A viral hoax circulating on social media claimed that Tiffany Dover, the nurse who became known for passing out after getting the coronavirus vaccine on live television, had died.
Dover drew national attention this week when cameras showed that she became dizzy in the moments after being first injected by a medical professional and then falling to the floor. In the aftermath of the incident, many took to Twitter and other social media to share what allegedly was a screenshot from a website that revealed she had been listed as deceased. There was no explanation for how she supposedly died, although many of those who posted seemed to link it to her vaccination.
A Tennessee nurse passed out 17 minutes after receiving the Covid-19 vaccine ???? Tiffany Dover is now fine, but revealed that she has a medicinal condition where she often passes out when she feels pain. Doctors also said the episode was unrelated to the vaccine ????pic.twitter.com/CHcZBXqAnd
– Power 106 (@ Power106LA) December 18, 2020
But Dover’s employer took to Twitter to debunk the rumors, posting on Saturday that she was doing well and staying at home.
UPDATE: Nurse Tiffany Dover appreciates the concern about her. She’s home and she’s fine. She asks for privacy for her and her family, ” tweeted healthcare provider CHI Memorial.
Immediately after the incident, there were indications that Dover was doing well and had no serious complications. Such as I LOVE the nurse reported afterwards that she has a medical condition that sometimes causes her to pass out when she feels pain, and doctors said afterwards there was no cause for alarm. The report added that doctors typically hold patients for 15 to 30 minutes after administering the vaccination to keep an eye out for problems like those that Dover faced.
It was not clear exactly how the rumors of death started, although officials have noted an increase in misinformation about the vaccine in recent days. Such as USA Today reported, a number of social media sites have worked hard on this misinformation, including claims that the vaccines could cause deliberate harm.
“In the context of a global pandemic, vaccine misinformation is a major and growing public health challenge,” Twitter said in a statement. blog post.
“Starting next week, we will be prioritizing the removal of the most harmful misleading information, and in the coming weeks we will begin tagging tweets that contain potentially misleading information about the vaccines.”
The report noted that a survey over the past few weeks found that conspiracy theories have built some suspicion of the virus, with 44 percent of respondents saying there is some truth in the claim that the death rate from COVID-19 is exaggerated – which means public health experts have said this is not true.