fact finder
Status: December 29, 2021 7:30 p.m.
There was no other topic in 2021 as much disinformation as there was about the vaccines against Covid-19. However, as the year went on, the misleading claims changed.
It is the end of 2020 when the first vaccines against Covid-19 will be approved in Europe; first the elders and other risk groups are vaccinated. Doctors are also protected at an early stage, as they are exposed to a particularly high risk in their professions.
But one allegedly does not want to be vaccinated, at least that’s how it is spread in Telegram groups and other channels: BioNTech boss Ugur Sahin of all people. It is a classic misinformation based on a completely twisted interpretation of his statement. Quotes from Sahin ARD interview are torn from their context and turned into the opposite.
Sahin had not only emphasized several times that he wanted to be vaccinated – that also applies to his employees. He also emphasized that he would “of course love to be vaccinated”, but the legal principles also apply to him and his employees – namely the prioritization that applied at the time.
Stoke up uncertainty by all means
The example shows how every effort is made to spread doubts about the safety of vaccines. No claim is too absurd. For example, at the beginning of 2020, a woman in a corona denier group wrote of a “satanic world conspiracy” in the context of vaccinations. Another assures that she does not deny the virus, but suspects that “this whole circus is only used as an excuse to usher in the NWO”. NWO is the abbreviation for New World Order. Behind this is a conspiracy legend, according to which a secret world government is establishing a new rule in secret.
The boundaries between insecure people and fanatical supporters of conspiracies are not recognizable in many Facebook and Telegram groups – and activists are fueling the fears with more and more new videos and blog posts, they collect donations, sell books and generate attention for themselves.
Under the keyword #IchLassemichnichtvafen, hundreds of people on Facebook explain in January 2021 why they refuse a vaccination. Some out of fear of feared long-term consequences; others, because they believe that a healthy diet and exercise alone are enough to protect against Covid 19 disease. Still others do not want to believe that it is even possible to develop a vaccine in a short period of time.
It is the common misunderstandings, misinformation and fears that keep popping up in the following months.
Fear of genetic changes
There is a particular fear that the vaccine could alter the genetic make-up. However, this is another misunderstanding: the so-called mRNA gets into the cell and is “read” there. Then it is dismantled.
Nevertheless, people are constantly raising the mood against these vaccines because they supposedly change genes, render them sterile or pose a threat to pregnant women. Such claims are not only false, but dangerous, because being pregnant in itself is classified as a relevant risk factor for severe COVID-19 courses.
Continuous fire of disinformation
New false or unsubstantiated claims about alleged risks and side effects will emerge almost daily in 2021. Be it spike proteins produced by corona vaccines that are supposed to cause cancer or heart attacks, or misleading statistics that supposedly prove that the death rates of those who have been vaccinated are higher than those of the unvaccinated.
The claim that many people died as a result of vaccinations has surfaced particularly often in recent months – among other things, misleading figures have been spread by AfD politicians.
On the side of the Russian state broadcaster RTDE there was even talk of an alleged “vaccination massacre”. In the past year, the state broadcaster has developed into one of the most important sources for corona deniers and “lateral thinkers” in Germany. However, RTDE suffered a severe blow in September: The company YouTube deletes the videos of the state broadcaster after repeated violations of the guidelines.
Prophesies of mass extinction
Also in September, a mass death among those who had been vaccinated was supposed to break out, prophets of doom predicted. There was talk of millions of deaths – not the only horror tale that has been refuted by reality.
Powerful fears
The stories of microchips that would be implanted by syringe or a planned genocide through the vaccinations are probably easy to recognize as absurd legends for the vast majority of people. Misleading or distorted reports that were supposed to fuel diffuse fears proved to be far more powerful.
In addition to concerns about alleged long-term consequences, it was once again alarmist reports about risks for children that obviously unsettled many people. This had already been observed in the previous year in the context of the masks, when corona deniers invented stories according to which children suffocated under everyday masks.
Such outright false reports will be replaced by horror stories about the most serious side effects in children from the Covid-19 vaccinations in 2021.
First side effects, then no effect at all
At the beginning of the year, alleged deaths and side effects of vaccinations were still the focus of disinformation, the focus shifts and new narratives are spun. Billions of vaccinations worldwide have shown that the vaccines are safe. As a result, opponents of vaccination increasingly question the effectiveness of the substances over the course of the year.
In particular, the spread of the new variants and the initially sleepy booster campaign played into their hands, as breakthroughs in vaccination and reduced protection against infections also unsettled many people.
Serious side effects
In fact, in 2021, it is not the vaccinations, but fake news and disinformation that show the most serious side effects: Opponents die of Covid-19 because they believed the false claims. Right-wing extremists specifically combine vaccine skepticism with political fanaticism and crude theses about a dictatorship.
Opponents of the vaccination see themselves as “Jews of today” and play down the Nazi crimes. Journalists are repeatedly attacked at demonstrations, police chains are overrun, and children are used as protective shields.
The fuel and cement of this movement is delivered digitally – via Telegram channels, Facebook groups and blogs.
The year 2021 has shown once again that disinformation can be fatal – and, especially in times of crisis, it can partially undermine a democratic society. The originators of the disinformation like that.