The Church of Pentecost (CoP) Worldwide has identified and cleared some myths and controversies parading on social media space for sometime describing them as false alarm which must be discarded.
The CoP in a Press Statement issued and signed by the Chairman of the Church, Apostle Eric Kwabena Nyamekye enumerated the following as some of the popular myths and conspiracy theories identified by its team of experts and some of their responses in brief:
Myth 1: The COVID-19 vaccines have been hastily developed; they simply cannot have a good safety profile.
Response: Regulatory bodies have indicated that all the required phases and steps were followed in the development of the COVID-19 vaccines. This was achievable because money was readily available to fund the research and many volunteers willingly signed up for the trials.
Myth 2: The COVID-19 vaccines have terrible unpredictable side effects.
Response: The COVID-19 vaccines are highly effective, but persons vaccinated so far, have shown side effects ranging from mild headaches, pain at the injection site, and flu-like symptoms, to vomiting, fatigue, decreased appetite, which are common to previous flu vaccines. Note that almost all vaccines have some form of mild side effects.
Myth 3: Natural prevention better than artificial inventions, therefore vaccines are not needed.
Response: COVID-19 is a highly infectious and deadly disease. As of January 2021, it had caused over 2 million deaths globally, hence the need for the vaccine. Herd immunity (making majority of the population resistant to the virus) can be achieved better through vaccination than through natural means.
Myth 4: We know they are all systematically hiding the real data behind the vaccines, because we never see the real data. All the world’s medical scientists are deceiving the public.
Response: Vaccine development is conducted by different pharmaceutical companies and independent research teams all over the world. There is ample evidence available to various regulatory bodies and the general public globally.
Myth 5: The COVID-19 vaccine may give you COVID-19 disease. It is a trick and a deceptive way of harming targeted populations.
Response: The entire global population has been affected by COVID-19, so the idea of selected targeting is weak and should not be entertained. There is negligible risk of any vaccine giving you the disease – and in the case of COVID-19, none of the vaccines being administered currently contain the live virus, not even in a weakened form, so it is impossible to get the disease from the vaccine.
Myth 6: Taking the COVID-19 vaccine is accepting the mark of the beast (666) as written in the Bible (Rev 13:16-18). There is a widespread opinion that the 666-beast passage is playing out in our days, where a microchip could be introduced into the COVID-19 vaccines to secretively impose it on Christians.
Response: This is not possible because, the context of the 666 passage is one of persecution. The anti-Christ team would try to compel Christians to take the mark of the beast to end their suffering. There is no suggestion that the mark would be administered to people secretly or unawares in Scripture.
Secondly, Considering the timelines of prophetic predictions, the mention of 666 is located within the series of events known as the Great Tribulation by which time, the Church is believed to have been raptured. This era, when the anti-Christ shall appear to administer the mark is believed to be in the remote future since the Church has not yet been raptured.
Myth 7: The COVID-19 vaccines have foetal cells and products of abortion as components, and since the Church does not support abortion, Christians cannot take such vaccines.
Response: COVID-19 vaccines do not contain foetal cells from aborted babies. The COVID-19 vaccines contain mRNA, DNA material or viral proteins.
Myth 8: The COVID-19 vaccine would be administered to all persons under compulsion.
Response: Vaccination remains a voluntary activity unless it has been made compulsory through legislation in several country contexts.
Myth 9: The COVID-19: The vaccines contain nano-robots with computer chips and would be used to transmit data from our bodies into the cloud using 5G network. This would put all who take the vaccine under remote computer control.
Response: The tiny fat droplets (lipid Nano particles) are not robots. There is no evidence suggesting that the COVID-19 vaccines manufactured so far contain computer chips or tiny robots.
Myth 10: The COVID-19 vaccine is a move to eliminate the black race and also to ensure women are not able to conceive and give birth.
Response: With respect to fertility, there is no evidence to suggest that COVID-19 vaccines will affect fertility, and no woman who has been vaccinated has gone on to develop fertility problems.
Story: Seth Ameyaw Danquah
