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Contrary to viral Instagram videos, COVID-19 vaccines remain highly effective against severe disease

When interpreting and comparing vaccine effectiveness, it’s important to ensure that we compare like with like. For example, vaccine effectiveness against infection isn’t comparable to that against severe disease. Vaccine effectiveness isn’t static and depends on many factors. For instance, immunity can wane over time, therefore a study about vaccine effectiveness performed weeks post-vaccination isn’t representative of what happens months post-vaccination. The evolution of newer, more infectious variants can also render vaccines less effective against infection. However, the COVID-19 vaccines remain highly protective against severe disease.

Mask-wearing helps to reduce the spread of COVID-19; social media posts misinterpreted Annals of Internal Medicine study on N95 respirators

Although mask-wearing doesn’t prevent people from catching COVID-19 with 100% effectiveness, multiple peer-reviewed studies have shown that mask-wearing can and does meaningfully reduce the risk of transmitting the virus. Furthermore, mask-wearing isn’t associated with serious long-term health problems, whereas COVID-19 is. Consequently, mask-wearing is a low-risk intervention that offers important public health benefits, particularly during a pandemic caused by a respiratory virus.

Findings from researchers in Basel didn’t show an 800-fold increase in myocarditis in vaccinated people compared to unvaccinated individuals

Multiple scientific studies show that COVID-19 vaccines effectively reduce the risk of severe disease and death. Observations from a Swiss team using a more sensitive detection protocols revealed that there are cases of mild myocarditis that previously went undetected owing to the absence of severe symptoms. The risk of myocarditis requiring medical attention is higher during COVID-19 than after vaccination with mRNA vaccines.

People can sue manufacturers for injury following routine childhood vaccines, contrary to a claim by Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

In the U.S., the National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program (VICP) is a no-fault program that compensates people who are found to have been injured by certain vaccinations. It doesn’t prohibit people from suing vaccine manufacturers, but people can only pursue legal action against manufacturers after exhausting their options through the VICP. Both authorized and approved COVID-19 vaccines are pandemic countermeasures under the PREP Act declaration. Therefore, they aren’t covered by the VICP, but by another program known as the Countermeasures Injury Compensation Program.

Face masks don’t cause hypercapnia or blood acidity; no evidence indicates that these conditions increase cancer risk

Face masks act as a physical barrier that blocks infectious respiratory droplets. However, mask pores are still big enough to allow tiny gas molecules, including carbon dioxide, to pass through. Therefore, wearing a face mask can’t cause carbon dioxide to accumulate in amounts significant enough to cause blood acidity. Furthermore, cancer is caused by mutations, not body acidity.

Multiple studies showed that COVID-19 increases the risk of heart inflammation more than vaccines do; study in Israel misleadingly used to claim otherwise

Myocarditis and pericarditis are conditions involving inflammation of the heart. Both conditions are commonly caused by viral infections, such as COVID-19 and the flu. The COVID-19 mRNA vaccines have also been associated with a higher risk of myocarditis, particularly in young men. However, the risk of myocarditis is significantly higher after COVID-19 than after vaccination. Reliable scientific evidence shows that the benefits of COVID-19 vaccination outweigh their risks.

Scientific evidence shows that unvaccinated people are more likely to develop severe COVID-19 and die, contrary to claim in viral social media posts about Germany data

Multiple scientific studies have shown that COVID-19 vaccines are highly effective at reducing the risk of severe COVID-19 and death. However, the COVID-19 vaccines aren’t 100% effective, so some vaccinated people will still become sick and die from COVID-19. In many countries in the world, there are far more vaccinated people than unvaccinated people. More vaccinated people being hospitalized is a reflection of the fact that vaccinated people far outnumber unvaccinated people, not that the vaccines work poorly.

2014 study by Dyall et al. is an in vitro study; clinical trials showed hydroxychloroquine is ineffective against COVID-19 in people

Hydroxychloroquine and chloroquine are chiefly known for their ability to treat malaria, a parasitic infection. They are also used to treat other conditions, such as the autoimmune disease rheumatoid arthritis. However, clinical trials involving thousands of COVID-19 patients to date found that hydroxychloroquine doesn’t improve disease severity or mortality rate in COVID-19 patients. Health authorities recommend against using hydroxychloroquine to treat COVID-19.