What really happened: Premier’s flu vaccination sparks online conspiracy theories

A video of the Queensland’s Premier getting her flu vaccine at press conference has gone viral and sent conspiracy theorists into a frenzy. READ WHAT REALLY HAPPENED.

ONLINE conspiracy theorists and anti-vaxxers have latched onto a video they believes shows Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk receiving a “fake” flu vaccine.

The groups have used staged footage to try to falsely claim the premier and other government officials do not trust vaccines.

Ms Palaszczuk held a press event on Tuesday where she received the flu vaccine and encouraged Queenslanders get their shot as soon as possible.

A spokesman from the Premier's office shot down the conspiracy theories, telling The Courier-Mail Ms Palaszczuk "100 per cent, absolutely received the flu vaccine" at Parliament House on Tuesday.

Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk recieving her flu shot at Parliament House in Brisbane.

At the event TV news cameras asked for the vaccine injection to be re-enacted so they could make sure they had good footage of the injection for the nightly bulletins. In the re-enacted version a needle with it’s cap on was used.

Channel 7 posted vision of the vaccination and subsequent re-enactment on Twitter yesterday.

“That was so quick!” Premier @AnnastaciaMP was filmed getting her flu shot yesterday before being asked by a photographer to re-enact the moment for more pictures. https://t.co/VZ3A1cGXPF #7NEWS pic.twitter.com/7wsy2OAw63

— 7NEWS Brisbane (@7NewsBrisbane) April 29, 2020

An edited video with only the re-enacted shot was posted on the TikTok account @dani_driver, with overlaid text that says, “Of course you didn’t feel it with the cap still on the needle.”

The video (which has not been deleted) has received more than 50,000 interactions on TikTok.

The creator of the TikTok video stating in the comment of her video: "yeah they filmed 2 versions of her getting the shot". But the video was reported hundred of times across YouTube, Facebook and Twitter by conspiracy theorists, including anti-vax groups without that fact being acknowledged.

“We see another pathetic attempt by one of our so-called leaders, Queensland State Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk, trying to convince the public in a televised broadcast that she received an influenza vaccine,” Real News Australia website reported.

Queensland Premier(Governor) FAKES HER FLU SHOT!

Didn’t feel a thing” she said, but that was probably because the cap was still on the syringe!

I wonder if she’ll sign up to Bill Gates’s mass #Coronavirus vaccinations in the near future?#auspol #MassVaccinations #COVID pic.twitter.com/Em6l7MyTCW

— BeachMilk (@BeachMilk) April 29, 2020

Labor accused Shadow Health Minister Ros Bates of fanning the conspiracy after she retweeted the re-enacted video.

In Ms Bates’s since deleted postshe wrote: “Getting the flu vaccine is an important personal health initiative to keep you safe and healthy, just make sure the cap is off... unlike @annastaciaMP”.

Ros Bates' tweet has since been deleted

Labor’s Twitter account slammed Ms Bates’, suggesting she was a “10/10 health spokesperson, sharing conspiracy theories”.

Queensland Labor's reply to Ms Bates' tweet

LNP MP John-Paul Langbroek also shared the TikTok version of the video to Twitter.

‘The miracle of the flu shot 💉 ‘@QLDLabor @AnnastaciaMP pic.twitter.com/gLQce95faJ

— John-Paul Langbroek (@JPLangbroek) April 28, 2020