Anti-Vaxxers Cite Unverified Study to Claim COVID-19 Vaccines Cause Psychiatric Conditions, Including Homicidal Ideation
By Andie Slomka
What happened: Prominent anti-vaxxers are citing an April 2025 study, which has not yet been peer-reviewed, to claim that COVID-19 vaccines cause 86 neuropsychiatric side effects, including dementia, schizophrenia, depression, and suicidal and homicidal ideation.
A closer look: The study was co-authored by Dr. Peter McCullough, a Texas-based cardiologist who has repeatedly advanced false or egregiously misleading claims about COVID vaccines.
The study cited reports of various neuropsychiatric conditions following COVID vaccination recorded in the U.S. Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS), a government database that collects unverified reports of adverse events following vaccination.
An April 14 article published on McCullough’s Substack summarized the research, stating that the study “identified alarming increases in 86 adverse events related to brain function, behavior, and cognition” following COVID vaccination.
An X post by Dr. Sherri Tenpenny, an Ohio-based physician and anti-vaccine activist, stated on April 14: “The data is undeniable: researchers found alarming associations between mRNA COVID-19 vaccines and cognitive decline, psychiatric disorders, and increased suicidal and homicidal behavior. These experimental injections have gone far enough. It’s time to stop mRNA.” The post garnered 143,400 views and 4,200 likes.
The claim also spread on a slew of websites NewsGuard has found to repeatedly publish false health claims, including an April 15 article from Slay News (NewsGuard Trust Score: 0/100) titled “Covid mRNA ‘Vaccines’ Caused ‘Alarming’ Surge in Violent Behavior, Homicidal Ideation.”
Actually: Reports submitted to VAERS are unverified and can be submitted by anyone, including anti-vaccine activists, making it an unreliable source for drawing conclusions about the safety or side effects of any vaccine or medicine.
VAERS acknowledges on its website that its data “cannot be used to determine if a vaccine caused or contributed to an adverse event or illness” and “cannot be used to determine rates of adverse events.” (Reality Check members can dive deeper into NewsGuard’s analysis of VAERS data here.)
There is no credible evidence that COVID vaccines cause neuropsychiatric conditions, according to experts.
McCullough did not respond to a contact form submission from NewsGuard seeking comment about the validity of his study.