A Nigerian televangelist Christopher Oghenebrorie Okotie, who is also Pastor of the Household of God Church International Ministries, in a viral video, claimed that taking the COVID-19 vaccine would turn recipients into vampires.
Pastor Okotie made this claim in a video published here and also reported by some major Nigerian blogs such as: Thisnigeria.com, blogtrent.com, tori.ng as well as SaharaReporters.
An excerpt from the video read:
“… and you take the vaccine, you have entered into communion with Lucifer and that communion involves blood.
“Since the blood of Jesus is not what it needs, it will require you to seek blood somewhere else.
“And the only place you can find blood is another human being. So one of the things that the vaccine will make you do is to become a vampire who needs to drink blood for sustenance.”
Chris is not the first clergyman to make spurious comments about COVID-19 and its vaccine.
The Claim
COVID-19 vaccine will turn human recipients’ into vampire.
The Findings
The FactCheckHub findings show that the claim is FALSE.
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), vaccines train and prepare the body’s natural defense, otherwise known as the immune system, to recognise and fight any targeted virus or bacteria.
The WHO also stated that “vaccines are a critical new tool in the battle against COVID-19 and it is hugely encouraging to see so many vaccines proving successful and going into development.”
Although some minor side effects of the vaccine have been reported, forcing some countries to stop its administration, there has never been a record of the vaccine turning anyone into a vampire.
The WHO stated that the side effects of COVID-19 vaccines had been mild and moderate so far.
The reported effects of the vaccines so far, according to WHO, are: fever, fatigue, headache, muscle pain, chills, diarrhoea, and pain at the injection site. Becoming a vampire is not one of them.
Similarly, a WHO Infection, Prevention and Control Expert Adebola Olayinka, a professor, told The FactCheckHub that vaccine generally would not change the genetic makeup of the body and it was untrue that vaccine could turn people into vampires.
She added that the various COVID-19 vaccines in circulation were meant to generate immune response against COVID-19 infection.
Basically, the various COVID-19 available vaccines are meant to generate immune response against the potential COVID-19 infection and this has been the basis for any form of vaccination, she noted.
A fact-check has earlier debunked, here, a claim that the vaccine would change the recipients’ genetic makeup.
The Verdict
The claim that that the COVID-19 vaccine will turn recipients into vampires is FALSE.
'Niyi worked with The ICIR as an Investigative Reporter and Fact-checker from 2020 till September 2022. You can shoot him an email via [email protected]. You can as well follow him on Twitter via @niyi_oyedeji.