SciCheck Digest
Afghanistan has implemented a COVID-19 vaccination program and, although administration of vaccines has slowed due to internal armed conflicts, the program is still under way. But some prominent conservative purveyors of misinformation in the U.S. have made false claims about vaccination efforts and the impact of the pandemic in Afghanistan.
Full Story
Health care workers have administered just under 2 million COVID-19 vaccine doses in Afghanistan, which has a population of about 39 million. Vaccination rates slowed further in August amid upheaval as U.S. troops pulled out of the country and the Taliban took over.
There was an 80% drop in the number of Afghans provided with the opportunity to receive COVID-19 vaccines in August, Tess Ingram, a spokeswoman for UNICEF, told us by email. UNICEF is handling the delivery of vaccines for the COVAX consortium that provides COVID-19 tests, treatments and vaccines to low- and middle-income countries.
“COVID vaccine administration has slowed in the last month but hasn’t stopped completely,” Ingram said of the situation in Afghanistan.
But, as partisan rhetoric about the pull-out intensified, two prominent purveyors of misinformation made false or misleading claims about Afghanistan’s low vaccination rate and used those claims to suggest that vaccines aren’t necessary to stop the COVID-19 pandemic.
Ted Nugent, a musician who frequently shares conservative political commentary on social media and has made false claims...
Read Full Story: https://www.factcheck.org/2021/09/scicheck-social-media-posts-mislead-on-covid-19-vaccines-deaths-in-afghanistan/
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