Reports that the first virus trial vaccine recipient has died are untrue

A Facebook post claiming that one of the first recipients of a trial Covid-19 vaccine died is false.

The post shows a photo of Dr Elisa Granato, the first recipient of a trial vaccine for Covid-19 developed by scientists at Oxford University and IRBM Science Park in the United Kingdom, and claims that she died two days after receiving her dose.

The University of Oxford began screening healthy volunteers for its Covid-19 vaccine, dubbed ChAdOx1, on March 27 and administered the first dose on April 23.

On April 23, the Italian doctor became one of the first two people in Europe to take part in voluntary testing of a coronavirus vaccine.

Dr Granato spoke to BBC medical correspondent Fergus Walsh on April 26, dismissing rumours about her death.

“I am having a cup of tea, three days after I got the vaccine and I am having a nice Sunday and I hope everyone in the world has too,” Dr Granato said.

The United Kingdom’s Department of Health and Social Care also dismissed reports of Dr Granato’s death, saying they were completely untrue.

Responding to rumours and false reports around the vaccine trial, Oxford University issued a statement urging people not to give the claims any credibility, adding that official updates on the trials would be published on its website.

PesaCheck has looked into a claim that the first volunteer for COVID-19 vaccine testing has died and finds it to be FALSE.

This post is part of an ongoing series of PesaCheck fact-checks examining content marked as potential misinformation on Facebook and other social media platforms.

By partnering with Facebook and similar social media platforms, third-party fact-checking organisations like PesaCheck are helping to sort fact from fiction. We do this by giving the public deeper insight and context to posts they see in their social media feeds.

Have you spotted what you think is fake news or false information on Facebook? Here’s how you can report. And, here’s more information on PesaCheck’s methodology for fact-checking questionable content.

This fact-check was written by Fact-Checker Simon Muli and edited by PesaCheck Deputy Editor Enock Nyariki.

The article was approved for publication by PesaCheck Managing Editor Eric Mugendi.