In this video, FactCheck.org and Univision Noticias teamed up to debunk false claims, spreading on social media, that were made by a state senator in Texas about vaccine safety.
All three of the COVID-19 vaccines administered in the U.S. went through clinical trials involving tens of thousands of participants each. The Food and Drug Administration reviewed the safety data of those trials before granting them emergency use authorization, or full approval in the case of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine.
Testing in animals also took place. A study showed that monkeys vaccinated with the Moderna vaccine and then intentionally infected with coronavirus rapidly cleared the virus from their bodies. The vaccine also prevented infection in the lungs and nose of mice. The Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine was also tested in mice and monkeys, and the Johnson & Johnson vaccine was tested in monkeys and hamsters.
Yet, at a May 6 public hearing before a Texas state Senate committee, Republican state Sen. Bob Hall falsely claimed that vaccine companies didn’t test the vaccines in humans, and that animal tests were “stopped” because the “animals were dying.” Hall had introduced a bill seeking to prohibit mandates requiring COVID-19 vaccinations.
For more details, see our story “Instagram Posts Spread Texas Lawmaker’s False Claims on Vaccine Testing,” which, like the video, is available in English and Spanish.
This video with Univision Noticias is part of a joint project funded by the Google News Initiative to produce bilingual videos and articles about COVID-19 immunization misinformation.