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FACT BRIEF

Are people who received a COVID-19 vaccine 'walking biological time bombs'?

By Dana Ford
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NO

Contrary to what a video post claims, early studies suggest that the current COVID-19 vaccines provide at least some protection against new virus variants. The video's argument assumes that vaccinations will result in more dangerous and deadly variants. There's no publicly available evidence that's true, and there's a good bit of evidence it's not, since variants arise in populations of un-vaccinated virus-susceptible people.

Viruses change over time -- with or without a vaccine -- that's normal.

A February 2020 article in Nature Microbiology on virus evolution argued that "predicting how virulence might evolve is an extremely difficult and perhaps futile task," and warned against "rampant speculation."

The CDC strongly recommends people get vaccinated, which it says is an "essential tool to protect people against COVID-19, including against new variants."

See a full discussion of this at Lead Stories
This fact brief is responsive to conversations such as this one.
Sources
Science Vaccine efficacy probable against COVID-19 variants
Nature We shouldn’t worry when a virus mutates during disease outbreaks
Centers for Disease Control COVID-19 Vaccines Work
ABOUT THE CONTRIBUTOR
Lead Stories
Lead Stories is a fact checking and debunking website at the intersection of big data and journalism that launched in 2015. It scouts for trending stories, images, videos and posts that contain false information in order to fact check them as quickly as possible. It actively monitors the fake-news ecosystem and doesn’t wait for reader tips or reports before getting started on a story.
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About fact briefs published on Gigafact
Fact briefs are short, credibly sourced summaries that offer “yes/no” answers in response to claims found online. They rely on publicly available, often primary source data and documents. Fact briefs are created by contributors to Gigafact —a nonprofit project looking to expand participation in fact-checking and protect the democratic process. See all fact briefs here.