Baby in TikTok clip was born before COVID-19 vaccinations
Baby in TikTok clip was born before COVID-19 vaccinations
(Reuters) – A viral TikTok showing a newborn holding their head straight has been miscaptioned online, with users claiming it shows a baby who is unwell because it was born of a mother who was vaccinated against COVID-19. The mother told Reuters her baby was healthy and born before she received her COVID-19 inoculation.
“Babies are being born with all black eyes, they belong to Mothers who got the jab,” part of a Facebook post sharing the video reads. “Don’t let the government mutate your genes and your DNA,” another user wrote.
The original video was uploaded on TikTok on July 23, 2021 (bit.ly/3maYF9D). According to the description, the footage shows a 2-days-old baby in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) “less than 2 Kg can hold her head up and look at me,” she wrote. The post also includes the hashtags “#pandemicbaby2020” and “#toughbaby”
Reuters contacted the user @larasaadeddine1, author of the clip and mother of the baby, who said the video was captured in August 2020, months before vaccination efforts started – in December 2020 -- in the United States, where she is located.
“I didn’t take the vaccine while I was pregnant because it wasn’t available for me at that time, but I did take it a few months [later],” she told Reuters via Facebook message. “My baby is a very healthy baby,” she assured.
Footage of her twin babies is visible in her social media pages since at least November 2020.
Based on a limited but growing amount of evidence about the safety and effectiveness of COVID-19 vaccination during pregnancy, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommends COVID-19 immunization for women who are pregnant, breastfeeding, trying to get pregnant or might become pregnant in the future.
The Mayo Clinic explains that pregnant women or those who have recently been pregnant, have a higher risk of suffering a severe disease if infected with SARS-CoV-2. They are also more likely to experience preterm birth and more associated to pregancy lost, the CDC says.
Reuters has repeatedly debunked false claims about the safety of COVID-19 vaccination during pregnancy.
Contrary to what some posts claim, the COVID-19 vaccine does not modify the DNA of its recipient as previously explained by Reuters.
Reuters previously addressed this same video which also circulated on social media in Spanish.
VERDICT
False. Video does not show the baby of a vaccinated woman. The CDC recommends immunization for pregnant women.
