(Paris) Disease “caused by vaccines”, “fomented by Bill Gates”: the recent appearance of cases of monkeypox outside Africa is already giving rise to a great many false information, rumors and conspiratorial insinuations on the internet, largely modeled on those circulating since 2020 around COVID-19.
Posted at 7:50 a.m.
Monkey pox and the AstraZeneca vaccine
“Smallpox is one of the side effects of AstraZeneca,” say Internet users, a misinformation particularly widespread around the world. As “evidence”, they argue that a “chimpanzee adenovirus” was used to create the vaccine.
But the experts interviewed by AFP explain that it is totally “unfounded” and that the two pathogens have nothing to do, they belong to different families of viruses (poxvirus for monkey pox and adenovirus for COVID-19). 19).
It is “not possible that this adenovirus transforms” into the virus responsible for monkeypox, explains Teresa Lambe, professor of immunology at the University of Oxford.
The adenovirus is used in the vaccine as a vector, that is to say as a simple vehicle to transport the genetic instructions to the cells of the vaccinee, which can then create its immune response against COVID-19.
And as in other so-called “viral vector” vaccines, the adenovirus has been modified so as not to contaminate the body of the vaccinee, they add.
Finally, monkey pox owes its name to the fact that it was first discovered in macaques in 1958, but it is not specific to this species, notes INSERM. It is also found in rodents, for example.
Monkeypox “fomented” by the “elites”
In 2021, NTI, an American organization specializing in the prevention of nuclear and bacteriological risks, organized a simulation of a monkeypox epidemic. The date chosen for this fictional scenario? May 2022.
This coincidence is widely exploited to affirm or imply that the multiplication of cases of “monkeypox” was orchestrated.
As the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation is one of the many contributors to NTI, the American billionaire – already targeted by numerous conspiracy theses for years – is, moreover, accused of being behind this new health alert.
“For the purposes of the exercise, we wanted to select a pathogen that was plausible in our scenario, and we chose monkeypox from several options offered by our experts,” explained NTI, who points out that “the risks posed by monkeypox have been well documented for years by many health authorities”.
“What should be remembered (from the 2021 simulation, editor’s note) is not the particular pathogen (chosen) in our fictitious scenario, (but) the fact that the world is absolutely unprepared for new future pandemics and that we must act urgently to remedy this weakness,” the organization adds.
A similar rumor circulated in 2020 about COVID-19, based on a simulated coronavirus outbreak conducted in 2019.
Doxycycline, a new pseudo-remedy
Many publications claim that doxycycline, an antibiotic that “cures monkeypox in two days” has been banned by order of the Ministry of Health.
This is false: the official text does not say that, it authorizes the vaccination – in certain specific cases – of people exposed to the monkeypox virus, and does not mention doxycycline.
Moreover, doxycycline is not considered a treatment for this disease, as several experts have explained to AFP, if only because it is an antibiotic, which is used to fight against bacteria and not viruses.
On the other hand, if necessary, antiviral drugs (such as tecovirimat) can be used against monkey pox, remind doctors and health authorities.