The first known coronavirus (COVID-19) case was reported in China and the deadly virus started to spread globally at a compounding rate. In the battle to beat Covid, vaccines played a crucial role but the so-called vaccine deniers tried to malign the immunisation programmes adopted by countries. Studies have also claimed that Covid vaccines are highly effective at protecting individuals from severe disease and death.
What was the claim?
A recent social media post alleged that Covid vaccines were linked to the sudden deaths of doctors in Canada. The post was re-shared tens of thousands of times.
The text above a video posted by Michelle Lindsay read: “80 doctors in Canada between the ages of 25 and 55 have died in the last 60 days.” The video was shared on Instagram on December 21, 2022. Lindsay is a leader for the People’s Party of Canada in Halifax who ran for Parliament in 2021.
The same video was reused in some other posts, but attempting to link the deaths of Canadian doctors to Covid jabs. There have been other instances also when claims were made targeting the vaccines but none of them was true.
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Here’s the Fact Check
The identity of the speaker is not revealed but a fact-check published on Saturday (January 7) by the French news agency AFP stated that it searched the phrase “80 Canadian doctors died” and found a tweet indicating the man is Chris Shoemaker. He is said to be a family doctor in Ontario who has been posting videos to make unsubstantiated claims about Covid vaccinations.
AFP fact check revealed that the video was filmed at a protest in Toronto on October 22 last year. However, it resurfaced again in December. The report mentioned that the video has been viewed tens of thousands of times on Rumble, Bitchute and Odysee.
Shoemaker can be seen in the video, claiming: “80 doctors in Canada between the ages of 25 and 55 have died in the last 60 days and it’s only the physicians who are getting third and fourth shots who are dying suddenly.” WION is not linking back to the video, to not spread it further.
Health Canada called Shoemaker’s claim “misinformation”. AFP mentioned that in a statement emailed on January 4, 2023, it said that the “claims that 80 Canadian doctors died because of Covid-19 vaccines are unsubstantiated.”
The statement continued: “Immunization is one of the most important ways to protect the health of people in Canada and around the world.” The statement apparently highlighted the success of Covid vaccines in preventing “thousands of hospitalizations and deaths”.
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