults who had received a COVID-19 booster had lower rates of the condition compared to people who...
In May, Wisconsin health officials reinstituted a meningitis vaccine requirement for students entering 7th grade and a booster for students entering 12th grade. The requirement will take effect in the 2024-25 school year. In response to recent news articles about the vaccine requirement, some social media users are expressing gratitude...
A preprint study authored by several known opponents of the COVID-19 vaccines claims to have found an association between an increase in COVID-19 vaccinations and an increase in cardiac arrest (when the heart suddenly stops functioning, causing loss of consciousness and breathing) deaths in King County, Washington. As of June...
Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania are developing an mRNA vaccine for the H5N1 bird flu. The vaccine—which was tested in mice and ferrets but has not yet gone through clinical trials—could help manage the bird flu outbreak in birds and cattle and prevent human infections. In response...
Former U.S. Surgeon General Jerome Adams shared a social media post using the pertussis outbreak in Kentucky to illustrate the resurgence of vaccine-preventable diseases. Some social media users who commented on the post argued that practices such as covering coughs and taking vitamins are sufficient to prevent the spread...
Several popular vaccine opponents are repeating the old myth that COVID-19 vaccines and other routine immunizations are linked to autism, citing rising autism diagnoses since the 1970s. Many of the posts blame the addition of new vaccines, including COVID-19 vaccines, to the childhood immunization schedule. Others claim that there is...
A viral post claims that the Mayo Clinic rejected a lung transplant patient until they received COVID-19 vaccination. Although the original post criticized the policy, a majority of the responses questioned why anyone would trust doctors to transplant organs and provide lifelong post-transplant care but not to advise on pre-transplant...
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