The Infodemiology Brief

As much of the world’s attention shifts from COVID-19 to other public health concerns, some trending narratives are attempting to link COVID-19 vaccines to unrelated public health news. In the last month, vaccine skeptics have falsely claimed that COVID-19 vaccines cause everything from long COVID and AIDS to rising...

In the final weeks of 2023, some old but persistent myths about COVID-19 vaccines reemerged. Florida’s surgeon general, who has a history of promoting false claims, called for a ban on mRNA COVID-19 vaccines due to alleged cancer risks. Meanwhile, some popular social media accounts misrepresented news about disease...

Concerns about COVID-19 vaccine safety continue to cause vaccine hesitancy, fueled by a constant stream of misleading and false claims from vaccine opponents, including some prominent political officials. These anti-vaccine narratives are not original: They’re old claims given new life when attached to misrepresented studies, misused data, and political...

The safety of COVID-19 vaccines has been well-established over the last three years. But that hasn’t stopped vaccine opponents from seizing every opportunity to advance the narrative that the vaccines are harmful or even deadly....

Social media and the shift away from legacy news outlets have allowed vaccine opponents to promote false anti-vaccine information to audiences larger than previously imaginable. That is how false claims about cancer-causing DNA in COVID-19 vaccines can take hold in a span of months, while similar myths about other vaccines...

On September 12, the CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) voted 13-1 to back updated Pfizer and Moderna COVID-19 vaccines for all adults and children over 6 months. The decision followed the FDA’s approval of the new vaccines on September 11. In response to the announcements about...