WHAT WAS CLAIMED
Scientists warn mRNA COVID-19 vaccines are linked to severe neurological conditions.
OUR VERDICT
False. The multinational study used to back the claim comes to the opposite conclusion.
AAP FACTCHECK - Claims that mRNA COVID-19 vaccines have been linked to serious neurological conditions are supposedly based on a study that actually reaches the opposite conclusion.
An article being shared by social media users to support the claim includes information that directly contradicts it, and an expert has described the claim as deliberately misleading.
The false claim is that scientists have warned mRNA vaccines are causing people to become "literal spastics" - causing neurological conditions such as Guillain-Barre syndrome, which can have debilitating consequences including paralysis.
But the article published by The People's Voice, a site AAP FactCheck has debunked numerous times, contains contradictory information - including the opposite of what the study actually found.
Headlined "Australian Scientists Warn mRNA Vaccines Are Causing People to Become 'Literal Spastics'", the article starts by saying Australian scientists have warned that mRNA COVID vaccines are linked to severe neurological conditions, including Guillain-Barre syndrome.
This is not what the study concludes.
Despite its headline, the article goes on to quote one of the lead authors as saying: "If you are concerned about the risk of rare but serious side effects of vaccines such as Guillain-Barre syndrome, you should know that receiving an mRNA COVID vaccine does not appear to increase your risk."
The claim is based on a multinational study using information from the Global Vaccine Data Network (GVDN) and published in the July issue (Volume 60) of the journal Vaccine.
The study found while an increased risk of Guillain-Barre syndrome was observed following adenoviral vector vaccines (AstraZeneca, Janssen/Johnson & Johnson), it was not observed after mRNA vaccines
Using healthcare data from 20 sites within the GVDN, globally, researchers found that people infected with SARS-CoV-2 - the virus that causes COVID - were three times more likely to develop Guillain-Barre syndrome within six weeks of infection compared to other times.
However, there was no increased risk observed in people taking mRNA vaccines (including Pfizer-BioNTech, Moderna) or inactivated vaccines (CoronaVac/Sinovac).
This is reported on the website of the University of Auckland, where GVDN co-director Helen Petousis-Harris is based.
The word "spastic" appears in neither the study nor in the Auckland University report.
"It's difficult to overstate how deliberately misleading this viral post is," Dr Petousis-Harris told AAP FactCheck.
"The article takes a carefully worded, scientific-based study and twists it into sensationalist fiction.
"Our international study found no increased risk of Guillain-Barre syndrome (GBS) following mRNA COVID-19 vaccines such as Pfizer and Moderna. In fact, the increased risk was associated with adenoviral vector vaccines (like AstraZeneca and J&J), not mRNA vaccines."
She said the authors of the viral post had completely inverted the actual findings.
"There is absolutely no evidence in our study to support their crude and offensive claim that mRNA vaccines are causing 'severe neurological conditions'," she told AAP FactCheck.
"It's pure fabrication designed to mislead and provoke."
Dr Petousis-Harris said vaccination - especially with mRNA vaccines - may reduce the risk of post-COVID complications such as GBS by preventing or lessening the severity of infection in the first place.
"Our study focused on vaccine-associated risk, but broader research supports the protective effect of vaccination against many of the serious outcomes linked to COVID-19 itself," she said.
"In other words, preventing COVID-19 infection through vaccination also reduces the risk of all the serious complications that come with it, including Guillain-Barre syndrome, myocarditis, stroke, and long COVID."
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