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FACT BRIEF

Do records show that thousands of flights are being canceled as vaccinated pilots fall ill or die?

By Alexis Tereszcuk
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NO

There's no evidence that's happening. The claim in a published article is made without offering proof that pilots who have been vaccinated are either getting sick or dying, forcing cancellations.

The article making the claim misstates research into incidence of thromboembolism among pilots and also repeats the false claim that four British Airways pilots who received the COVID-19 vaccine died in one week.

A spokesperson for the Air Line Pilots Association, in an email to Lead Stories, disputed the "thousands of flights canceled" claim, writing :

"Pilots are healthy and the vaccine is keeping us healthier, even in the midst of the pandemic."

Online research on flight cancellations due to pilot illness and death from COVID-19 found no other published news reports regarding the claim. 

See a full discussion of this at Lead Stories
This fact brief is responsive to conversations such as this one.
Sources
Journal of Thrombosis and Haemostasis The incidence of venous thromboembolism in commercial airline pilots: a cohort study of 2630 pilots
Air Line Pilots Association Air Line Pilots Association -- What We Do
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.