At first glance, it really does sound impossible and absurd that an infection with a virus transmitted by mice (Hantavirus) could be a “side effect” of a Covid vaccine.
The answer to this confusion lies in the legal and medical terminology used in the document that is shared. The catch is that this is not a list of proven side effects.
Here is a detailed explanation of why Hantavirus is on that list:
1. The Difference Between a “Side Effect” and an “Adverse Event”
In everyday language, we use the term side effect (or adverse drug reaction), which implies that it has been proven that the vaccine or drug caused the problem.
However, the document in the picture deals with Adverse Events. In pharmacovigilance (the science of drug safety), an “adverse event” is absolutely any health issue that happens to a person within a certain timeframe after receiving a vaccine/drug, regardless of whether the drug caused it.
An example of how this works in practice:
- A person receives the Pfizer vaccine on Monday.
- On Wednesday, that same person cleans an old shed full of mouse droppings (where Hantavirus is naturally found).
- On Friday, the person develops symptoms and is diagnosed with Hantavirus.
- Since the person is being monitored after vaccination, their doctor is legally required to report the Hantavirus infection to the database as an “Adverse Event following immunization.”
Does this mean the vaccine created the Hantavirus? No. It just means the infection happened after the vaccination, so it had to be recorded.
2. What Exactly is the List in the Image?
The document you posted (page 4) is from a Pfizer document titled Cumulative Analysis of Post-authorization Adverse Event Reports, specifically Appendix 1: List of Adverse Events of Special Interest (AESI).
This is a predefined list of hundreds of diseases, syndromes, and infections (from herpes to Hantavirus) compiled by global health agencies months in advance. Pharmaceutical companies are required to monitor patients and report back to the agencies if they observe anything from that list. This is done to make the monitoring system maximally transparent and to track absolutely every change in people’s health.
3. Biological (Im)possibility
The Pfizer vaccine (like other mRNA vaccines) does not contain any viruses. It only contains “instructions” for cells on how to recognize the Covid spike protein. Since there is no virus in it at all—neither Covid nor Hantavirus—it is biologically impossible for the vaccine to infect a person with Hantavirus.
Conclusion:
People who are vaccinated do not carry Hantavirus because of the jab. Hantavirus is on this list because the safety monitoring system logs everything that happens to patients in the weeks following vaccination (including unrelated infections, broken bones, car accidents, or food poisoning). Later, scientists analyze these massive databases statistically to see if there is an actual pattern that deviates from the norm.