CLAIM: Canada is mandating psychiatric medication for those who refuse COVID-19 vaccines.
AP’S ASSESSMENT: False. Canada has issued no guidance related to psychiatric medication and COVID-19 vaccines, according to the country’s public health agency. The claim misrepresents a section of a COVID-19 FAQ published by the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario, which states prescription medications and referrals to psychotherapy may be options for patients who have serious anxiety linked to vaccination. An example was later added to the page to specify cases such as “extreme fear of needles.”
THE FACTS: Social media users this week are distorting an FAQ page for Canadian physicians to falsely claim that Ontario’s regulatory agency for doctors is advising that unvaccinated people be diagnosed with mental health conditions and medicated.
Some users took the false claim even further, saying the entire country was going to mandate such actions.
“Canada is going to mandate psychiatric medication for those that refuse mRNA injections or any kind of vaccination,” wrote one Twitter user over the weekend, gaining more than 14,000 shares and nearly 20,000 likes.
The tweet shared a clip from an event hosted Wednesday by a former Canadian TV personality in which she interviews Dr. William Makis, a doctor who has shared COVID-19 misinformation in the past.
Makis states that CPSO “sent out a letter or a memo to all the doctors in Ontario” suggesting that they should consider “any of...
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