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Fox News health commentator Dr. Kelly Powers was diagnosed with glioblastoma, an aggressive form of brain cancer, in July 2020, months before COVID-19 vaccines were made available in the U.S. But social media posts are baselessly linking her death on Dec. 4 to the vaccines. There is no evidence that the vaccines cause or worsen cancer.
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Studies have shown that mRNA COVID-19 vaccines from Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna are very effective in preventing severe cases of the disease and death, saving millions of lives across the world.
Clinical trials involving thousands of people, numerous studies and close monitoring of hundreds of millions of doses have found the vaccines to be safe. As we’ve written, serious side effects are rare.
Despite the evidence, a growing number of people have become skeptical of the effectiveness of the vaccines and believe false conspiracy theories that they are killing large numbers of people.
There is no evidence supporting a link between the COVID-19 vaccine and cancer, as we’ve reported. Both the National Cancer Institute and the American Cancer Society have said there’s no information suggesting the vaccines cause cancer, make it more aggressive, or lead to a recurrence of cancer.
But vaccine opponents have tried to make that connection, claiming vaccines can cause a particularly fast-growing cancer, coining the term “turbo cancer” to describe the supposed phenomenon. It is not backed by evidence, as we’ve reported.
After Dr. Kelly Powers died on Dec. 4 at age 45, posts on Facebook and Instagram baselessly suggested her cancer was caused or worsened by the COVID-19 vaccine. Powers, a podiatric surgeon and health commentator for Fox News and Fox Business, was diagnosed with glioblastoma, an aggressive form of brain cancer, in July 2020, months before the vaccines were first distributed in the U.S. in December 2020.
Posts on Facebook and Instagram included a screenshot of a headline from a Dec. 4 article by the People’s Voice, a website that often publishes vaccine misinformation. The headline read: “Fully Vaccinated Fox News Doctor Kelly Powers, Who Survived On-Air Heart Attack, Dies From Turbo Cancer.”
A Dec. 4 Instagram post, which shared a screenshot of the headline, wrote: “But probably not related, right?”
Another Facebook post shared a screenshot of a different article from the People’s Voice, headlined: “Scientists Warn Turbo Cancer That Killed Kelly Powers Will Soon ‘Spread Like Wildfire’ Among General Population.”
“Terrible: Scientists have predicted that the vaccinated population will soon see a sharp rise in turbo cancer diagnoses in the next few years,” the post read. “Experts are worried there will be more cases like Dr Powers in the coming decades because glioblastomas are on the rise among all age groups. Diagnoses are expected to rise by up to 75 percent by 2050.”
No Evidence Supporting Link to Cancer
While COVID-19 vaccines can cause minor and short-lived side effects, such as fatigue and soreness at the injection site, there is no evidence that the vaccines cause cancer or worsen cancer in people who already have it.
Vaccine opponents point to some studies they claim show such a link. For instance, social media posts, including an April 16 Facebook post by America’s Frontline Doctors, a group that has repeatedly spread misinformation about the pandemic, has highlighted a review article published in the International Journal of Biological Macromolecules to claim that “COVID-19 mRNA vaccines could aid cancer development.”
But the review paper, as we’ve written, was based on other published articles and did not contain original research. Experts told us that the review misinterpreted several studies about the role of a particular mRNA modification used in the mRNA vaccines. There is no evidence the modification increases cancer growth.
Posts in 2023 made similar false claims, citing a study that they said “proves Pfizer mRNA induced turbo cancer.” The posts claimed that a mouse in the study “died suddenly,” echoing incorrect beliefs that large groups of people have died from the vaccine.
However, one of the co-authors of the study in question told us their case report had been misinterpreted. The 2023 study, published in Frontiers in Oncology, described a single mouse that died from lymphoma out of 14 mice that were given a high-dose Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine injected directly into a vein. That’s not the method used to give vaccines to people, and the study did not actually show the mouse’s blood cancer was related to the vaccine.
The authors later published an addendum to their paper noting that after injecting more than 70 mice, they only ever observed the one mouse with any kind of blood cancer. They also emphasized that as a case report, their study did not establish a causal link between vaccination and cancer nor did it in any way change the vaccine’s “overwhelming benefit-risk profile.” They added that they wished to “unequivocally disassociate” themselves from the made-up term of “turbo cancer.”
Glioblastoma Is Inherently Aggressive
The type of brain cancer that Powers had is rare and difficult to treat, and there is little known about what causes it, as we’ve reported. Glioblastoma is a stage 4 brain cancer and is inherently aggressive. As the Glioblastoma Foundation explains, it’s an invasive and fast-growing cancer with a poor prognosis. With treatment, the median survival is about 15 months, according to the foundation, although women and younger patients typically live longer.
A GoFundMe fundraiser for Powers created in June notes that she was diagnosed “with one of the deadliest forms of brain cancer” and explains that her cancer returned this year after “three brain surgeries, multiple rounds of radiation, chemotherapy, and immunotherapy.”
COVID-19 vaccination is especially important for people with cancer. “Some people with cancer are at increased risk of serious illness if they get COVID-19, because their immune systems have been weakened by the cancer and/or its treatments,” the American Cancer Society explains on its website. Vaccination is one of the most important ways of reducing a person’s risk.
Editor’s note: FactCheck.org is one of several organizations working with Meta to debunk misinformation shared on social media. Our previous stories can be found here. Meta has no control over our editorial content.
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