When people on social media started claiming that the CDC had changed its definition of “vaccine” because the COVID-19 vaccine didn’t actually prevent you from catching COVID-19, AP Fact Check got to work — by asking the CDC why it changed its definition of vaccine and reprinting its statement.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says it changed language in its definition of vaccination to prevent misinterpretations and increase transparency. Social media users falsely claimed it was because COVID-19 vaccines are ineffective. https://t.co/ftaJGLTIGO
— AP Fact Check (@APFactCheck) February 9, 2022
Sophia Tulp writes:
The CDC told the AP in a statement that it made the language shifts to add detail and increase transparency.
“While there have been slight changes in wording over time to the definition of ‘vaccine’ on CDC’s website, those haven’t impacted the overall definition,” the statement said, noting that the previous definition “could be interpreted to mean that vaccines were 100% effective, which has never been the case for any vaccine.”
“The changes were made to prevent potential misinterpretations, and did not alter the overall definition, according to the agency,” Tulp adds.
https://twitter.com/hubeihammer/status/1491541581907869704
So after the rollout of the COVID-19 vaccine, the CDC changed the definition because the old definition could be interpreted as saying that vaccines are 100 percent effective. Got it.
Truth to power! Comfort the afflicted, afflict the comfortable! LULZ
— 2023 sucks (@AnthonyBialy) February 10, 2022
It’s like you people in the media never get out of your dc bubble to ask Americans what they really think.
— SeldenGADawgs (@SeldenGADawgs) February 10, 2022
Nice form pic.twitter.com/m4qvzLPKqT
— Ron Coleman (@RonColeman) February 10, 2022
Fact checkers 🖕 pic.twitter.com/Jasrlcsfnn
— Charlene (@00honeybee) February 10, 2022
https://twitter.com/my_anamnesis/status/1491542262970470413
oh, why didn't they change it sooner?
— Christopher Gunlock (@OpenMindHC) February 10, 2022
Funny how no one saw a reason to change the definition throughout the long history of vaccinations until now.
— Dan 🅿️iccirillo (@EvilgeniusHK) February 10, 2022
It’s interesting how they can change the definition to fit a narrative. Scary times we live in
— Nova (@NovaBean916) February 10, 2022
By expanding the definition of what a vaccine is, the CDC is effectively allowing big pharma to put out more drugs that are indemnified from liability.
— False Premise (@PremiseFalse) February 10, 2022
Basically the more the vaccine sucks at fitting the actual definition of vaccine the looser the definition gets. Money can do that. Sounds like they're about to go on a library witch hunt and burn all the dictionaries
— Harte747 (@ChrisHarte36) February 10, 2022
https://twitter.com/little_jitter/status/1491720809840197633
It would be great to see a fact checker one day just say “social media reports claim CDC changed the definition of vaccination… This is true” rather than there always having to be a debunk caveat.
— Know The Power (@knowthepower1) February 10, 2022
https://twitter.com/enhazed/status/1491771228423692292
https://twitter.com/bresslernation/status/1491785654509793289
— OutdoorsWI (@outdoorswi1) February 10, 2022
I just want to say how much I enjoy this parody account.
— William Jennings (@willjennings60) February 10, 2022
This is disturbing no matter how many ways you fact check for them
— Damien Slash (@damienslash) February 10, 2022
Who on Earth thinks it is okay to retroactively change the definition of a word to match their product? Find the word that does match your product or make a new product? Rewriting the English language is not an acceptable approach to rolling out a product or service.
— Benjamin Elliott (@bfelliott) February 10, 2022
https://twitter.com/Jmillio1000/status/1491771382258180100
https://twitter.com/RisusSardonicu2/status/1491740503641047045
So when something doesn't do what it was supposed to do, just change the definition and say it was never meant to do that. Thank you fact-checkers – now I understand transparency🙃.
— Maggie Mistal (@MaggieMistal) February 10, 2022
Sounds like the definition of fact checker needs to be updated.
— KittensAgainstTheState (@KittensState) February 10, 2022
— Lance from the Lower St. Croix (@PetersenFarms) February 10, 2022
By using the word vaccine incorrectly this whole time, it has created a divide among the whole nation and the planet by defining the Covid shot as immunity when it was not. Using the wrong word is what has created this chaos and they should be called out for it but they won’t.
— Jerry Belmonte (@jjphoneman) February 10, 2022
It just happened to coincide with the least successful vaccine at giving immunity to hit the market.
— Jones (@Jonesin31) February 10, 2022
If I wanted facts two of the last places I would trust would be the AP and the CDC.
— Getoffthefence.net (@getoffthefence1) February 10, 2022
I fact checked this AP tweet and determined it’s misleading and false.
— Foghorn702 (@rafoghorn702) February 10, 2022
This is why your entire business paradigm is dying.
— TechLibre (@NTechlibre) February 10, 2022
Ratio
— Liberal Leopard (@LiberalLeopard) February 10, 2022
Would the AP Fact Checker allow that the timing was more than a little curious?
Related:
The ADL changes its definition of racism *again,* this time using an ‘interim definition’ as a placeholder https://t.co/z2aAnNtwMk
— Twitchy Team (@TwitchyTeam) February 2, 2022
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