Coronavirus outbreak has claimed the lives of over 2 lakh people across the globe and lakhs of others have been tested positive for it. In a bid to tackle this problem, several vaccines are being tested around the world. One such human trial was conducted in the United Kingdom.
CLAIM:
A website has claimed that the woman who volunteered for the human trial of the COVID-19 victim in the UK has died. Dr Elisa Granato was one of the first participants who agreed for the human trials of a possible vaccine for the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus.
First volunteer in UK coronavirus vaccine trial has died https://t.co/oxzdELbund
— Simon Jaysek (@SimonJaysek) April 26, 2020
According to the article, published by “News NT” website, Granato “died two days after the vaccine was administered”. “Four other volunteers are said to be battling complications due to adverse reactions of the vaccine,” the article added.
Some other news reports are making the same claim and several people are tweeting about it.
TRUTH BEHIND THESE REPORTS:
During our investigation, we found that the first human trial of a coronavirus vaccine was conducted on April 23 and two persons volunteered for it, in contrast to the claim made by the website.
The news has also been debunked by the UK’s department of health and social care that tweeted, “News circulating on social media that the first volunteer in a UK #coronavirus vaccine trial has died is completely untrue.”
News circulating on social media that the first volunteer in a UK #coronavirus vaccine trial has died is completely untrue.
Before sharing unsubstantiated claims online, use the SHARE checklist to help stop the spread of harmful content:
▶️ https://t.co/9rAFQES8Xm pic.twitter.com/HgG4cHnLFQ— Department of Health and Social Care (@DHSCgovuk) April 26, 2020
Moreover, BBC’s medical correspondent Fergus Walsh wrote on Twitter that he had spoken to Dr Granato over Skype that morning.
“Fake news has been circulating on social media that the first volunteer in the Oxford vaccine trial has died. This is not true! I spent several minutes this morning chatting with Elisa Granato via Skype. She is very much alive and told me she is feeling “absolutely fine”,” she wrote on microblogging site Twitter.
Fake news has been circulating on social media that the first volunteer in the Oxford vaccine trial has died. This is not true! I spent several minutes this morning chatting with Elisa Granato via Skype. She is very much alive and told me she is feeling “absolutely fine” pic.twitter.com/iWAtYaSkRZ
— Fergus Walsh (@BBCFergusWalsh) April 26, 2020
According to a website ‘Fact Crescendo’, it even found a Google cache tweet by Dr. Elisa Granato clarifying that she read the news about her death which is false.
CONCLUSION:
This proves that news circulated about the death of the first volunteer in a UK coronavirus vaccine trial is completely FALSE.
