Unvaccinated TikTok Users Believe They Will Be 'Lone Survivors'

[DonViejo]

Unvaccinated TikTok Users Believe They Will Be ‘Lone Survivors’

TikTok continues to ignore misinformation on its platform, as it gets weirder and more explicitly vaccine-focused.

Anna Merlan
By Anna Merlan

TikTok users are falsely claiming that vaccinated people will soon die, leaving them to inherit the earth. The videos—which represent a fraction of the misinformation spread unchecked by the platform, most of it less obviously ridiculous—will surely be studied by furrowed-brow scientists in 100 years, when we really will all be dead, not from vaccines but through a combination of pernicious ignorance and sheer exhaustion.

Using audio from the 2007 film version of The Transformers, the TikTok users are picturing themselves climbing atop or striding toward various things, facing away from the camera. “I am Optimus Prime,” the voiceover intones, “and I send this message to any surviving Autobots taking refuge among the stars. We are here. We are waiting.” The videos are hashtagged with a mixture of anti-vaccine hashtags like “#unvaccinated” and others, in a bid to have them appear on users’ “For You” pages and get more views. The most-viewed video has nearly half a million likes thus far.

Since the start of the pandemic, TikTok has done a notably terrible job stemming coronavirus-related misinformation, from a hoax video about “Patient Zero blood” way back in January 2020 to incredibly racist skits about its spread to, now, the #unvaccinated hashtag. While TikTok now links to a fact-based Q&A on some coronavirus-related videos, there’s little evidence it’s doing much to stem the tide, and is in fact notably bad at doing so: Many of these videos were promoted into my editor’s For You page. Other kinds of misinformation are more or less unchecked on the platform, including videos spreading extremist content and hoaxes like National Rape Day. While Facebook has made gestures at stemming COVID misinformation—although those gestures have largely failed—TikTok's algorithm is more actively feeding this content to its users.

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https://www.vice.com/en/article/88ngep/unvaccinated-tiktok-users-believe-they-will-be-lone-survivors

[Siwsan]

1. Hmm. I wonder if my anti-vaxxer nephew believes that.

I'm actually afraid to ask. He has informed us that even wearing a mask will give us cancer.

[SoCalDavidS]

3. These People Need To Be Shunned

If I were you, I wouldn't want to have anything to do with this nephew. The last year has told me who I want to cut out of my life, or at the least, to NEVER engage with on a personal level again.

[Siwsan]

5. He lives out of state so I don't really ever see him very often.

He was a delightful guy until his mother died, and then he just went off the deep end. No dark net conspiracy theory is too much for him to grab and push. The last time he was here, he made his dad turn off the internet router because he claims they cause cancer. He's also one of those radical, preachy vegans who believes that pretty much everything, with the exception of organic vegetables, will cause cancer.

Of course, though, he uses internet on his cell phone so,

No matter how much I have urged him to seek some sort of counseling, my words fall on deaf ears. It's just so sad. He's even driven his marriage into the ditch. I can't even begin to imagine what he's teaching his 5 year old.

Just before she died, I promised my sister that I would always look after and be there for her kids so the door remains open to him.

[Sinistrous]

2. I suspect that just the opposite will be true.

[getagrip_already]

4. they don't think much, do they?

I'm 63 and have every vaccination available since I was born (my father was a pediatrician).

If vaccines killed, I'd have been dead a long time ago.

What is so especially deadly about the covid 19 vaccine?

[womanofthehills]

6. Young people with vaccine injuries post on social media

Although the risk is small, young people with severe side effects are posting from their hospital rooms after vaccine injuries. Just saying..... what I have seen on TicToc

[Claire Oh Nette]

7. Well, young adults on Tik Tok is gospel, eh?

Anaphylaxis after COVID-19 vaccination occurred in approximately 2 to 5 people per million vaccinated (.00035%)

Thrombosis and with thrombocytopenia syndrome
28 out of 9,000,000+ J & J vaccinations. (.00031%)


Over 259 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines in the US from December 14, 2020, through May 10, 2021.
4,434 reports of death (0.0017%) among people who received a vaccine. (Death following vaccination do not necessarily mean the vaccine caused the death.)

