LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Neighbors in the Saint Joseph neighborhood noticed flyers taped to their door over the weekend encouraging misinformation about COVID-19 and the vaccine.
Chris Jones said he saw a woman on his security camera taping what looked like a business card to his home. The card had a QR code that took people to a website focused on why people should not take COVID vaccines.
"It was very surprising to see something like that in our neighborhood," Jones said. "It also made me worried and concerned that people are not taking the coronavirus seriously."
When Jones posted information about the flyer on social media, he received multiple comments about flyers taped to other neighbors' homes.
The site linked to those flyers shares inaccurate information about COVID vaccines' efficacy and safety. Doctors and nurses with UofL Health and Norton Healthcare said people need to identify misinformation and understand the truth.
"These vaccines are safe and effective, and again they have results with clinical trials that they've used and have well over 30,000 participants," said Dr. Mark Burns, assistant professor at UofL Department of Medicine's Division of Infectious Diseases.
Some of the claims included a long list of side effects and illnesses as a result of the vaccine, something nurse Jill Howard says is inaccurate.
"In the entire time that I've been doing this, I'm not hearing about patients that are experiencing side effects or these one-offs that you might have heard," Howard said.
Another claim? The website says the shots are not really vaccines. Dr. Joseph Flinn with Norton Medical Group broke down exactly what the vaccines are doing.
"We're actually mounting your body's response so when you are exposed to a virus, you have the antibodies in your blood to fight the virus," Flinn said. "That's exactly what this does."
Medical professionals said people who post misinformation like the ones linked on the flyers "prey on people's fear."
"Their goal is to take people that are fearful and give them misinformation, and I've seen that over the many years that I've been in medicine," Flinn said.
Burns said he encourages people to go to reputable website or sources like the CDC or their family physician for information, "not things you find in your mailbox."
As for Jones, he said he knew it was misinformation from the start and that card found it's way from his mailbox to the trash.
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