The Mississippi State Department of Health (MSHD) was attacked on Tuesday after a Twitter user claimed that an employee told his father that “there is no documented evidence that the Modern vaccine works” when he tried to make an appointment through your hotline.
MSHD later apologized, said there was a “communication problem” and dismissed the offensive section of its telephone hotline script that it believed was behind the confusion.
The original tweet highlighting the problem went viral on Twitter, where it has more than 40,000 likes and about 6,600 retweets.
The claim
On March 23, Elizabeth Wayne, assistant professor of biomedical engineering at Carnegie Mellon University, tweeted, “So I was talking to my father. Apparently, when trying to schedule his vaccine appointment, the caller said ‘there is no documented evidence. that the modern vaccine works. would you still like to get the vaccine? ‘This is the Mississippi Department of Health. I can’t believe it. “
So, I was talking to my dad. Apparently, when trying to schedule his vaccine appointment, the interlocutor said that “there is no documented evidence that the Modern vaccine works. Would you still like to get the vaccine?”
This is the Mississippi Department of Health. I am disbelieving.
– Elizabeth Wayne (@LizWaynePhD) March 23, 2021
Users responded with their own claims. One said, “My friend who was getting the vaccine in Alabama had a similar experience. The people who administered the doses turned and talked to each other about how they don’t trust the vaccine to their families, or something.” Others said they had positive experiences.
The tweet was picked up by Mississippi Free Press journalist Nick Judin, who contacted the MSDH for clarification.
Elizabeth Wayne’s father, Bobby Wayne, told the Mississippi Free Press: “The lady said to me, ‘I want you to know that there is no documentation that the Modern vaccine is effective. She asked if I still wanted to take it.” Mr Wayne confirmed that he wanted to accept it.
The facts
There is documented evidence on the effectiveness of the Modern vaccine and is widely recognized, including by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
The Modern vaccine was shown to be 94.1 percent effective in preventing COVID-19 disease in a phase 3 trial, according to the New England Journal of Medicine.
The study involved 30,420 people, half of whom received a placebo and the other half received the vaccine at random.
The results showed that 185 of the participants who received the placebo later developed symptomatic COVID-19. Of the people who received the vaccine, only 11 ended up falling ill with COVID-19.
In addition, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) granted emergency use authorization for the Modern vaccine on December 18, partly based on this effectiveness.
The FDA stated, “Based on the full body of scientific evidence available to the FDA, it is reasonable to believe that [the] The Moderna COVID-19 vaccine can be effective in preventing COVID-19 and that, when used under the conditions described in this authorization, the known and potential benefits of the Modern COVID-19 vaccine when used to prevent COVID-19 outweigh its known and potential risks . “
Regarding Twitter’s claim, Mississippi state health officer Thomas Dobbs shared the results of the study publicly and said an investigation would be launched.
“The mRNA-1273 vaccine showed 94.1% effectiveness in preventing Covid-19 disease, including severe illness. In addition to local and systemic transient reactions, no safety concerns have been identified.” from the most prominent medical journal in the world https://t.co/WvLnyLdpgW
Let’s investigate!
– thomas dobbs (@TCBPubHealth) March 23, 2021
MSDH’s Director of Communications, Liz Sharlot, told the Mississippi Free Press on Tuesday: “The communication failure was related to a script that when read out of context when scheduling appointments can be confusing”.
The script reads, according to Mississippi Free Press: “If you are pregnant, breastfeeding or immunocompromised and are part of a group recommended to receive the COVID-19 vaccine, you can choose to be vaccinated. You may want to consult your doctor, but it is not necessary before vaccination.
“Do you still want to be vaccinated with the understanding that there is currently no data available on the safety or efficacy of COVID-19 vaccines, including the Modern COVID-19 vaccine, in pregnant, lactating or immunocompromised people?”
Sharlot apologized and said that the offensive section was removed from the vaccine nomination script.
The decision
False.
There is documented evidence, based on a large-scale phase 3 vaccine trial involving more than 30,000 participants, that the Modern vaccine is effective in preventing COVID-19 disease. This evidence is recognized by the CDC and the FDA.
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Radek Mica / AFP / Getty