FALSE: Animals in 2012 SARS-CoV vaccine study died of side effects, various diseases

At a glance

• Claim: All animals in a 2012 study of vaccines for SARS-CoV died due to side effects, immune disorders, sepsis, or cardiac failure. SARS-CoV is the virus that causes Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome or SARS which figured in a global outbreak in 2003. SARS-CoV is different from SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19.
• Rating: FALSE
• The facts: In the study, no animals died because of the effects of the vaccines, immune disorders, sepsis, or cardiac failure. While all animals indeed died, they were “sacrificed” (killed for research purposes) or euthanized. 
• Why we fact-checked this: The claim was seen in a post on August 21, 2021, in the Facebook page “Friends Who Like Dante Maravillas,” which has gained 460 reactions, 92 comments, and 366 shares, as of writing.

Complete details

An August 21, 2021, post from the Facebook page “Friends Who Like Dante Maravillas” discussed a 2012 study of the effects of SARS-associated coronavirus (SARS-CoV) vaccines on animals.

SARS-CoV is the virus that causes Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS), which had a global outbreak in 2003. SARS-CoV is different from SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, though they are genetically related, hence the resemblance in their names.

The post reads: “ANONG NANGYARI SA MGA HAYOP SA MGA GINAWANG PAG-AARAL SA BAKUNANG ITO? Ang teknolohiyang ito ay sinubukan sa mga hayop, at sa pag-aaral na ito, LAHAT NG HAYOP SA PAGSUSURI NA ITO AY NAMATAY, hindi agad-agad dahil sa injection, ngunit ilang buwan pagkalipas, ang mga ito ay namatay sa ibang immune disorders, sepsis at cardiac failure.”

(What happened to the animals in these vaccine studies? This technology was tried on animals, and in this study, all research animals died, not right away because of the injection, but after a few months, they all died because of other immune disorders, sepsis, and cardiac failure.)

The photo accompanying the post states the title of the study, which can be found in the April 2012 issue of the journal PLoS ONE: “Immunization with SARS Coronavirus Vaccines Leads to Pulmonary Immunopathology on Challenge with the SARS Virus.” The animals used in the study were mice.

As of writing, the post has 460 reactions, 92 comments, and 366 shares.

The claim is false.

Upon reading the article, it can be determined that no mice used in the study were reported to have died due to the effects of the vaccines, immune disorders, sepsis, or cardiac failure, as the Facebook post states.

For one, a search of the article yields no mention of terms like “sepsis,” “blood poisoning,” or “blood infection,” or of “cardiac failure,” “heart failure,” or even of the terms “cardiac” or “heart.”

The section “Study Design” states that the study used several groups, with 12 to 13 mice per group, to be subjected to varying dosages of different SARS-CoV candidate vaccines for humans. Table 1 of the study shows that 20 groups were used.

On the 56th day of the study, five mice for each group were “sacrificed” (killed for research purposes) for examination of their antibodies and their lungs, and the remaining mice were given the SARS-CoV intranasally.

On the 58th day, the remaining mice were euthanized for examination of the SARS-CoV quantities and their lungs.

While all the mice in the study indeed died, it was because of the experimental design, not because of the effects of any vaccine used or of any diseases that the Facebook post claimed they contracted.

Rappler has fact-checked several claims about COVID-19 vaccines (READ: 5 myths about COVID-19 vaccines debunked). 

It has also fact-checked vaccine-related claims before the COVID-19 pandemic began. (READ: HOAX: Bam Aquino’s ‘quote’ on Dengvaxia; HOAX: ISIS ‘spreading AIDS’ through vaccinations at health centers). – Percival Bueser/Rappler.com

Percival Bueser is a graduate of Rappler’s fact-checking mentorship program. This fact check was reviewed by a member of Rappler’s research team and a senior editor. Learn more about Rappler’s fact-checking mentorship program here.

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