No evidence linking toddler death to COVID-19 vaccines

^{By Ellen McCutchan}

Anti-vaxxers have baselessly linked the sudden death of a two-year-old boy at a Queensland childcare centre to COVID-19 vaccination, despite a dearth of supporting evidence. 

Police confirmed the boy passed away at Little Gems Childcare and Early Learning Centre in Maryborough on Wednesday, July 20, and that the death was not suspicious.

Despite no other details about the incident being made public, one online article about the death – published on a website known to spread misinformation – labelled the toddler as being "fully jabbed".

A quote included in the article's headline also suggested the boy died "suddenly and mysteriously", but is not attributed to any person or organisation.

Countless posts and comments on Facebook, Twitter, Reddit and Telegram have also drawn the unsubstantiated link between vaccines and the two-year-old's death.

RMIT FactLab has been unable to find any evidence the boy had been vaccinated for COVID-19, that vaccination had played any role in his death, or that his death was being considered by officials as "mysterious".

In fact, while it is possible the boy may have been vaccinated overseas (there is no evidence to suggest this is the case), no COVID-19 vaccination is currently available in Australia to children under the age of five.

A day before the boy's death, the Moderna vaccination was provisionally approved by the Therapeutic Goods Administration for use in children aged 6 months to five years. 

According to Health Minister Mark Butler, however, there were still "a number of steps" that needed to be taken before it would be made available to the public.

As for whether the death was ever labelled "mysterious", a spokesman for the Queensland Police Service provided FactLab with the only statement that has been issued since the child's death.

That statement noted only that the death was "sudden" and that "preliminary investigations indicate the death is not suspicious".

The two-year-old's death was followed just days later with news that a toddler had passed away from COVID-19 at the Queensland Children's Hospital, with the state's Deputy Premier, Steven Miles, offering his condolences at a media conference on Wednesday.

"The death of a child is awfully sad and my heart just goes out to that family," Mr Miles said.