The World Economic Forum hired “unvaccinated pilots” to fly people into Davos, Switzerland, for its annual meeting for safety reasons.
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A panel discussion takes place Jan. 17, 2023, at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. (AP)
Claims that World Economic Forum is hiring only unvaccinated pilots don’t fly
If Your Time is short
- There’s no evidence to support this claim.
The World Economic Forum’s annual meeting is underway in Davos, Switzerland, and misinformation about the event has taken flight.
"WEF hires unvaccinated pilots to fly them into Davos: ‘Safety of our members is No. 1 priority,’" reads one Jan. 15 blog post headline.
The post adds that World Economic Forum founder Klaus Schwab "banned vaccinated pilots from transporting World Economic Forum members in and out of Davos due to the safety risk they pose."
It was flagged as part of Facebook’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 cites a recent video in which a former pilot says that Josh Yoder, president of U.S. Freedom Flyers, a group against vaccine mandates, "said they’re getting calls now from wealthy businessmen and companies to fly their executives around on business jets with unvaccinated crews."
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But the former pilot doesn’t mention Davos or the World Economic Forum, and Yoder rebutted claims connecting him to the rumor that the World Economic Forum had hired only unvaccinated pilots.
"Click bait journalism is a scourge," Yoder tweeted Jan. 15. "I never said that WEF/Davos has reached out looking for unvaccinated pilots. What I did say was that wealthy businessmen have reached out to me for that purpose."
Featured Fact-check
We reached out to the World Economic Forum about the blog post but didn’t hear back.
We found no credible sources to corroborate this claim. Rather, on its website, the World Economic Forum has championed COVID-19 vaccines.
We rate this post’s headline False.
Our Sources
Blog post, Jan. 15, 2023
Josh Yoder tweet, Jan. 15, 2023
World Economic Forum, Vaccination articles, visited Jan. 17, 2023
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Claims that World Economic Forum is hiring only unvaccinated pilots don’t fly
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