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Fact check: Posts falsely claim first vaccine recipients in the UK are 'crisis actors' – USA TODAY

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Camille Caldera
 
| USA TODAY

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Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine begins UK rollout with 90-year-old grandma

The United Kingdom began nationwide distribution of Pfizer/BioNTech’s highly anticipated COVID-19 vaccine with this woman.

The claim: The first vaccine recipients in the UK are crisis actors

This week, Margaret Keenan — a grandmother who turns 91 next week — became the first recipient of the coronavirus vaccine in the United Kingdom.

She received the shot, produced by Pfizer/BioNTech, on Dec. 8 at University Hospital Coventry and said it was “the best early birthday present,” per USA TODAY.

But some skeptics have taken to the internet with allegations that Keenan is not who she claims — and is actually a crisis actor.

An analysis by USA TODAY showed that in just 24 hours, over 475,000 Twitter users were potentially exposed to a single tweet that levied the allegation.

‘We are talking about people’s lives’: Dire warnings of public health crisis as COVID-19 vaccine misinformation rages

The proof they cite ranges from photos of similar-looking women to the variant dates on news articles that feature photos of vaccine recipients like Keenan.

Joe Ward, for example, posted a photo of Keenan receiving the vaccine, a photo of another woman falling to the ground, and a screenshot of a profile on the casting website StarNow.

“Liz Scott AKA Margaret Keenan. Crisis Actor. Whoops…,” he wrote on Facebook.

Mindy Robinson, meanwhile, posted screenshots of two news articles featuring photos of Keenan. The first — a story about Keenan from BBC — was dated Dec. 8. The second was a story about the coronavirus death tally, dated Oct. 22.

“Excuse me, but how is the exact same person who’s the ‘first to get vaccinated’ today…also in a CNN photo wearing the exact same clothes, in the exact same chair, and getting a shot back in October?” she wrote on Twitter.

Erin Marie Olszewski also posted screenshots of articles with different dates. Rather than Keenan, the articles include photos of William Shakespeare, 81, the second recipient of the shot. 

The first — a story about Shakespeare, from BBC — was dated Dec. 8. The second was the same story on CNN about the coronavirus death tally, dated Oct. 22.

“Crisis actors,” she wrote on Facebook. She also posted a meme that compared photos of Shakespeare and Keenan as they received the shot, administered by the same nurse.

“Busy nurse today working in Coventry and Stratford-upon-Avon at the same time,” the meme reads, along with a sarcastic emoji.

Ward and Robinson have not responded to requests from USA TODAY for comment.

Olszewski told USA TODAY that her post “didn’t claim that it was for sure.”

Rather, she posted it as an example of what she sees to be a pattern of media that “fakes the news” on COVID-19.

“Even if this particular one isn’t true, it has happened in the past, and that cannot be disputed,” Olszewski said.

Fact check: COVID-19 tests are not compiling people’s DNA

No credible evidence that vaccine recipients were crisis actors

There is no credible evidence to suggest that Keenan is a crisis actor. 

In reality, the now-retired grandmother is a former jewelry shop assistant, per a press release from the National Health Service.

She is clearly depicted in photos and videos from Reuters and the NHS England — and looks different from both of the women in the other photos posted by Ward.

Take the photo of a woman falling to the ground.

The image — snapped by Justin Tallis, a staff photographer for the AFP — came from an anti-lockdown, anti-vaccination demonstration in London on Sept. 26.

The woman in the photo hardly resembles Keenan, apart from her red hair. She appears to be much younger and less frail.

The same is true of Liz Scott, the woman in the profile on the casting website Star Now.

On her profile, Scott lists her hair and eye color as brown. In contrast, Keenan has red hair and blue eyes. Scott also lists no acting experience, including crisis acting.

Asked about the crisis-actors conspiracy theory, a journalist at The Sun told Lead Stories that Keenan is “100 percent a real person.” 

“She and her family have spoken to various media outlets and there are loads of pics of her out there if you Google,” he wrote in an email. “Journalists have also been to her home. The whole theory is … crazy.”

What about the articles that feature photos of Keenan and Shakespeare, but are dated prior to Dec. 8?

The story in question, published on CNN.com on Oct. 22, covered a report on the coronavirus death tally. The article doesn’t actually include any images of Keenan or Shakespeare.

But directly below the headline, the webpage displays a video reel with a recent handful of videos, including a video on the recent vaccinations that shows footage of Keenan and Shakespeare. 

Mindy Robinson herself later noted this, and tweeted: “So, benefit of the doubt they just use new stories in their banners on old articles?”

The meme about the nurse who administered the shots is also wrong.

It claims that the nurse who administered the shots was working in “Coventry and Stratford-upon-Avon at the same time.” She wasn’t — but she didn’t have to be.

Shakespeare received the shot at University Hospital Coventry, just like Keenan. Both received the vaccine from nurse May Parsons, per the New York Times.

(It was a different William Shakespeare, the 16th-century playwright, who hailed from the town of Stratford-upon-Avon.)

