Deputy repeats misleading allegations about the ineffectiveness of vaccines against Covid – 05/17/2023 – Health

The post in which federal deputy Osmar Terra claims that vaccines against Covid-19 did not reduce the number of deaths from the disease is misleading. In yet another attack against immunizers, he writes, erroneously, as verified by the Comprova Project, that “the natural immunity of the millions of infected and cured people reduced the number of deaths”. Comprova has already checked, for example, that it was wrong to question their effectiveness and to say that exposing the population to the virus is better than vaccination.

Contrary to what the deputy states in the post, deaths did not start to fall before vaccines had any impact. The graphic used to illustrate the misinformation considers immunizations from September 2021, but the campaign started earlier, in January of that year. A month later, there were already places applying the second dose, or booster dose.

Even the federal government, of which Terra was a minister until 2020, confirmed that the immunization campaign was important for the drop in deaths, according to a June 18, 2021 publication by Agência Brasil entitled “Fewer deaths of elderly people from Covid-19″. 19 indicate vaccine advancement”.

A month later, in July 2021, the government published that Brazil recorded a 40% drop in cases and deaths from Covid in a month and that the numbers reflected “the pace of the vaccination campaign against the disease”.

“The vaccine was gradually applied and reflected in the reduction of deaths”, says Isabella Ballalai, director of SBIm (Brazilian Society of Immunizations). “So much so that, when we reached more than 70% of those vaccinated, around 90% of the deaths were of non-immunized people in Brazil and in the world.”

In addition, health bodies around the world confirm the efficacy and safety of vaccines, such as Anvisa (National Health Surveillance Agency), EMA (European Medicines Agency) and the United States Center for Disease Control and Prevention.

The WHO (World Health Organization), on its website, claims to be starting to see evidence that immunity after Covid infection “can be strong”, but varies from person to person and that the disease can kill.

Misleading, for Comprova, is content removed from the original context and used in another so that its meaning undergoes changes; that uses inaccurate data or that induces an interpretation different from the author’s intention; content that is confusing, with or without the deliberate intent to cause harm.

Reach

Comprova investigates suspicious content with greater reach on social networks. According to the CrowdTangle tool, the tweet had 2,500 interactions on Twitter, in addition to being viewed 44,700 times.

How do we check

Initially, we tried to locate the origin of the graphic using reverse image search with tools such as TinEye. We then analyzed data on deaths from Covid-19 and vaccination in Brazil on platforms such as Our World in Data and the Ministry of Health’s Coronavirus Panel. We also consulted news on the subject and publications on the websites of the federal government and regulatory agencies around the world. Next, we interview Isabella Ballalai, from SBIM. Finally, we look for the author of the publication and the person supposedly responsible for assembling the graph.

deaths and vaccination

The chart published by Osmar Terra on May 10 presents a cut between February 4, 2021 and January 20, 2022 for deaths and from the second week of September until the same end date for vaccinated people. However, the campaign started earlier, in January of that year. A month later, there were already places applying the second dose, or booster dose.

In response to a comment on the post, the politician stated that the sources of the graph’s information are Open DataSus and Our World in Data. A search on this platform, filtering the same dates presented in the illustration of the post, presents a scenario different from that defended by Terra. It is possible to observe that, as the number of doses applied increases, deaths decrease.

The graphic used in the verified post was cut from other content previously published by Osmar Terra, in 2022. The old post has the title “vaccination vs future deaths from Covid-19” on it, indicating that it is a projection. Still in this post, the politician states that the graph was produced by Professor Bruno Campello, from the Federal University of Pernambuco.

The report did not identify the chart in the researcher’s publications, failing to identify the date on which the chart was drawn up. The teacher was contacted, but did not respond. He has already had research on lockdown questioned by other researchers and is among those responsible for a study that served as the basis for TrateCov, an application developed by the Ministry of Health, associated with the offer of “early treatment”. Methodological flaws in the research were also pointed out.

According to Isabella Ballalai, director of the Brazilian Society of Immunizations, although the effect of vaccines is fast, deaths did not start to decrease quickly because immunization was slow. “There was a lot of problem with lack of vaccine. Until everyone had the first dose, it took a while”, she says. Finally, she reinforces that the data that Terra presents do not present any evidence.

Natural immunity and risk

The WHO, on its website, says it is starting to see evidence that immunity after Covid infection “can be strong”, but varies from person to person and that the disease can kill. In this way, the entity emphasizes that it is much safer to get vaccinated than to run the risk of contracting the virus.

As demonstrated by Comprova, natural immunity is insufficient to control the pandemic. Medical geneticist Salmo Raskin reinforces that, for partial immunity to occur by natural infection, the infected person is at risk of death from Covid, while vaccines confer greater immunity without this risk.

effectiveness and safety

The world’s main regulatory agencies attest to the efficiency and safety of vaccines for Covid-19. Last April, Anvisa reinforced that the benefits of all immunizers approved in Brazil outweigh the possible risks related to the use of these products, adding that vaccination is the most effective way to reduce deaths and serious illnesses caused by the disease. According to the agency, the applied doses avoided millions of hospitalizations and slowed down the pandemic in the world.

The European Medicines Agency maintains a page with updated data on the safety and effectiveness of vaccines approved in Europe and, according to the entity, they have been evaluated in tens of thousands of participants in clinical trials. The United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention also guarantees the safety and effectiveness of immunizers, noting that serious reactions are rare.

What the person responsible for the publication says

Osmar Terra was contacted, but his team asked the reporter to communicate through a comment on the deputy’s Twitter profile. The reporter responded by saying that she did not want to expose herself on the network and questioned whether the e-mail address provided on the Chamber’s website was not a means of speaking with the deputy. There was no more return.

What can we learn from this check

There are numerous disinformational contents aimed at discrediting the effectiveness and safety of vaccines against Covid-19. In the case verified here, the post tries to lead people to believe that immunizers are useless and that the pandemic would resolve itself. To give an air of credibility to the statement, the author uses a graph, but draws attention to the fact that the information included in the illustration does not match that disclosed by platforms that seriously compile data regarding the disease. Furthermore, the tweet’s discourse is contrary to that of the world’s leading regulatory agencies, governments and health experts.

why do we investigate

Comprova monitors suspicious content published on social networks and messaging apps about public policies and elections at the federal level and opens investigations for those publications that have achieved greater reach and engagement. You can also suggest checks via WhatsApp +55 11 97045-4984. Suggestions and questions related to questionable content can also be sent to Sheet via WhatsApp 11 99486-0293.

Other checks on the topic

As already mentioned above, this is not the first post in which Osmar Terra disseminates misinformation about vaccines against Covid-19. Comprova has already shown that a post by the deputy questioning the effectiveness of immunizers and a tweet in which he ignores patient comorbidities and the high vaccination coverage in Rio Grande do Sul to attack vaccines are misleading.