CDC website.

[womanofthehills]

9. I'm just saying it's affecting how the kids think about it

VAERS has over 40,000 reports of anaphylactic reactions from mild to severe. In the last 2 weeks six young girls posted on TicToc they were paralyzed from the shot. All in their 20’s. All of them regained use of their arms but not their legs and all we’re headed to rehab. It was weird they were all so similar.

[NickB79]

10. I've pointed out to you before that anyone can post anything on VAERS

And a TON of it is blatantly made up.

Only a fool believes a tenth of what gets posted on VAERS. It's literally open to the public, with very little oversight.

http://news3lv.com/news/local/you-cant-use-data-that-way-experts-urge-caution-when-looking-at-vaers-data

For example, we found this entry in VAERS: A man who died days after the shot, but was also in hospice.

Dr. Labus also points out *anyone* can post *anything*.

"The VAERS data is completely unverified. I can go into that database and make any claim I want and it’s in there," he said. "You could make up things. You could have something that is entered by a physician after a long investigation side by side in that database. And unless you analyze and try to determine which ones are valid and which ones aren’t, it’s really hard to say what all that data means."

[womanofthehills]

12. Actually it's a federal crime to lie in VAERS - just like voting twice

Knowingly filing a false VAERS report is a violation of Federal law (18 U.S. Code § 1001) punishable by fine and imprisonment.

Checklist

What will I need to fill out the report?

Patient information (age, date of birth, sex)
Vaccine information (brand name, dosage)
Date, time, and location administered
Date and time when adverse event(s) started
Symptoms and outcome of the adverse event(s)
Medical tests and laboratory results (if applicable)
Physician’s contact information (if applicable)
Full checklist
https://vaers.hhs.gov/reportevent.html

[NickB79]

13. Which means tons of Americans are breaking the law by lying to VAERS

Surprise, Americans don't fear being prosecuted for violating a law that is never enforced.

https://www.vice.com/en/article/qjpmp7/anti-vaxxers-misuse-federal-data-to-falsely-claim-covid-vaccines-are-dangerous

Question: has anyone EVER been prosecuted for lying to VAERS? I've never read of such a thing.

[Claire Oh Nette]

15. I used to work in Clinical Trials

One of the things we did was adverse event reporting.
YEs, anyone can report anything.
If some moron takes 6 Naproxens instead of two, and has stomach issues, it's reported, and dealt with.

In the event these are widely over reported, then they're safer than that.

The kids can post bullshit, but they'll run up against very real demands for proof of vaccine.

Woman entered post office this afternoon. No mask. Whined about having to get her mask. The other three of us, masked stared. The Postal Clerk brought her a mask. All three of us thanked the clerk. She never once tried "I'm vaccinated." But it's day one.

[NickB79]

18. With the online VAERS form, there's no need to even contact a doctor or clinic

Thousands of antivaxxers can spam from the comfort of their couch. That's insane IMO.

[womanofthehills]

19. I doubt it if one in a thousand Americans have ever heard of VAERS

In my bookclub of 15 college educated women who follow the news - no one had ever heard of VAERS. So now I’m asking people I meet if they know what VAERS is. Have yet to meet anyone who has ever heard of it.

[Claire Oh Nette]

22. Vaccine safety has it's own reporting system

that requires actual doctor reports.

Syntex/Roche and other smaller biotechs didn't use VAERS.

There aren't enough people making up false reports to affect statistical significance.

[womanofthehills]

23. Actually, doctors are required to report to VAERS

From CDC website

Vaccines
Healthcare providers are required to report to VAERS the following adverse events after COVID-19 vaccination [under Emergency Use Authorization (EUA)], and other adverse events if later revised by FDA:

If you read the actual VAERS reports, you will see that 29 of every 30 reports are written up from events happening at senior living facilities. There are lists of all the meds the patients are taking, shot numbers, events,etc. Who would actually bother to write a false report for a reporting system almost no Americans even know about or would ever read. So, there are 192,954 adverse events reported to VAERS as of this week and I bet it is the rare person on DU who has ever even read one.

