CLAIM: The COVID-19 vaccines contain HIV.
AP’S ASSESSMENT: False. There is no evidence that any COVID-19 vaccine contains HIV, an expert in infectious diseases and vaccinology told The Associated Press. Experts have repeatedly shot down similar claims in the past, explaining that the vaccines also do not make recipients more susceptible to contracting HIV.
THE FACTS: An Instagram post featuring baseless claims that the COVID-19 vaccines contain HIV, or human immunodeficiency virus, has spread widely online in recent days.
The post, which was viewed over 18,000 times, features a video with audio of someone stating, “The COVID-19 shot contains HIV.” The post’s caption also includes the same claim, and also says: “So many Vaccine Aids victims.”
The claim is baseless. The COVID-19 vaccines do not contain HIV, according to John Swartzberg, a clinical professor of infectious diseases and vaccinology at the University of California, Berkeley.
“I know of NO evidence that any SARS CoV2 vaccine (for that matter, any FDA approved vaccine) contains HIV,” Swartzberg wrote in an email to the AP on Sunday.
HIV is a virus that attacks the body’s immune system, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. If untreated, it can lead to acquired immunodeficiency syndrome, or AIDS.
Various conspiracy theories falsely linking the COVID-19 vaccines to HIV and AIDS have spread online in the past, and other experts have reiterated that there is no connection. “There is nothing in...
Dangote Group has dismissed as false and malicious a publication alleging that its President, Aliko Dangote, distanced himself from Tony Elumelu, describing the report as entirely baseless. In a s...