Unvaccinated TikTokers are rallying together by pretending they're the "lone survivors" of the coronavirus pandemic.
In more than a dozen videos seen by Insider, TikTok users are falsely claiming those who have not been vaccinated will be the last remaining survivors on earth.
Some of the videos involve TikTokers facing away from the camera, with their hands on their hips, as audio from the 2007 "The Transformers" plays in the background.
"I am Optimus Prime," the audio says "and I send this message to any surviving Autobots taking refuge among the stars. We are here. We are waiting." The videos are accompanied by hashtags including #unvaccinated and #wearehere.
One video in this format, which shows two men standing in their garden with their hands on their hips, has almost half a million views.
Other formats of the "lone survivor" videos include people whistling to the "Hunger Games" theme song alongside the caption: "Calling out all my unvaccinated Americans."
A TikToker, who made one of these videos, told Insider: "It's not like I believe everyone will die from the vaccine but I liked this format and am a 'Transformers' fan."
The person, aged 21, also said they don't plan to get the vaccine because they believe "it can harm young people" and said they think it's "unfair that the government is making people take them." They did not want to be named for this article.
The Pfizer, Moderna, and Johnson & Johnson vaccines have all been authorized by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and have very good safety records.
In October last year, Insider identified more than two dozen videos in which people were pretending to experience painful or sinister side-effects after taking a COVID-19 vaccine.
Many of the videos were fictional or joking in nature, however, experts told Insider they can still help spread anti-vaccine sentiment.
The lone survivor videos also come as the demand for COVID-19 vaccinations is slowing down across the US — a trend that has some experts concerned.
Kolina Koltai, a postdoctoral fellow at the Center for an Informed Public at The University of Washington, told Insider she's "not a fan of the videos" because they "can encourage vaccine hesitancy."
However, Koltai believes that while they promote anti-vaccine sentiment, they are "not doing anything that would fall under vaccine misinformation ... They don't make any claims about the vaccine, like if it is dangerous or that it is unnecessary."
"Expressing your opinion or sentiment on vaccines is something that should be allowed on platforms, even at the expense that it may encourage others to be more vaccine-hesitant," she added. "The bigger issue is vaccine misinformation on social media platforms and the persistent anti-vaccination narratives being promoted."
A TikTok spokesperson told Insider: "Our Community Guidelines prohibit content that's false or misleading, including medical misinformation related to COVID-19, and anti-vaccine disinformation more broadly ... In addition to removing content, we redirect searches associated with vaccine or COVID-19 disinformation to our Community Guidelines and do not autocomplete anti-vaccine hashtags in search."
The company did not include their COVID-19 tags on any of the "lone survivor" videos.
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