[obamanut2012]

11. VAERS is self-reported and not checked

The kids in the Tik-Toks are lying, at least most of them.

[womanofthehills]

14. I'm just reporting not making a judgment

The young women on TicToc are reporting from their hospital rooms crying. You can see nurses and staff come in and out. Also, I’ve read some of their stories in their local newspapers.


https://www.wpxi.com/news/top-stories/bethel-park-woman-paralyzed-12-hours-after-getting-first-dose-pfizer-vaccine-doctors-searching-answers/ZSYTEX4H4FHKDFVSPGS3ILJZUI/

https://coronanews123.wordpress.com/2021/04/29/7-paralysis-cases-reported-after-pfizer-injection-as-more-schools-require-shots/

[NickB79]

17. Just reporting, huh?

You used those same words defending Naomi Wolfe's nutso claim, that every doctor has derided, that simply standing next to a vaccinated person was messing with women's periods.

https://www.democraticunderground.com/100215353278#post13

[womanofthehills]

20. No - I did not claim that. I said hundreds of women on Twitter

Said the vaccines messed with their periods. I did not comment on women who were not vaccinated or standing next to each other.

[Raftergirl]

8. Now that there are only a few places

where indoor masks are the rule the believers of this crap will get to pay the ultimate price for their idiocy. Oh well.

[liberal_mama]

16. I know an anti-vaxxer who has the Covid right now. A real bad case. He's on a ventilator and

probably isn't going to make it, according to his wife. The doctors had the talk with her yesterday about his slim chances of survival and the possibility of brain damage. The CDC says vaccinated people aren't dying of Covid, but everyday there are a lot of deaths. We are up to 700 new covid deaths just for today. Are these all unvaccinated people dying? Is this a culling?

[womanofthehills]

21. CDC says very small numbers are dying - not none

COVID-19 vaccine breakthrough infections reported to CDC as of April 26
As of April 26, 2021, more than 95 million people in the United States had been fully vaccinated against COVID-19. During the same time, CDC received reports of vaccine breakthrough infections from 46 U.S. states and territories.

Total number of vaccine breakthrough infections reported to CDC
Total number of vaccine breakthrough infections reported to CDC 9,245
Females 5,827 (63%)
People aged ?60 years 4,245 (45%)
Asymptomatic infections 2,525 (27%)
Hospitalizations* 835 (9%)
Deaths† 132 (1%)
*241 (29%) of the 835 hospitalizations were reported as asymptomatic or not related to COVID-19.
†20 (15%) of the 132 fatal cases were reported as asymptomatic or not related to COVID-19.

How to interpret these data
It is important to note that reported vaccine breakthrough cases will represent an undercount. This surveillance system is passive and relies on voluntary reporting from state health departments which may not be complete. Also, not all real-world breakthrough cases will be identified because of lack of

testing

[/div

[womanofthehills]

24. National Grocers in Albuquerque had a big sign on their door yesterday

- masks required for everyone over 10. Lucky for me this is where I buy 90% of my groceries. Yesterday, I went from there to a few other shops - everyone masked everywhere. Whole Foods was crowded -
but I did not see even one person unmasked in store. I think our gov was really good at drumming it into peoples heads. Good idea to shop organically because more people are health conscious and will wear masks.

Albuquerque is very different than the rural area I actually live in - half liberal and half redneck and lots of no mask wearing in the small town. Maybe because we are so rural - very few reported cases. We have gone over 100 days with only 3 cases in our zip code - so people mistakenly think it’s over just when the variants are here.

[myohmy2]

25. well...

...good for them...

...

[Initech]

26. OK, these people need to put down the pipe and back away slowly from the computer...