A viral hoax circulating on social media claimed that Tiffany Dover, the nurse who gained fame for fainting after receiving the coronavirus vaccine on live television, had died.
Dover caught national attention this week when cameras showed her dizzy in the moments after the first injection by a medical professional, who then fell to the ground. Following the incident, many turned to Twitter and other social media to share what was intended to be a screenshot of a website showing that it was listed as deceased. There was no explanation as to how she had allegedly died, although many of those who published seemed to relate it to her vaccination.
A Tennessee nurse fainted 17 minutes after receiving the covid-19 vaccine ???? Tiffany Dover is fine now, but revealed she has a medical condition where she often faints when she feels pain. Doctors also said the episode was not related to the vaccine ????pic.twitter.com/CHcZBXqAnd
– Power 106 (@ Power106LA) December 18, 2020
But the Dover businessman took to Twitter to discredit the rumors and posted Saturday that he was doing well and staying home.
“UPDATE: Nurse Tiffany Dover is grateful for the concern shown by her. He is at home and is doing well. She demands privacy for herself and her family. ” he tweeted CHI Memorial health care provider.
There were indications immediately after the incident that Dover was doing well and was not suffering from any serious complications. How KHOU As reported, the nurse later explained that she had a medical condition that can sometimes cause her to faint when she feels pain and then the doctors said there was no cause for alarm. The report added that doctors usually keep patients 15 to 30 minutes after the vaccine is given to monitor problems like the one found with Dover.
It was not clear exactly how rumors of the death began, although officials have seen an increase in misinformation about the vaccine in recent days. How USA Today it has been reported that several social media sites have been cracking down on this misinformation, including claims that vaccines may intentionally cause harm.
“In the context of a global pandemic, vaccine misinformation presents a major and growing challenge in public health,” Twitter said in a blog post.
“Starting next week, we will prioritize the removal of the most harmful misleading information, and over the next few weeks, we will begin tagging Tweets that contain potentially misleading information about vaccines.”
The report noted that a survey conducted in recent weeks showed that conspiracy theories have accumulated some mistrust of the virus, with 44% of respondents believing that there is some veracity in claiming that the mortality rate for COVID-19 has been exaggerated, which according to public health experts, is not true.