'It sounded so real' - Couple's jab doubts after seeing anti-vax video
Rosemary and Donald, who were targeted by an anti-vaccine video. - Credit: BBC Panorama
An elderly Norwich couple have described their fear after being targeted by an anti-vaccination video in a text message.
Rosemary and her husband Donald, from Norwich, appeared on BBC Panorama last night where they spoke of being sent the film by a relative.
The 27-minute video, named 'Ask the Experts' was filled with false allegations claiming vaccines were a form of state control which could alter a person's DNA and even claimed the pandemic was not real.
Rosemary, 83, who is in a priority group for the vaccine, said she was left frightened by the video, which introduced over 30 people purporting to be experts, adding that it had made her unsure whether to take the jab.
She said: ""It left me in quite a lot of anxiety because it sounded so real and the people were so plausible and they were named as clinicians, doctors and surgeons, I felt a bit sick.
"I felt a knot in my stomach and I thought this is horrible and I just didn't know whether it was true or whether it's false.
"If the surgery phones now, what do I do? I don't know whether I should go ahead and have it or put it off."
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Overall vaccine take up has been high, with 93% of over-75s accepting their first jab according to the Department of Health and Social Care.
The video has been removed from YouTube, Facebook, Google and Twitter, however it is still circulating through messaging services such as WhatsApp and has been viewed over 250,000.
One council in London was forced to issue a warning after the video began to circulate in Asian and black communities who have been disproportionately affected by Coronavirus.
It comes after a leaflet containing vaccine misinformation was posted through doors in Norwich last December called 'Covid-19 vaccine: what you need to know'.
Further concerns have come over a number of vaccine text scams which ask recipients to pay for a vaccination slot while pretending to be from the NHS.
