Coronavirus: UK vaccine volunteer says she is ‘doing fine’ after online death hoax

‘Nothing like waking up to a fake article on your death,’ tweets Elisa Granato

One of the first volunteers to take part in the UK’s coronavirus vaccine trials has assured people she is “doing fine” after a fake article claiming she had died circulated on social media.

Microbiologist Elisa Granato, 32, hit back at claims she had died after complications following the vaccine injection in Oxford on Thursday.

“Nothing like waking up to a fake article on your death ... I’m doing fine everyone,” she wrote on Twitter, before making her account private.

Dr Granato was one of two people to take part in the trial, and said she was “excited” to support the efforts by volunteering.

The government later said the article was “completely untrue”, and warned people about sharing unsubstantiated claims online.

On Sunday afternoon, the Department of Health and Social Care tweeted: “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.”

Earlier this month, the government relaunched its “Don’t Feed The Beast” public information campaign to encourage people to question what they read online.

The Share checklist includes basic advice, such as checking the source of a story and analysing the facts before sharing.

A response unit within the Cabinet Office and No 10 is tackling a range of harmful narratives online and co-ordinating with departments across Whitehall to deploy the appropriate response.

It is one of the teams feeding into the wider Counter-disinformation Cell led by the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, made up of experts from across government and in the tech sector.

Dr Granato and cancer researcher Edward O’Neill were the first two of up to 1,102 participants recruited for the Oxford University trial, itself one of two currently underway. Imperial College, London is running the second.

A coronavirus vaccine is considered to be the ultimate exit strategy by many experts, and scientists across the world are racing to develop one that can be produced at scale.

Professor Sarah Gilbert, who is leading the Oxford Vaccine Group, said she is ”very optimistic” about its chances for success.

“There’s absolutely no suggestion we’re going to start using this vaccine in a wider population before we’ve demonstrated that it actually works and stops getting people infected with coronavirus,” she said.

The group hopes to have at least a million doses of its candidate vaccine ready in September.

Additional reporting by Press Association