Infectious diseases expert Dr Sanjaya Senanayake responds to anti-vaxxer claims

Some outlandish claims are driving the anti-vax movement, prompting infectious diseases expert Dr Sanjaya Senanayake to respond.

The Covid-19 vaccine will give you AIDS. The Covid-19 vaccines don’t work. Covid-19 vaccines are all about big pharma making money.

These are just some of the beliefs being spread in the public sphere that are driving the anti-vax movement.

Now infectious diseases expert, Dr Sanjaya Senanayake from the Australian National University, wants to set the record straight.

Sanjaya Senanayake has responded to anti-vaxxer claims. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Gary Ramage

CLAIM: “The vaccine is the variant”

None of the current Covid-19 vaccines contain live Covid-19 virus. In other words, you cannot get Covid-19 from the virus. Therefore the vaccines can’t be a variant.

CLAIM: “You can get AIDS from the MRNA vaccines; messenger RNA vaccines modify our genetic code’ “CD4/CD8- CD4

There are no reports that mRNA vaccines like the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines increase your risk of unusual infections that are seen in people with AIDS.

CLAIM: “People are having their appendix removed after Pfizer”

Appendicitis in general is a common condition. It is managed with antibiotics or surgery.

A study from Israel showed a slightly increased risk of appendicitis in the group who received the Pfizer vaccine, but in Australia, where around 20 million doses have been given, the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) has not reported such an association.

CLAIM: “Covid has a 99+ per cent survival rate”

The case fatality rate from Covid is about two per cent. This means that of the 250 million confirmed cases worldwide, about five million people have died. But the true death rate may be different as both cases and Covid-19-related deaths may have been missed.

But while the overall death rate from Covid-19 might be this, we know that in certain groups, such as older people and those with particular chronic medical conditions, that the death rate is much higher.

Also, we have seen with the current Delta variant outbreaks in Australia that even healthy young people can end up in Intensive Care Units with Covid-19. In other words, while young healthy people can be fairly confident that they will have a mild Covid-19 illness, it is not a certainty by any means.

CLAIM: Vaccines don’t work; vaccinated people are ending up in hospital too

One of the fundamental reasons that Covid-19 is so dangerous is that it can be transmitted between people. In fact, the Delta variant is the most infectious version of the virus so far. Vaccination is the best protection against being hospitalised with Covid-19. In the 23 October NSW Covid-19 weekly surveillance report, at least 75 per cent of those in hospital, at least 75 per cent of those in ICU, and at least 84 per cent of deaths were in those not fully vaccinated.

CLAIM: The vaccines are all about pharmaceutical companies making money

Without doubt, many pharmaceutical companies will benefit financially from manufacturing Covid-19 vaccines. However, this does not mean that the vaccines don’t work. They do work, and are our most effective defence against hospitalisation from Covid-19.

CLAIM: There is a lack of more detailed research drawing on other countries experiences

There are so many published papers in respected medical journals, and so much media coverage about different aspects of Covid-19, including the vaccine rollout, from countries all over the world

CLAIM: Australian governments are not being open and transparent; the cases of heart inflammation are much higher than is being reported

There may be cases of adverse events that occasionally don’t get reported, but this is unlikely to be deliberate or part of a cover-up. If a government wanted to do such a thing, then why even announce publicly that these vaccines can be associated with such side effects?

Construction workers march through the streets on September 21 in Melbourne over the introduction of mandatory Covid vaccinations for construction workers. Picture: Getty Images

CLAIM: People are losing their jobs with mandates and people can’t shop for groceries without taking an experimental jab?

Like any vaccine development program, the vaccines we use in Australia had to undergo rigorous Phase 1, 2 and 3 clinical trial testing. The results of these were openly shown.

As with any new vaccines, we will continue to learn more about them over time, so even now, the global vaccine rollout is an ongoing part of the surveillance to look at the vaccines’ effectiveness and safety.

But after seven billion doses of vaccines for Covid-19 have been given globally, we have a very good understanding of the effectiveness and safety of those vaccines.

They show that there is no reason to stop giving the vaccines, the safety and effectiveness of which is providing light at the end of the tunnel for what has been a very grim pandemic.

Originally published as Infectious diseases expert Dr Sanjaya Senanayake responds to anti-vaxxer claims