Vaccine lies on social media must be exposed

Calling attention to the damaging misinformation that spreads across the internet carries the risk of further spreading those mistruths — and leading others to believe them.

But it's also the only way to really understand the full extent of the harm being done by the so-called "died suddenly" campaign on social media. Poisonous scare tactics are being used to win the misinformation war and undermine the world's trust in science, medicine, public health, and government.

The effort to link vaccination, particularly the COVID-19 vaccine, to anyone who suddenly died first ramped up last year, with a manipulative "documentary" rampant with untruths, conspiracy theories, and scary conclusions with no basis of fact. The hourlong movie is underscored with dramatic music and replete with images of people collapsing, some of which happened long before the vaccine was even released. The video, still available online, pieces together a narrative suggesting that people who "died suddenly" — from heart attacks, strokes, or unexplained causes — did so because of the vaccine, and that still births, miscarriages, blood clots, and other odd formulations in the blood are all caused by the vaccine. It also asserts that the alleged effort was intentional — that the vaccine was a "well-planned" attack, a "bioweapon unleashed against humanity, with the intent to depopulate and control the population of the world."

At first, the documentary seemed to swirl within traditional anti-vax circles and didn't get much traction beyond that. It acted as confirmation bias for those already deep in the anti-vax world.

But more recently, the #diedsuddenly hashtag and efforts by anti-vax and anti-science extremists to push their narrative have spread further. Any news of any sudden illness or death of athletes, celebrities, or even private individuals is somehow linked to the COVID vaccine, no matter the circumstances. These fabulists hijack the stories of those famous and not, from the dramatic collapse of Buffalo Bills player Damar Hamlin during an NFL game to a 6-year-old child who had suffered from epilepsy and other chronic conditions before her untimely death last month. In doing so, they're hurting families and eroding confidence, at a time when trust in public health is critical.

The individuals spreading these lies don't care about the facts, the real diseases and other causes behind some of the deaths, or, most painfully, the grieving families. They care about their cause and platforms, the number of hits or subscriptions to their websites, blogs and newsletters, and the attention that comes their way.

These ugly untruths and theories with no basis in reality work to convince others that nothing is sacred or true — not vaccines, not science, not health care, not even how individuals live or die. A light must be shined on this behavior to stop this destruction from spreading any further.