No evidence to back Naomi Wolf's claim on Pfizer vaccine getting deposited in brain and ovaries

Context

American author Naomi Wolf claimed in a video that mRNA COVID-19 vaccines get deposited in various organs in our body. In the video, which was uploaded on the Hillsdale college website on March 7, Wolf alleges that Pfizer’s internal documents reveal that COVID-19 vaccines don’t work.

She goes on to claim that the vaccine materials "industrial fats coated with polyethylene glycol" get deposited in organs like the brain and the ovaries. She also lists out various other organs. “So where do these ingredients go? They go to the brain. Some of you have noticed changes in the personalities of loved ones who have taken this injection,” she says adding, “If you’re a woman they go into your ovaries. Your first injection, some go to your ovaries. Your second injection, more goes into your ovaries.”

However, there is no evidence to support the claim that the vaccine gets deposited in human organs.

In Fact

Wolf, who is a known conspiracy theorist and vaccine misinformation spreader, has referred to alleged internal Pfizer documents several times in the past to make unfounded claims. 

She has been fact-checked multiple times in the past when she made startling claims about vaccine trials being linked to miscarriages in nearly 44 percent of women. 

To understand if there is truth to her “vaccine getting deposited in ovaries” claim, we contacted Delhi-based gynecologist Dr. Meenakshi Ahuja who said, “There is no evidence for this claim. We have had women and even pregnant women taking the vaccine. There is absolutely no documentation on Earth that the vaccine is being deposited in ovaries or any organ.”

Further, the World Health Organisation (WHO) recommends the Pfizer vaccine and says, “The vaccine is safe and effective for all individuals aged six months and above. The Pfizer BioNTech vaccine against COVID-19 has very high efficacy against severe disease and moderate efficacy against symptomatic SARS-CoV-2 infection.”

WHO also recommends vaccination to pregnant as well as breastfeeding individuals as there is increasing data in support of vaccination during pregnancy. Vaccine-elicited antibodies have been found in breast milk of breastfeeding women, suggesting that the baby could also get the benefit of these antibodies. 

However, COVID-19 vaccines have been found to have an impact on the menstrual cycle. A research published in Frontiers notes, “COVID-19 vaccination can lengthen the menstrual cycle and that this effect may be mediated by ovarian hormones. Importantly, we find that the menstrual cycle returns to its pre-vaccination length in unvaccinated cycles.” These changes are small and short-lived and do not affect fertility, wrote Victoria Male, one of the authors of the research, in an article in The Guardian.

Dr. Soumya Swaminathan, who was the chief scientist at the WHO until 2022, had explained in 2021 that pregnant and breastfeeding women should get vaccinated. “It (vaccination) is probably the right thing to do in many situations where the pregnant woman is at higher risk of getting the infection and where the vaccines would bring more benefits.”

There is no evidence that the vaccine gets deposited in any human organs.

On ‘heart damage’

Wolf also claims that COVID-19 vaccine causes heart damage in children and young adults. This is an unfounded claim. 

Though it is true that rare cases of myocarditis and pericarditis have been recorded among young adults after COVID-19 vaccination, this risk is much lower than the risk of these conditions due to a COVID-19 infection itself. The British Heart Foundation says that people infected by COVID-19 are 40 percent more likely to develop cardiovascular diseases than uninfected people.

This is why the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommends getting vaccinated as the risks after getting COVID-19 ‘far outweigh the potential risks of having a rare adverse reaction to vaccination’. 

The Verdict

There is no evidence to show that the vaccine gets deposited in any human organ, causes severe heart damage or is unsafe for pregnant or breastfeeding women. Therefore we mark the claim as false.