where it was published: Twitter.
Completion of Proof: It is misleading to tweet that the British government has stopped immunization against covid-19 in children aged 5 to 11 “following a 22% increase in deaths in this age group since the NHS (British healthcare system) started vaccinating them”.
In fact, there was a 22% increase in deaths. according to British National Institute of Statistics, from January to September 2020, 143 deaths of children aged 5 to 9 years were recorded. In the same period of 2022, there were 176 – that is, an increase of 22%. But, unlike what the misleading post claims, it is not possible to say that the deaths are related to the vaccine, nor that they were the cause of the interruption of the immunization campaign.
The suspension of immunization for this public was planned since the month of February, before the start of the vaccination campaign. At the time, the government announced that the immunization of the public from 5 to 11 years old included only those who turned 5 years old until the end of August 2022. That is, it was already foreseen that, as of September of this year, children who had turned five years old, they would no longer be eligible for vaccination. For the rest of the public in this age group (that is, children who turned five years old by August 2022) vaccines are still available and being applied, according to the UK government.
misleading, for Comprova, is content taken from the original context and used in another so that its meaning undergoes changes; that uses inaccurate data or that leads to an interpretation different from the author’s intention; content that confuses, with or without the deliberate intent to cause harm.
Scope of publication: As of September 27, the post had 6,700 likes and 2,700 retweets.
What the author of the publication says: Comprova contacted the Twitter profile that made the publication via direct message on the social network, but there was no response until the verification was published.
How do we check: To verify, Comprova searched Google for news about the interruption of vaccination in children from five years old. In this research, we found a The Guardian articlecited in the viral post, and one from iNews. The two talk about criticism from parents and experts of the interruption and also that the immunization of these children was temporary from the beginning. Then we consulted the official website of the UK Health Safety Agency (UKHSA) to confirm that the immunization was really temporary.
In order to know if the 22% figure was true, we consulted the website of the British National Institute of Statistics, where UK birth and death statistics are published. Data for 2022 is available until the end of the first week of September, so we compared it to the other years using the same clipping.
We also searched the internet to see if it had been published anywhere that stopping vaccination was linked to an increase in deaths, but nothing was found. Finally, we contacted the UKHSA, via email, and via Twitter message with the author of the post.
UK child immunization was temporary
Vaccination for children aged 5 to 11 in the UK began in February 2022 with Pfizer’s immunizer. THE February publication this year on the official website of the government of the country already provided that immunization would be suspended in September for children who turned five years old from that date. According to the British government’s February text, the program “applies to persons aged between 5 and 11 years, including those who will turn 5 years of age by the end of August 2022”. That is, immunization will no longer have children who turn five years old after the end of August.
Comprova tried to contact the UK Health Safety Agency (UKHSA) by email but there was no response until the publication of this check. In recent check on the same topic published by the Australian checking agency AAP, the UKHSA reported that nothing had changed regarding the vaccination of children between 5 and 11 years old.
To the AAP, the UK agency responded that “eligibility always ended on 31 August and this was first announced in February this year” and that “those who are eligible (i.e. completed 5 years before 31 August) still can receive the vaccine”.
In the official statement of February 2022, the British government did not detail the criteria for stopping giving doses of vaccines to children who turn 5 years old from September. As reported in the The Guardian It’s from iNewsone of the reasons to justify the decision is that children at this age are less at risk of developing severe forms of the disease and that it would be more effective to prioritize the vaccination of more vulnerable groups.
This decision generated negative repercussions among specialists and families, as reported by the The Guardian, in a report that is quoted in the text of The Exposé that is part of the tweet verified here. According to the Guardian, the UKHSA said that “the provision of Covid vaccines to healthy children aged 5 to 11 has always been temporary” and that “children aged five and over who belong to a risk group would continue to receive the vaccines”. ”.
Thus, from now on, healthy children who turn five years old from September of this year onwards will no longer have the right to be vaccinated. Children between 5 years old (completed by August 2022) and 11 years old who have not yet been vaccinated are still entitled to immunization. And children who are over 12 years old still have the right to be vaccinated.
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), vaccination of children aged five to 11 years is effective and safe. The recommendation is to use a reduced dose of the vaccine – 10 micrograms instead of 30 micrograms – compared to that given to people aged 12 and over. In addition, this group must be the last to receive the immunizing agent and there is also no guidance for a booster dose.
There is no evidence that the increase in deaths is related to the vaccine.
The Exposé text says that the decision to stop vaccinating healthy children from the age of 5 came after a UK government institution, known as the “Office for National Static”, published that the “number of deaths of children 5 to 9 years is 22% higher than in the two years before vaccines were applied in the country to children aged 5 to 11 years”.
According to UK government annual data, published on the website of the British National Statistics Institute, between January and the first week of September 2020, 143 deaths of children aged between five and nine were recorded. In 2021, there were 144 and in 2022, 176, in the same period. The increase actually represents 22% more than in the last two years. However, there is no indication that the increase is related to the vaccine.
It is not possible to compare the same clipping with years prior to 2020, since before the government’s disclosure used clippings of different ages.
Source cited in the tweet is a denialist website
The tweet analyzed here shares as a source for the information a link to the website “The Exposé”, which presents itself as a vehicle willing to disseminate content “alternative to those propagated by the big lying media”. The site is known for publishing false information about the covid-19 pandemic and has already been verified by Comprova on other occasions: in December 2021, when the site’s publication stated that the covid vaccine would have caused an increase in child deaths and in March 2022 due to content that claimed that the proportion of deaths was higher among unvaccinated than among vaccinated in the UK.
why do we investigate: Comprova investigates content that has gone viral on social media about the pandemic, the presidential elections and public policies of the federal government. False or misleading content about vaccines against covid-19 can discourage people from getting immunized, which puts their lives at risk.
Other checks on the topic: This same content has been marked as false by Australian Associated Press FactCheck.
In recent checks on the pandemic, Comprova also showed that It is misleading that a former White House employee has confessed, in an interview, that vaccines do not protect against Covid-19that Death of six Canadian doctors has nothing to do with Covid-19 vaccine is that errors admitted by a US agency in the fight against covid are related to communication strategies, not vaccination policy.
Investigated by Folha de S.Paulo, Correio Braziliense and Piauí. Verified by Correio do Povo, PLURAL Curitiba, O Popular, SBT, SBT News, Estadão and A Gazeta.
Source: CNN Brasil
