A TikTok video shared a since-deleted tweet claiming that “a European study has found COVID-19 vaccines could be causing ‘long-term brain damage.’”
But the study examined the possible effects on the brain of COVID-19 infection — not effects of COVID-19 vaccines.
The video included a screenshot of a tweet from Leading Report, which describes itself as a source for breaking news. After reading aloud the tweet, the video’s narrator said, “We knew that.”
The tweet’s wording was very similar to a headline from The People’s Voice, a site known for spreading misinformation.
The People’s Voice article, in turn, summarized an article by Natural News, which has spread misinformation about COVID-19 vaccines and was banned from Facebook in 2020.
The Natural News article falsely reported on a study published in April by German researchers.
The study, which has not been peer-reviewed, examined the coronavirus’s effect on human brains — not vaccines developed to fight the virus.
The study found that the presence in the brain of the virus’ spike protein suggests that it “may contribute to long-term neurological symptoms.”
One of the study’s co-authors, Dr. Ali Ertürk, told The Associated Press: “We have done zero experiments using vaccine, and we have shown and claim zero side effects of the vaccine.”
We rate the claim that “a European study has found COVID vaccines could be causing ‘long-term brain damage’” False.
This fact check was originally published by PolitiFact, which is part of the Poynter Institute. See the sources for this fact check here.
