South

The Houston Health Department reported seven cases of meningitis between November 2023 and February 2024. In response to the rise in meningitis cases, the Texas Department of State Health Services issued an advisory encouraging Texans to stay up to date on vaccinations. Some comments on articles about the meningitis outbreak...

West Virginia’s legislature advanced a bill that would allow students to forego otherwise mandatory school vaccinations due to their religious beliefs. Some social media posts about the bill express concern about potential disease outbreaks, while others share stories of alleged “vaccine injuries” and falsely claim that vaccines are unsafe...

Social media posts are circulating false claims that mRNA COVID-19 vaccines are in the U.S. food supply. These claims re-emerged after a Tennessee representative introduced a bill that would require food products containing mRNA vaccines to be classified as drugs. Risk level: Medium Recommendation: While conversations about these false...

As of February 23, seven cases of measles have been confirmed in Florida children under the age of 14. In response, some social media posts about the outbreak are spreading false claims about measles and the measles-mumps-rubella (MMR) vaccine. Some posts claim that the current outbreak of measles in Florida...

A Texas state senator sent a letter to the Texas Medical Board, calling for a ban on COVID-19 vaccines and repeating the false claims that COVID-19 vaccines cause cancer and excess deaths. Meanwhile, the Texas attorney general’s debunked claims that COVID-19 vaccines are ineffective have resurfaced. Risk level: High...

Last week, a Florida grand jury released its first interim report on COVID-19 vaccines, one year after Florida’s governor ordered an investigation. In the report, the grand jury raised concerns about the safety and efficacy of COVID-19 vaccines and the effectiveness of other COVID-19 mitigation measures, such as mask...

Last week, a local news station reported that Tennessee has the highest flu activity in the U.S. and low flu vaccination rates. A Tennessee doctor told the news station that vaccine hesitancy, “vaccine fatigue,” and the desire to “put COVID behind them” have contributed to the state’s low...

On social media, a Kentucky representative promoted a report claiming that over 50 percent of U.S. adults believe that COVID-19 vaccines have caused deaths and that 25 percent of U.S. adults believe they know someone who has died from a COVID-19 vaccine. In response to the post, social...

Last week, Texas physicians encouraged men to get the HPV vaccine in a local media outlet. The media outlet shared the article in a social media post. Some social media users falsely claimed that the HPV vaccine is dangerous and that it sterilizes people. Others suggested that the HPV vaccine...

A functional medicine doctor in Arkansas mocked a physician on social media who stated that their flu infection would have been worse if they hadn’t had their flu shot. The functional medicine doctor claimed that this means the flu vaccine is ineffective. Other social media users who commented on...