Misinformation about the COVID-19 pandemic– and vaccines to fight it – existed long before the omicron variant arrived to the United States, but it appears to be fueling new and old claims.

As scientists continue to learn more about the new strain, public health experts say the dearth of instant data is prompting some to seek out whatever scant information they can find. Others are seizing the opportunity to spread disinformation.

“Those initial weeks when there’s scientific uncertainty, there’s a new pivotal window for that information environment to shift,” said Rachael Piltch-Loeb, associate research scientist at New York University's School of Global Public Health and a preparedness fellow at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. “When misinformation or disinformation can provide that certainty in a definitive way, that information can become more appealing.”

The latest claim stemmed from a social media post of an apparent movie poster with the title, “The Omicron Variant,” and a caption reading “An Italian film from 1963.” The Facebook post was shared 300 times in a day, and the same image was retweeted more than 1,700 times.

While some user comments claimed the poster...

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