“Moderna began developing a hantavirus mRNA vaccine in 2024,” it says, adding this was the “exact same playbook” the world saw with the Covid-19 pandemic.<\/p>\n
“Scaring the public, stoking anxiety and ultimately pushing a new mRNA vaccine — a classic Deep State tactic.”<\/p>\n
It quotes a nearly identical post that featured press releases about a collaboration between Covid-19 vaccine maker Moderna and Korea University’s College of Medicine on the development of an mRNA-based hantavirus jab.<\/p>\n
![\"<span>Screenshot](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/2788ec83f843066cc6f0ff470086fa61.jpeg\"\/)
<\/p>\n
Screenshot of the false post captured on May 19, 2026, with a red X added by AFP<\/p>\n
Similar false claims ricocheted in\u00a0Chinese<\/a>, Dutch<\/a> and\u00a0English<\/a> posts, with some alleging hantavirus “does not exist<\/a>” and the deadly outbreak<\/a> aboard the MV Hondius cruise ship was “pre-planned<\/a>” (archived link<\/a>).<\/p>\n The posts echo falsehoods<\/a> peddled by opponents of coronavirus jabs, including that the Covid-19 pandemic was manufactured to benefit vaccine makers<\/a> such as Moderna or to serve a so-called “depopulation<\/a>” agenda.<\/p>\n As with earlier waves of misinformation around Covid-19, the circulating claims about hantavirus are\u00a0inaccurate.<\/p>\n Misrepresented vaccine research<\/p>\n The vaccine research collaboration was announced in a press release<\/a> published on the website of the nonprofit American Association for the Advancement of Science on September 5, 2024 (archived link<\/a>).<\/p>\n It says Korea University’s College of Medicine partnered with Moderna to develop a messenger RNA (mRNA) vaccine for hantavirus, which infects hundreds in Korea each year, predominantly young men during military service and residents in high-risk areas.<\/p>\n Kim Woo-joo<\/a>, chair professor of the university’s Vaccine Innovation Center<\/a>, said the collaboration aimed to address a “long-neglected pathogen” (archived here<\/a> and here<\/a>).<\/p>\n Although “relatively uncommon”, some hantavirus cases are associated with a high fatality rate<\/a>, making the disease “a major public health concern”, according to the World Health Organization (WHO) (archived link<\/a>).<\/p>\n “People pay attention when a high-profile death occurs, and then ask why there is no vaccine, but interest quickly fades,” Kim told AFP on May 12, adding continued research on a jab is necessary.<\/p>\n Moderna separately told AFP the partnership with Korea University is part of the company’s efforts “to develop countermeasures against emerging infectious diseases”.<\/p>\n The initiative<\/a>\u00a0was widely covered<\/a> by local media<\/a>, contradicting some posts<\/a> that suggest Moderna and Korea University attempted to\u00a0hide<\/a> the project\u00a0(archived here<\/a>, here<\/a> and here<\/a>).<\/p>\n There are currently no approved vaccines for global use or specific treatments for hantavirus.<\/p>\n Inactivated hantavirus vaccines<\/a> — which contain weakened or deactivated forms of the pathogen — have been previously developed in South Korea and China (archived link<\/a>).<\/p>\n But they “need to be updated to match strains that are circulating today”, Kim Won-keun<\/a>, an associate professor of microbiology at Hallym University, told AFP.<\/p>\n ‘Low’ pandemic risk<\/p>\n Unlike Covid-19, which killed millions worldwide, the risk that hantavirus poses to the general population is “absolutely low<\/a>“, WHO spokesperson Christian Lindmeier said on May 8\u00a0(archived link<\/a>).<\/p>\n Hantavirus is “a dangerous virus, but only to the person who is really infected,” Lindmeier said.<\/p>\n Kim, the microbiology professor, said that given the hantavirus’s limited mode of transmission, it is highly unlikely that it could cause a global pandemic.<\/p>\n Not all hantaviruses can cause human infections, but the strains<\/a> that do are transmitted through inhalation of aerosols contaminated by the saliva, droppings or urine of infected rodents (archived link<\/a>).<\/p>\n A total of 10 cases<\/a> have been reported in the cruise ship outbreak, including three deaths as of May 15, with eight cases confirmed for Andes virus infection — the\u00a0only strain<\/a> transmitted between humans and predominantly found in South America\u00a0(archived here<\/a> and here<\/a>).<\/p>\n All known cases in the current outbreak were people on board the Dutch-flagged\u00a0vessel travelling from Argentina to Cape Verde.<\/p>\n The first person to die had spent 48 hours in the picturesque city of Ushuaia with his wife — who died two weeks later — before embarking on the cruise, raising suspicions<\/a> that they had contracted the virus in Argentina (archived link<\/a>).<\/p>\n Provincial officials deny this hypothesis, with local scientists believing it is more likely that the infections aboard the cruise ship occurred in another region.<\/p>\n Nicholas SHEARMANAFP<\/p>\n (Nicholas SHEARMAN \/ AFP)Old pathogen<\/p>\n Furthermore, unlike Covid-19 — which is caused by a virus previously unknown until its detection in late 2019 — hantavirus has long been identified.<\/p>\n Hantaviruses are split into two groups<\/a>: the so-called old world viruses found in Europe, Asia and Africa; and new world ones in North, Central and South America (archived link<\/a>).<\/p>\n Two major outbreaks have led to the discovery of the distinct groups, according to a 2010 study<\/a> in the peer-reviewed journal Clinical Microbiology Reviews (archived link<\/a>).<\/p>\n The first sickened more than 3,000 United Nations troops fighting in the 1950-53 Korean War, which also led to the virus being\u00a0named<\/a> after the Hantan River in South Korea (archived link<\/a>).<\/p>\n The second occurred in the southwestern United States in 1993, where the disease was confirmed in 18 patients<\/a>.<\/p>\n Hantavirus infection has been a nationally notifiable disease<\/a> in the United States since 1995 (archived link<\/a>).<\/p>\n In South Korea, it became a reportable disease<\/a> requiring continuous surveillance in 1976, according to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (archived link<\/a>).<\/p>\n![\"<span>Infographic](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/213e562900d41ac28013c5fc395e63ac.jpeg\"\/)
Infographic explaining the R value, contagiousness of selcted diseases, including Andes hantavirus.<\/p>\n