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A RECENT FACEBOOK suggested that Covid-19 vaccines are “bioweapons” and that they are linked to increased pregnancy risks, which contains a number of false claims.
The post shared what appears to be a screengrab from the headline of an article that was published on Tuesday, 20 May. The headline states: “Climate change increasing risk of pregnancy problems: study”
Along with the image, the Irish-based account that posted the claim shared the following text:
“Nothing to do with the fact they purposely injected people with a bioweapon that destroys the immune system. Nonstop corruption, lies, fear and propaganda for globalist. This is a WAR against humanity.”
The post received over 100 likes and received numerous comments in support of the statement. However, the article in the image was nothing about Covid-19 vaccines.
Other posts on Facebook and Instgram have also repeatedly claim that vaccines are bioweapons – this is an untrue claim with no basis in fact.
The original article about climate change and the vaccine claim is from RTÉ News. It concerns a study carried out by the US-based research group Climate Central. The group released a report which looked into how much more pregnant women have been exposed to excessive heat since 2020.
The group also examined to what extent climate change is to blame for increased exposure.
The group found that in 222 out of the 247 countries and territories studied, “climate change at least doubled the average annual number of pregnancy heat-risk days experienced during the past five years”, according to the article.
There were no references to Covid vaccines or their effects on pregnant women.
Since the development of mRNA Covid-19 vaccines, there have been numerous conspiracy theories suggesting that the jabs are “bioweapons”.
The World Health Organisation defines biological weapons as:
“Biological and toxin weapons are either microorganisms like virus, bacteria or fungi, or toxic substances produced by living organisms that are produced and released deliberately to cause disease and death in humans, animals or plants.”
The theory that the vaccine is a bioweapon has been debunked numerous times by scientists and independent fact-checkers. Usually, claims state that the vaccines alter human genes and allow modified viruses to be produced in the human body.
According to Science Feedback – a publication that combats health, science and climate misinformation – claims that mRNA vaccines are bioweapons are inaccurate.
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in the US and the European Medicines Agency (EMA) have both rigorously evaluated the safety and efficacy of these vaccines.
Covid-19 vaccines cannot alter human DNA or alter human genes and are not classified as gene therapy, and cannot therefore produce new viruses within the human body (a key part of many of the bioweapon claims).
The claim that the Covid-19 vaccine “destroys the immune system” is also false and has been debunked previously. According to Medical News Today, Covid-19 vaccines “strengthen the body’s immune response and help prevent serious Covid-19 disease and hospitalisation”.
Multiple studies show that the vaccine teaches the immune system to fight Covid-19, and there is no evidence that the vaccines impair immunity.
The Journal’s FactCheck is a signatory to the International Fact-Checking Network’s Code of Principles. You can read it here. For information on how FactCheck works, what the verdicts mean, and how you can take part, check out our Reader’s Guide here. You can read about the team of editors and reporters who work on the factchecks here.
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