Article reported on rising cancer rates before pandemic, didn't link to vaccines | Fact check

Hannah Hudnall, USA TODAY
·3 min read

The claim: Daily Mail article shows cancer spike tied to COVID-19 vaccine

A May 23 Instagram post (direct link, archive link) shows a Daily Mail article with a color-coded map of the world labeled, "Global cancer rates in people under 50."

"Global cancer phenomenon: It's not just America," reads the article's headline. "The U.K., Japan, South Africa and Australia are among dozens of countries suffering mystery spikes of all different kinds of tumors in young people."

"More Coincidences," the post's caption says, along with red flag and vaccine emojis. "CRIMES AGAINST HUMANITY."

The post garnered more than 200 likes in four days. Other versions of the claim were shared on Instagram and X, formerly Twitter.

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Our rating: False

The article makes no such connection. It describes rising cancer cases between 1990 and 2019, before COVID-19 was declared a pandemic and before the first vaccines were authorized in Europe and the United States. Experts say there's no evidence linking cancer and COVID-19 vaccines.

Article focuses on cancer rates prior to pandemic

The article shown in the post doesn't even mention COVID-19. It specifically notes that cancer rates spiked between 1990 and 2019. The World Health Organization declared a COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020, months before vaccination was first authorized in Europe, and more than a year before it was offered in the U.S.

"Between 1990 and 2019, cases of cancer in young people across the globe have increased by 79% and deaths have risen 28%," the March 15 article reports.

Though the article says experts are unsure of the cause of the spike in cancer cases, it doesn't mention anything about the COVID-19 vaccines potentially being linked. Instead, it lists many possible causes including dietary changes, antibiotic use and exposure to carcinogens.

Fact check: False claim COVID-19 vaccines are linked to 'spike' in cancer cases

Numerous experts, including Gavin Dunn, a neurosurgeon who specializes in neurosurgical oncology at Massachusetts General Hospital, and Eric Topol, director of the Scripps Research Translational Institute, previously told USA TODAY there's no evidence that rising cancer rates and COVID-19 vaccines are linked.

The National Cancer Institute says on its website that there's no evidence COVID-19 vaccines cause cancer, and the American Cancer Society says the trend of increased cases "is largely affected by the aging and growth of the population and by a rise in diagnoses of six of the 10 most common cancers."

USA TODAY has debunked numerous false claims involving COVID-19 vaccines, including claims that the U.S. government reported a surge in cancer among Americans vaccinated against COVID-19, that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported an increase in AIDS-associated diseases and cancers, and that Moderna admitted mRNA vaccines cause "turbo-cancer."

USA TODAY reached out to the user who shared the post for comment but did not immediately receive a response.

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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Article didn't link rising cancer rates to vaccines | Fact check

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