Rachel Maddow post discouraging talk of 'vaccine injury' is fabricated | Fact check

Nate Trela, USA TODAY
Updated ·2 min read
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The claim: Image shows a post from Rachel Maddow saying people shouldn't talk about vaccine injuries

A Feb. 20 Instagram post (direct link, archive link) claims MSNBC host Rachel Maddow told people injured by vaccines to keep quiet about it.

“If you truly are vaccine injured, PLEASE consider not blasting your health problems on social media,” reads what appears to be a screenshot of Feb. 15 post on X, formerly Twitter, from Maddow. “Antivaxxers are using every example of injury, no matter how small, to spread dangerous propaganda about the vaccine.”

The post was liked about 4,000 times in three days.

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Our rating: Altered

The X post is fabricated. There is no proof Maddow ever made the post, and a spokesperson for MSNBC said the image is fabricated. Nothing like it appears on Maddow’s timeline and the earliest version of the image USA TODAY could find was in a discussion board mocking liberals.

No evidence of vaccine post

Maddow has repeatedly and forcefully advocated for people to get vaccinated against COVID-19 in recent years, but there is no evidence the screenshot is authentic.

An MSNBC spokesperson told USA TODAY in an email that the screenshot was fabricated.

A search on X shows no posts from Maddow that match the text in the screenshot.

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The image previously appeared on a sports website discussion thread dated Feb. 17 with the title, “Irony is lost on the left.” USA TODAY could not reach the person who posted that image, which was the earliest found in a reverse image search.

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

Check Your Fact, Lead Stories and Reuters also debunked the claim.

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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Rachel Maddow vaccine injury post image is fabricated | Fact check