Can AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine give you monkeypox?!

Can the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine give you monkeypox? Take a look at the viral claims, and find out what the facts really are!

Updated @ 2024-08-20 : Updated, and refreshed after the same claims went viral with the 2024 mpox outbreak
Originally posted @ 2022-09-04

 

Claim : AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine can give you monkeypox!

In recent weeks, people have sharing photos of the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine leaflet, claiming that it is evidence that the AstraZeneca vaccine is responsible for the current monkeypox outbreak.

They are highlighting the portion of the vaccine leaflet that says that it contains a “Recombinant, replication-deficient chimpanzee adenovirus vector encoding the SARS-CoV-2 Spike glycoprotein.

They believe that it is this virus that causes monkeypox, and that the AstraZeneca vaccine is responsible for spreading monkeypox to vaccinated people.

Here are some of the comments that accompany these viral posts :

Who is surprised that after millions of people have been injected with genetically modified chimp virus, there is now an outbreak of monkeypox?

“The AstraZeneca vaccine uses a chimpanzee adenovirus vaccine vector” Makes you wonder doesn’t it.🤔🤔🤔🤔

More monkey business #AstraZeneca #monkeypox

 

Truth : AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine won’t give you monkeypox!

This is yet another example of fake news created and propagated by anti-vaccination activists, and here are the reasons why…

Fact #1 : Adenovirus used in AstraZeneca vaccine cannot replicate

The AstraZeneca Vaxzevria vaccine, codenamed AZD1222, uses a chimpanzee adenovirus to “teach” some of our cells to produce the SARS-CoV-2 spike proteins to trigger an immune response.

The chimpanzee adenovirus used in the vaccine – ChAdOx1 – had already been modified from the original ChAd virus serotype Y25 to prevent replication. Therefore, the virus cannot replicate, and is incapable of producing any disease in human beings.

Fact #2 : Monkeypox is not caused by chimpanzee adenovirus

Monkeypox is caused by the monkeypox virus, which is completely different from the chimpanzee adenovirus.

The monkeypox virus is a double-stranded DNA virus from the Orthopoxvirus genus in the Poxviridae family. It is closely related to the smallpox virus (variola).

The chimpanzee adenovirus is also a double-stranded DNA virus, but it is from the Mastadenovirus genus in the Adenoviridae family. It is similar to the adenoviruses that cause the common flu in human beings.

These two viruses are as different as cats and dogs. Cats and dogs are both mammals, but as you can tell – they are quite different animals!

Read more : Monkeypox : What You Must Know About This Viral Infection!

Fact #3 : Monkeypox is a misnomer

Monkeypox was first identified and named in 1958, when it was identified in laboratory monkeys in Copenhagen, Denmark.

However, the name monkeypox is a misnomer, as it is not very common in monkeys. Neither did it originate in monkeys, nor does it spread only through monkeys.

It is known to spread through prairie dogs, dormice, squirrels, and non-human primates. It may possibly also spread through rabbits, rats and mice.

Fact #4 : Chimpanzees are not monkeys

Not that it matters, but you should know that chimpanzees and monkeys are of different species.

Chimpanzees and monkeys are both primates, but their last common ancestor dates back some 30 million years ago.

Monkeys are simians; while chimpanzees are great apes, and are genetically closest to human beings.

Fact #5 : 2022, 2024 monkeypox outbreaks started years later

The AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine has been given to over 2.4 billion people globally, since its approval in December 2020. If the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine can actually cause mpox infections, it would have resulted in massive mpox outbreaks all over the world within days of being administered.

Yet the 2022 and 2024 monkeypox outbreaks only started 1.5 to 2.5 years after the AstraZeneca vaccine was introduced. In other words – even the temporal timeline for this ridiculous claim is out of whack!

Read more : Is US Sending Infected Birds To Spread Monkeypox?!

Fact #6 : Monkeypox started infecting people in 1970

The first human monkeypox infections were reported in 1970. As you can tell – that’s almost 50 years before the COVID-19 pandemic, and 51 years before the AstraZeneca vaccine was introduced.

Fact #7 : Monkeypox cases were increasing before COVID-19

At first, monkeypox infections in humans were relatively few – about 400 cases from 1970 to 1986, and they were mostly limited to Central and Weest Africa.

However, it started becoming more common, with 2000 cases per year reported between 2011 and 2014. There were also several small outbreaks in the US (2003 and 2021), UK (2018 and 2021), and Singapore (2019).

These cases all happened long before the COVID-19 pandemic, and certainly long before AstraZeneca and Oxford developed their Vaxzevria vaccine against COVID-19!

Please help us FIGHT FAKE NEWS by sharing this fact check article out, and please SUPPORT our work!

Don’t forget to protect yourself, and your family, by vaccinating against COVID-19!

 

Please Support My Work!

Support my work through a bank transfer /  PayPal / credit card!

Name : Adrian Wong
Bank Transfer : CIMB 7064555917 (Swift Code : CIBBMYKL)
Credit Card / Paypal : https://paypal.me/techarp

Dr. Adrian Wong has been writing about tech and science since 1997, even publishing a book with Prentice Hall called Breaking Through The BIOS Barrier (ISBN 978-0131455368) while in medical school.

He continues to devote countless hours every day writing about tech, medicine and science, in his pursuit of facts in a post-truth world.

 

Recommended Reading

Go Back To > Fact Check | HealthTech ARP

 

Support Tech ARP!

Please support us by visiting our sponsors, participating in the Tech ARP Forums, or donating to our fund. Thank you!

Leave a ReplyCancel reply