Numerous social media posts have been falsely claiming that mpox cases are a side effect of COVID-19 vaccine administration, and that monkeypox outbreaks are linked to shingles, an infection caused by a different virus.
“What they sell us as MONKEY POX is in most cases the so-called Shingles; one of the most frequent side effects of the COVID ‘vaccine’,” noted a mid-August post on X, formerly Twitter, in which a video is attached with a fragment of an interview with a man presented as the German pulmonologist and internist Wolfgang Wodarg.
But It is false that monkeypox is related to the COVID vaccine or shingles.
In the clip shared on social media, just over a minute long, a translation can be heard attributing to Wodarg the statement that “the side effects of corona are used to invent new businesses, to instill fear again.”
The text accompanying the video also attributes another phrase not heard in the clip to Wodarg: “Monkeypox is a story presented to hide the effects of mRNA vaccines.”
It refers to messenger RNA (mRNA) preparations, one of the types of vaccines administered to immunize against COVID-19.
Different viruses
Mpox is not related to shingles — they are two infections caused by different viruses. Nor is it a side effect of the COVID vaccinereported health institutions such as the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Spanish Society of Infectious Diseases and Clinical Microbiology (SEIMC).
First of all, mpox is a zoonotic disease —that is, the infection is transmitted from animals to humans— caused by the virus of the same name, a species of the genus Orthopoxvirusas explained by the World Health Organization (WHO).
On the other hand, shingles is caused by a reactivation of the latent varicella-zoster virus, causing a skin rash, SEIMC spokesman Luis Buzón explained to EFE.
It is also important to note that the blisters of both diseases are different. Those of mpox are usually distributed in a narrow area around the front of the ventral region or chest, although it can affect other parts of the body, Buzón explained.
Shingles rashes typically last seven to 10 days, explained Medline, a U.S. government site dedicated to medical information. “The rash usually appears in a single band around the left or right side of the body. In other cases, the rash appears on only one side of the face. Rarely, usually in people with weakened immune systems, the rash may be more widespread. It may look like a chickenpox rash,” Medline added.
Buzón also ruled out any link between the COVID-19 vaccine and the symptoms of monkeypox.
In fact, the infection appeared long before the coronavirus vaccines. According to the WHO, mpox was first detected in Africa in 1970, where it has become an endemic disease.
A channel investigated in Austria
The video that some messages spread is indeed starring Wolfgang Wodargas can be seen from the image that includes his profile as a former member of the parliamentary assembly of the Council of Europe, an international cooperation organisation that does not belong to the European Union.
Wodarg’s claims about the coronavirus have been debunked in the past by German news outlet Correctiv, among other fact-checkers.
The footage is from an interview published by Austrian channel AUF1, as shown by the logo visible in the clip and corroborated by a post on its website dated June 28, 2022.
AUF1 is a broadcaster that has been subject to legal proceedings by the Austrian media authority, as it “spreads fake news and conspiracy myths,” according to the fact-checking team at German public television ARD.
In conclusion, It is not true that MPOX cases are a consequence of COVID-19 vaccinesdrugs that were developed decades after the disease appeared, nor that it has any relation to herpes zoster, an infection caused by a different virus.
