Last Updated on May 20, 2022 by Team THIP
Quick Take
After the U.S. Health and Human Services Director Xavier Becerra claimed that covid vaccines are killing people of colour, several social media users have shared an article that covered the news. We fact-checked and found the claim to be False.
The Claim
In April 2022, during a digital seminar on “White House Convening on Equity” U.S. Health and Human Services Director Xavier Becerra claimed that “Covid vaccines are killing people of color at twice the rate of white people”. Referring to the seminar, a news website named NewsPunch wrote an article titled, “HHS Sec. Admits Covid Vaccines ‘Kill People Of Color’ At ‘Twice The Rate Of Whites,’ Vows To Get More People Vaccinated”.
The NewsPunch article has been shared by multiple social media users with the claim, “U.S. Health and Human Services Director Xavier Becerra said Covid vaccines are killing people of color at twice the rate of white people”.
Fact Check
Is Covid vaccine killing more people of colour than white people?
No. During the interview, Becerra did say that vaccines are killing more people of colour than white, but there is no evidence to confirm the same. It seems Becerra misspoke because covid, not its vaccine, is responsible for increased deaths among people of colour. The same has been suggested by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) website where it is mentioned that race and ethnicity is a probable risk marker of the covid virus.
The CDC website also shows no evidence of covid vaccine being a major cause of deaths. Moreover, the CDC Covid Data Tracker confirms more than 569 million doses of covid vaccine already have been administered in the U.S. through April 2022.
Besides this, the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS) website also shows no increase in the recorded cases of covid vaccine-induced deaths among people of colour.
The Healthy Indian Project (THIP) media reached out to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to enquire about the Becerra’s statement. We will update the story in case we receive any response. In conclusion, Becerra has publicly promoted covid vaccine in the past. Hence, it seems he misspoke during the interview.
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