"Bombshell: Alarming number of vaccinated are developing AIDS," reads a tweet written in simplified Chinese characters posted on February 1.
The tweet -- shared by an account with more than 24,000 followers -- shows a screenshot of an article by NewsPunch, a US website that regularly shares misinformation.
It claims German government data found that Covid-19 vaccines can cause "vaccine-induced acquired immunodeficiency syndrome", however, this syndrome does not exist.
AIDS (acquired immunodeficiency syndrome) is caused by HIV (human immunodeficiency virus).
Screenshot of a tweet sharing the false claim, taken on February 3, 2023
The NewsPunch article's headline reads, "German Gov’t Bombshell: 'Alarming Number of Vaccinated Are Developing AIDS'."
It cites a report published in December 2021 by the Robert Koch Institute (RKI), Germany's public health agency, that was produced as part of a weekly series on the EU country's coronavirus situation.
The RKI report originally stated that the vast majority of 6,788 Omicron cases reported were among vaccinated people -- with just 186 cases in unvaccinated people.
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