Dianne Feinstein did not post about vaccines before death

"Just received the new Flu and COVID vaccine, make sure to get yours!" says what appears to be a September 27, 2023 post from Feinstein on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter.

The supposed screengrab shows the handle "@dianefeinstein" alongside a portrait of her from a 2015 profile in The New Yorker magazine.

The image pinballed across X, Instagram, Facebook and other platforms after Feinstein, the Senate's oldest member and a titan of US political life, died September 29.

Anti-vaccine advocates shared the apparent post as proof that vaccines killed the California Democrat, echoing longstanding conspiracy theories that falsely claim the Covid-19 shots are causing widespread deaths.

"Well that didn’t take long. Dead two days later," says one September 29 Instagram post sharing the image.

Image

Screenshot from Instagram taken October 3, 2023

The alleged Feinstein post is fabricated.

"Those images are fake," Ron Eckstein, Feinstein's press secretary, told AFP in an October 3 email.

The two X pages affiliated with Feinstein during her time in office were @SenFeinstein and @DianneFeinstein. AFP did not find the supposed post about vaccines on live or archived versions of those accounts.

The late senator's only X posts on September 27 were to congratulate university researchers who won an award and to re-share a message about World Dense Breast Day.

The @dianefeinstein page, meanwhile, has no bio or profile picture. It has not posted or followed any other accounts -- and it misspells the Californian's first name.

"Senator Feinstein's name is 'Dianne' not 'Diane,'" Eckstein said.

'Natural causes'

Feinstein missed almost three months of work in early 2023 due to shingles. After she returned to the Senate, she used a wheelchair to get around.

While AFP could not determine whether Feinstein received the Covid-19 booster or flu shot, Eckstein confirmed vaccination was not to blame for her death.

"Senator Feinstein died of natural causes," he said.

Feinstein repeatedly advocated for Covid-19 vaccines during her time in office.

She urged Californians to get the shots in a May 2021 column published in the Fresno Bee newspaper. In September of that year, she introduced legislation to require all passengers on domestic flights to be fully vaccinated, test negative for Covid-19 or provide documentation that they had recovered from the virus (archived here). The bill was not enacted.

The fake tweet follows changes to X's verification system under owner Elon Musk that have made it easier for users to impersonate officials who once received blue checkmarks verifying their identity.

Feinstein is the latest public figure whose death has been misconstrued by anti-vaccine advocates. Similar claims falsely blaming Covid-19 shots circulated online after the deaths of celebrities such as actress Betty White, baseball legend Hank Aaron and Queen Elizabeth II.

AFP has debunked other misinformation about vaccines here.