NBC Truthers: Tiffany Dover is Dead

In December of 2020, a nurse named Tiffany Dover volunteered to become one of the first Americans to get a COVID vaccine—and to do it on live TV. “I'm sorry, I'm feeling really dizzy. I'm sorry,” Dover said after getting the injection. Then she fainted. Dover came to almost immediately and explained that she was fine, and that she passes out pretty often when she feels pain. But thousands of people on the internet had already made up their minds: Tiffany Dover was dead. And they were going to prove it. Truthers is a new audio series from NBC News misinformation reporter Brandy Zadrozny. In the first season, she’ll take listeners through the pandemic’s weirdest and most lingering conspiracy theory—and, with any luck, put it to rest for good. Along the way, we’ll meet the people who create and even gamify these conspiracy theories, and some of the people who’ve become collateral damage. We’ll learn how a longstanding network of anti-vaxxers used the COVID crisis—and the charisma of one of America’s most legendary names—to gain national influence. Above all, we’ll explore what’s at stake in this new era of misinformation, and what, if anything, can be done to restore sanity.