US President Joe Biden speaks about the Covid-19 response and the US vaccination program in Washington, DC on July 6, 2021 ( AFP / Saul Loeb)

Biden did not announce 'quarantine camps' for unvaccinated Americans

  • This article is more than one year old.
  • Published on July 21, 2021 at 19:09
  • 2 min read
  • By Claire SAVAGE, AFP USA
Instagram posts claim US President Joe Biden announced that unvaccinated Americans will be sent to "quarantine camps" if they do not receive Covid-19 shots by 2022. But the claim originates from a satirical site, and the White House website makes no mention of such a plan.

"Americans Not Vaccinated Before 2022 Will Be Put in Camps," says text in an image featured in a July 20, 2021 Instagram post that claims Biden announced the plan.

"He will be putting Americans who have chosen to not be vaccinated into 'quarantine camps' where they will be detained indefinitely until they get their shots," it says.

Image
Screenshot of an Instagram post taken on July 20, 2021

More examples of the claim appear on Instagram here and here.

A search for text from the post and valuewalk.com -- the web address visible in the image it contains -- leads to this June 21, 2021 article with the same image and text.

"Disclaimer: This is a satirical article," the bottom of the story says. It also notes that the content originally appeared on The Stonk Market, a self-described "financial satire site."

The search query "'quarantine' AND 'camp'" on the White House website does not yield results supporting the claim.

According to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), quarantine stations may be used to determine whether sick and contagious people may enter the United States, but the webpage makes no mention of vaccination status.

In the early stages of the Covid-19 pandemic, the Pentagon approved "housing support" for travelers returning from overseas at the request of the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).

But a spokesperson for the US Department of Defense called the claim that unvaccinated people will be detained in quarantine camps "not accurate."

AFP Fact Check has debunked more inaccurate claims about vaccines here and about Biden here.

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