Chelsea Clinton did not say children should be force-jabbed

An Instagram post features a fake quote from Chelsea Clinton, claiming she said “It’s Time To Force-Jab Every Unvaccinated Child in America”. There is no evidence that the former First Daughter and author said this.

The post is a screenshot of an article headline. The article doesn’t provide a source for the quote, but references Ms Clinton’s association with the Big Catch-up initiative, and her speech at Fortune’s Brainstorm Health Conference. It doubles down, claiming “Chelsea Clinton has declared that unvaccinated children in America must be forced to take the mRNA jab with or without parental consent.”

False information about health topics can cause harm, and undermine important public health messages. We have previously written extensively about bad vaccine information, and about false quotes claimed to have been made by public figures.

Ms Clinton did speak at the aforementioned conference and footage of her talk is available online. It contains references to the Big Catch-up, and efforts to encourage uptake and improve access to vaccines. 

The Big Catch-up is a World Health Organisation initiative aiming to reverse a decrease in routine vaccination levels for infections like measles and polio seen in some areas of the world during the Covid-19 pandemic. The press release launching the scheme does not refer to mandates or Covid vaccines.

In her speech, she makes no reference to mandates but does stress the “need” for parents to vaccinate their children in general.

Sara Horowitz, a spokesperson for Ms Clinton, told Reuters previously “She did not say this [about forced vaccinations] but very much believes (and did say) that no one should die of polio or measles or pneumonia including in this country where we also need people to be vaccinating our kids”.

Featured image courtesy of Lorie Shaull