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[ ARTICLE ]

The latest wave of vaccine misinformation

HIBRID

Posts spreading unverified theories about the pandemic continue to spread on social media platforms.

The BBC has examined the recent wave of false information in headlines relating to Covid testing kits and vaccines.


Test swabs do not contain cancer-causing chemicals

Coronavirus test swabs are being distributed in workplaces and schools, but viral Facebook posts are falsely claiming they are dangerous and cause cancer.

The videos and photos claim that they contain ethylene oxide, a known carcinogen. However, the test packages, according to the UK's Public Health Service (NHS), are "sterilised with ethylene oxide".

The Department of Health and Social Care in the British government has also announced that, while the chemical is used in gaseous form to sterilize test swabs, the amounts used are within safety limits and have been "rigorously tested and are safe for regular use."

Even US authorities deny such a claim. About half of all US medical devices are sterilized with ethylene oxide, which is an effective method that does not damage the devices. Further stages in the sterilization process remove the gas almost completely.


Misunderstanding of miscarriages

A blog post claiming that abortion rates "as a result" of receiving a Covid-19 vaccine have increased by 366% has been widely shared on social media.

There is no evidence that Covid-19 vaccines can increase the risk of miscarriage.

According to British institutions such as the NHS, the number of miscarriages has increased overall. However, the recommendations made by researchers suggest that vaccines should not be taken by pregnant women, since studies on the side effects caused by vaccines have not yet been completed. However, this does not mean that taking vaccines causes miscarriage.


Mutant claims go viral

A recent cause taken up by anti-vaccination activists has to do with the spread of new variants of the coronavirus.

Many referred to statements published by Geert Vanden Bossche, a Belgian veterinarian and vaccine researcher.

He says he supports vaccines, but in a series of letters he warns of the dangers of Covid-19 vaccinations, which he says risk creating new variants of the coronavirus that could "result in an unequal global catastrophe."

The World Health Organization (WHO) says that, as the number of people vaccinated increases, it expects "the circulation of the virus to decrease, which will then lead to fewer mutations."

(You can read the full article in English at BBC)

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