An ex-Brexit Party candidate today faced backlash for wrongly claiming Japan has banned Covid vaccines. 

Jim Ferguson, who narrowly missed out on becoming an MP in the 2019 General Election, said injections made by the likes of Pfizer and Moderna were linked to ‘soaring deaths’. 

His post, linking to an article reporting on the bogus claim, was viewed millions of times. 

Shamed MP Andrew Bridgen, who was kicked out of the Tory party for comparing the vaccine roll-out to the Holocaust, shared a similar post that mentioned Japan’s non-existent ban. 

Japan has never outlawed mRNA Covid vaccines, although the claims are widely circulating on social media among anti-vaxx groups who believe that the jabs are behind a sudden wave of deaths in the UK and beyond.

Jim Ferguson (pictured), who narrowly missed out on becoming an MP in the 2019 General Election, said injections made by the likes of Pfizer and Moderna were linked to ‘soaring deaths’

In Mr Ferguson’s original post on X, formerly known as Twitter, the former Barnsley East candidate said: ‘Japan has just banned Covid mRNA shots for public use and called on other nations to follow suit after an official government study tied the injections to the nation’s soaring sudden deaths.’ Pictured, Mr Ferguson (second right) in May 2019

Leading doctors, experts and charities have repeatedly insisted the jabs are safe.

They have been credited with saving 20million lives in their first year of deployment alone, as well as ending the series of Covid lockdowns that crippled economies and saw families separated. 

However, like any medical product, jabs have a range of side effects that vary in how common and severe they can be. 

mRNA Covid jabs, like those made by Pfizer and Moderna, have been linked to rare reports of myocarditis — a potentially dangerous inflammation of the heart.

The vast majority of cases were mild and resolved on their own.

Studies have also shown the risk of myocarditis, which can also be triggered by an infection like Covid, was higher from the virus than the jab.

Reacting to the claims currently sweeping social media, Professor Jonathan Ball, a virologist at Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, told MailOnline: ‘Some people struggle with the truth.

‘A recent study from Japan showed that the reports for adverse effects from mRNA vaccines were in line with those reported by other nations.

‘Yes, they can occur, but are rare and far outweighed by beneficial effects, especially in vulnerable people.’

Dr Doug Brown, chief executive of the British Society for Immunology, said: ‘The safety and effectiveness assessments of all medicines and vaccines are based on robust and comprehensive analysis of the evidence. 

‘These assessments are carried out as standard for all vaccines and medicines licenced in the UK.

‘There is now a huge amount of evidence from multiple studies which shows that Covid vaccines, including the mRNA vaccines, are the safest and most effective way to prevent serious illness and death from Covid, and the benefits of being vaccinated by far outweigh the risks in the vast majority of people.’

In Mr Ferguson’s original post on X, formerly known as Twitter, the former Barnsley East candidate said: ‘Japan has just banned Covid mRNA shots for public use and called on other nations to follow suit after an official government study tied the injections to the nation’s soaring sudden deaths.

‘Like many other countries around the world, Japan has been battling a crisis of skyrocketing sudden and unexpected deaths since 2021. 

‘The issue has become so dire in Japan that the country is now facing population collapse as more citizens are dying than are being born.

‘New studies in Japan have now linked the soaring deaths to Covid injections.’

mRNA Covid jabs, like those made by Pfizer and Moderna , have been linked to rare reports of myocarditis — a potentially dangerous inflammation of the heart. However, the vast majority of cases were mild and resolved on their own

The words of his post appear to be copied and pasted from a news story written by Prepare for Change.

X readers also tore apart Mr Ferguson’s post.

One responded to with a link to a Japanese news website which reported how the country approved another type of mRNA Covid vaccine in December. 

Others suggested the post had misinterpreted a change to Japan’s Covid vaccine roll-out. From April, many Japanese residents are expected to have to pay for jabs.

Its Government, ‘like most around the world, still acknowledge the benefit that the vaccines bring to vulnerable people’, Professor Ball also told MailOnline. 

Blood clots caused by rare adverse reaction to the AstraZeneca Covid vaccine are known to have resulted in 81 fatalities as well as a higher number of injuries.

For context, over 50million doses of the AstraZeneca jab were used in the UK. It is not an mRNA vaccine.