What was claimed
A vaccine for the coronavirus was being trialled in January 2020 days before the outbreak.
Our verdict
Incorrect. The trial referenced was for a different type of coronavirus—Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS).
A vaccine for the coronavirus was being trialled in January 2020 days before the outbreak.
Incorrect. The trial referenced was for a different type of coronavirus—Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS).
A Facebook post claiming that a vaccine trial for the Wuhan coronavirus started days before the recent outbreak has been shared hundreds of times on Facebook.
However, the post makes several incorrect claims.
Firstly, the vaccine trial referenced does not relate to the virus behind the recent outbreak, but a different one altogether.
While the virus observed in Wuhan, China has commonly been referred to as simply “coronavirus”, this is actually a term for a family of viruses that can infect a range of species. The vaccine in the clinical trial linked to in the post is for a coronavirus called Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS).
The most recent virus, currently known simply as “2019 novel coronavirus” (2019-nCoV), is a different virus. Multiple efforts to develop a vaccine for 2019-nCoV are currently underway, but none are at trial stage yet.
Secondly, the vaccine in the trial referenced to was replication-deficient, meaning it was engineered by scientists to be unable to spread through the body and infect the host.
Additionally, the location of the vaccine trial is listed as Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, which is 4,000 miles away from Wuhan, where the first 2019-nCoV outbreak was identified. And (as the name suggests) the 2019-nCoV outbreak was first observed at the end of 2019, before the date the MERS vaccine trial was due to start.
This article is part of our work fact checking potentially false pictures, videos and stories on Facebook. You can read more about this—and find out how to report Facebook content—here. For the purposes of that scheme, we’ve rated this claim as false because the clinical trial is for a different type of the coronavirus.
You’ve probably seen a surge in misleading and unsubstantiated medical advice since the Covid-19 outbreak. If followed, it can put lives at serious risk. We need your help to protect us all from false and harmful information.
We’ve seen people claiming to be health professionals, family members, and even the government – offering dangerous tips like drinking warm water or gargling to prevent infection. Neither of these will work.
The longer claims like these go unchecked, the more they are repeated and believed. It can put people’s health at serious risk, when our services are already under pressure.
Today, you have the opportunity to help save lives. Good information about Covid-19 could be the difference between someone taking the right precautions to protect themselves and their families, or not. Could you help protect us all from false and harmful information today?
Bad information ruins lives. It promotes hate, damages people’s health, and hurts democracy. You deserve better.