Anti-vaxxers are using a bogus video to frighten the public from getting the COVID-19 vaccine: report

On Saturday, The Daily Beast reported that vaccine conspiracy theorists are hunting for examples of people who have been killed by COVID-19 vaccines — even though no documented cases of any such deaths exist. Bolstering their argument is a "dramatic video" that appears to show a vaccine reaction, but that is considerably less than what it looks like.

"Anti-vaxxer rhetoric has, for many months now, primed some Americans to falsely believe that COVID-19 vaccines will kill people, that the powers that be will suppress it, and that they must hunt down and share evidence of this alleged outrage," reported Mark Hay. "Experts on anti-vaxxer rhetoric and conspiracy theories worry that this wild hunt for deaths and disaster could lead reasonable but worried people down conspiratorial rabbit holes, ultimately hindering efforts to curb this nightmare pandemic. The current quest for deaths is so off the rails that even some old-guard vaccine skeptics are distancing themselves from the frenzy."

So far, the only safety concern with the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines appears to be a slightly higher than expected incidence of allergic reactions, with six anaphylactic episodes reported — however, these were treated promptly and none of the incidents were fatal.

"In recent days, anti-vaxxers on the hunt for evidence of their hunches have surfaced several other rumors," said the report. "Most notably, on Dec. 17, Nurse Tiffany Dover at CHI Memorial Hospital in Chattanooga, Tennessee, got a vaccine dose at work, then fainted 17 minutes later — all while on camera. She explained that she sometimes faints as a reaction to pain, a vasovagal syncope response that is not uncommon, or dangerous." However, noted New York Institute of Technology doctor Jonathan Berman, "It made for a dramatic video."

Though video footage proves that Dover was fine, some conspiracy theorists have tried to claim that she in fact died and was replaced with a "crisis actor," with one anonymous user on Telegram saying, "Tiffany Dover's hair is a different shade and thickness, folded differently on her head, covered mouth, and you can't see her ice blue eyes."

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