Whenever a public figure dies or has a major health problem, some falsely blame it on COVID-19 vaccines, despite the fact that it deters people from being vaccinated, thus increasing the risks for everyone.
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There's a disturbing pattern that has emerged over the past few years: Whenever a public figure dies or has a major health problem, some people blame it on the COVID-19 vaccine. Case in point: Google searches for "
Damar Hamlin COVID vaccine" skyrocketed after the Buffalo Bills player collapsed on the football field last week. So did searches for
Bob Saget and the vaccine, and
Betty White and the COVID-19 vaccine after their respective deaths.
Data even show that there is a solid group of people who mistakenly believe that the COVID-19 vaccine — which doctors and major health organizations have repeatedly stressed is safe — is responsible for a sizable number of deaths. In fact, one
recent survey found that 1 in 4 Americans believe that someone they know died from the COVID-19 vaccine.
The newness of the COVID vaccine makes it easy to blame, Ammon says, and this is reinforced when some public figures make false claims that the vaccine is harmful.
Data have
repeatedly shown that COVID-19 is more dangerous and deadly than any
potential side effects of taking the COVID-19 vaccines. In fact,
research has found that the risk of developing myocarditis, an inflammation of the heart muscle that has been linked with the COVID-19 vaccine in rare cases, is
significantly higher in the aftermath of a COVID-19 infection than after getting the vaccine. (One analysis published in the journal
Circulation showed that people infected with COVID-19 who hadn't been vaccinated were 11 times more at risk for developing myocarditis within 28 days of testing positive for the virus — and the risk was cut in half if a person was infected after receiving at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine.)
Making matters worse is that people have been bombarded with COVID vaccine misinformation — and that can influence thinking,
Dr. Amesh Adalja, an infectious disease expert and a senior scholar at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security, tells Yahoo Life. "People have an irrational bias against these vaccines and have swallowed so much misinformation that they pounce on events like this to attack the vaccine," he says. Russo agrees. "If you see something enough, you start to believe it after a while," he says.
No vaccine is risk-free, and there are some risks and side effects associated with getting the COVID vaccine. But, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention,
severe reactions to the vaccines are rare.
While myocarditis has gotten the most attention, it actually occurs extremely rarely. That same
Circulation study found that people under 40 who received the Pfizer vaccine had up to three extra cases of myocarditis per 1 million women vaccinated (compared to 51 extra cases in those who got the virus before vaccination). Men under 40 who received the Pfizer vaccine had an estimated four extra cases of myocarditis associated with the first dose of the vaccine (compared to 16 additional myocarditis cases per million for unvaccinated men in the same age group).
"The benefit greatly favors the vaccine," Russo says.
Misinformation linking COVID vaccines and sudden death is rampant online, and experts say it's harmful. "This type of misinformation turns people away from an incalculably valuable tool in the fight against COVID," Adalja says.
Russo explains that "COVID is a lethal disease and our best protection against COVID is vaccination," adding: "It protects you and indirectly protects others that may be more vulnerable." Misinformation can ultimately lower the number of people who get the vaccine and thereby increase deaths, Russo says.
If you have questions about COVID vaccines, Russo recommends talking to your primary care physician, who should be able to answer them.