Mississippi State Department of Health officials say they are investigating an accusation on Twitter that a person calling to schedule a vaccine was told that there is no proof that the Moderna vaccine works.

Dr. Elizabeth Wayne, an assistant professor of biomedical engineering and chemical engineering at Carnegie Mellon University in Pennsylvania, posted on Twitter Monday that her father was told “there is no documented proof that the Moderna vaccine works. would you still like to take the vaccine?” when he called to schedule his vaccine appointment with the health department.

 

So I was talking to my Dad. Apparently when trying to schedule his vaccine appt, the caller said there is “there is no documented proof that the Moderna vaccine works. would you still like to take the vaccine?”

This is the Mississippi Health Department. I’m in disbelief.

— Elizabeth Wayne (@LizWaynePhD) March 23, 2021

 

Wayne tagged the Mississippi State Department of Health in a tweet, writing that their allegedly telling her father that there is no proof that the Moderna vaccine works is tantamount to “violence.”

@msdh telling people that there is no documented proof that the Moderna vaccine works–when they are calling to get the vaccine is violence.

— Elizabeth Wayne (@LizWaynePhD) March 23, 2021

Wayne’s post has since gone viral, having been retweeted more than 5,000 times and liked more than 30,000 times.

State Health Officer Dr. Thomas Dobbs replied to Wayne’s tweets by saying that her claims will be investigated. He also included an attachment of a study from The New England Journal of Medicine showing that the vaccine in question is 94 percent effective at preventing Covid-19 illness.

“The mRNA-1273 vaccine showed 94.1% efficacy at preventing Covid-19 illness, including severe disease. Aside from transient local and systemic reactions, no safety concerns were identified.” from the world’s preeminent medical journal https://t.co/WvLnyLdpgW

We will investigate!

— thomas dobbs (@TCBPubHealth) March 23, 2021