Claim: Vaccinated people pose a risk to others

Source: Professor Christian Perronne

Verdict:  FALSE 

Researched by Gifty Tracy Aminu

Are people vaccinated against COVID-19 posing a much greater risk to others who are unvaccinated?

That is the claim being made by a former vice president of the European Advisory Group of Experts on Immunization at the World Health Organization, Professor Christian Perrone.

A report published by an online platform, America’s Frontline Doctors quoted the immunization expert as saying: “Unvaccinated people are not dangerous. Vaccinated people are dangerous for others”

According to him vaccinated people must quarantine over the winter months or risk serious illness. “Vaccinated people are at risk of the variants, they transmit it. It is proving around different countries,” He added.

A short video showing Professor Christian Perrone who specializes in tropical pathologies and emerging infectious diseases making the claims has been made available in the online report.

 

What exactly did he say?

“Vaccinated people are at risk of the variants. They transmit it. It’s proven around different countries. So, vaccinated people should be put in quarantine and should be isolated from society. Unvaccinated are not dangerous. Vaccinated people are dangerous for others.  It’s proven in Israel now. I am in contact with many physicians in Israel, they have a big problem. Now severe cases in hospitals are among vaccinated and in the UK also, we have the large vaccination programme and also there are problems.”

 

Fact-Check

Checks from content discovery and social monitoring platform for publishers and brands, Crowdtangle showed the article started circulating on Facebook sometime in September 2021 and has generated more than 10,000 interactions.

A screengrab of Crowdtangle

However, the World Health Organization (WHO) in response to the claims via the Africa Infodemic Response Alliance (AIRA) secretariate said “Dr Perronne’s claims are unverified, and not representative of WHO.”

Data from the US and many other countries show that there is a distinction between the outcome of cases in unvaccinated persons compared to vaccinated individuals, the World Health Organization(WHO) stated.

“Recent data from the US CDC shows with unvaccinated individuals are at 11 times the risk of dying from COVID-19 than a vaccinated person,” the WHO emphasized.

According to the specialized agency of the United Nations responsible for international public health, vaccines are highly effective at preventing serious illness, hospitalisation and death from COVID-19. “Getting vaccinated can save your life.”

 

Verdict

The claim that vaccinated people pose a risk to others is FALSE.