The World Health Organization (WHO) has rejected claims that COVID-19 vaccines cause new variants of the virus.
Reports circulated online in France, saying vaccinated people are “more likely” to infect others with “super-strains” of coronavirus.
But the WHO and other immunologists have said the claims are unfounded and have no scientific basis.
“There is no evidence to that effect,” a WHO spokesman, Euronews, said. “Vaccination is part of the solution to suppress transmission along with existing public health measures.”
Online misinformation about coronaviruses and vaccines has been a spin for European governments and their inoculation strategies.
A March survey by Ipsos found that only 59% of adults in France intend to be vaccinated against COVID-19, compared to Italy (85%) and Spain (82%).
“The number one message is ‘get the vaccine out,’ because it will stop the virus,” said Professor Luke O’Neill, an immunologist at Trinity College Dublin.
“Any suggestion that vaccines make things worse is the complete opposite,” he added.
“It is an emergency, we need to vaccinate as many people as possible to stop the appearance of variants and to stop the spread of the virus.”
Misinformation is spreading online
Since last week, several French social media accounts have claimed, without evidence, COVID-19 vaccines cause the appearance of virus variants.
A number of pages shared a link to an article claiming that vaccinated citizens were “walking bacteriological time bombs” and a “threat to society”.
The article further falsely stated that vaccinated people are “most likely to infect other people with super-strains”.
The theories have been shared on various Facebook and Twitter pages, such as in Lyon and Nice, as well as across the border with Switzerland. A Twitter account that pushes the same false statement has more than 6,300 followers.
Meanwhile, a Facebook page that shares the content of the article has over 33,000 likes and 52,000 followers.
But the WHO, which has been tracking mutations and viral variants since the beginning of the COVID-19 outbreak, has reiterated that there is no evidence to support the article’s claims.
“Vaccines will decrease the replication of the virus, it does not cause variants,” added Prof. O’Neill.
The science behind the new variants of COVID-19
Variants and new strains of the new coronavirus have emerged in recent months in South Africa, Brazil and the United Kingdom, which have been reported to be more infectious.
But the behavior of the variants is not related to COVID-19 vaccines and, instead, can occur when the virus is transmitted and spread.
Prof. O’Neill told Euronews that the appearance of virus variants is a “random process”.
“Every time the virus spreads and makes a copy of itself, it makes a small mistake and there is a chance that these errors will be more annoying,” he said.
Vaccines remove the human immune system to kill the virus, which stops it from reproducing, and therefore the chance of developing it is low.
The vaccine stimulates the immune response, so there are no variants at all in vaccinated people, it is more likely to occur in people who do not have an immune response.
Pointing to the flu vaccine, Prof. O’Neill said there was “never” a known vaccine that would have led to an evolutionary change and caused more dangerous variants.
In a statement to Euronews, the WHO also reiterated that vaccines will reduce the spread of new strains of the virus.
“When a virus – including SARS-CoV-2 – circulates widely in a population and causes many infections, the likelihood of the virus moving increases,” a spokesman said.
“The more a virus has the chance to spread, the more it reproduces – and the more opportunities it has to change.
“Launching vaccines as quickly and widely as possible is essential to protect people before they are exposed to the virus and the risk of new variants.