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Learn more about talking to vaccine hesitant loved ones here.
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Anti-vaxxers are spreading rumors that upcoming vaccines will contain tracking chips.
The facts:
As with many concerns, myth is mixed with a kernel of truth. In this case, the kernal of truth is Department of Defense-funded research on a disease-sensing injectable biosenser. Researchers hope that this biosensor will detect illness in a person before symptoms appear. That person could then share these symptoms with their doctor (or their chain of command). The sensor itself is not designed to give away location or other information that could be accessed without permission.
It's also important to note that even the anti-vaxxers describe this "biochips" as the size of a grain of rice. Of course, a grain of rice could not fit through a vaccine syringe. (That would be a painful poke!)
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An anti-vaccine group claiming to be physicians is recirculating a claim that the MMR vaccine frequently causes seizures.
The facts:
The sourcing of this claim is complicated, and first leads its audience to a rapid response to an article concerning funding of immunization organizations and the CDC. The rapid response itself was written by the group paying for the ad.
Within that source, the claim that the MMR vaccine causes "seizures" in 1 out of 640 children cites a 2004 study that says, in part, " the risk difference of febrile seizures within 2 weeks following MMR vaccination was 1.56 per 1000 children overall" Importantly, the study concludes that "MMR vaccination was associated with a transient increased rate of febrile seizures but the risk difference was small even in high-risk children. The long-term rate of epilepsy was not increased in children who had febrile seizures following vaccination compared with children who had febrile seizures of a different etiology."
It's critical to note that febrile seizures can follow any fever, including those induced by vaccines or by vaccine-preventable diseases.
Long-term studies have shown that, even though they are scary, febrile seizures are not associated with long-term complications and rarely lead to other seizure disorders.
The gist of these claims is that the MMR vaccine is more dangerous than the vaccine, but any fair assessment of measles complications, including the recent deaths in Samoa shows these claims to be false.
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Influenza Data Collection
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Anti-vaxxers are promoting the idea that the CDC has stopped collecting data about influenza so that they can count all flu cases as COVID-19 cases instead.
The facts:
This particular nugget of disinformation is a sentence taken out of context from the CDC website, which explains that the CDC is not collecting data from the State and Territorial Epidemiologists Report each week. Budgets and staffing have state and local epidemiologists stretched when dealing with the pandemic.
Other systems are in place to collect influenza data, including outpatient illness surveillance, hospitalization surveillance, and mortality surveillance. This data is represented in the updated FluView Interactive website.
It's worth noting that influenza and coronavirus are different viruses that look and act differently. COVID-19 has symptoms distinct from influenza, including a gradual onset of symptoms and loss of taste or smell.
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Vaccine Fact of the Week to Share
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The temptation for families to gather over Thanksgiving is bigger than ever, so it is our job to encourage folks to get their flu shots and keep their turkey dinners small and intimate.
Spread the word! Download this graphic and share it to all of your social media platforms! Or share from our Facebook or Instagram channels.
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