Post falsely claims Trump bans Covid-19 mRNA vaccines

“BREAKING NEWS: TRUMP STRIKES BACK — DEATH PENALTY FOR mRNA CRIMES NOW ON THE TABLE”, reads the headline of a lengthy Facebook post published on February 26, 2025.

It goes on to read: “President Trump has BANNED all mRNA shots, issued orders for MASS ARRESTS, and is preparing MILITARY TRIBUNALS for the criminals behind the pandemic. Bill Gates, Fauci, Big Pharma CEOs — their days are numbered. The DEATH PENALTY is now in play for crimes against humanity.”

The Gates Foundation has contributed to development and surveillance programmes around the world; Anthony Fauci, meanwhile, was a top health official who led the US campaign against Covid-19 and retired in 2022. 

The post goes on to suggest the pandemic “was about control, power, and depopulation,” echoing recurrent conspiracy theories about depopulation through vaccines.  

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Screenshot showing the false post, taken March 12, 2025

The post, shared more than 300 times, was published by a Nigeria-based account. A review of the account shows most of the content is in support of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB). 

IPOB is a group pushing for the independence of Nigeria’s southeast region, where a bloody civil war was fought in the late 1960s.

The claim has been shared in English by several other Facebook accounts around the world  (like here and here) and also in French (like here and here).

No ban

Trump publicly praised the mRNA vaccines against Covid-19 when they were developed toward the end of his first term in office (archived here).

The second Trump administration has not, to date, made any announcements banning Covid-19 shots, whether they are mRNA jabs or other types of vaccines. 

AFP Fact Check reviewed Trump’s executive orders and found none banning mRNA vaccines nor punishing its makers or proponents (archived here). 

However, he has issued orders related to vaccine mandates.

On January 27, 2025, Trump signed an executive order reinstating members of the armed services who were discharged for refusing to take Covid-19 vaccines (archived here). On February 15, 2025, he signed an executive order prohibiting educational institutions from requiring Covid-19 vaccinations for attendance (archived here). 

Reiss told AFP Fact Check on March 13, 2025,  that there is no bill criminalising Covid-19 vaccine use before the US Congress, adding that “to make using the vaccine a criminal offense, Congress would have to pass an act, and President Trump would have to sign it”.

AFP Fact Check also reached out to Pfizer, which developed the mRNA Covid-19 known under the brand name Comirnaty with BioNTech. 

“Regulatory authorities around the world have authorized the Pfizer-BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine, and expert medical committees have and continue to recommend its use,” Pfizer told AFP Fact Check on March 5, 2025.

mRNA is short for “messenger RNA” or a molecule that teaches our cells to make a certain protein -- in Covid’s case, the spike protein -- that the immune system recognises as foreign.

Cells then start to produce antibodies against the protein so that the body will trigger a normal immune response when they encounter the virus.

Traditional vaccines, however, use weakened or inactivated pathogens to stimulate an immune response.