Washington (CNN)As Covid-19 infections and hospitalizations surge on account of the Omicron variant, false claims related to the pandemic continue to spread widely on social media -- and they are sometimes being shared by people with substantial online followings.
Here is a fact check of four of the many false claims that were circulating in late December and early January.
Legendary actress Betty White died on December 31 at age 99. Her agent and longtime friend, Jeff Witjas, told CNN that White had died peacefully in her sleep of natural causes.
But some social media users have been sharing a supposed quote of White purportedly saying, three days before she died, that "I just got boosted today." The supposed quote has been used to suggest that the booster played a role in White's death.
Facts First: The quote is fake. White never said she got a booster shot on December 28 -- and agent and friend Witjas says she did not get a booster at all. "Betty never received a booster before her passing," Witjas said in a Tuesday email to CNN, "period."
It's also worth emphasizing that even if someone did receive a booster and then died soon after, that would not be evidence that this person died because of the booster. The booster shots, like other Covid-19 vaccines, have proved to be safe.
The fake quote was previously debunked by publications including PolitiFact, The Dispatch and Snopes.
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