Fact Check: Is There a Connection Between COVID Vaccines and Hepatitis C?

In a viral tweet from last week, Dr. Peter McCullough, a Texas cardiologist and frequent purveyor of COVID-19 misinformation, claimed that there is a connection between the COVID-19 vaccine and hepatitis C: 

McCullough’s claim leaves out the context that the study he cites is based on one patient. The study, which can be read here, acknowledges that it “cannot exclude a coincidental occurrence” of hepatitis C. And his claim that “reactivation syndromes suggest reverse transcription” is false.

The study examines “a case of a 82-year old patient with dementia who was admitted to a nursing home in the Netherlands. After vaccination with COVID-19 vaccination, physical examinations and lab tests were performed.” The results, per the study, indicated that the patient “had a reactivation of hepatitis C infection” after receiving the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine.