On February 17, Facebook user Irma Metreveli disseminated a photo with the caption: “After the vaccine in Israel”. The photo depicts damaged parts of the leg. As of February 19, the photo has 1200 shares.
Facebook user’s post linking the photo of the damaged leg to the COVID-19 vaccine isn’t back up by evidence. According to the dermatologist’s assessment, the damage depicted in the photo is vasculitis. Vasculitis isn’t among the adverse effects of the COVID-19 vaccines. The post doesn’t indicate any additional information.
- The damage depicted in the photo is vasculitis.
Dermatologist-venereologist Soso Kobakhidze said to “Myth Detector” that the damaged leg depicted on the photo is vasculitis.
Vasculitis has various forms and all factors causing the disease are yet to be determined. Some forms are connected to genetics, while in some cases immune system accidentally damages blood vessels. Such immune response can be caused by a certain infections (e.x. hepatitis C and B), blood disorders, rheumatoid arthritis, lupus, scleroderma, and so on.
In vasculitis, blood vessels are bleeding and inflamed. Inflammation thickens the wall of a blood vessel and narrows the lumen obstructing the oxygen and other essential substance delivery to organs and tissues.
- Vasculitis isn’t among the adverse effects of COVID-19 vaccines
Information about any COVID-19 vaccine possibly causing vasculitis cannot be found in open sources. In Israel, the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine rollout is underway. Vasculitis as the side effect cannot be found in the FDA report on clinical studies of this vaccine. 43 000 people participated in the aforesaid studies.
COVID-19 case studies showed that patients with severe COVID-19 infection might develop vasculitis-like conditions because of the blood clotting. That’s why people already affected by vasculitis are at risk of complications caused by the virus and it’s essential for them to receive a vaccine. Charity organization for people affected by vasculitis Vasculitis UK emphasizes this fact.
Israel launched the vaccination rollout in December. According to the latest study, symptomatic COVID-19 infections among 600,000 citizens who received two doses of vaccine dropped by 94%, whereas the rate of severe cases dropped by 92%.
According to the Israeli Ministry of Health, only 0.3% of vaccinated people had side effects, however, it was not unexpected and has already been identified and discussed in clinical studies prior to the approval of the vaccine. The majority of side effects disappeared soon.
“Myth Detector” has previously fact-checked disseminated false reports about the vaccination process in Israel:
- Information alleging that futile vaccines from Israel are brought to Georgia is false
- Manipulative report alleging that vaccine caused increase in Covid-19 cases in England and Israel
The article has been written in the framework of Facebook’s fact-checking program. You can read more about the restrictions that Facebook may impose based on this article via this link. You can find information about appealing or editing our assessment via this link.
Read detailed instructions for editing the article.
Read detailed appeal instructions.
