Did WHO Director Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus refuse to receive the Corona vaccine?
And what is the story of the doctor who committed suicide in Austria after being threatened by opponents of Covid-19 vaccines?
Social media users shared a post claiming that WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus refused to receive the Corona vaccine, is this true?
What is the publication shared by social media activists?
The post includes a 35-second excerpt from a documentary that shows the head of the World Health Organization speaking in an interview about how he waited until May 2021 to get the first vaccine for Corona.
Did Adhanom really say that he refused to receive the Corona vaccine?
No, this is a lie, Adhanom did not say that he refused to receive the Corona vaccine.
A WHO spokesperson also told Reuters that the allegations about not vaccinating Adhanom were false.
Where and when did Adhanom receive the Corona vaccine?
We went back to Adhanom's verified Twitter account, and found that he received the first dose of the Corona vaccine at Geneva University Hospitals on May 12, 2021.
Adhanom shared a photo of himself receiving the vaccination on his Twitter account, saying, "Today it's my turn to get vaccinated against COVID-19. Vaccines save lives. It's important to get them to all counties as soon as possible, if you live like me in a country where vaccines are available, please Get vaccinated when it's your turn.
Today it was my turn to get vaccinated @Hopitaux_unige against #COVID19.
Vaccines save lives.
It's critical to get them to all counties ASAP If you like me you live in a country where vaccines are available, please get vaccinated when it's your turn.
pic.twitter.com/ioNMLH5TW9
— Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus (@DrTedros) May 12, 2021
What is the origin of the transmitted video then?
The video circulating on social media is a clip from the HBO documentary How to Survive a Pandemic, which follows the race to develop and distribute COVID-19 vaccines.
The video is from an interview conducted by Science writer John Cohen, in which he asked the director of the World Health Organization, "I want to ask you about your vaccination. What date did you get your first dose?" Adhanom replied on May 12.
And Cohen asked him why he - who is the director of the World Health Organization - did not receive the vaccination in December 2020, that is, when he began to give it to people, then Adhanom's answer was, "I feel like I know where I belong: in a poor country called Ethiopia, on a poor continent, Africa." ...with the privileges I have here, I may have had the opportunity to get it first. I don't want to use that, because I want to be reminded every day that vaccination has to start in Africa. I wanted to wait until Africa and other countries in other regions, low-income countries would start , Vaccination.
"I have a background as a health worker, and I'm in one of the at-risk groups. They started vaccinating health workers and at-risk groups (in Africa) around that time, so I thought it was my turn. I was checking my role, in fact, compared to what I was going to get." In Africa, not in Geneva. I was protesting."
For his part, Cohen confirmed to the Associated Press that this claim (that Adhanom refused to receive the vaccine) is false, and described it as "a lie."
For his part, the film's director, David France, said - in an interview with The Associated Press - that the important part of Adhanom's answer was his interpretation that he waited for justice to improve in the vaccine, before he got his dose.
Adhanom denounced the inequality in the distribution of vaccines
Adhanom had denounced in April 2021 the lack of justice in the distribution of Corona vaccines, saying, "Vaccines are still far from reach for the poorest countries."
He repeatedly denounced inequality in the distribution of vaccines, urging wealthier countries to share overdose to help vaccinate health workers in low-income countries.
Not the first time
This is not the first time that lies have emerged about the refusal of scientists or health officials to receive the Corona vaccine.
Last year, a video spread on social media claiming that the inventor of the “Pfizer-Biontech” vaccine against the Corona virus, Professor Ugur Sahin, his wife and his company’s employees did not take the vaccine, but the real story was that Sahin did not take the vaccine at the time due to another reason, which is that he did not take the vaccine. He had priority at that time.
In March 2021, Shaheen and his wife Ozlem Turje announced - in an interview with the German newspaper "Bild" - that they and the company's employees had received the vaccine.
The suicide of a doctor who was threatened by opponents of the “Covid” vaccines
Doubt about Corona vaccines continues in many places, which led to harassment of a female doctor in Austria, which ended with her suicide, according to a report by the French Press Agency.
Lisa Maria Kellermayer, 36, was found dead on July 29 in her office in Upper Austria (northern), and farewell letters she left.
An autopsy conducted at the family's request confirmed the hypothesis of suicide.
The doctor committed suicide after receiving threats on social media from anti-vaccine groups, in a case that highlights the harassment of Covid scientists.
In a letter published at the end of June on her professional website, the doctor mentioned stopping the examinations until further notice.
"For more than 7 months, we have received occasional threats from circles opposed to Covid measures and vaccines," she wrote.
Lisa Maria Kellermayer said that she had "invested more than 100,000 euros" to ensure the safety of her patients, and spoke of an intolerable situation, telling the press, "I can no longer bear this situation, and I am in danger of bankruptcy."
Confirming her statements, Lisa Maria Kellermayer posted messages from a user who threatened her by pretending to be ill before committing a massacre of which she and her staff were victims.
Lisa Maria Kellermayer was targeted after criticizing a protest movement against compulsory vaccination in the fall of 2021.