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FACT BRIEF

Did a leading medical journal declare that stigmatizing the unvaccinated is 'unjustified'?

By Dean Miller
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NO

Online articles and social media posts are misattributing statements that the unvaccinated are being unjustly stigmatized, and that public health officials are engaging in bullying by "suggesting that people who have been vaccinated are not relevant in the epidemiology of COVID-19," to The Lancet, an internationally respected medical journal.

Those statements are the opinion of one reader, expressed in a letter to The Lancet. A correct description would be that the statements were made in a letter to the editor of The Lancet.

Written by a German professor of hygiene and environmental health, the letter to The Lancet is not a peer-reviewed study or research report and is not the official position of The Lancet.

The Lancet explains the types of items it publishes to help readers understand the distinction between what letter writers say and what The Lancet says as an institution.

See a full discussion of this at Lead Stories
This fact brief is responsive to conversations such as this one.
Sources
The Lancet For Authors: Letters
The Lancet The Lancet: Editorials
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.