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Experts and health officials have said that it is impossible for COVID-19 vaccines to shed viral particles.
In order to become vaccinated, you have to get the vaccine.
While new data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention show that half of U.S. adults are fully vaccinated against COVID-19, one widely shared social media post suggests that those who are not vaccinated don’t actually have to get the shot to become immune.
"They don’t want you to wear a mask now because those who are vaccinated will ‘shed’ the viral particles all over you," reads a May 25 Instagram post. "... Pfizer even said during trials not to be around pregnant women because they could miscarriage simply by ‘shedding’ from someone who was vacs-inated. You will become ‘vaccinated’ regardless of whether or not you received the shot."
As evidence, the post also cites "Pfizer vaccine warnings page 67."
The claim is wrong. The only way a person can become vaccinated is to receive the vaccine.
An Instagram post claims that "you can be 'vaccinated' regardless of whether you receive the shot or not."
That’s wrong. The only way to be vaccinated against COVID-19 is to receive a vaccine. It is biologically impossible for COVID-19 vaccines to result in virus shedding that will expose others to the virus, let alone in a way that would give unvaccinated people immunity.
We rate this claim False.
Instagram post, May 26, 2021
Email, Akiko Iwasaki, professor of immunology, molecular, cellular and developmental biology, and epidemiology at Yale University School of Medicine, May 26, 2021
Email, Adam Wheatley, senior research fellow at the University of Melbourne, May 26, 2021
Email, Pfizer Media Relations, May 31, 2021
PolitiFact, "Debunking the anti-vaccine hoax about ‘vaccine shedding," May 6, 2021
PolitiFact, "In his continued sparring with Fauci, Sen. Paul oversimplified the science," March 26, 2021
PolitiFact, "COVID-19 vaccines did not cause a 366% increase in miscarriages, as article claims," April 2, 2021
PolitiFact, "No, women’s cycles and fertility are not affected by being around vaccinated people," April 21, 2021
MedPageToday, "The Latest Anti-Vax Myth: ‘Vaccine Shedding," April 29, 2021
New York Times, "‘Natural Immunity’ From Covid Is Not Safer Than a Vaccine," December 5, 2020
NIH Research Matters, "Lasting immunity found after recovery from COVID-19," January 26, 2021
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, COVID Data Tracker, "COVID-19 Vaccinations in the United States"
USA Today, "Fact check: No evidence of miscarriage surge since vaccine rollout," April 12, 2021
Pfizer Clinical Protocol, April 30, 2020
Hopkins Medicine, "COVID-19 Vaccines: Myth Versus Fact," May 14, 2021
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, "COVID-19 Vaccines While Pregnant or Breastfeeding," May 14, 2021
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, "Interim Clinical Considerations for Use of COVID-19 Vaccines Currently Authorized in the United States," May 14, 2021
New England Journal of Medicine, "Preliminary Findings of mRNA Covid-19 Vaccine Safety in Pregnant Persons," April 21, 2021
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, "Different COVID-19 Vaccines," May 13, 2021
Associated Press, "COVID-19 vaccine does not spread by inhalation or skin contact," May 6, 2021
FactCheck, "No Scientific Basis for Vaccine ‘Shedding’ Claims," May 11, 2021
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