Fact check: No, WHO chief did not say COVID-19 boosters kill children

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World Health Organization talks COVID pandemic

Members of the World Health Organization spent time with the USA TODAY Editorial Board to talk about the pandemic and rebuilding trust.

Staff video

The claim: Video shows World Health Organization director general saying vaccine boosters were used to ‘kill children’

Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, an Ethiopian microbiologist and the first African director of the World Health Organization, has been the subject of misinformation since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.

A Nov. 15 Instagram post (direct link, archived link) claims Ghebreyesus said some countries are using COVID-19 vaccine boosters to kill children.

The post includes a video of Ghebreyesus speaking in which he appears to say, “So if it’s going to be used, it’s better to focus on those groups who have risk of severe diseases and death rather than, as we see in some countries, are using to give boosters to kill children.”

Text accompanying the video says, “What did he say? Some countries are using boosters to kill children?”

The post was liked more than 100 times in less than three weeks. Another version on Facebook from January was shared more than 2,000 times.

The claim also appeared on TikTok as well as alternative platforms such BitChute and Rumble, both of which are known to cultivate misinformation.

But Ghebreyesus did not say vaccine boosters were used to kill children, according to an official transcript of the briefing and a spokesperson for the WHO. Instead, the errant utterance was him stuttering on the first syllable of the word “children.” During this part of the press briefing, Ghebreyesus advised that boosters be used for vulnerable populations rather than children.

USA TODAY reached out to the WHO and social media users who shared the claim for comment.

Video shows WHO chief stumble on word

The clip featured in the post is from a Dec. 20, 2021, WHO press briefing. Shortly after the event, a WHO spokesperson told Reuters that Ghebreyesus, “got stuck on the first syllable ‘chil’ and it came out sounding like ‘cil/kil.’ He then correctly pronounced the same syllable immediately after, with it coming out audibly as ‘cil-children.'”

An official transcript of the event confirms the remark was a mispronunciation and provides more context around his statement.

Immediately after those comments, the WHO director discussed the issue of vaccine equity and how it would influence the pandemic.

Fact check: Post claiming COVID-19 and flu viruses are same misrepresents at-home test kit

“Instead of boosting a child in high income countries, it’s better to vaccinate the elderly in countries where the elders have not been vaccinated, even the primary vaccines. So, the equity issue should also come into play,” he said.

Reuters, PolitiFact and AFP Fact Check also debunked the claim.

USA TODAY previously debunked claims that Ghebreyesus was arrested and is not vaccinated against COVID-19.

Our rating: False

Based on our research, we rate FALSE the claim that a video shows the WHO director general saying vaccine boosters were used to kill children. Users misinterpreted Ghebreyesus’ stutter, in which he initially mispronounced the first consonant of the word children before quickly correcting himself.

Our fact-check sources:

World Health Organization, Dec. 20, 2021, WHO Director-General’s opening remarks at the media briefing for Geneva-based journalists
USA TODAY, April 22, 2020, Public health ‘superstar’ or pro-China propagandist? WHO chief lands in US political crosshairs
Reuters, Aug. 22, New breed of video sites thrives on misinformation and hate
Reuters, Dec. 29, 2021, Fact Check-WHO chief’s stutter while speaking about booster shots triggers conspiracy
AFP Fact Check, Dec. 31, 2021, Posts misrepresent WHO chief’s remarks on Covid vaccine inequity
Market Watch, Nov. 8, Nearly half of election-related videos on Rumble are posted by untrustworthy sources, as are 1 in 5 on YouTube: misinformation monitor
PolitiFact, Nov. 18, World Health Organization director general stuttered, he wasn’t asserting that countries are killing

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Our fact-check work is supported in part by a grant from Facebook.

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