Since the start of the coronavirus pandemic, claims that vaccines can cause severe disease have been widespread on social media, with skeptics raising the alarm about what they call “turbo cancer.”
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A study has recently put fresh wind in vaccine opponents’ sails. The paper, published in the journal Biomarker Research, examined prostate, lung and thyroid cancer diagnoses among vaccinated and unvaccinated people in South Korea.
The study shows a statistical association between vaccination and cancer diagnoses, but that does not mean the vaccination is the cause.
“Vaccinated people tend to be older and have pre-existing conditions,” [immunologist Carsten] Watz said. That is generally associated with a higher cancer risk.
Laypeople and amateurs are chiefly behind myths like these, says Jan-Henning Steeneck, … who wrote a doctoral thesis on medical misinformation on social media.
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These people create content without medical qualifications and without editorial standards, Steeneck says, describing them as “new actors in science communication”.
According to him, further sources include former experts and doctors whose formal scientific background lends such myths a veneer of legitimacy.
