On November 18, Facebook user Marekhi Robaqidze published a post noting that Prince Charles refused to get vaccinated with a motive that vaccine alters DNA and Prince is against genetic modification. As of 15:00, December 7, the post has 126 shares.
The post is disinformation, Prince Charles didn’t’ refuse to get vaccinated against coronavirus. Source indicated in the screenshot attached to the post only makes an assumption about possible refusal and is manipulatively based on a 1998 interview. The claim that the coronavirus vaccine alters DNA in humans is also false.
- Prince Charles didn’t’ refuse to get the coronavirus vaccine
Information about the Prince of Wales refusing to get vaccinated cannot be found in open sources. The Georgian post disseminated on the social network shows snippets from Financial-press.uk article, which says that Prince could refuse to take vaccine manufactured by Pfizer because the royal family is against genetic modification.
Media outlet cites Prince Charles’s 1998 article “The Seeds of Disaster” as proof of the assumption. In the article, Prince of Wales criticizes genetically modified food products and questions their necessity.
It’s noteworthy that Financial-press.uk doesn’t indicate the publishing date of the article about genetically modified products, which gives off the impression that it was written recently and that genetic modification is linked to the coronavirus vaccine.
It’s important to note that in 1957 head of the Royal Family Elizabeth II was one of the first ones in the country to announce that her children Charles and Anne got vaccinated against Polio. Royal Family is waiting for their turn to get vaccinated against coronavirus, and currently, whether older members of Royal Family should or shouldn’t get vaccinated before the population to set an example as it happened in 1957 is a topic of discussion.
- COVID-19 vaccine doesn’t modify human DNA
In Georgia, as well as other parts of the world disinformation about COVID-19 vaccine genetically modifying DNA has disseminated even before. In reality, using RNA molecule in the vaccine development means genetic material of the virus and not RNA molecule of the patient. According to studies, it’s impossible for a virus RNA introduced in the body to integrate into human DNA. RNA injected in the body produces antibodies against the genetic material of the virus. RNA molecule itself rapidly degrades and is disseminated in the cells.
“Myth Detector” has previously written about disinformation about coronavirus vaccine disseminated on Georgian social network.
- The primary source of the information and dissemination in Georgia
Before Georgian Facebook user, it was the Russian Instagram account Secret_Truth that misinterpreted the assumption. Marekhi Robaqidze copied the Russian text on the screenshot from the said account’s story and translated it in Georgian.
This Instagram account offers alternative worldviews including coronavirus-related conspiracy theories.
Marekhi Robaqidze’s post was also shared by Homeopath Tina Topuria, who spread coronavirus-related disinformation that Myth Detector has previously fact-checked. Tina Topuria’s post has 54 shares.
Marekhi Robaqidze’s post archive
Tina Topuria’s post archive
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