The Associated Press checks out some of the most popular but completely untrue stories and visuals of the week. This one is bogus, even though it was shared widely on social media. Here are the facts:
CLAIM: The variants of the coronavirus that have been found in the global population were created by COVID-19 vaccines, because the vaccines caused people to develop antibodies and forced the virus to evolve.
THE FACTS: An article quoting a virologist known for spreading conspiracy theories about the coronavirus is pushing the false claim that COVID-19 vaccines were the catalyst that caused new variants of the virus to emerge around the globe.
“Bombshell: Nobel Prize Winner Reveals - Covid Vaccine is ‘Creating Variants,’” reads the headline of the article, which has been shared thousands of times on Facebook.
The article claims that the vaccines forced the virus to “‘find another solution’ or die,” thus producing the known coronavirus variants.
The article attributes the claim to Luc Montagnier, who won the Nobel Prize in 2008 for discovering HIV and has spread false claims about the coronavirus. It is published on the website of the RAIR Foundation, which describes itself as a “grassroots activist organization” aiming to “combat the threats from Islamic supremacists, radical leftists and their allies.”
Experts contacted by The Associated Press explained that coronavirus variants found across the globe began emerging long before vaccines were widely available. They said the evidence suggests new variants evolved as a result of prolonged viral infections in the population, not vaccines, which are designed to prevent such infections.
“There’s no evidence that the vaccines create new variants, largely because vaccination appears to shut down viral infections, prevent people from spreading it to others,” said Dr. Stuart Ray, a professor at Johns Hopkins University’s medical school. “If the virus can’t spread, it doesn’t have the opportunity to evolve.”
With some viruses, such as dengue virus, scientists have observed a phenomenon called antibody-dependent enhancement, in which antibodies generated by a past infection or a vaccine will bind to a viral pathogen but not neutralize it. This can cause people who have antibodies to experience more severe symptoms if they are infected later.
However, this phenomenon has not been observed with the coronavirus or vaccines to prevent it. Montagnier did not respond to a request for comment.
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June 01, 2021 at 03:13AM
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