The Journey from Local News to TikTok

This much we know from an increasing number of studies: Vaccines against COVID-19 significantly improve the immune response to the virus for those with previous infections.

In fact, people once infected with COVID-19 who get vaccinated develop what researchers are calling “hybrid immunity” or “super-immunity,” as staff writer Catalina Jaramillo writes for us this week.   

But you wouldn't know that if you visit TikTok.

In hundreds of videos, TikTok users feign shock, surprise and disgust as they listen to an inaccurate local news report that says COVID-19 vaccines wipe out the coronavirus antibodies developed after a previous infection.

KMOV-4, a CBS-affiliated television station in St. Louis, Missouri, aired its inaccurate report in February, and corrected its mistake in May. 

Yet, months later, TikTok users are still spreading that false claim, and similar ones are popping up on other social media.

For example, an Instagram post this month made the doubly false claim that doctors and nurses don't need to be vaccinated against COVID-19 because "by definition they do not need" a vaccine, which "appears to wipe out natural immunity." 

For more, see "Already Had COVID-19? Vaccines Boost Immunity, Not ‘Wipe Out’ Antibodies."

Reader: Does Covid-19 vaccine's mRNA cause a change in a persons DNA? 

FactCheck.org Director Eugene Kiely: No, mRNA vaccines cannot change a person’s DNA. 

As the CDC has explained, the mRNA from the vaccines doesn’t enter the nucleus — the part of the cell that houses DNA — so it “does not affect or interact with a person’s DNA,” contrary to some online rumors.

We wrote about that in our guides to the vaccines:

A Guide to Moderna’s COVID-19 Vaccine
Moderna’s mRNA vaccine is the second COVID-19 vaccine authorized for use in the U.S. Here, we give a rundown of basic facts about the vaccine and an overview of how it works. En español. 

A Guide to Pfizer/BioNTech’s COVID-19 Vaccine
The first COVID-19 vaccine to go into any American arms outside of a trial — and the first to be fully approved by the Food and Drug Administration — is Pfizer’s mRNA vaccine, which was designed and developed by the German biotech company BioNTech. Here, we give a rundown of basic facts about the vaccine and an overview of how it works. En español.

Wrapping Up

Here's what else we've got for you this week:

• “OECD Data Conflict With Biden’s Educational Attainment Claim:” As of 2020, almost 52% of the U.S. population 25 to 34 years old had earned a postsecondary degree — 11th among the 38 countries in the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. That statistic conflicts with President Joe Biden’s claim about educational attainment in the U.S. 
• “Merck, Pfizer COVID-19 Antivirals Different From Ivermectin”: Merck and Pfizer are each developing a new oral antiviral drug that might prevent or treat COVID-19. The pills are very different from the antiparasitic medication ivermectin, contrary to claims online that they are “suspiciously similar” or that the companies are “repackaging” ivermectin in a ploy to increase profits.
• "The COVID-19 Recession Officially Ended Before Biden Took Office": The recession caused by the COVID-19 pandemic officially lasted just two months and ended in April 2020. But Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg wrongly credited President Joe Biden for guiding “this economy out of the teeth of a terrifying recession.”
• "U.S. Is Sending Aid to Independent Groups in Afghanistan, Not the Taliban": The U.S. is providing humanitarian aid through several independent organizations in Afghanistan, but not through the Taliban government. Yet an online article falsely claims that the Biden administration will “send the Taliban millions in US dollars,” and repeats a debunked claim about the cost of U.S. military weapons left after the U.S. withdrawal.
• "PhRMA Ad Misleads on Medicare Drug Negotiation Legislation": In TV ads, the pharmaceutical industry claims congressional plans to allow the federal government to negotiate drug prices in Medicare would deny beneficiaries’ access to medicines their doctors prescribe. Experts say that’s unlikely, and an inaccurate portrayal of recent legislation. 
• "Trump and Son Whitewash Vaccine Willingness Before Biden": Former President Donald Trump and his son Eric have been dishing out revisionist history with claims that vaccine hesitancy soared once Biden assumed office and that “people were getting the vaccine in record numbers” until Biden implemented vaccine mandates.
• "Colin Powell’s COVID-19 Death Followed Cancer Diagnosis, Treatment": Former Secretary of State Colin Powell died from complications of COVID-19. Although he was fully vaccinated, he was also 84 years old and was a cancer patient who had undergone treatment for multiple myeloma — factors that put him at higher risk of a serious breakthrough illness. His death does not mean the COVID-19 vaccines don’t work, as many social media posts suggest.

• "Empleados de Casa Blanca y HHS no están ‘exentos’ de la vacuna obligatoria": Si bien aún no se han definido algunos detalles relacionados a los mandatos de vacunación contra el COVID-19 del presidente Joe Biden, afirmaciones engañosas sobre quién estará “exento” circulan en internet. Los empleados de la Casa Blanca y de agencias adscritas al Departamento de Salud y Servicios Humanos (HHS, por sus siglas en inglés) están incluidos en el decreto de Biden que exige a los empleados federales vacunarse.
• "Las explicaciones partidistas de las cancelaciones de vuelos carecen de pruebas": Las cancelaciones de vuelos de Southwest Airlines durante el fin de semana avivaron argumentos partidistas de que los trabajadores del transporte estaban protestando contra los requisitos de vacunación contra el COVID-19 y causando las cancelaciones. Pero no hay evidencia de que los trabajadores hayan organizado protestas. La Administración Federal de Aviación estadounidense, la aerolínea y los sindicatos han citado otras razones.