Authors
The latest in the spread of misinformation online includes an image of Queen Elizabeth and her quote allegedly thanking PM Modi for the supply of COVID-19 vaccines to the United Kingdom. The quote in the image reads, “Thank you PM Modi for sending us COVID-19 vaccines. You are a good boy.”
This comes after India’s ‘Vaccine Maitri’ initiative completed 50 days on 11 March with a supply of 60 million doses of made-in-India COVID-19 vaccines to 70 countries across the world. It began with a supply of 1.5 lakh doses of COVID-19 vaccines to Bhutan on 20 January.
World leaders have thanked PM Narendra Modi in different ways for the vaccine supplies. Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro expressed his gratitude by sharing a picture of Hanuman carrying Sanjeevani booti. On the other hand, thank you hoardings for PM Modi were installed on Canadian roads.
We received this claim multiple times on our Whatsapp verification number as well for authentication.
An archived version of this post can be viewed here.
Newschecker found this claim to be shared hundreds of times on Facebook via Crowdtangle. You can read more about it here.
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Fact Check / Verification
Through Google reverse image search we found the original photograph of the billboard in a BBC London tweet posted in April 2020. Quoting Queen Elizabeth in an image, the tweet’s caption read, “Queen’s message of hope lights up Piccadilly Circus.” Her actual words shared early in the pandemic read, “We will be with our friends again. We will be with our family again. We will meet again.”
Additionally, we found the original image on Getty Images as well. Captioned, “BRITAIN-HEALTH-VIRUS” the image was created on 18 April, 2020. It’s description reads, “A still image of Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II with a message of hope from her special address to the nation is seen on the giant billboard in Piccadilly Square, central London on April 18, 2020 during the coronavirus pandemic. – The number of people in Britain who have died in hospital from coronavirus has risen by 888 to 15,464, according to daily health ministry figures on Saturday. (Photo by GLYN KIRK/AFP via Getty Images)”
Apart from this, we could not find the claim supported by any media organisation as well. However, a 3 March news report by Retuers stated the United Kingdom will receive 10 million Astra-Zeneca COVID-19 vaccine doses by Serum Institute of India.
“The UK has ordered 100 million doses of AstraZeneca’s COVID-19 vaccine, of which 10 million doses will come from the Serum Institute of India,” a UK government spokesperson told Reuters.
Conclusion
Our research makes it clear that the image of Queen Elizabeth thanking PM Modi for the supply of COVID-19 vaccine doses to the United Kingdom is edited. A message by the Queen from early in the pandemic was edited to mislead users.
Result: Manipulated Media
Our Sources:
BBC London tweet: https://twitter.com/BBCLondonNews/status/1247863804349878272
Reuters: https://www.reuters.com/article/health-coronavirus-britain-india-idUSKCN2AV0A2
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