Does vaccination with the pneumococcal vaccine administered in Bulgaria as part of the recommended immunizations lead to death during sleep? No, that's not true: The vaccine used in Bulgaria against pneumococcal infections is the polysaccharide conjugate vaccine "Prevenar 13." It has been tested and approved for use by European institutions. The product information and the European Public Assessment Report (EPAR) do not mention any serious side effects.
The claim appeared in a video on TikTok (archived here) published by @ventsiangelovchicagoto on January 7, 2024.
The Bulgarian text visible on the top of the video, translated from Bulgarian into English by Lead Stories staff, reads:
People's Party 'Truth and Only the Truth': Do not get vaccinated because you will die in your sleep!
This is what the post looked like on TikTok at the time of writing:
(Source: TikTok screenshot taken on Tue Jan 23 09:09:43 2024 UTC)
The claim was published on the Facebook page of the leader of the Bulgarian party "The Truth and Only the Truth" (archived here), Vencislav Angelov (archived here). The party is known (archived here) for its stance against COVID-19 vaccines and for spreading conspiracy theories. Angelov was convicted (archived here) in 2023 for assaulting and threatening to kill a doctor in 2022.
Angelov made this claim in response to a television report (archived here) by Bulgarian National Television (BNT), which he included in the TikTok video. BNT reported on the government's campaign launched in January 2024 (archived here) to offer free and voluntary vaccination with a pneumococcal vaccine for people over the age of 65. In another video (archived here) about pneumococcal vaccines, posted on TikTok on January 7, 2024, Angelov admits that he posted on his page the claim that the vaccination against pneumococcal infections leads to death during sleep.
According to the specialized website (archived here) of the Ministry of Health for immunizations in Bulgaria, the polysaccharide conjugate vaccine "Prevenar 13" is recommended for vaccination against pneumococcal infections. It is administered to children born before 2010, as well as adults aged 18 and over, including the elderly. Since 2010, vaccination against pneumococcal infections has been mandatory in Bulgaria for infants, using a different polysaccharide conjugate vaccine, the Synflorix (archived here).
Neither the official document (archived here) describing the product information and side effects of "Prevenar 13" nor the European Public Assessment Report (EPAR) for "Prevenar 13" (archived here), both available on the European Medicines Agency website, mentions any serious side effects that would support Angelov's claim.
