There is no evidence of a “338x” rise in AIDS-associated illnesses such as herpes infections or specific cancers in the United States, contrary to online posts resurfacing a debunked narrative that COVID-19 vaccines cause an AIDS-like weakening of the immune system.
Reuters has previously refuted claims that COVID vaccines damaged or suppressed immune function, as well as claims of spikes in various conditions based on misinterpretation of unverified data submitted to the U.S. Vaccine Adverse Events Reporting System (VAERS).
Evidence shows, and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) - which co-administers the VAERS database – as well as independent experts confirmed in response to the current claims that no AIDS-like immune deficiency has been associated with COVID vaccines, and no 300-fold increase in the listed conditions has been documented in the United States.
Nonetheless, one tweet in May 2023 with more than 300,000 views said: “BREAKING: Aids-associated diseases and cancers have increased by 338x since the rollout of the COVID-19 vaccine, according to the CDC” (here). Another example on Facebook attributes the claim to “the CDC and foreign governments bodies” (here).
The language in the posts echoes two similar headlines on a single article published in October 2022 (archive.ph/eWPHK ) and republished on May 11, 2023 (archive.ph/4sGEC) by The Expose, an online outlet that has previously published stories debunked by Reuters Fact Check (here), (...
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