Trials

  • “I’m very much alive,” Elisa Granato, vaccine trial volunteer says, debunking rumours of her death

    A blog site reported the demise of a trial volunteer of a potential COVID-19 treatment. 

    Elisa Granato, a volunteer in a trial of a potential COVID-19 jab at Oxford University, said she is very much alive. The UK government has also said the same, and the WHO has not come out to counter that Granato is alive.

    Full Text

    Last week, a blog post (archived here) widely shared online claimed that microbiologist Elisa Granato, one of the volunteers who took part in a coronavirus vaccine trial in Oxford, U.K., had died following complications after receiving the vaccine.

    Opera News, a Nigerian pop platform financed by Chinese media entrepreneurs, further added that it sourced the report from another blog. Meanwhile, the referenced blog’s publication had within three days about 80,000 views, the highest it’s attained since its debut two years ago.

    Furthermore, the piece referenced a statement by unnamed researchers that Ms Granato “died two days after the vaccine was administered,” adding that four other volunteers were battling complications from the jab.

    “The four in critical conditions will be fine, and these are expected reactions from the vaccines, hence a trial.”

    Verification

    Dubawa gathered that scientists at the Oxford University first administered the trial vaccine, ChAdOx1 nCoV-19 to Elisa Granato. She was reportedly the first of two volunteers — the other being Edward O’Neill for the potential COVID-19 vaccine testing on Thursday, April 23rd.

    However, contrary to swirling news of her demise, Ms Granato, all smiles, came out to say she was “very much alive”. A BBC Subsay video shared the revelation, featuring Granato sipping coffee.

    Also, the UK Department of Health and Social Care has, in a tweet, debunked the reported “death” as “completely untrue.”

    Additionally, the World Health Organization, which is at the frontline of the fight against COVID-19, never attested to the demise of Ms Granato.

    Moreover, the Guardian UK and Reuters already debunked the false report, stating that the University of Oxford News Office confirms that Ms Granato was “alive and well”.

    Questionable source

    Not only does the blog that carried the report of Ms Granato’s death not have any social media presence, but it also does not have an about page or any contact information. The same is true of its sole writer. 

    Dubawa’s check on the site also showed that it is rife with false reports, one of which says Nigeria President Muhammadu Buhari had contracted coronavirus. This information is, of course, wrong as Mr Buhari still addressed Nigerians Monday, April 27th.

    Conclusion

    Elisa Granato, a volunteer in a trial of a potential COVID-19 jab at Oxford University, said she is very much alive. The UK government has also said the same, and the WHO has not come out to counter that Granato is alive. Besides, the sheer amount of false reports present on the site questions its reliability. 

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