A viral message has been doing the rounds on WhatsApp claiming that French virologist and Nobel Prize winner Luc Montagnier has said that “all vaccinated people will die within two years” and that the COVID-19 vaccination drive is a “big blunder.” This message is FAKE.
The fake message claims, “Nobel Prize Winner Luc Montagnier has confirmed that there is no chance of survival for people who have received any form of the vaccine. In the shocking interview, the world’s top virologist stated blankly.” The fake message was linked to a report in LifeSiteNews, which is a Canadian far-right anti-abortion advocacy and news publication. Just earlier this month, the website was banned by Facebook for spreading misinformation on COVID-19. Snopes.com, a fact-checking resource, has previously described the website as “a known purveyor of misleading information.”
LifeSiteNews attributed its claim to an article published on the website of RAIR Foundation, a US-based NGO “to combat the threats from Islamic supremacists, radical leftists and their allies.” The article included a two-minute video, where the French virologist disparages the vaccine programme for COVID-19. TNM perused the original 11-minute video in French, which has a lot of cuts. However, while Luc Montagnier, who is known for his anti-vaccination stance, did term the mass vaccination as an “enormous mistake”, he did not explicitly state that “vaccinated people will die in two years,” as claimed in the message.
Clarifying the same, PIB Fact check, a verified Twitter which counters misinformation on Govt. policies/schemes shared a post. ““An image allegedly quoting a French Nobel Laureate on #COVID19 vaccine is circulating on social media. The claim in the image is #FAKE. #COVID19 Vaccine is completely safe. Do not forward this image,” the caption read.
It is of utmost importance that we do not fall prey to these fake messages and get vaccinated.
In fact, the Nobel Laureate said that vaccination has led to the creation of variants. “For the China virus, there are antibodies created by the vaccine. What does the virus do? Does it die or find another solution? The new variants are a production and result from the vaccination. You see in each country. It is the same. The curve of vaccination is followed by the curve of deaths,” Montagnier said in the interview which was translated in English, according to the RAIR Foundation’s report
Meanwhile, the Health Ministry, on Wednesday said that a total of 20,06,62,456 people have been vaccinated so far in the country, including 20,39,087 who were administered vaccines in the last 24 hours.
