No link between Covid vaccines, Marburg virus

More than two years after the rollout of life-saving Covid-19 vaccines, conspiracy theorists are claiming 5G wireless signals can activate the deadly Marburg virus in the shots. This is false; messenger ribonucleic acid (mRNA) jabs do not contain any live pathogens, and experts say the Ebola-like illness can only be transmitted through bodily fluids or contaminated objects.

“Here is what you need to know for Marburg Parasite activation via 5G for everyone who took the jabby-jab,” says an October 12, 2023 Instagram post with hundreds of interactions.

The caption of an October 7 Rumble video featuring lawyer Todd Callender, who has previously spread misinformation about Covid-19 vaccines, makes the same claim: “MARBURG IS THE NEXT PLANDEMIC | 5G WILL ACTIVATE PAYLOAD IN VACCINATED ZOMBIES.”

Similar allegations circulated on TikTok and X, formerly known as Twitter — with some offering purported “detox” products to avert infection.

Screenshot from Rumble taken October 26, 2023

But the posts have no scientific basis — AFP has previously debunked claims of harmful ingredients in the vaccines and theories that wireless signals can activate pathogens.

Health authorities and experts say Marburg disease, a deadly, Ebola-like hemorrhagic fever, cannot be transmitted in such a manner.

“There is no live virus in the Covid-19 mRNA vaccines that are in wide use,” said Amira Roess, a professor and epidemiologist at George Mason University specializing in emerging infectious diseases.

“The components of the vaccines do not include anything related to the Marburg virus. There is no evidence to support the claim that 5G can activate the virus.”

The ingredients of each Covid-19 vaccine authorized for use in the United States are publicly available online (archived here). None of them contain the Marburg virus.

In an October 25 email, Roess added: “Marburg virus is transmitted through contact with infected bodily fluid or contaminated objects.”

Factfile on the deadly Marburg virus disease, which causes haemorrhagic fever ( AFP / Alain BOMMENEL, Jean-Michel CORNU)

Public health authorities offer similar guidance on Marburg, which has hit several African nations since 1975 after being first identified in 1967 in Germany.

The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says on its website (archived here) that the disease can be transmitted through “blood or body fluids … of a person who is sick with or died from Marburg virus disease.”

The World Health Organization adds on its website (archived here): “Marburg spreads through human-to-human transmission via direct contact (through broken skin or mucous membranes) with the blood, secretions, organs or other bodily fluids of infected people, and with surfaces and materials (eg bedding, clothing) contaminated with these fluids.”

Other fact-checking organizations have debunked claims that 5G signals can activate the virus in Covid-19 vaccines.

AFP has fact-checked additional misinformation about vaccination here.