A roundup of some of the most popular but completely untrue stories and visuals of the week.

Claim

Data shows that COVID-19 vaccines are more deadly than the virus itself.

The facts

An article shared widely on social media platforms, including Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and Telegram, misrepresents data from Scotland to falsely conclude that getting the COVID-19 vaccine is more dangerous than getting the virus.

In fact, reports of death resulting from COVID-19 vaccination are rare, while more than 4 million people worldwide have died from COVID-19. Yet the article claims “more people have died due to the Covid-19 vaccine in 8 months than people who have died of Covid-19 in 18 months.”

This bogus claim rests on U.K. data presented without proper context, according to an Associated Press analysis confirmed by medical experts. The article cites data from Scotland’s national public health agency that shows that between December 2020 and June 2021, 5,522 people died within 28 days of receiving a COVID-19 vaccine. It compares that number to a report from the National Records of Scotland showing that between March 2020 and July 2021, 704 people who had no pre-existing conditions died of COVID-19 in Scotland.

But using those figures alone leaves out key context. Public Health Scotland explains that though 5,522 people did die within 28 days of receiving a vaccine, that number includes “all recorded deaths due to any cause and does not refer to deaths caused by the vaccine itself.” The agency adds that this tally of coincidental post-vaccine deaths is actually lower than the 8,718 deaths that would be expected based on average monthly death rates in Scotland.

National Records of Scotland Communications Manager Ewan Mathieson told the AP that out of millions who have received COVID-19 vaccine doses in Scotland, a total of four people there have died from adverse effects of the shot.

Claim

People who have been vaccinated are going to die within six months to five years, COVID-19 vaccines will sterilize children permanently, 80% of women who have been jabbed have miscarried in the first trimester and people who are vaccinated are banned from donating blood.

The facts

A video clip of a speaker sharing several false claims about COVID-19 vaccines during a school board meeting in Ohio made the rounds on social media.

Sean Brooks introduced himself at the Talawanda School District meeting on Aug. 16 as a doctor who has a Ph.D. According to his website, the doctorate is in education, not medicine. No evidence can be found to back up several of the claims Brooks makes in the clip, including his prophecy that people who have been vaccinated will die within months or years because of the shot.

Data from millions of people who have been vaccinated shows COVID-19 vaccines prevent deaths. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration gave full approval to Pfizer for its vaccine on Monday after reviewing six months of safety data. The FDA had previously granted Pfizer, Moderna, and Johnson & Johnson emergency use authorization for their COVID-19 vaccines based on safety data that tracked more than 70,000 people through clinical trials up to two months after they received shots.

“The safety data now exists for a full year and in some cases 18 months,” said Dr. Matthew Woodruff, an immunologist at Emory University. “We have seen over and over again no indications that the immune responses to these vaccines are functionally different to immune responses from other vaccines.”

Furthermore, medical professionals agree that COVID-19 vaccines do not affect fertility, do not cause sterilization and are safe for pregnant people. A Pfizer study found that just as many women who were given the vaccine became pregnant as those who received placebo shots. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is encouraging pregnant women to receive the vaccine, particularly since pregnant women are at elevated risk for severe disease if they contract coronavirus.

Brooks’ comment that 80 percent of women miscarried is not backed up by any evidence and is contradicted by available data. A CDC analysis found that 2,500 women who received a dose of the Pfizer or Moderna vaccine before 20 weeks of pregnancy showed no increased risk of miscarriage.

His claim that vaccinated people cannot donate blood is also false. Blood centers, including The American Red Cross, are accepting donations from people who have received the COVID-19 vaccines and are encouraging vaccinated individuals to give blood. The American Association of Blood Banks has said that the FDA’s blood donation eligibility criteria includes people who have received vaccines authorized in the U.S.

Brooks did not return a request for comment.

Claim

A study from the Francis Crick Institute in London found that Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine destroys a type of white blood cell called the T cell and weakens the immune system.

The facts

The vaccine doesn’t destroy T cells or weaken the immune system. On the contrary, it generates a strong T cell response and boosts immunity, according to experts.

Articles spreading on social media this week misrepresent the Francis Crick Institute study, which looked at the ability of COVID-19 vaccines to produce neutralizing antibodies against viral variants and did not examine T cells.

“Our work to date has not studied T cells at all,” Francis Crick Institute researcher and study author Dr. David Bauer told the AP in an email. “All research published to date shows that the Pfizer (and other) vaccines generate a strong, positive, protective T-cell response against SARS-CoV-2.”

Outside experts confirmed that the COVID-19 vaccines don’t destroy or damage T cells.

Claim

Video shows the second explosion outside Afghanistan’s Kabul airport on Thursday near Baron Hotel.

The facts

As social media users began sharing photos and footage of Thursday’s deadly attack at Kabul’s airport, several old images and videos were shared as new.

One video showing an airstrike tinting a night sky orange in Gaza, which has appeared repeatedly online since at least Aug. 21, circulated widely with false claims it showed Thursday’s second explosion in Kabul.

“#BREAKING : Second explosion hit Baron Hotel near #Kabul airport where Americans were rescued last week,” one Twitter user wrote alongside the video.

But the video shows an airstrike in Gaza, according to several news reports and social media posts with the video shared days before the Kabul attacks. The open source intelligence network Aurora Intel and news outlets including Al Jazeera shared the photo online on Aug. 21 with captions explaining it showed an Israeli airstrike in Gaza. A spokesperson for the Israeli military also shared the video on Aug. 21, writing in a caption in Arabic that it showed warplanes raiding sites belonging to the Hamas militant group.