A viral Twitter trend encouraged hundreds of people, including the Duolingo owl, to mock a woman who claimed to have experienced a COVID-19 vaccine injury..The "Thanks Pfizer" trend was started in response to Louisiana woman Angelia Desselle, who said she was injured following two doses of Pfizer vaccines..Desselle, a former healthcare worker, claimed she had a headache within two hours of her shot. Four days later, she had lost the use of her legs and was having severe, full-body convulsions. .The woman claims even 19-months later, she is still experiencing tremors, heart issues and kidney problems. The Louisiana woman posted several videos of her struggling to walk due to convulsions, including a video of her in a hospital.."When does this nightmare end? Two years after one dose of Pfizer, heart issues and kidneys are not functioning properly. Please stop and think before you take another booster. They don’t protect you, they only harm you!" Desselle said in one tweet..On Sunday, in response to Tesla CEO Elon Musk talking about his severe COVID-19 vaccine reaction, Desselle replied with a video of her struggling to walk due to convulsions. Former New York Times reporter Alex Berenson replied, calling "these shake videos" the "long COVID of the anti-mRNA movement, and equally credible.".Berenson, who has been highly critical of COVID-19 vaccines, nonetheless called the video "performative nonsense." His comments unleashed a wash of mockery towards Desselle from people accusing her of faking her ailment.."Why does this phenomenon only happen to white American republicans?" asked one user. "It’s kinda weird to get your phone out and film yourself flopping around to lie to the internet," said another.."When do the Oscar nominations come out for Best Performance of a Fake Vax Side Effect?" asked Randi Mayem Singer, the screenwriter for the film Ms. Doubtfire..This led to a viral trend called "Thanks Pfizer" where people would post videos of people dancing and blame the pharmaceutical company..Even Duolingo, a language education app, got in on the trend. In a follow-up tweet, Duolingo included a Spanish translation of the sentence, "twerking is not a side effect.".Readers also added fact-checks to Deselle's tweets, stating "Spasming has not been a proven side effect of the vaccine, and this account frequently posts misinformation," and "Fact-checkers have not been able to verify that Deselle's side effects are real and caused by vaccination.".Dr. Pierre Kory, a doctor with the Front Line COVID-19 Critical Care Alliance, came to Deselle's defence on Twitter. ".Angelia is my patient and has endured endless suffering for over 2 years now," he said in response to Berenen's initial tweet.."An amount of suffering which most can barely imagine (although improving with treatment). What a tragic and damaging presence you have become with such an ignorant tweet.".Despite the campaign of mockery, Desselle said she is not bothered by comments mocking her ailment anymore.."It’s been two years of ugly hatful people."
