The claim: Joe Biden announced that unvaccinated people by 2022 will be sent to quarantine camps
President Joe Biden continued to urge those who have not received the COVID-19 vaccine to get vaccinated after missing his goal of getting at least one dose to 70% of American adults by July 4.
But he hasn’t threatened the unvaccinated with detention in a “quarantine camp” if they don’t get vaccinated by 2022, as an attention-grabbing Instagram post claims.
Actor Noel Gugliemi, also known as Noel G., shared the post but then deleted it. Another Instagram user posted an identical version on July 20 with the text “Is this real?”
It shows a headline on the ValueWalk website that says Biden “announces Americans not vaccinated before 2022 to be placed in camps,” in an illustration of the president.
He says the unvaccinated will be “detained indefinitely” if they do not have a vaccine by 2022.
It’s wrong. ValueWalk includes a disclaimer stating that the post is satire, but Gugliemi’s post does not include such a tag.
Checking the facts:Edited video puts two clips together to show Biden making toddlers cry
Gugliemi and the user who shared the post on July 20 did not respond to Instagram posts seeking comment.
The original post was satire, but featured on Instagram as real
The Instagram post was from the ValueWalk website, but it was also a replay of another website, The Stonk Market.
This is an example of what you might call a ‘stolen satire’, where stories written as satire and presented that way originally are captured via a screenshot and reposted in a way that makes them appear as legitimate news. As a result, readers of the second-gen post are being misled, as was the case here.
ValueWalk describes itself as “a highly regarded non-partisan site” which is a resource for investors. The post that claims Biden planned to send unvaccinated people to detention camps in 2022 was listed in the politics section of ValueWalk on June 21.
It includes a disclaimer that the article was satirical, buried under several advertisements, and notes that it originally appeared on The Stonk Market.
The Stonk Market version was released on June 17, four days before ValueWalk republished it. The Stonk Market calls itself a “financial satire site”. He says his mission is “to provide everyday humor and raise the stonks.”
While both websites jokingly posted the article, the versions shared on Instagram did not include any disclaimers.
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Several commentators on Gugliemi’s post questioned whether it was real and encouraged him to stop spreading misinformation before it was deleted.
Biden pushes vaccines, but no threat of detention
With the Delta variant of the coronavirus now spreading as the dominant strain in the United States, the White House has continued to push vaccines for those who still haven’t received at least one dose.
About 56% of people in the United States had received at least one dose by July 19. Almost 49% were fully vaccinated at that time, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The share of adults getting vaccinated is higher: 68% received at least one dose and nearly 60% were fully vaccinated by July 19.
Checking the facts:Quarantine ‘camps’ are real, but COVID-19 camp’s claim stretches the truth
After missing the goal of getting 70% of adults at least one dose by July 4, Biden presented new plans to speed up vaccine distribution, including door-to-door awareness of the shooting and expansion of mobile clinics and vaccination sites for workers.
Pop star Olivia Rodrigo took to the White House in July to promote vaccines, including sharing a selfie with Biden to his 14.9 million Instagram followers to encourage younger people to get vaccinated.
Checking the facts:Photo of Olivia Rodrigo at a White House press briefing modified to add Joe Biden
USA TODAY found no reference to Biden or other members of his administration threatening to detain unvaccinated people in public remarks.
Our rating: False
The claim that Biden announced that unvaccinated people by 2022 would be sent to camps is FALSE, our research shows. The claim came from a satirical website. While the source of the original article calls it satire, the Instagram post shared on July 20 does not. USA TODAY could find no evidence that Biden made reference to placing unvaccinated people in camps in 2022.
Our sources of fact-checking:
- USA TODAY, June 22, Biden administration admits it will not meet July 4 vaccination target; CDC Studies Explain Vaccination Slowdown: Latest COVID-19 Updates
- ValueWalk, accessed July 20, About ValueWalk
- The Stonk Market, accessed July 20, About the Stonk Market
- CDC, Accessed July 20, COVID Data Tracker: Variant Proportions
- CDC, accessed July 20, COVID Data Tracker: Vaccinations
- USA TODAY, July 6, Joe Biden Steps Up Immunization Campaign With New Initiatives; Pfizer and Moderna Vaccines Close to Full FDA Approval ?: Today’s COVID-19 Updates
- Olivia Rodrigo, July 14, Instagram post
- USA TODAY, July 14, Olivia Rodrigo wears Aviator sunglasses with Biden, meets Fauci for the vaccination campaign
- The White House, accessed July 20, White House Briefing Room
- Internet Movie Database, accessed July 20, Noel Gugliemi
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Our fact-checking work is supported in part by a grant from Facebook.
