Busting Vaccine Myths

With so much misinformation out there, people are confused and scared. We are busting some vaccine myths to help you address vaccine hesitancy in congregate living spaces.

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Vaccines are safe, effective and life-saving.

Vaccines are important tools that we can use to protect ourselves from getting very sick from infectious diseases. They are safe and work with high effectiveness while using our own body’s immune system to prompt an appropriate response. However, the concepts around vaccines can be complex and this causes for there to be a lot of misconceptions around how they work and impact our bodies. Explore this page to see how we debunk some popular myths around vaccines!

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Busting conspiracy theories

Natural immunity is better than the immunity created by the COVID-19 vaccine

Getting a COVID-19 vaccination is a safer and more dependable way to build immunity to COVID-19 than getting sick with COVID-19.

While getting sick with COVID-19 can offer some protection, or “natural immunity”, the amount of protection may vary, depending on how mild or severe the illness was, how much time has passed since the infection, and the person’s age. Getting sick with COVID-19 can cause severe illness or death, and we cannot reliably predict who will have mild or severe illness. If you get sick, you can spread COVID-19 to others. You can also continue to have long-term health issues after becoming sick with COVID-19.

On the other hand, COVID-19 vaccination causes a more predictable immune response and many scientific studies have shown that it provides a high level of protection against COVID-19 without you having to experience sickness.

COVID-19 vaccines contain microchips

COVID-19 vaccines do not contain microchips. Vaccines are developed to fight against disease and are not administered to track your movement.

Vaccines approved for use in Canada are made up of the following ingredients:

mRNA molecules contain the genetic material that provide instructions for our body on how to make the spike protein that triggers an immune response within our bodies.
Lipids that protect the mRNA
Salts to help balance the acidity in our bodies
Sugar which helps the molecules maintain their shape during freezing (necessary for vaccine storage)

A COVID-19 vaccine can make me sick with COVID-19

None of the COVID-19 vaccines authorized for use in Canada contain the live virus that causes COVID-19, the vaccine cannot make you sick with COVID-19.

COVID-19 vaccines teach our immune systems how to recognize and fight the virus that causes COVID-19. Sometimes this process can cause symptoms, such as fever. These symptoms are normal and are signs that the body is building protection against the virus that causes COVID-19.

Vaccines are safe. Busting myths about safety

Vaccines cause Autism

Some people have concerns that autism might be linked to vaccines, but studies have shown that there is no link between receiving vaccines and developing autism.

So how did this myth get started? It started with a study published in 1998 that suggested that the MMR (measles-mumps-rubella) vaccine, or infection with the naturally occurring measles virus itself, might cause autism. Since then, many scientific studies have shown that there is no link between vaccines, or any of their ingredients, and autism. The research used in that study was found to be false, the doctor who wrote it lost his medical licence, and the medical journal that published it retracted the paper (they believe it should never have been published).

The COVID-19 vaccine can affect female fertility.

The COVID-19 vaccine will not affect fertility. The truth is the COVID-19 vaccine encourages the body to create copies of the spike protein found on the corona virus’s surface. This “teaches” the body’s immune system to fight the virus that has that specific protein on it.

This myth started with a false social media report, stating the spike protein on COVID-19 was the same as another spike protein called syncitin-1 that is involved in the growth and attachment of the placenta during pregnancy. The false report suggested the vaccine would cause a female’s body to fight this different spike protein and affect fertility.

This is not true. The two spike proteins are completely different, and the COVID-19 vaccine will not affect fertility.

Receiving a COVID-19 vaccine can make you magnetic.

Receiving a COVID-19 vaccine will not make you magnetic, including at the site of vaccination which is usually your arm.

All COVID-19 vaccines are free from metals such as iron, nickel, cobalt, lithium, rare earth alloys or any manufactured products such as microelectronics, electrodes, carbon nanotubes, or nanowire semiconductors.

No matter what you might have seen in online videos with people hanging spoons off their faces, that spoon is sticking because objects, metal or not, stick to human skin just because our sweat makes us a little sticky. No magnets are involved.

Busting another category of myth

The COVID-19 vaccines were developed too fast to be safe.

The technology used to develop the new mRNA COVID-19 vaccines isn’t new. It’s been studied and used for cancer research, and the original research on messenger RNA (mRNA) vaccines is decades old.

Clinical trials for the COVID-19 vaccines were done with the same rigor applied to all vaccine trials, and the results were reviewed and approved by multiple independent advisory panels. Increased collaboration, use of new technology and more funding meant that vaccine developers could work quickly during this pandemic.

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All about the COVID-19 vaccine

Get the answers to your COVID-19 questions, and understand the facts about vaccines.

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With so much information out there, see how to know if the information you are consuming is fact.

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Find all kinds of COVID-19 resources to help you manage COVID in congregate living spaces.

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