Posted on Dec 9, 2020
Covid: 'How a picture of my foot became anti-vaccine propaganda'
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Patricia is suffering from an unexplained skin condition - but a misunderstanding about what might have caused it set off a chain of events that turned her foot into fodder for anti-vaccine activists.
The picture showed purple and red sores, swollen and oozing with pus.
"Supposedly this is a [vaccine] trial participant," read the message alongside it. "Ready to roll up your sleeve?"
Within a day, those same feet had been mentioned thousands of times on Instagram and Facebook. The picture went viral on Twitter as well.
"See they are trying to deliberately hurt us with the vaccine," one tweet read.
The feet belong to Patricia - a woman in her 30s living in Texas. And it's true - she was a participant in a trial for the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine that started to be administered on Tuesday.
But this is also true: Patricia never received the actual vaccine. Medical records show that she received a placebo, a small injection of salt water. (Researchers do this as a matter of routine, to compare groups that receive a drug or a vaccine with those who receive the placebo.)
Her illness had nothing to do with injections. But that didn't stop activists twisting her story to advance their own agendas. And on top of the physical pain caused by her condition, Patricia received a wave of online abuse.
The picture showed purple and red sores, swollen and oozing with pus.
"Supposedly this is a [vaccine] trial participant," read the message alongside it. "Ready to roll up your sleeve?"
Within a day, those same feet had been mentioned thousands of times on Instagram and Facebook. The picture went viral on Twitter as well.
"See they are trying to deliberately hurt us with the vaccine," one tweet read.
The feet belong to Patricia - a woman in her 30s living in Texas. And it's true - she was a participant in a trial for the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine that started to be administered on Tuesday.
But this is also true: Patricia never received the actual vaccine. Medical records show that she received a placebo, a small injection of salt water. (Researchers do this as a matter of routine, to compare groups that receive a drug or a vaccine with those who receive the placebo.)
Her illness had nothing to do with injections. But that didn't stop activists twisting her story to advance their own agendas. And on top of the physical pain caused by her condition, Patricia received a wave of online abuse.
Covid: 'How a picture of my foot became anti-vaccine propaganda'
Posted from bbc.com
Conspiracy Theories
Medical
Health
Social Media
Facebook
Posted >1 y ago
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PO1 William "Chip" Nagel
Placebo effect
As word began to spread, Pfizer and Patricia's doctors started looking into her participation in the vaccine trial.
Normally, participants are not told whether they receive a vaccine or a placebo - that information is only revealed to researchers once the study is complete, so as not to influence the results.
But Patricia says that because of the unusual circumstances, researchers and the drug company revealed to her that she had received the salt water placebo, not the trial vaccine.
We independently confirmed that fact, and consulted several independent dermatologists who said a saline solution injected into an arm would not cause a skin condition to flare up in someone's foot."...
Placebo effect
As word began to spread, Pfizer and Patricia's doctors started looking into her participation in the vaccine trial.
Normally, participants are not told whether they receive a vaccine or a placebo - that information is only revealed to researchers once the study is complete, so as not to influence the results.
But Patricia says that because of the unusual circumstances, researchers and the drug company revealed to her that she had received the salt water placebo, not the trial vaccine.
We independently confirmed that fact, and consulted several independent dermatologists who said a saline solution injected into an arm would not cause a skin condition to flare up in someone's foot."...
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