Like elsewhere across the globe, misinformation about Covid-19 in Africa has spread quickly online as the pandemic progresses through different stages. AFP Fact Check has been debunking false claims around the continent since the start.

Below is a regularly-updated list of all our English-language fact-checks in Africa:

332. No evidence that Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine causes encephalitis, health experts say

As Australian health authorities battled to control an unprecedented spread of the mosquito-borne Japanese encephalitis virus, social media posts claimed the potentially deadly virus was an adverse effect of the Pfizer-BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine. But the posts -- shared hundreds of times -- are false. Health experts told AFP there is no link between encephalitis -- an inflammation of the brain -- and the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine. The posts misrepresented a document that Pfizer submitted to the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

March 21, 2022

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331. Australian health official did not say vaccinated 'dying from myocarditis'

A video is circulating in multiple social media posts that claim it shows a top Australian health official "admitting" people vaccinated against Covid-19 are dying from myocarditis, an inflammation of the heart muscle. This is false; the clip was taken from longer footage that shows Queensland chief health officer John Gerrard talking about myocarditis deaths in Covid-19 patients, not vaccinated people. Australia's drugs regulator...

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