FACT CHECK: Did Margaret Keenan Wear The Same Clothes When She Received The Second Dose Of The COVID-19 Vaccine?

Elias Atienza | Senior Reporter

A tweet claims Margaret Keenan, the first U.K. recipient of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine outside a clinical trial, wore the same clothes while receiving the second dose of the vaccine as she wore while receiving the first dose.


Verdict: False

Photos show Keenan wore different clothes when she received the second dose of the vaccine. Check Your Fact previously debunked the claim that she is a crisis actor.

Fact Check:

The tweet shows screen grabs of two articles about Keenan: one about her receiving the second dose of the COVID-19 vaccine and the other from the Coventry Telegraph about her being the first recipient in the U.K. to get the first dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine outside a clinical trial. In both images, Keenan appears to be wearing the same blue shirt and grey cardigan.

The Twitter user attempts to use the screen grabs of the two articles to falsely suggest that the retired jewelry store assistant is an actress, saying, “Margaret Keenan, someone please buy this actor some new clothes.” Some media outlets used old photos from Keenan’s first jab as featured images in articles about her second jab, which may have led some to erroneously believe she wore the same clothes for both injections.

Photos show that Keenan did, in fact, wear different clothes for her second dose of the vaccine in late December. In Dec. 29 photos available through The Associated Press and Getty Images, Keenan can be seen donning a gray-and-black striped sweater. The University Hospitals Coventry and Warwickshire, the hospital where Keenan was vaccinated, also tweeted a picture of Keenan wearing the gray-and-black sweater.

“We were delighted to welcome Margaret Keenan back to University Hospital, Coventry to safely receive the second dose of the COVID-19 vaccination,” the Dec. 30 tweet reads in part. (RELATED: Viral Post Falsely Claims The First UK COVID-19 Vaccine Recipient Is A Crisis Actor)

The two photos of Keenan that appear in the tweet making the false claim were taken while she received her first dose of the vaccine. The photo on the left can be found on Getty Images, where it is captioned: “Margaret Keenan, 90, the first patient in the United Kingdom to receive the Pfizer/BioNtech covid-19 vaccine, speaks with Healthcare assistant Lorraine Hill as she prepares to leave University Hospital Coventry & Warwickshire, the day after receiving the first of two doses of the vaccine, on December 9, 2020.” The other photo, credited to PA Media’s Jacob King by the Coventry Telegraph, also shows Keenan as she receives the first dose in early December.

Check Your Fact previously debunked the claim that Keenan is a crisis actor. Keenan has been the target of several baseless rumors since receiving her first COVID-19 vaccine shot in early December, according to Vice.

Elias Atienza

Senior Reporter
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