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All the lies that are shared about the Pfizer vaccine
No, the women are not sterile and the first vaccinated is not in critical condition. We clarify everything.
For months there was speculation about the arrival of the much desired vaccine. And for months, social media was flooded with false information with alerts that ranged from the credible to the absurd. Most of them were false claims, with the aim of getting and convincing part of the population to reject the vaccine, at a critical moment.
That moment has come and, with it, more misinformation. The British vaccine produced by Pfizer and BioNTech was approved and began to be administered on Wednesday, December 9. In a few days, a lot of information was revealed about its effects and dangers. Among them, many lies and some truths.
If experts point out that the goal of 70 percent of the vaccinated population is the goal to curb the disease, the most recent surveys indicate that it may be difficult to reach that figure. In Portugal, seven out of ten people reveal that they will not receive the vaccine, at least in the first phase, all for fear of side effects, reveals a survey by the National School of Public Health.
The figures are more or less in line with those of the main European countries. In the UK, for example, 79 per cent said in October that they wanted the vaccine, but not right away; Values similar to 69 in Germany, 65 in Italy, 64 in Spain and far from 54 in France.
Rumors and falsehoods that have spread across the Facebook murals of millions of people have contributed to this hesitation. The most recent ones mainly focus on the only vaccine that is available for now.
From the beginning, as almost always, one of the false reports used true data to extrapolate a false conclusion and spread fear. It is true that six participants in clinical trials died. However, we are talking about a universe of 44 thousand volunteers. Of these six, only two received the vaccine, while the remaining four received a salt water solution.
The two deaths among those who actually got the vaccine were caused by a heart attack (three days after taking the second dose) and arteriosclerosis (three days after the first dose). After investigation, none of the causes of death were found to be related to the vaccine.
“None of these investigator-assessed deaths emerged as related to the study in question. All deaths represent events that occur in the majority of the population and the age group in which they occurred, at a similar rate, ”revealed a public note from the Food and Drug Administration.
The publications went further by stating that Pfizer will have used a potentially lethal placebo to “manipulate the test results.” Something that could never happen given the solution that has been proven to be used.
Among the nearly 22,000 volunteers in the clinical trial in the United States, there were also four cases of Bell’s palsy. The information so shared in recent days has forced the British regulator to clarify.
If it is true that they occurred – this type of sudden paralysis affects part of the muscles of the face and is almost always temporary – it is also true that the incidence rate of these cases in the study group is “consistent” with the incidence in the general population.
Therefore, the FDA also reveals that there is no direct link between the vaccine and this condition. As a precaution, it only recommends that some vigilance be done for these types of symptoms.
Margaret Keenan’s name went around the world last Wednesday. First, because the 90-year-old British woman became the first to be vaccinated. Later, because he was allegedly in critical condition. This is, of course, false. Contrary to many social media posts, Keenan is in good health with no visible side effects.
More recent is the claim that one of the effects of the vaccine would be possible female sterilization. The publication attributes the claim to Michael Yeadon, a retired British doctor who left Pfizer nine years ago.
Although it has not yet reacted publicly, the truth is that the protein that is supposed to lead to sterility – synctin-1, important in the creation of the placenta – is not even present in the Pfizer / BioNTech vaccine.
Finally, the strange case of Patricia, a volunteer in a clinical trial of the vaccine, who began to have severe blisters on her feet. Symptoms appeared five days after the second dose. Several doctors ran, who advanced with possible causes, without an accurate diagnosis.
Filled with expensive bills due to treatments, he turned to the Internet to raise funds. It was then that the information that she was a volunteer in a study was made public and the image, shared on social networks, was disseminated as an example of what the vaccine could do.
The attention was so great that, contrary to what usually happens, the pharmacist was forced to reveal whether the 30-year-old woman was part of the vaccinated group or the group that took the placebo. And in fact, Patricia was part of the second group, eliminating any causal link.
Amid so many lies, it is true that British health officials have left a recommendation to prevent the Pfizer vaccine from being administered to people with a significant history of allergies. That is, they have already revealed serious adverse reactions to medications or foods. This advice stems from two reports that point to two possible anaphylaxis reactions since the vaccine began on December 8.
