U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., died Sept. 29 at age 90. Her office told news outlets that the longtime lawmaker died of natural causes.
But some social media users have misleadingly suggested that she died because of a COVID-19 vaccine.
“Just received the new flu and COVID vaccine, make sure to get yours!” reads what looks like a screenshot of a Sept. 27 post on X, formerly Twitter, from Feinstein.
An Instagram post sharing the image was flagged as part of Meta’s efforts to combat false news and misinformation on its News Feed. (Read more about our partnership with Meta, which owns Facebook and Instagram.) The post was later removed.
The handle of the supposed X post — @dianefeinstein — is not among the late senator’s X accounts and misspelled Feinstein’s first name.
Before her death, Feinstein had suffered health setbacks.
After a case of shingles prompted her absence from the Senate, she returned to the chamber in May but she “was frail and using a wheelchair, voting only occasionally,” The Associated Press reported. Feinstein’s absence caused some legislators to call for her resignation.
Feinstein advocated for COVID-19 vaccines, introducing legislation in 2021 requiring a vaccine, a negative COVID-19 test or documentation of recovery from the virus to fly domestically.
But we found no evidence that she tweeted the statement that appears in the Instagram post.
We rate claims that Feinstein tweeted about getting COVID-19 and flu vaccines days before her death False.
This fact check was originally published by PolitiFact, which is part of the Poynter Institute. See the sources for this fact check here.
