A viral claim suggesting that the 'landing mishap' on the USS Carl Vinson carrier happened after the pilot suffered a reaction to the Covid-19 vaccine mid-air is found to be a hoax. It was also claimed that following the adverse reaction, the U.S. Navy pilot ejected himself from the F-35C warplane.
In a statement, the U.S. Navy said that seven sailors were injured after a pilot of the US F-35 fighter jet crashed on the deck of aircraft carrier in the South China Sea during a routine flight operation.
Pilot Suffered Adverse Reaction to Covid-19 Vaccine?
The hoax emerged in an article published by Real Raw News. Headlined "Navy Pilot Crashes Plane, Ejects, After Vax Reaction," the article, which was subsequently published by other outlets too, claimed that the F-35 pilot suffered an acute case of myocarditis just before he was to land on the deck of the aircraft carrier.
"As the F-35C pilot neared the USS Vinson, he "called the ball," but also said he was experiencing sudden and intense chest pain, as if "someone hit me with a baseball bat." The Landing Signal Operator aboard the USS Vinson noticed at once that the F-35 was above glideslope and would miss the wires. He ordered the pilot to "wave off" just as the pilot's crackled voice said on the radio, "Fucking vaccine." The pilot had barely enough strength to eject safely, though several boatswain's mates on the flight deck were injured when the plane struck the deck," read the report.
Revealing that the RRN received the "information" from a senior Navy officer, the outlet claimed that the pilot of the ill-fated aircraft, had received his booster shot aboard the USS Vinson 72-hours prior to the accident and suffered from no comorbidities.
Here is the Truth
Debunking the claim, Reuters reported that the story presented by RRR is baseless.
In a communique to the outlet, LCDR Christina M. Gibson, Public Affairs Officer at USS Carl Vinson stated that the pilot safely ejected from the aircraft and was recovered via U.S. military helicopter and the pilot was in stable condition.
"The claims in the Real Raw News story have no basis in fact. The cause of the crash is under investigation," read the mail.
Despite the claim being a hoax, it was discussed widely on the social media platforms. "In this report he had it 72 hours prior to the crash when there is circulatory Spike protein as shown by Ogata et al, '21. There should be great caution over any key positions (pilots, bus drivers, etc) during this high risk period given his and other lives potentially at stake," tweeted a user.
"A US Navy F-35C fighter pilot crashes plane and ejects; this is so incredibly rare I've not seen it in over two decades. 7 people are injured and at least 3 critically. Yes, he was fully jabbed and this occurred post-vaccination," read another tweet.
