Q: What are the risks of the newly identified coronavirus variants?
A: It’s not yet known whether mutant versions cause more severe disease, but some are likely more contagious. Scientists expect vaccines will work but are monitoring the situation.
Misconception: COVID-19 Misconceptions
A Guide to Moderna’s COVID-19 Vaccine
Anti-Vaccine Posts Use Deceptively Edited Video Clip
Social media pages that share anti-vaccine messages have used a selectively edited news clip that suggests the COVID-19 vaccine is unsafe. The clip shows a nurse fainting after she gets the vaccine, but it doesn’t show her quick recovery afterward when she explains that she is prone to fainting when triggered by even a slight pain.
Q&A on COVID-19 Vaccines
Alabama Officials Debunk False Claim of COVID-19 Vaccine Death
Instagram Post Distorts Facts on COVID-19 Death Reporting
COVID-19 Vaccines Don’t Have Patient-Tracking Devices
A video circulating on social media falsely claims that vaccines for COVID-19 have a microchip that “tracks the location of the patient.” The chip, which is not currently in use, would be attached to the end of a plastic vial and provide information only about the vaccine dose. It cannot track people.
Vaccine Recipient Targeted With Baseless ‘Crisis Actor’ Claim
A Guide to Pfizer/BioNTech’s COVID-19 Vaccine
Flawed Analysis Leads to False Claim of ‘No Excess Deaths’ in 2020
An economics professor’s flawed interpretation of U.S. mortality data has prompted a viral, false claim that COVID-19 hasn’t led to more deaths than normal this year. In fact, multiple analyses have found there to be a higher-than-normal number of deaths during the pandemic — as much as 20%, according to some studies.