A video circulating on social media, shows Queensland premier Annastacia Palaszczuk apparently receiving a vaccine with a syringe that is covered with a cap. Some users allege the scene proves that Palaszczuk did not get the vaccine at all. The scene from April 2020 is missing context. Full footage shows that Palaszczuk received her flu shot moments earlier, the clip shows a re-enactment of the scene, so photographers could capture the moment.
Some iterations erroneously refer to Palaszczuk ( here ) as “Australia First Minister”. Australia's prime minister is Scott Morrison ( www.pm.gov.au/ ).
While versions of this claim appear to have been circulating since April ( here ) , the video re-gained attention as the first doses of a COVID-19 vaccine outside of a trial were administered in Britain on Dec. 8 ( here )
A tweet with this claim posted on Dec. 8 here (archived version archive.vn/JhqcV ) has been viewed over 200,000 times as of this check’s publication. The post reads: “Australia First Minister taken the vaccine, with the cap still in the needle. As I keep saying, all the governments are following the same script”
The same edited video with the false claim is visible on YouTube since at least June 22 ( here , here , here ). It includes a voice over in Spanish that includes messages such as “The Prime Minister of Australia, promoting the vaccine when she does not take the vaccine herself” and “They are promoting the vaccine but not even the politicians take it”
Full footage by the Australian news outlet 7NewsBrisbane (see logo on bottom right corner) here and here , shows how, moments before, Palaszczuk received her flu shot. A needle, without a cap, is visible around timestamp 0:27.
For the purpose of the re-enactment of the scene for photographers to capture the moment, the doctor then used a syringe that indeed had a cap on. Palaszczuk and the doctor are clearly posing still, with sounds of camera shutters in the background, from around timestamp 0:47 to 0:57.
The Australian outlet also debunked the claim here .
As of the publishing of this article, Australia is yet to approve a COVID-19 vaccine. The country’s pharmaceutical regulator said on Dec. 2 it is on course to review Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine by January 2021, with the country sticking to a March timetable to start vaccinations ( here ).
VERDICT
Missing context. Moments after receiving her flu shot on April 2020, Queensland premier Annastacia Palaszczuk re-enacted the scene so photographers could capture the moment.
This article was produced by the Reuters Fact Check team. Read more about our fact checking work here .
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