Fact File: Misleading claims about hantavirus shared online amid cruise ship outbreak - Narcity
Fact File: Misleading claims about hantavirus shared online amid cruise ship outbreak
As Canadians connected to an outbreak of hantavirus on the MV Hondius cruise ship isolate in British Columbia, Alberta and Ontario, rumours and misinformation about the virus are spreading online. Here's a look at some of the claims.
THE CLAIM
The assertion that hantavirus is a side-effect of Pfizer's COVID-19 vaccine appeared on TikTok, Facebook and X.
Those making the claim shared a screenshot of a page from a Pfizer safety report, which supposedly listed hantavirus as one of the known side-effects of its COVID-19 vaccine.
THE FACTS
The safety report from Pfizer is real. The pharmaceutical company prepared the document in 2021, and it became public after a group of health professionals sued the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to force the release of documents related to Pfizer's COVID-19 vaccine.
The document looks at adverse events reported between the rollout of its COVID-19 vaccine in 2020 and Feb. 28, 2021.
The FDA defines an adverse event as an unfavourable or unintended sign, symptom or disease "temporally associated with the use of a medicinal product, whether considered related to the medicinal product or not."
Regulatory bodies such as the FDA and the Public Health Agency of Canada require that drug manufacturers submit these adverse event reports.
The Pfizer document notes that adverse drug event reports were submitted voluntarily.
But the...
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