Rumours emerge after viral Facebook post falsely claims Pfizer Covid jab causes hantavirus pulmonary infection
Hantavirus pulmonary infection is a disease caused by some hantaviruses, not the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine, contrary to widely shared online posts that misrepresented a document listing medical events after inoculation.
“List of Pfizer Covid jab side effects includes Hantavirus pulmonary infection!” said a widely shared May 7 post on Facebook, which shared a screenshot of submissions Pfizer filed to the US Food and Drug Administration in 2021 to get a biological license for its vaccine.
The narrative was also shared on X, with one post suggesting the COVID vaccine contained a hantavirus.
Read: Experts race to write guidance to contain first ship-borne hantavirus outbreak
The reference to hantavirus pulmonary infection in the Pfizer document is on the fourth page of the nine-page appendix, titled “List of Adverse Events of Special Interest”.
However, this is not confirmation that the vaccine causes hantavirus pulmonary infection, a spokesperson for Pfizer said in an email. A disclaimer on page 6 of the document makes a similar point.
The appendix lists any medical event experienced by a person during the study period between December 2020, when the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine was first authorised for emergency use, up to February 28, 2021, regardless of whether it was related to the vaccine, the spokesperson added. It was compiled using voluntary reports through various national reporting systems, such as the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS) in the United States.
Britain granted full marketing authorisation to the Pfizer vaccine in late 2022 after reviewing its safety, efficacy and other information, including a list of adverse events identified as having a causal link with the shot.
These adverse events are published in Pfizer’s product leaflet. Hantavirus is not mentioned.
Hantavirus as a vaccine ingredient
Some hantaviruses cause hantavirus pulmonary infection or syndrome, according to the US National Institutes of Health and the World Health Organisation (WHO).
There are no hantaviruses in the ingredient list of the Pfizer COVID vaccine, now called Comirnaty.
According to Pfizer’s website, the Comirnaty shot does not contain live viruses.
As of May 7, an outbreak of hantavirus on a Dutch-flagged cruise ship has killed three people.
South Africa’s health ministry said on May 6 that the Andes strain of hantavirus was identified in two victims who had been evacuated from the ship to the country.
Also Read: Two suspected hantavirus cases found in Spain, remote Tristan da Cunha
The WHO said in an online factsheet that the Andes strain is the only hantavirus that has seen human-to-human transmission. Transmission remains uncommon, and when it does happen is associated with “close and prolonged contact”, the WHO added.
The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) did not respond to a request for comment. An FDA spokesperson said in a previous Reuters fact-check that reports to VAERS post-vaccination “do not necessarily mean that a vaccine caused a health problem”. Anyone can submit a report, regardless of plausibility, added the spokesperson.
Verdict
Misleading. Hantavirus pulmonary infection appeared in a list that recorded any medical event a person experienced during Pfizer’s study period, regardless of whether the medical event was caused by the vaccine. Pfizer’s regulatory document lists events that were later found to have a causal effect, and this list does not include a hantavirus pulmonary infection.
