Viral Video Makes False and Unsupported Claims About Vaccines

Quick Take

A viral video makes a series of inaccurate and unfounded arguments for why people should not receive any vaccines, including those for COVID-19.

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As COVID-19 cases continue to rise across the globe, anti-vaccination activists try to undermine people’s confidence by spreading misinformation around the safety, efficacy and value of the COVID-19 vaccines.

A 14-minute long video posted on January 13 by Steven Baker, a licensed chiropractor from Idaho, on Facebook and Instagram gives people five reasons why they “should definitely never vaccinate.” The video has been liked since by 1,600 viewers on Facebook and viewed by over 50,000 on Instagram.  

Baker, who describes himself as a healer who’s not anti-vaccine but anti-everything, has created a business selling misinformation about vaccines. In April, Facebook removed Baker’s ad account and page after he falsely claimed that a “silver spray” sold on his website protected people from COVID-19. In another video shared on TikTok and fact-checked by PolitiFact, he said people were dying because of the economic collapse caused by the pandemic, not from COVID-19.

In this video, Baker adds a disclaimer saying he’s not giving medical advice. But he is. 

Misleading Claim About Vaccine Ingredients

The first reason Baker gives to not get vaccinated is the ingredients in the vaccines. “You wouldn’t give your kid a shot of thimerosal, aluminum, aborted fetal tissue, chicken and eggs embryo — you wouldn’t,” he argues. 

But the fact is you probably already have for most of those items, and research shows the ingredients in vaccines are not harmful. Also, the two U.S. authorized COVID-19 vaccines don’t contain any of those ingredients. 

Thimerosal is a mercury-containing preservative used in multi-dose vaccines to help prevent potentially deadly contamination from harmful microbes. Although most vaccines for children don’t use it anymore, some influenza vaccines still do. Thimerosal contains ethylmercury, a kind of mercury that’s safer than methylmercury, which can be found in certain fish and animals. Ethylmercury is less toxic because it is broken down and excreted rapidly by the body. According to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, the amount of mercury contained in a vaccine is roughly the same amount contained in a 3 ounce can of tuna fish. 

Aluminum salts are present in some vaccines. They are also found in some health products such as buffered aspirin and antacids, as well as in many foods and beverages, including fruit and vegetables, cereals, nuts, dairy products, flour, honey, and baby formula. The quantities of aluminum contained in vaccines are