FIVE YEARS SINCE the outbreak of Covid-19, people are continuing to spread misinformation about vaccines and healthcare workers online, warning doctors and nurses they will be put on trial for “war crimes”.

One image posted recently by an Irish-based Facebook account carries the following message: 

“Covid-19 Vaccine warning. To all medical practitioners, doctors and nurses: ‘I was just carrying out orders’ is NOT a legal defense!”

The line is a clear reference to the defence presented most infamously by many Nazi war criminals after World War II.

It continues: “You will be on trial for war crimes and held accountable!”

The post says doctors and nurses have a duty to inform patients that “the vaccine is experimental”, there is “no guarantee of immunity”, “you can still spread the disease” and of “vaccine damage and death”. 

A post that appeared on Facebook in recent weeks Facebook Facebook

The Facebook post has been shared more than 1,800 times and received 349 likes from social media users. 

During the height of the Covid-19 pandemic, false claims that people involved in vaccine rollouts would face charges in international courts were commonplace among conspiracy theorists

While the Rome Statute, the treaty that established the International Criminal Court, lists “Torture or inhuman treatment, including biological experiments” among war crimes, of the nine pre-trial cases for war crimes listed on the ICC’s website, unsurprisingly none are related to vaccination. 

False claims that vaccines developed to fight against the spread of the virus were “experimental” were also widespread during the pandemic, despite the fact that clinical trials of Covid-19 vaccines were conducted prior to their being rolled out to the general public.

As for the claim that getting the vaccine does “not guarantee immunity”, the vaccines have been shown to lessen the symptoms of the virus by teaching the body how to respond to infection. 

In January 2021, the Director of the WHO’s Department of Immunisation, Vaccines and Biologicals Dr Katherine O’Brien spoke about the vaccines that were available at that stage.

“We see a good immune response that kicks in within two weeks of the first dose, and it’s the second dose that then boosts that immune response and we see immunity get even stronger after that second dose,” Dr O’Brien said.

Ever wondered how disinformation spreads so rapidly – or who is behind it? Check out our FactCheck Knowledge Bank for essential reads and guides to finding good information online.

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