Social media posts are attempting to draw a connection between the COVID-19 vaccine and the death of a 4-year-old boy in Argentina because of his appearance in an advertising campaign encouraging vaccinations.
Several Instagram posts have shared a screengrab of a headline from the conservative news website The Western Journal that read, “Poster boy for vaccination campaign dies suddenly at just 4 years old.”
Captions on the posts did not link to the full story and implied the boy’s death was linked to vaccinations, specifically the COVID-19 vaccine. One post shared Nov. 13 featured hashtags mentioning Dr. Anthony Fauci, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Food and Drug Administration.
Another said, “We need a modern-day Nuremberg trial! What they did to these innocent children can not be overlooked.”
The posts’ claims appear to be based solely on the headline and not the article itself, which reported that the boy died of pneumonia.
The Instagram posts were flagged as part of Instagram’s efforts to combat false news and misinformation on its News Feed. (Read more about our partnership with Meta, which owns Facebook and Instagram.)
Multiple Argentine news outlets reported that Santino Godoy Blanco died Nov. 3 after coming down with a fever and being admitted to a local hospital. An autopsy determined Blanco died from bilateral pneumonia, which involves infection of both lungs.
Blanco was featured in a recent advertising campaign from the Argentine Ministry of Health encouraging childhood vaccinations against measles, mumps, polio and rubella. The campaign was unrelated to the COVID-19 vaccine.
We rate the claim that the death of the 4-year-old poster boy from a vaccination campaign is linked to vaccines False.
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- A 4-year-old boy who appeared in Argentina’s advertising campaign encouraging childhood vaccinations for measles, mumps, polio and rubella died on Nov. 3 from bilateral pneumonia, Argentine news outlets reported.
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Our Sources
Instagram post (archive), Nov. 14, 2022
Instagram post (archive), Nov. 13, 2022
Instagram post (archive), Nov. 13, 2022
The Western Journal, "Poster Boy for Vaccination Campaign Dies Suddenly at Just 4 Years Old" (archive), Nov. 13, 2022
Clarin, "The boy who was the face of a vaccination campaign died and his family denounces malpractice: ‘In a day and a half we lost him,’" Nov. 9, 2022
Cadena 3, "A 4-year-old boy who starred in a vaccination campaign died," Nov. 9, 2022
La Nacion, "The heartbreaking story of the mother of Santino Godoy, the boy who participated in a national vaccination spot and died of bilateral pneumonia," Nov. 14, 2022
Argentine Ministry of Health, Instagram post (archive), Oct. 11, 2022
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