Instagram Posts Spread Texas Lawmaker’s False Claims on Vaccine Testing

The COVID-19 vaccines now authorized for emergency use in the U.S. were subject to the same forms of research routinely expected of all vaccines — even though they were manufactured in record time. In part, the process was sped up thanks to previous, related vaccine research and because some of the early testing stages were consolidated.

But a Texas state lawmaker recently claimed, falsely, that animal trials for the vaccines were “stopped” because “the animals were dying.” And his words are now fueling widely viewed social media posts seeking to...