Post Makes Unfounded Claims About Omicron ‘Symptoms’ and COVID-19 Vaccines
Facts And Fact Checking,Coronavirus,Omicron Variant
Scientists are still learning about the omicron variant’s ability to spread or cause severe illness and the effectiveness of the current COVID-19 vaccines in fighting it. But a Facebook post misleadingly claims to list seven “symptoms” of the new variant, then suggests they are caused by the vaccines. The list actually refers to complications of COVID-19. Two of the listed conditions are rare adverse events associated with the vaccines.
Less than a week after the World Health Organization classified a new variant of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, and designated it by the Greek letter omicron, officials reported the first confirmed case in the U.S.
Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said at a White House briefing on Dec. 1 that the patient, who had been vaccinated but had not yet qualified for a booster, had experienced minor symptoms and was improving while self-quarantining in California.
By Dec. 5, omicron cases had been found in 15 states in the U.S. Confirmed cases also had cropped up in Europe, Israel, Australia and Canada.
As we have reported, scientists have cautioned that while there are reasons to be concerned about omicron, it’s not yet known whether the variant is more likely than others to spread easily or cause severe disease.
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