Misleading: In the Netherlands, 87,000 nurses will refuse the COVID-19 vaccine.

On the video-sharing website Rumble, a recording of a panel event featuring doctors explaining why they believe lockdowns should end has been published. The doctors in the video are from Germany, the Netherlands, Sweden, Ireland, and the United Kingdom. One memorable soundbite is from Dr. Elke De Klerk, who states that she intends to go to court about the Netherlands not recognizing COVID-19 as a flu virus. De Klerk claims that she will do so with the support of "87,000 nurses who do not want the vaccine being prepared for us." De Klerk is part of the World Doctor's Alliance, a group established to challenge the validity of the COVID-19 virus. According to the Annenberg Policy Center, the video originally circulated on YouTube but was removed for violating its terms of service, but is still being shared elsewhere. There is no evidence to support De Klerk's claims. The World Health Organization declared COVID-19 a pandemic on March 11, 2020. At this time, there were 118,000 cases of the virus in 114 countries and 4,291 people had died. According to figures compiled by Johns Hopkins University, as of January 2021, cases of COVID-19 worldwide have reached over 90 million, with just under 2 million deaths. Scientists universally agree that SARS-CoV-2 is a novel coronavirus, not a strain of influenza. In De Klerk’s own country, the Netherlands, there have been more than 6,800 deaths attributed to COVID-19 so far in 2020, compared to 2,900 due to flu and pneumonia in 2018-19. We found no evidence to support De Klerk's claims that 87,000 health professionals are refusing the COVID-19 Vaccine. This clip, and the associated group the World Doctors' Alliance, promote a number of potentially harmful false claims about COVID-19. The COVID-19 pandemic has given rise to a lot of potentially dangerous misinformation. For reliable advice on COVID-19 including symptoms, prevention and available treatment, please refer to the World Health Organisation or your national healthcare authority.