It’s estimated that COVID-19 vaccines have saved millions of lives, but false claims continue to cast doubt on their safety and efficacy. One such claim that has spread around the world falsely suggests that three Canadian doctors died from the shots. But they each died of a long-term illness unrelated to the vaccines.
COVID-19 vaccines have been used widely for more than a year and a half. According to a recent modeling study from researchers at the Imperial College London and published in the Lancet Infectious Diseases journal, the COVID-19 vaccines prevented at least 14.4 million deaths in the first year they were available.
But false claims casting doubt on the safety and efficacy of the shots remain rampant online.
One recent claim was spread by the right-wing website Gateway Pundit, which published a story and accompanying social media posts on July 28 falsely suggesting that three Canadian doctors died as a result from the vaccine within days of each other, shortly after their employer mandated COVID-19 booster shots.
The claim has also been shared in Spanish, Hebrew and Polish.
Trillium Health Partners, the hospital system that employed the doctors, responded to the claim online, saying in a statement that was also posted on Twitter: “The rumour circulating on social media is simply not true. Their passings were not related to the COVID-19 vaccine. We ask to please respect their families’ privacy during this difficult time.”
Indeed, two...
A waste disposal company won dismissal of a False Claims Act suit alleging it improperly billed the federal and Montana governments for services it didn’t provide. Whistleblowers Max Bauer Jr. and...