Fake Irish Covid
Queries from around the world about false ‘sudden death’ claim
A FAKE Irish Covid-19 poster spread rapidly around the world and was seen as far afield as New Zealand and South Africa as well as in bus shelters and toilets around Dublin.
And the Health Products Regulatory Authority (HPRA) found itself receiving queries from international media and members of the public asking about the poster, which falsely claimed there was a risk of ‘sudden death’ from taking a Covid-19 vaccine.
In internal emails obtained under Freedom of Information, the HPRA said it was ‘almost impossible to prevent this type of thing’ and that the fake poster had been flagged with Twitter and Facebook.
The authority also grappled with how to respond to the poster, which carried its branding, as well as that of the HSE and Government.HPRA communication and information manager Nigel Fox wondered if they should supply a brief response or something more detailed.
‘The second option is to provide almost a mini-statement addressing the fabrication of the poster and the fact it contains misleading information,’ Mr Fox told HPRA CEO Dr Lorraine Nolan in late October.
Another email warned that the poster continued to ‘circulate widely’ and that the image was being disseminated by others.
Mr Fox wrote: ‘Some of the side effects listed are genuine but clearly “sudden death” is deliberate misinformation and the subject of all the interest in the poster.’
A further email explained how the poster appeared at bus shelters around north Dublin. Later, it popped up in the ladies’ toilets of a shopping centre in Swords, according to the internal emails.
One email said: ‘Just to confirm that the National Transport Authority together with JCDecaux [outdoor advertising company] have now removed several of the false vaccine posters… they will continue to monitor the situation.’
As international interest grew, another email between colleagues recommended linking directly to official Government materials on Covid-19. ‘The reason being international media will not understand how our national health system is structured (and, in honesty, won’t care) so it is important to direct them to official materials so that they can see this poster is not included,’ said one message.
The HPRA was also contacted on October 20 by factcheckers from the Associated Press international news agency because the poster had spread so widely. An internal email said: ‘This has just come in – were you aware of it? It is obviously not genuine as it says “people of Ireland” under the Govt logo.’
After the factcheck article appeared, an update was sent to staff with one response saying: ‘Thanks, I doubt if we are finished with this issue just yet.’
In one discussion, it was said the poster wasn’t like any material produced by health authorities. One email said: ‘The picture on the top right-hand corner of the poster hasn’t even been copied correctly as there is normally text with that.’
One tweet containing the false poster had already been retweeted 1,511 times, quote tweeted 225 times and liked by 2,021 different accounts. Queries about the poster were received from South Africa and New Zealand. One email from New Zealand said they wanted to order 20 copies of the poster.
A statement from the HPRA said: ‘False or misleading health information is of significant concern from a public health perspective, and we have seen that this type of content can spread rapidly across social media. Our advice is to always source health information… from reliable and expert sources.’
Following engagement with Twitter, the fake poster was tagged as ‘misleading’ or ‘manipulated media’. Facebook posts featuring the visual were flagged as ‘potentially misleading’.
Meanwhile, cases of Covid-19 in over-65s have dropped from 10% at the beginning of November to just 3.8%. The HSE’s Dr Colm Henry suggested this is a direct result of the booster programme where the over-70s are complete and 305,000 (77%) of the over-60s are boosted.
Dr Henry added: ‘What we’re also seeing at the opposite end of the demographic scale is a significant rise in the 19 to 24-year-olds of 28% in the past week and 25 to 34-yearolds of 27%.’
‘Almost impossible to prevent this kind of thing’