In response to the surge in COVID-19 cases in Europe and the spread of the omicron variant, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen held a press conference on Dec. 1, in which she discussed vaccine mandates and pandemic challenges.
But on social media, opponents of mandates misused von der Leyen’s remarks to claim she called for the abandonment of the Nuremberg Code, a set of principles for medical experiments on humans was established after World War II.
“On The Heels of Austria and Germany Locking Down The Unvaccinated, EU Leader Calls For Throwing Out Nuremberg Code In Favor of Forced Vaccinating All Dissenters,” reads a screenshot of a Dec. 3 Gateway Pundit article, which was shared to Instagram on Dec. 8
Other users on Facebook and Instagram shared the same screenshot in posts that racked up hundreds of likes, while similar versions of the claim circulated on YouTube, Twitter and websites such as The Post Millennial.
But the posts are wrong. Von der Leyen never brought up the Nuremberg Code during the press conference. She urged countries in the European Union to consider vaccine mandates given the new wave of infections.
Additionally, experts say COVID-19 vaccines do not violate the Nuremberg Code because they are not experimental.
The Gateway Pundit and social media users who shared the claim did not return requests for comment.
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