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“around 60% of the people being admitted to hospital with Covid have been double vaccinated.”

Patrick Vallance, News Conference

19 July 2021

Facts

At a news conference, Patrick Vallance wrongly claimed that “around 60% of the people being admitted to hospital with Covid have been double vaccinated.”

On the same day, realising his mistake, Vallance issued the following statement on Twitter: “Correcting a statistic I gave at the press conference today, 19 July. About 60% of hospitalisations from covid are not from double vaccinated people, rather 60% of hospitalisations from covid are currently from unvaccinated people.”

Verdict

The chief scientific adviser made a mistake and corrected it almost immediately. Although he was heavily criticised for his mistake, this readiness to correct an error swiftly was honourable, and a lesson to government ministers - above all, the Prime Minister. 

When we contacted the Government Office for Science about Patrick Vallance’s statement, a spokesperson said: "we have nothing further to add"

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