A social network links the death of a 4-year-old boy in Argentina to the COVID-19 vaccine.
“The face of COVID vaccines for children in Argentina dies at age 4,” reads the Nov. 14 Instagram post, which shows a photo of a child.
“The poster of coov fauxinations (sic) in Argentina dies at four years of pneumonia,” reads the caption of the article. “I feel so bad for this kid because ‘Adults In The Room’ let him down and I killed him to see how to move a show forward. “
The implicit link between the child’s death and the COVID-19 vaccine was echoed in comments and other iterations of this post.
But the claim is false on both counts. The male component of an advertising crusade selling vaccines against measles, mumps, rubella and polio, not against COVID-19. And his death due to bilateral pneumonia, which is also unrelated to COVID-19.
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USA TODAY was unable to tap the user who shared the post for comment.
The boy, named Santino Blanco, appeared in advertisements for a vaccination program run by Argentina’s Ministry of Health. She appeared in several Instagram posts shared through the ministry between Sept. 29 and Oct. 13.
“Activate the vaccines!!” read a caption of the September 29. ️ message “National Measles, Mumps, Rubella and Polio Vaccination Crusade for Women and Children Thirteen Months to Four Months and older. From October 1 to November thirteen. “
Neither the ministry’s Instagram posts about the program nor the program’s webpage about the COVID-19 vaccine.
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Santino died Nov. 3 of bilateral pneumonia, which is an infection of the lungs, according to WebMD. His mother had already been informed through doctors at the Dr. Raúl Larcade Medical Center that her son had influenza, gastroenterocolitis and laryngitis, and she is now reporting to the hospital for the care Santino received, according to La Nación.
No reports have linked the boy’s death to the COVID-19 vaccine.
PolitiFact has debunked this claim.
Based on our research, we compared FALSE the claim that an Argentine boy who died at age four was part of a COVID-19 vaccination publicity crusade. The boy staged an advertising crusade selling vaccines against measles, mumps, rubella and polio. not COVID-19. He died of bilateral pneumonia, which is not similar to COVID-19.
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