Fact check: FDA still recommends COVID-19 vaccine, contrary to viral claim

Nate Trela, USA TODAY
·3 min read
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A health worker administers a dose of COVID-19 vaccine during a vaccination clinic in Reading, Pa. On Friday, Feb. 3, 2023.

The claim: The FDA says the COVID-19 vaccine is 'unsafe and ineffective'

An April 23 Instagram post (direct link, archive link) features a black and white photo of two boxers, one throwing a punch that the other dodges.

“3 entire years of Covid vaccine propaganda,” reads text under the boxer throwing the punch, while text underneath the dodging boxer reads, "Me."

The post's caption reads, "FDA NOW SAYS UNSAFE & INEFFECTIVE."

The post was liked more than 200 times in two days.

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Our rating: False

The Food and Drug Administration still recommends COVID-19 vaccines. There is no indication the administration has said the COVID-19 vaccines are unsafe or ineffective.

FDA favoring newer vaccine formulation for better protection

There is no evidence the FDA has changed its stance on the safety and effectiveness of the COVID-19 vaccine. The administration continues to list four types of COVID-19 vaccines as authorized for emergency use or approved on its website.

Abby Capobianco, a spokesperson for the FDA, said the claim is false in an email to USA TODAY.

“The FDA continuously and rigorously monitors data regarding the use of the monovalent and bivalent COVID-19 vaccines, and all the data shows that the vaccines are safe,” she said.

The FDA announced on April 18 that it updated the emergency use authorization for the mRNA vaccines from Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna to only include versions of the vaccine that target multiple strains of COVID-19. Those formulations, known as bivalent, have been more effective against the omicron variants of SARS-CoV-2, the virus causing COVID-19, compared to the monovalent version of the vaccine, which only targeted the original strain.

That change does not mean the monovalent vaccine was ineffective or unsafe, Capobianco said. Data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows both types of vaccines lower the chance of death from COVID-19.

Fact check: Switzerland modified COVID-19 vaccine recommendation. It didn't ban the vaccine.

The death rates among unvaccinated people were 14 times those of bivalent vaccine recipients as omicron variants BA.4 and BA.5 surged, according to the data. Monovalent-only recipients had far lower mortality rates than the unvaccinated, but they were still 2.6 times higher than bivalent vaccine recipients.

USA TODAY reached out to the social media user who shared the claim for comment but did not immediately receive a response.

The Associated Press and AFP also debunked the claim.

Our fact-check sources:

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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Fact check: FDA still recommends COVID-19 vaccines as safe, effective