False claim of Covid vaccine link to AIDS-related illnesses recirculates
The posts stem from a story that uses unreliable data
(Reuters) - There is no evidence of a “338x” rise in AIDS-associated illnesses such as herpes infections or specific cancers in the United States, contrary to online posts resurfacing a debunked narrative that Covid-19 vaccines cause an AIDS-like weakening of the immune system.
Reuters has previously refuted claims that Covid vaccines damaged or suppressed immune function, as well as claims of spikes in various conditions based on misinterpretation of unverified data submitted to the U.S. Vaccine Adverse Events Reporting System (VAERS).
Evidence shows, and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) - which co-administers the VAERS database – as well as independent experts confirmed in response to the current claims that no AIDS-like immune deficiency has been associated with Covid vaccines, and no 300-fold increase in the listed conditions has been documented in the United States.
Nonetheless, one tweet in May 2023 with more than 300,000 views said: “BREAKING: Aids-associated diseases and cancers have increased by 338x since the rollout of the Covid-19 vaccine, according to the CDC” (here). Another example on Facebook attributes the claim to “the CDC and foreign governments bodies” (here).
The language in the posts echoes two similar headlines on a single article published in October 2022 (archive.ph/eWPHK ) and republished on May 11, 2023 (archive.ph/4sGEC) by The Expose, an online outlet that has previously published stories debunked by Reuters Fact Check (here), (here), (here).
The Expose article says that its central claim is based on a “cherry-picked” list of conditions associated with AIDS and HIV infection. “There’s an incredibly long list of ailments associated with AIDS so we cherry-picked the following,” the authors write, offering a list that includes encephalopathy, herpesvirus and cytomegalovirus infections, fungal infections, myocarditis and pericarditis, as well as AIDS-related cancers such as Kaposi sarcoma and aggressive B Cell non-Hodgkin lymphoma.
The article then implies that increased reports of a condition in the VAERS database represent a rise in the incidence of the condition in the population.
The Expose did not respond to a request for comment.
VAERS IS VOLUNTARY, UNVERIFIED
The VAERS database administered by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Food and Drug Administration is an open system where anyone can report any health event that took place following a vaccination, even years afterward, and regardless of whether the event is thought to be linked to the vaccine or not (vaers.hhs.gov), (here).
Reuters has previously addressed how VAERS works and why the “adverse events” reported to the database are not proof that the vaccine caused the event (here), (here), (here), (here), (here), (here).
The accuracy of VAERS reports is also not verified unless CDC detects a “safety signal” in the pattern of submissions, which then prompts investigators to analyze a subset of reports (here).
“To date, VAERS has not detected any unusual or unexpected patterns for HIV or AIDS-associated diseases and cancers following COVID-19 immunization,” a spokesperson for the CDC Immunization Safety Office said. “No vaccine safety monitoring evidence to date indicates that Covid-19 vaccines are causing or contributing to these conditions.”
NO 300-FOLD INCREASES
Data on the incidence of diseases or conditions in the list show no 300-fold increase, experts said, including for myocarditis and pericarditis, the only listed conditions associated with Covid vaccination.
There is no scientific evidence “of any sort” of a 338x increase in the risk of ailments associated with AIDS caused by Covid vaccines, said Matthew Mimiaga, a professor and vice chair of epidemiology at the University of California, Los Angeles, Fielding School of Public Health (here). “As of now, there is no evidence to suggest that the Covid vaccine is associated with an increase in AIDS-associated diseases or cancers or that incidence has increased.”
There are reports of myocarditis and pericarditis following vaccination, particularly among younger men (here), Mimiaga said, but “these cases are rare and the benefits of vaccination in preventing Covid-19 outweigh the risks.”
Studies of myocarditis and pericarditis following Covid vaccination, particularly with mRNA vaccines, have found increases of roughly two- to five-fold compared with rates before the pandemic, for example, (here) and (here).
The likelihood of getting myocarditis with Covid is even higher than seen with Covid vaccination, noted Thomas Russo, chief of the Division of Infectious Diseases at the University at Buffalo Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences (here).
Any increase in the incidence of the listed conditions “would not necessarily be proof that the Covid-19 vaccines cause weakened immune systems,” Mimiaga noted.
NO IMMUNE ‘DEFICIENCY’
“There’re some infections that can definitely weaken our immune system, but not vaccines. Vaccines do the opposite,” Russo said. Vaccines are “specifically designed to enhance our immune systems against the pathogen that you vaccinate against,” he explained.
The claim that Covid vaccines can cause “vaccine-acquired immunodeficiency syndrome” or “VAIDS” has been shared since 2021. Infectious disease experts have said that the premise is false and VAIDS is not a real condition, Reuters Fact Check previously reported (here).
Similar claims that Covid vaccines cause HIV infections, AIDS or AIDS-like immune weakening have also been debunked (here), (here).
VERDICT
Misleading. The posts stem from a story that uses unreliable data to falsely suggest a link between Covid vaccines and AIDS-associated diseases and cancers, according to independent health experts.
