Chain message warns against accepting immunisation from coronavirus; says they are rather implanting COVID-19 through the said vaccine.
The whole plot screams foul play! First, no news platform has published anything close, besides this, WHO has said there’s no vaccine yet for the virus. Also, a reverse image search proved that the claim-author manipulated one of the many images shared by health workers to encourage people to stay home during this trying time.
Full Text
A viral image on WhatsApp warns against accepting immunisation from coronavirus because they are implanting it through the vaccine. Although this message seems unclear, we believe the writer was trying to say that readers should refuse to be immunised because vaccines are being used to infect people with the virus.
The image shows a picture of a white doctor holding a white paper with a display text, which reads: “To all Africans, don’t accept to be immunised from coronavirus cause they’re implanting it through the vaccine.”
Verification
Once you see the word vaccine, it triggers curiosity causing one to wonder if there is now a cure for the disease; sadly, the answer remains the same -NO- we checked. The World Health Organization’s pronouncement on COVID-19 cure still stands; there’s no vaccine or any specific antiviral medicine that cures or prevents the disease. However, if infected, symptoms can be relieved. It is also worthy to note that some vaccines and treatments are under investigation.
In addition, we found no directive from the Nigerian government that permits immunization. Even if there is any, it would have been publicised by the media, considering that a vaccine for COVID-19 is a global expectation. Therefore if you get a hint or come across anyone immunizing for coronavirus you should blow the whistle.
Actual Premise
Dubawa checks revealed the original image from which the author made the WhatsApp manipulation.
More so, in furtherance to disproving this claim, we found other results from March 18:
Further search reveals more pictures of health workers displaying the same message on their placards.
Evidently, our claim-source manipulated a picture to send his message; the reason behind these actions remains unknown. This only serves as an example of the length fake news perpetrators can go to gain relevance.
