Deaths of world leaders falsely linked to COVID-19 jab conspiracy

AAP FactCheck - Five world leaders from Asia and Africa were not murdered for opposing COVID-19 vaccines, despite claims on social media.

A former Japanese prime minister was assassinated, but not in relation to jabs, while all four African leaders died of natural causes.

The World Health Organization adopted a Pandemic Agreement¹ aimed at planning for future pandemics on May 20, 2025, with 124 member states voting in favour of it, 11 abstentions and no votes against it.

In the wake of that announcement, a number of social media posts are repeating conspiracy theories about COVID-19 vaccines. 

One claim is in a Facebook post² featuring a screenshot of a post from X with the caption "The storm is coming! Buckle up." 

The X post³ says, "BREAKING: WHO Pandemic Treaty resolution passes unanimously. 124 in favour, 11 abstained, 0 opposed. Why do you think there was 0 dissent?"

A graphic shows a photo of Mr Abe, claiming "Assasinated Japanese P.M. didn't follow WEF orders. Didn't mandate vaccines, sent 1.6 million doses back and gave citizens ivermectin. Make sense now?" 

The graphic also shows images of four dead African leaders: Tanzanian President John Magufuli, Ivorian Prime Minister Hamad Bakayoko, Eswatini Prime Minister Ambrose Dlamini and Burundian President Pierre Nkurunziza.

The headline above reads "Murdered? For opposing COVID-19 vaccine?"

However, none of the five leaders were murdered for opposing vaccines.

Former Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe was killed by Tetsuya Yamagami, who was angered over the Unification Church  - also known as "the Moonies" - for allegedly bankrupting his mother, BBC reported⁴.

Abe was never a member of the church, but had family ties to it and had praised the movement for its commitment to family members, The Guardian⁵ reported.

As the post claims, there was a recall of 1.6 million vaccine doses in Japan in 2021, but that was due to accidental contamination, The Associated Press⁶ reported. 

AAP FactCheck has also previously debunked claims about Abe's government promoting ivermectin⁷ and claims about the drug's efficacy against COVID-19⁸.

Meanwhile, all four African leaders died early in the pandemic, but there are no indications that any of them were murdered.

Then-Tanzania president John Magufuli died from what his vice-president called heart complications in March 2021, BBC reported⁹.

However, the country's opposition leaders speculated that Magufuli, who repeatedly denied COVID-19's existence and warned against vaccines, actually died of the virus himself, CNN reported¹⁰.

Ivory Coast Prime Minister Hamed Bakayoko died while being treated for cancer in March 2021, Al Jazeera reported¹¹.

Eswatini Prime Minister Ambrose Dlamini died in December 2020, four weeks after he tested positive for COVID-19, the BBC reported¹².

Burundi Prime Minister Pierre Nkurunziza suffered a cardiac arrest and died in June 2020, according to another BBC report¹³.

Claims that all four African leaders opposed COVID-19 jabs are also misleading.

While Magufuli and Nkurunziza both opposed various public health measures against the virus, the Burundian president died almost six months before the UK became the first country in the world to authorise a vaccine in December 2020. 

In contrast, Bakayoko urged Ivorians to take the virus seriously when he announced he had tested positive, AFP FactCheck¹⁴ reported.

Bakayoko's government secured 500,000 vaccine doses in February 2021, according to a UNICEF statement¹⁵.

An Eswatini government statement¹⁶ issued before Dlamini's death expressed interest in securing COVID-19 vaccines.

None of these claims is particularly new. 

AAP FactCheck found that the Shinzo Abe graphic in the post has been circulating on Facebook¹⁷ since immediately after his assassination in July 2022, while the graphic of the four African leaders was posted there¹⁸ as early as July 2021. 

These graphics have also been debunked by The Associated Press¹⁹, Reuters²⁰, FactCheck.org²¹ and PolitiFact²². 

AAP FactCheck is an accredited member of the International Fact-Checking Network²³. To keep up with our latest fact checks, follow us on Facebook, Instagram, Threads²⁴, X, BlueSky²⁵, TikTok²⁶ and YouTube²⁷.