Viral Hantavirus Claim Said to Be Caused by COVID Vaccine

A viral report regarding hantavirus claims that the virus currently spreading on the MV Hondius cruise ship is a side effect of the COVID-19 vaccine. Citing Reuters on Tuesday (12/5/2026), this relates to a widely shared post on Facebook dated 7 May, featuring a screenshot of Pfizer’s 2021 submission to the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for a biological licence for its vaccine. “The list of Pfizer COVID vaccine side effects includes hantavirus lung infection!” the post stated. The narrative was also shared on X, mentioning how the COVID vaccine contains hantavirus. “The reference to hantavirus lung infection in the Pfizer document appears on page four of the nine-page appendix titled ‘List of Adverse Events of Special Interest’,” Reuters reported, quoting the viral post referring to the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine. However, the company has denied the post. The content of the letter does not confirm that the vaccine causes hantavirus lung infection, a Pfizer spokesperson said in an email. “The document actually lists every medical event experienced by someone during the study period from December 2020, when the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine was first authorised for emergency use, until 28 February 2021, regardless of whether the event was related to the vaccine or not,” the spokesperson added. “The document was compiled using voluntary reports through various national reporting systems, such as the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS) in the United States,” they emphasised. “The appendix, which lists hantavirus lung infection, includes every potential medical event that Pfizer would consider significant if it occurred during the study period.” In fact, the UK granted full marketing authorisation for the Pfizer vaccine at the end of 2022 after reviewing its safety, efficacy, and other information, including a list of adverse events identified as having a causal relationship with the vaccine. These adverse events were published in an open link included in the Pfizer product brochure. Hantavirus is not mentioned in the open link. In essence, there is no hantavirus in the list of ingredients for the Pfizer COVID vaccine, now known as Comirnaty. According to Pfizer’s website, the Comirnaty injection does not contain live virus. Previously, on 7 May, a hantavirus outbreak on the Dutch-flagged cruise ship had killed three people. South Africa’s Ministry of Health stated on 6 May that the Andes strain of hantavirus was identified in two victims who had been evacuated from the ship to the country. The World Health Organization (WHO) states that the Andes strain is the only hantavirus known to have experienced human-to-human transmission. Transmission, says WHO, remains rare and when it occurs, it is associated with “close and prolonged contact”.