Northern Ireland

Fact checkers debunk 'baseless claims' about world's first covid vaccine recipient Margaret Keenan

Margaret Keenan is applauded back onto her ward by nurses, after receiving the first Pfizer covid-19 vaccine. Picture by Jacob King/PA Wire
Margaret Keenan is applauded back onto her ward by nurses, after receiving the first Pfizer covid-19 vaccine. Picture by Jacob King/PA Wire Margaret Keenan is applauded back onto her ward by nurses, after receiving the first Pfizer covid-19 vaccine. Picture by Jacob King/PA Wire

A CONSPIRACY theory claiming Margaret Keenan is a 'crisis actor' has been debunked by independent fact checkers.

Social media users shared posts that claimed the first recipient of the Covid-19 vaccine in the UK was an actor.

Reuters Fact Check said this is false.

Mrs Keenan (90) received the Pfizer jab in Coventry on Tuesday.

Pictures in Facebook posts presented as evidence of the claim showed other women who were visibly younger than Mrs Keenan, one of whom had different colour eyes.

Images showed Mrs Keenan receiving the vaccine, a woman being wheeled down a hospital corridor in a wheelchair, a woman outside falling to the ground during a protest at Trafalgar Square and an actor's profile on the website Starnow.

The captions suggested all pictures showed the same woman and described her as a crisis actor, suggesting the vaccination was staged.

There was "absolutely no evidence that they are so-called crisis actors", Reuters Fact Check said.

"These baseless claims are made without any supporting evidence."

Meanwhile, a charity T-shirt worn by Mrs Keenan when she received her vaccine has seen a huge boost in sales.

The Christmas penguin top is being sold to raise money for the University Hospitals Coventry and Warwickshire (UHCW) Charity.

The exposure from pictures and videos of Mrs Keenan being shown around the world led to sales rising by 300 per cent, the charity said.

UHCW Charity director Jo O'Sullivan said she was "so emotional".

"We kitted her out in the T-shirt and some clothing that we'd bought her as well, just so that she felt more human rather than in a hospital gown," she said.

"So we were really pleased that she was happy to wear our T-shirt with pride and go on TV nationally, well internationally actually, to be the first person to be vaccinated."