On November 25th, the Facebook account “Bolo Zhamis Kristianebi” [Christians of the Last Advent] published a post claiming that politicians and other high-ranking officials in Slovenia are being vaccinated with saline instead of the mRNA vaccine. The post alleged that the information was disseminated by the chief nurse of the University of Ljubljana Medical Center, who is responsible for receiving and distributing Pfizer vaccine vials. Identical information was also published on the website of the news agency tvmg on November 25th. The material claimed that the nurse spoke to the public about the difference between Pfizer vials and explained that the ampoule with the number 1 is the placebo, while the vial with the number 2 is the classic vaccine, and the ampoule number 3 contains an oncogene that is associated with the adenovirus and promotes the development of cancer.
The claims disseminated by the religious account and TVM.ge are false for the following reasons:
- The nurse who accuses the University Clinic of Slovenia of vaccinating politicians with saline instead of the actual vaccine is not an employee of the clinic;
- Pfizer and other mRNA vaccines do not cause cancer.
The post of the religious account features a screenshot from the informational agency Daily Telegraph. According to the media website of New Zealand, before the resignation, the chief nurse of the University Medical Center in Ljubljana showed the public various ampoules of the vaccine with the numbers 1, 2 or 3 on them. In a video posted on the social network, the nurse claims that the ampoules with number 1 are placebos used to inoculate politicians, number 2s are classic mRNA vaccines, while number 3s contains oncogenes that promote the development of cancer. The video further asserts that people that have taken the latter option will be diagnosed with cancer within two years.
The above-mentioned information was fact-checked by the Slovenian news agency 24ur with the help of the University of Ljubljana Medical Center. A spokesman for the clinic denied the nurse’s claims, noting that the woman who positioned herself as a nurse did not work at the University of Ljubljana Medical Center at all, nor was she an employee of theirs in the past. The chief nurse of the University of Ljubljana Medical Center is Zdenka Mrak, whose photo is available on the Medical Center website. The image confirms that Zdenka Mrak is not the person talking in the video published on Facebook. The chief nurse at the University of Ljubljana Medical Center is urging citizens to get vaccinated against the Covid-19 vaccine, noting that the vaccine is safe and provides significant protection against coronavirus disease complications.
The person who introduces herself to the public as a nurse at the University of Ljubljana Medical Center is actually the well-known Slovenian anti-vaxxer activist Vera Kanalec, who is featured in many other videos released by the anti-vaccination platform STOP Lažnivim Medijem.
Anti-vaxxer Vera Kanalec and the chief nurse of the University of Ljubljana Medical Center Zdenka Mrak
According to Our World in Data, almost 55% of the Slovenian population has already received at least one dose of the Covid-19 vaccine. In November, the number of daily new cases exceeded 3,000, although the death rate is much lower than last year. If more than 50 people died daily in November 2020, there are less than 20 daily deaths from coronavirus in the fall of 2021.
Does the Covid-19 Vaccine Cause Cancer?
Carlos del Rio, an infectious disease specialist at Emory University, said the mRNA vaccine could not cause cancer as it remains in the body for a short time and gets rapidly inactivated. In addition to the fact that a vaccine cannot induce cancer development, the ongoing research gives hope that mRNA technology may become one of the possible means of treating and preventing cancer. For more details on the topic, see the publications of “Myth Detector:”
- Coronavirus vaccines – myths and reality
- Side effects from Pfizer and Moderna are rare, while RNA technology is safe
About “Daily Telegraph” and “STOP Lažnivim Medijem”
The similarity between the news agency DAILY TELEGRAPH and the name of the British weekly The Daily Telegraph may give readers a false impression. In fact, the ‘about us’ section of dailytelegraph.co.nz indicates that the website is created to provide alternative information about world events to New Zealanders. The outlet has nothing to do with the British ‘The Daily Telegraph’ and often uses RT News, Sputnik News and teleSUR as its sources.
The Facebook account STOP Lažnivim Medijem, which regularly shares unconfirmed information about the coronavirus pandemic and vaccines, posted the aforementioned video on Facebook in July 2021. The posted videos make it clear that the woman talking about the vaccination of politicians with placebos is Vera Kanalec, who is featured in other videos related to the pandemic.
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