False Conspiracy Theories Surround Unreleased Lyme Disease Vaccine Amid Tick Box Claims

The MAHA Mom Coalition, an advocacy group promoting "parental rights, holistic health, clean food & water, and medical freedom," issued an unusual request in April. They sought to connect with farmers who claimed to have discovered mysterious boxes of ticks in their fields—boxes that, according to all available evidence, do not exist.

On their Instagram page, the coalition asked, "Can anybody reading this right now validate this? We’d love to connect with and speak to these farmers!!"

The rumors gained traction after a viral Twitter post with over a million views suggested that the U.S. government might release "plague-like levels of ticks" to promote a new Lyme disease vaccine expected next year. The conspiracy theory claims that authorities could be distributing ticks to incentivize mass vaccination.

The Origin of the Tick Box Conspiracy

According to Snopes, the claims trace back to an Iowa woman named Sarah Outlaw, who posted a March 30 Instagram video viewed over 10 million times. In the video, she stated, "Something is happening with ticks right now, and farmers are starting to talk. Reports of boxes of ticks being found. Reports of ticks being seen in ways that feel out of the ordinary."

Outlaw also noted a "very real increase in tick populations" in her region, citing more Lyme disease cases, chronic symptoms, and alpha-gal syndrome—a meat allergy triggered by tick bites—in her practice. However, she provided no documentary evidence to support her claims.

In a follow-up post on Threads, Outlaw revealed that she had heard the claims at a private seminar in late March from someone familiar with a "rural Missouri community." When Snopes contacted hundreds of public health and government officials in Missouri, none could confirm seeing even a single box of ticks. Snopes also reported that Outlaw "declined to provide us contact information for any involved parties, citing their privacy." Outlaw did not respond to requests for comment for this story.

Linking Ticks to the Pfizer-Valneva Lyme Vaccine

Despite the lack of evidence, Outlaw’s claims have fueled speculation that mysterious forces are distributing ticks to spread Lyme disease. Social media users quickly connected her unverified assertions to the development of a new Lyme disease vaccine by Pfizer and Valneva.

While the vaccine failed a late-stage clinical trial—with Pfizer and Valneva attributing the failure to a decrease in Lyme cases during the study period—the companies remain optimistic about regulatory approval and a potential 2027 release. In a March press release, they reported that the vaccine demonstrated 70% efficacy in reducing Lyme cases.

How the Conspiracy Spread

The conspiracy theory gained further momentum when David Avocado Wolfe, a prominent wellness and conspiracy influencer, shared Outlaw’s video on Telegram. Wolfe’s large following amplified the unverified claims, contributing to the rapid spread of misinformation.

Health experts and fact-checkers continue to emphasize that there is no credible evidence supporting the existence of these mysterious tick boxes or any government-led distribution of ticks to promote vaccination.