Viral Posts Misuse Rat Study to Make Unfounded Claims About COVID-19 Vaccines and Autism
SciCheck Digest
COVID-19 vaccination during pregnancy benefits both mother and baby. Side effects are generally mild, and studies don’t show negative effects on the baby. A criticized study that gave COVID-19 vaccines to pregnant rats doesn’t show that vaccines cause autism or that people shouldn’t get COVID-19 vaccines, contrary to claims.
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COVID-19 vaccination protects pregnant people from severe COVID-19 and reduces COVID-19 risks for babies. As is the case in people who aren’t pregnant, side effects in pregnant people are usually mild and resolve within days. Studies do not show a link between COVID-19 vaccination and negative pregnancy outcomes or health problems for babies.
Long-standing claims that childhood vaccines cause autism have been roundly debunked. Long-term studies provide reassurance that vaccination during pregnancy against flu and other diseases does not increase a child’s risk of autism, a developmental disorder. And a recent study did not find a connection between maternal COVID-19 vaccination and increased risk of developmental delay at 18 months of age.
However, social media posts have misused findings from a recent study of COVID-19-vaccinated pregnant rats and their pups to back up unfounded claims that people should not take COVID-19 vaccines, or to promote unsubstantiated claims about vaccines and autism.
“I’m forever grateful I risked my reputation in my personal life to warn people far and wide to NOT get this experimental $h0t!” said one post sharing an article from the Epoch Times on the new study.
Commentator Candace Owens, who has a of spreading misinformation, a post about the study on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, saying it supported long-standing, debunked claims about vaccines and autism. “That’s because vaccines and autism have always been linked, which affected mothers have been trying the to .
