The claim: The COVID-19 vaccine was developed in less than a year, but there are no vaccines against viruses and diseases that have existed for far longer
It is approaching a year since the World Health Organization declared COVID-19 a pandemic, and on Dec. 8, Britain was the first Western country to begin vaccination against the virus. The rollout was followed by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s emergency authorization of Pfizer-BioNTech’s COVID-19 vaccine on Dec. 11 and Moderna’s on Dec. 18.
Given the quick scientific response to the newly emerging virus, one Instagram post is calling foul, questioning why vaccines for equally debilitating diseases, predating the pandemic, have not yet been developed.
The Nov. 30 Instagram post from author Boyce Watkins shares a screenshot of a Facebook comment alleging countless years of research effort have yielded no vaccine.
“40 years worth of research…no vaccine for HIV (sic) At least 100 years research…no vaccine for cancer (sic) Ongoing research…no vaccine for the common cold (sic) Less than a year for a covid (sic) vaccine? Thanks but a hard pass on that shot…” claims “Lee Morin” in the comment.
“This does make you wonder: How did you come up with this so fast, but you can’t vaccinate against viruses that have been harming people for centuries?” asks Watkins. The post has received over 13,800 likes and comments agreeing with Watkins’ charge.
“Come on. You have 7 BILLION customers. No other virus/cancer/ailment has that many customer. Follow the money,” writes Instagram user borzirtc.
Other social media users have posted the same or a similar claim, as recently as Jan. 13.
USA TODAY has reached out to those who posted the claim for further comment.