Sir Patrick Vallance has corrected comments he made at a press conference earlier this week

23 Jul 2021 | Full Fact's weekly news
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FACT CHECK
Double vaccinated people do not make up 60% of Covid-19 hospitalisations
The government’s Chief Scientific Adviser Sir Patrick Vallance corrected himself this week, after claiming at a press conference on Monday that 60% of people currently in hospital with Covid-19 were double vaccinated.

He clarified on Twitter that same evening: “About 60% of hospitalisations from covid are not from double vaccinated people, rather 60% of hospitalisations from covid are currently from unvaccinated people.”

The latest available data from Public Health England shows that, of the 1,165 confirmed Delta Variant cases between 1 February and 21 June 2021 that led to an overnight stay in emergency care, 63% were unvaccinated, while 14.8% had received both doses of the vaccine.

We welcome Sir Patrick’s timely correction. However, some social media users have continued to share the original, incorrect claim without acknowledging the correction in their posts. It’s important to double check a piece of factual information before sharing it.

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FACT CHECK
Lord Sumption made several errors about Covid on Today ([link removed])

On BBC Radio 4's Today programme on Tuesday, the former Supreme Court judge Lord Sumption made several mistakes about Covid-19 data, including seriously underestimating the number of Covid deaths in the UK.

He claimed that a “very large number of people have died with Covid, but not necessarily of Covid”, and many would have died within the year anyway.

Official data from death certificates shows that up to 2 July this year, 124,082 people died with Covid as the underlying cause of death in England and Wales alone.

Research also suggests that people dying of Covid lost far more than a year of life—about a decade on average.

The BBC aired a correction of Mr Sumption’s claims the following morning.

What the evidence tells us ([link removed])
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The BBC were right to air a correction on Lord Sumption. But these were not new claims, and they were known to be wrong. The show put them on air without the facts to hand.

At this stage of the pandemic, when bad information can leave people at risk of serious harm, we all deserve better.

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Series 3, episode 10: Pingdemic ([link removed])

Our final episode of the series looks into the legal implications of being 'pinged' by the NHS Covid App, as well as government plans to introduce 'vaccine passports' in the UK
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FACT CHECK
The EU doesn’t have a 40% tariff on African food imports ([link removed])

Outlining the UK’s commitment to developing nations on newsnight last week, MP George Freeman said the UK is reducing the EU’s 40% tariff on food from Africa.

But the EU doesn’t have a 40% tariff on African food imports. Most African countries export to the EU tariff free.

We’re pleased that Mr Freeman apologised and let us know he would not repeat the claim again.

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FACT CHECK
Richard Tice makes misleading claims about Covid-19 vaccines and fertility ([link removed])

Reform UK leader Richard Tice claimed in a tweet that “forcing” young women to have the Covid-19 vaccine is “almost certain” to lead to “increased stillbirths, miscarriages, disabled children, infertility”, in a tweet

There is no evidence to support his claims, which appeared to be a reaction towards the announcement that people attending nightclubs in England must be fully vaccinated from the end of September.

Mr Tice cited the Yellow Card Scheme and its US counterpart the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System as his source, but the data from these systems does not prove a link. It’s important to note that reporting through these programmes is voluntary, and any adverse reaction reported after vaccination might not necessarily be because of it.

Advice from the NHS says there is no evidence that the Covid-19 vaccines affect fertility, and the Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna vaccines have been “widely used during pregnancy in other countries and no safety concerns have been identified.” Evidence reviewed by the MHRA “has raised no specific concerns for safety in pregnancy”.

After being questioned on why he shared inaccurate information about the vaccines, Mr Tice later deleted the tweet and apologised.

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MORE FACT CHECKS
Also this week...
* Young people do face a small risk from Covid ([link removed])
* TfL is part of self-isolation pilot scheme ([link removed])
* Allison Pearson tweets misleading stats about Covid hospital patients ([link removed])
* And contrary to Boris Johnson's alleged leaked tweet, the average Covid-19 victim dies years before they otherwise would ([link removed])

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