A viral message has been doing the rounds on WhatsApp claiming that French virologist and Nobel Prize winner Luc Montagnier has said that “all vaccinated people will die within two years” and that the COVID-19 vaccination drive is a “big blunder.” Dear folks, this is FAKE news!
The message claims, “Nobel Prize Winner Luc Montagnier has confirmed that there is no chance of survival for people who have received any form of the vaccine. In the shocking interview, the world’s top virologist stated blankly.”
The fake message was linked to a report in LifeSiteNews. It is a Canadian news publication. Earlier this month, the website was banned by Facebook for spreading misinformation on COVID-19. Snopes.com, a fact-checking resource, has previously described the website as “a known purveyor of misleading information.”
LifeSiteNews attributed its claim to an article published on the website of RAIR Foundation, a US-based NGO. The article included a two-minute video, where the French virologist disparages the vaccine programmed for COVID-19. It perused the original 11-minute video in French, which has a lot of cuts. However, while Montagnier did term the mass vaccination as an “enormous mistake”. But he never said, “vaccinated people will die in two years”.
What Montagnier actually said?
The Nobel laureate said mass vaccination is leading to the creation of variants forcing the virus to finds a solution or die. The French professor claimed that “vaccines create new variants” (also mentioned in the fake message).
Meanwhile, scientists and international health organizations have repeatedly pointed out that virus mutation is a common phenomenon and expected. Variants are produced when viruses have one or more mutations. It takes place when it replicates in the human body.
Some mutations in the COVID-19 variants are said to escape the immune system or antibodies in the body. However, the more the viruses transmit, the more it mutates. This is where vaccines play a role in limiting this transmission and preventing the emergence of new mutants and variants, say experts.
However, Montagnier has nowhere said vaccinated people will die within two years. Neither has he said, “There is no hope and no possible treatment for those who have been vaccinated already. We must be prepared to incinerate the bodies.”
Press Information Bureau (PIB) fact check handle also ruled it as fake and asked people not to forward the message.
This is not the first controversy to emerge revolving around the COVID-19 vaccine.
Previously, the news of PM Imran Khan testing COVID-19 positive only two days after vaccination left Pakistanis doubting the effectiveness of the vaccine.
Story Courtesy: The News Minute
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