90-Second Read: Truth or Fake - Fact-checking viral conspiracy theories about Hantavirus

Despite only a few confirmed cases, conspiracy theories have swirled on social media falsely claiming Hantavirus is a planned pandemic, or a ploy to disrupt the US midterm elections. Many COVID-era conspiracy theories have been revived since the outbreak of Hantavirus on a cruise ship, likely amplified due to the anti-vaxx movement and fears about a new global pandemic. Vedika Bahl fact-checks the viral conspiracy theories in Truth or Fake. As the world saw with COVID-19, the only thing that spreads faster than a virus is misinformation, and Hantavirus is no exception. Despite only a few confirmed cases, conspiracy theories have swirled… One of your browser extensions seems to be blocking the video player from loading.

As with the coronavirus, theorists alleged Hantavirus is a planned pandemic, or "plandemic", created by Big Pharma and vaccine manufacturers, a "biological weapon" created in a laboratory to push vaccines onto the masses. Global public health guidance also does not predict that a pandemic due to the Hantavirus is likely. It doesn't spread the same way." Internet users also falsely claimed Hantavirus is a "planned side effect" of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine, sharing a Pfizer document that references "Hantavirus pulmonary infection" as part of a list of adverse events of special interest. The content you requested does not exist or is not available anymore.

To watch this content, you may need to disable it on this site. Others alleged it's a "bioweapon" created by big pharma to "poison" people or even that it's a side effect of the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine. As Maria Van Kerkhove, Director of Epidemic and Pandemic Management at the World Health Organisation recently said at a briefing: "This is not COVID, this is not the start of a COVID pandemic. This document in fact lists health conditions that scientists monitor during vaccine trials, not side effects.