Let's see what the Unhinged Anti-Vaxxers are claiming now on social media...
"COVID-19 Jab: They skipped all animal trials because all animals were dying and went directly to people."
https://www.politifact.com/factchec...ram-post-falsely-claims-covid-19-vaccines-sk/
Instagram post falsely claims COVID-19 vaccines ‘skipped all animal trials’
The COVID-19 vaccines available for use in the U.S. are safe and effective. Each was tested in studies involving animals. It’s wrong to say “they skipped all animal trials.”
A
viral Instagram post claimed that the manufacturers of the COVID-19 vaccines "skipped all animal trials because all animals were dying." That’s not true.
"COVID-19 Jab: They skipped all animal trials because all animals were dying and went directly to people," said the May 15 post, which was viewed tens of thousands of times.
The post and others like it were flagged as part of Facebook’s efforts to combat false news and misinformation on its News Feed. (Read more about our
partnership with Facebook.)
A screenshot of an Instagram post falsely claiming the COVID-19 vaccine developers "skipped all animal trials."
The three vaccines authorized for emergency use in the U.S. — the two-dose Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna vaccines and the single-shot Johnson & Johnson vaccine — have been shown in clinical trials and real-world studies to be
safe and effective at protecting against COVID-19. As of May 17,
nearly 123 million Americans have been fully vaccinated, or 37% of the population.
While the vaccines in use in the U.S. were developed at an accelerated pace, claims that they weren’t tested on animals are inaccurate. Pfizer and Moderna
got approval to test their shots on animals while simultaneously running Phase I trials on humans.
"Animal studies were indeed conducted with each of the COVID-19 vaccines in widespread use, even before large-scale human studies began," said John Grabenstein, associate director for scientific communications at the Immunization Action Coalition. "The truth is the exact opposite of the misinformation these rumors are trying to spread."
Pfizer,
Moderna and
Johnson & Johnson all announced results from various animal studies in press releases. The data were also
published in
academic journals and
summarized in decision memos from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration as part of the emergency authorization process. The animal studies included tests on mice, rhesus macaque monkeys, and
hamsters.
"The most important of these animal studies were highly reassuring, because they showed that vaccinated monkeys intentionally challenged with the COVID-19 virus were actually protected from disease and death, compared to unvaccinated monkeys that were vulnerable to infection," Grabenstein said.
The AstraZeneca vaccine approved for use in many other countries was also tested on animals, according to
fact-checkers in Ireland.
The FDA
lists laboratory research and testing in animals as a key part of the U.S.’s Emergency Use Authorization process. An agency spokesperson pointed to
guidance specifying that EUA requests "should address," among other things, "data from studies in a relevant animal model."
Chris Magee, the head of policy and media at
Understanding Animal Research, a British nonprofit, told
Full Fact that if animals had actually started dying during the tests, any Phase 1 human trials happening concurrently would have immediately halted. That was not the case.
Full Fact and other fact-checkers, including the
Associated Press,
Reuters, the
Dispatch and the Journal, also determined the social media claims about animal trials being skipped are false.
We rate this Instagram post False.
