No, the COVID-19 vaccine didn’t cause Ashton Kutcher’s vasculitis

In December 2021, People magazine published a list of celebrities and politicians who got vaccinated against COVID-19. Among them were actors Mila Kunis and Ashton Kutcher.

The story recalls how Kunis told talk show hosts Kelly Ripa and Ryan Seacrest in April of that year that she and her husband, Kutcher, were vaccinated after she "waited in lines ‘all around LA’ in an attempt to get leftover vaccines." 

This anecdote is now being offered as evidence on social media that the vaccine injured Kutcher. But Kutcher got sick before Americans could get COVID-19 vaccines domestically.

The words "how it started…" appear over a screenshot of the story, while the words "how it’s going" appear over a screenshot of a different headline: "Ashton Kutcher lost vision, hearing and ability to walk after rare autoimmune diagnosis." 

An Instagram post sharing these images was flagged as part of Facebook’s efforts to combat false news and misinformation on its News Feed. (Read more about our partnership with Facebook.)

We don’t know when exactly Kunis and Kutcher received their COVID-19 vaccines, but the first doses weren’t available in the United States before December 2020. Kutcher’s illness preceded that.

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In a trailer for an upcoming episode of the show "Running Wild with Bear Grylls: The Challenge," which Access Hollywood published online Aug. 8, Kutcher says: "Like two years ago, I had this weird rare form of vasculitis that like knocked out my vision, it knocked out my hearing, it knocked out like all my equilibrium. It took me like a year to build it all back up." 

Vasculitis involves the inflammation of the blood vessels that can cause organ and tissue damage, according to the Mayo Clinic. The exact cause isn’t fully understood and can depend on someone’s genetic makeup and immune system. Possible triggers include infections, such as hepatitis B and hepatitis C, blood cancers and reactions to certain drugs. 

We found no evidence to support the claim that Kutcher’s vasculitis, and accompanying complications, were caused by a COVID-19 vaccine. We rate this post False.