FACT FOCUS: COVID vaccines are not in the food supply

FACT FOCUS: COVID vaccines are not in the food supply

FILE - A line of Holstein dairy cows feed through a fence at a dairy farm, March 11, 2009, outside Jerome, Idaho. Recent vaccine conspiracy theories are casting an air of fear around livestock and produce, falsely suggesting COVID-19 vaccines are going to be passed along through the food supply. (AP Photo/Charlie Litchfield, File)

Anti-vaccine advocates have for years used foreboding imagery of syringes to paint immunizations as dark and dangerous. But recent vaccine conspiracy theories are casting an air of fear around more mundane things — like cows and lettuce.

In widespread posts online in recent weeks, misinformation purveyors have spread an erroneous narrative that COVID-19 mRNA vaccines are being quietly added to the food supply, threatening staunch vaccine holdouts.