At a glance

• Claim: Internet personality “Doc Ron” claims that COVID-19 vaccines cause the body to destroy itself.
• Rating: FALSE
• The facts: While COVID-19 vaccines may cause side effects, they are not designed to teach the immune system to kill the body.
• Why we fact-checked this: “Doc Ron” has a history of sharing disinformation. The video is being shared around on social messaging apps.

Complete details

A video of an internet personality named Ron Samaniego, who goes by “Doc Ron,” falsely claims that vaccines cause the immune system to destroy the body.

Samaniego references Dr. Jose M. Oclarit in falsely explaining how the COVID-19 vaccine destroys the body. He says that the immune system of those who get vaccinated against COVID-19 will turn against them, and that their own immune systems will destroy their own bodies.

He also says that the COVID-19 vaccines contain HIV particles.

The video is being shared around on social messaging apps.

This is false. While COVID-19 vaccines may cause side effects, they are not designed to teach the immune system to kill the body.

The World Health Organization (WHO) says that vaccination against COVID-19 is safe. While it may cause side effects, these are usually mild, and extreme side effects rarely occur. Temporary side effects from vaccines are a normal sign that the body is developing a safe immune response.

Vaccine manufacturers have also studied possible extreme side effects of the vaccines, such as blood clots and heart inflammations. Experts around the world have repeatedly said that reports of adverse events following vaccination occur for only a low minority and that the benefits of the vaccines outweigh the risks.

The Department of Health also says that all COVID-19 vaccines administered in the country are safe and do not cause COVID-19. “COVID-19 vaccines that are granted with emergency use authorization by the Philippine Food and Drug Administration are considered safe and effective, based on the available evidence to date,” the department says on its website.

Moreover, Oclarit, Samaniego’s source, has been proven to have a history of sharing disinformation about COVID-19.

Samaniego has been flagged by fact checkers as a source of COVID-19 disinformation. In August, Rappler debunked his claim that the vaccines contained HIV particles. – Miguel Victor Durian/Rappler.com

Miguel Victor Durian is a volunteer 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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