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Posts shared thousands of times on Facebook since December 10 claim that Margaret Keenan, the first Briton to receive a Covid-19 vaccine as part of the campaign launched in the UK, has died in the days since followed the injection. “This is completely false,” the British public health service (NHS), which oversees the campaign, told AFP.
“England’s first who was vaccinated at 90 died yesterday and no one is talking about her“, several Facebook publications in French are surprised (1,2,3) shared thousands of times.
These messages refer to Margaret Keenan, a 90-year-old British grandmother, who on Tuesday December 8 became the first patient in the world to receive the Pfizer / BioNTech vaccine as part of the mass vaccination campaign against the new coronavirus launched by the United Kingdom.
The English Margaret Keenan during the administration of a vaccine against the Covid-19, December 8, 2020–
Vaccinated in a hospital in Coventry, central England, in front of a large number of media came for the occasion, this former jeweler declared herself “privileged to be the first person to be vaccinated against Covid-19“.
“This is the best early birthday present I could have hoped for“she told the cameras as she left the facility.
Since then, she has been the target of false information on social media, with some internet users accusing her of being an actress, to have died in 2008 or have already been vaccinated against Covid-19 in the United States. Claims dismantled by AFP and other media.
Under this type of publication, regularly, comments from Internet users say that they do not intend to be vaccinated.
The anti-vaccine rhetoric is not new but is gaining visibility in favor of a pandemic of unprecedented magnitude, explain specialists interviewed by AFP in this article.
Since administering the vaccine, Ms. Keenan has not made any public appearances or media statements, according to our research. AFP’s online research also failed to confirm this claim.
“This is absolutely wrong”
Asked by AFP on Friday, December 18, a spokesperson for the English public health service (NHS), who supervises the vaccination campaign launched in the territory, claimed that this rumor was “absolutely wrong“, without making any further comments.
Otherwise, some of the publications say Ms Keenan’s death was announced to the BBC, before the media backed down.
(Screenshot taken on Facebook on December 22, 2020)–
A member of the BBC press service told AFP on Thursday (December 17th) that the media did not “neither published nor deleted an article on this subject“.
500,000 doses administered
As of December 21, more than 500,000 doses of the Pfizer / BioNTech vaccine have been administered in the UK, according to Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s official account.
Over 500,000 doses of the @Pfizer/@BioNTech_Group vaccine have been given to people across the United Kingdom to protect those most at risk from coronavirus.
Thank you to to all our scientists, NHS staff & volunteers who have made this possible. pic.twitter.com/ALNdpVKP28
— UK Prime Minister (@10DowningStreet) December 21, 2020
No deaths linked to the administration of the vaccine have been recorded by the British health authorities at this stage.
On December 9, they advised against administering the Pfizer and BioNTech vaccine to people who have had “severe allergic reactions“, two people who reacted badly to the first injections.
“Two people with severe allergic reactions reacted badly“said Stephen Powis, medical director of the National Health Service (NHS) for England in this dispatch. “Both are recovering well“, he added.
As of December 21, the Covid-19 has killed more than 67,000 in the United Kingdom, one of the heaviest records in Europe.
Since last week, the country must also face to a new strain of coronavirus described Sunday, December 20 as “out of control“by British Minister of Health Matt Hancock, justifying a re-containment of London and part of England.
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