DPA (Deutsche Presse-Agentur) has turned to Arquivo.pt for fact checking related to the Covid-19 pandemic. Find out all about it here.
Over the past month, the theory has been shared online that Moderna would have already produced thousands of doses of the Covid-19 vaccine before the disease emerged. A video of Moderna's CEO, Stéphane Bancel, recorded during the last World Economic Forum, was used as "proof" - during his speech, the official reveals that 100,000 doses of vaccine were manufactured in 2019. But was Bancel referring to the Covid-19 vaccines?
In order to answer this question, Germany's largest news agency conducted a fact-check. To do so, the DPA team needed to secure access to the video that claims that Moderna's Covid-19 vaccine production began in 2019. This is where Arquivo.pt turned out to be crucial, as it allowed the video originally posted on Facebook to be preserved. The DPA then integrated this link into its final piece that proves the falsity of said theory.
The content was eventually assessed as false. Stéphane Bancel's statements refer to Moderna's total vaccine production in 2019, including all products made available by the company at the time. "This interview does not prove that the Covid-19 vaccine was developed before the start of the pandemic," concludes the DPA team that conducted this fact-checking . It took several months after the outbreak of the pandemic before the final product reached the market, they add.
The use case was shared by the DPA team with Arquivo.pt, which highlights the relevance of this service from the FCCN Unit in the fact-checking work carried out, together with three other online archives. By using Arquivo.pt, it is possible to ensure that the content is preserved, thus guaranteeing timeless and universal access to an element that is central to understanding this case.
You can find out more about this use at: https://dpa-factchecking.com/belgium/230329-99-135938/
