No, researcher didn’t warn of ‘unleashed’ viruses after Trump takes office | Fact check
The claim: Vaccine researcher Peter Hotez warned ‘multiple viruses will be unleashed’ after Trump takes office
A Dec. 4 Instagram post (direct link, archive link) shows vaccine researcher Peter Hotez discussing the public health risks of several diseases on MSNBC.
“HERE WE GO! Vaccine researcher Peter Hotez says multiple viruses will be unleashed on America the day after Trump takes office,” reads the post's caption.
It was liked more than 3,000 times in a week. Similar posts were shared on Facebook.
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Our rating: False
Dr. Peter Hotez never claimed viruses will be “unleashed.” He discussed some public health challenges the Trump administration will inherit when it takes over.
Hotez lists public health risks faced by incoming Trump administration
The clip in the Instagram post shows Hotez, director of the Center for Vaccine Development at Texas Children's Hospital, talking to MSNBC’s “Deadline White House” host Nicolle Wallace on Dec. 4.
However, it doesn’t include the start of the interview, when Wallace asked Hotez about anti-vaccine comments made by Robert F. Kennedy Jr., including his claim that vaccines are linked to autism. In response, Hotez explained that the scientific evidence shows no link and said such claims are “completely erroneous.”
Kennedy is President-elect Donald Trump’s nominee for Health and Human Services secretary.
“Here’s the reason why we need to care about this stuff, Nicolle, is that we have some big picture stuff coming down the pike starting on Jan. 21,” said Hotez, referring to the day after Trump takes office.
But Hotez never said viruses will be “unleashed” after Trump becomes president. Instead, he talked about some of the diseases already circulating that could pose risks to public health during the Trump administration.
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In a series of X posts, Hotez called the claim “totally ridiculous,” writing that he only “outlined the tough infectious disease challenges the Trump appointees will face and inherit when they begin in January.”
In the interview, Hotez said he was “really worried” about H5N1, a highly contagious strain of bird flu. It has infected at least 58 people in seven states in 2024, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
“It’s all over the wild birds on the western part of the United States and going up in the North, it’s getting into the poultry,” he said. “We’re seeing sporadic human cases, no human-to-human transmission yet, but that could happen. It’s in the cattle, it’s in the milk.”
Hotez described a “sharp rise in vaccine-preventable diseases,” specifically measles and whooping cough, and warned of a “big problem” with mosquito-transmitted viruses along the Gulf Coast. He also mentioned the risk of a new coronavirus, saying that “we know these viruses are jumping from bats to people thousands of times a year.”
USA TODAY reached out to social media user who shared the post for comment but did not immediately receive a response.
PolitiFact also debunked the claim.
Our fact-check sources
MSNBC (YouTube), Dec. 4, Michael Bloomberg slams Trump’s pick of RFK Jr. for Secretary of Health and Human Services
Peter Hotez, Dec. 5, X post
CDC, accessed Dec. 11, H5 Bird Flu: Current Situation
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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Post misleads on comments about public health threats | Fact check