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Hantavirus & COVID Vaccine: Fact vs. Fiction
9 May
Summary
- Hantavirus infection is caused by hantaviruses, not Pfizer's COVID vaccine.
- Online posts falsely linked Hantavirus to the COVID-19 vaccine.
- Vaccine documents list all events during study, not just vaccine-related ones.
Misinformation circulating online suggests that the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine causes Hantavirus pulmonary infection. These claims misrepresent documents submitted to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, which listed all medical events experienced by participants during the vaccine study period, from December 2020 to February 2021.
Pfizer has stated that the inclusion of Hantavirus pulmonary infection in an appendix of adverse events does not confirm a causal link to the vaccine. The appendix documented all reported events, irrespective of their relation to the inoculation, often collected through voluntary reporting systems like VAERS. Hantaviruses are a distinct group of viruses that cause Hantavirus pulmonary infection and are not ingredients in the Comirnaty vaccine, which does not contain live viruses.
This clarification comes as an outbreak of hantavirus on a cruise ship, including the Andes strain known for rare human-to-human transmission, has resulted in fatalities. Health authorities emphasize that reports to vaccine adverse event systems do not automatically imply causation, as anyone can submit a report.