Fact checkers from Reuters and Politifact have also debunked claims that Keenan is a crisis actor.

A few other claims about Keenan have appeared online, too.

Some have claimed that Keenan is actually dead based on an obituary from 2008. But the subject of the online memorial is “clearly a completely different person,” according to Vice News.

Others have baselessly asserted that a gesture she made links her to the Freemasons or the Illuminati. There’s no proof of a connection to either.

Our rating: False

Based on our research, the claim that the first vaccine recipients in the U.K. are crisis actors is FALSE. There is no evidence that Margaret Keenan, a grandmother who will turn 91 next week, is a crisis actor. Photos used as proof depict different-looking women. A story on CNN in October does not actually show Keenan or William Shakespeare, who also received the vaccine; it just includes a video of them in a reel above the story. And they both received their shots in Coventry.

Our fact-check sources:

Thank you for supporting our journalism. You can subscribe to our print edition, ad-free app or electronic newspaper replica here.

Our fact check work is supported in part by a grant from Facebook.

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Transat AT reports $39.9M Q3 loss compared with $57.3M profit a year earlier

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MONTREAL – Travel company Transat AT Inc. reported a loss in its latest quarter compared with a profit a year earlier as its revenue edged lower.

The parent company of Air Transat says it lost $39.9 million or $1.03 per diluted share in its quarter ended July 31.

The result compared with a profit of $57.3 million or $1.49 per diluted share a year earlier.

Revenue in what was the company’s third quarter totalled $736.2 million, down from $746.3 million in the same quarter last year.

On an adjusted basis, Transat says it lost $1.10 per share in its latest quarter compared with an adjusted profit of $1.10 per share a year earlier.

Transat chief executive Annick Guérard says demand for leisure travel remains healthy, as evidenced by higher traffic, but consumers are increasingly price conscious given the current economic uncertainty.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 12, 2024.

Companies in this story: (TSX:TRZ)

The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.

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Dollarama keeping an eye on competitors as Loblaw launches new ultra-discount chain

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Dollarama Inc.’s food aisles may have expanded far beyond sweet treats or piles of gum by the checkout counter in recent years, but its chief executive maintains his company is “not in the grocery business,” even if it’s keeping an eye on the sector.

“It’s just one small part of our store,” Neil Rossy told analysts on a Wednesday call, where he was questioned about the company’s food merchandise and rivals playing in the same space.

“We will keep an eye on all retailers — like all retailers keep an eye on us — to make sure that we’re competitive and we understand what’s out there.”

Over the last decade and as consumers have more recently sought deals, Dollarama’s food merchandise has expanded to include bread and pantry staples like cereal, rice and pasta sold at prices on par or below supermarkets.

However, the competition in the discount segment of the market Dollarama operates in intensified recently when the country’s biggest grocery chain began piloting a new ultra-discount store.

The No Name stores being tested by Loblaw Cos. Ltd. in Windsor, St. Catharines and Brockville, Ont., are billed as 20 per cent cheaper than discount retail competitors including No Frills. The grocery giant is able to offer such cost savings by relying on a smaller store footprint, fewer chilled products and a hearty range of No Name merchandise.

Though Rossy brushed off notions that his company is a supermarket challenger, grocers aren’t off his radar.

“All retailers in Canada are realistic about the fact that everyone is everyone’s competition on any given item or category,” he said.

Rossy declined to reveal how much of the chain’s sales would overlap with Loblaw or the food category, arguing the vast variety of items Dollarama sells is its strength rather than its grocery products alone.

“What makes Dollarama Dollarama is a very wide assortment of different departments that somewhat represent the old five-and-dime local convenience store,” he said.

The breadth of Dollarama’s offerings helped carry the company to a second-quarter profit of $285.9 million, up from $245.8 million in the same quarter last year as its sales rose 7.4 per cent.

The retailer said Wednesday the profit amounted to $1.02 per diluted share for the 13-week period ended July 28, up from 86 cents per diluted share a year earlier.

The period the quarter covers includes the start of summer, when Rossy said the weather was “terrible.”

“The weather got slightly better towards the end of the summer and our sales certainly increased, but not enough to make up for the season’s horrible start,” he said.

Sales totalled $1.56 billion for the quarter, up from $1.46 billion in the same quarter last year.

Comparable store sales, a key metric for retailers, increased 4.7 per cent, while the average transaction was down2.2 per cent and traffic was up seven per cent, RBC analyst Irene Nattel pointed out.

She told investors in a note that the numbers reflect “solid demand as cautious consumers focus on core consumables and everyday essentials.”

Analysts have attributed such behaviour to interest rates that have been slow to drop and high prices of key consumer goods, which are weighing on household budgets.

To cope, many Canadians have spent more time seeking deals, trading down to more affordable brands and forgoing small luxuries they would treat themselves to in better economic times.

“When people feel squeezed, they tend to shy away from discretionary, focus on the basics,” Rossy said. “When people are feeling good about their wallet, they tend to be more lax about the basics and more willing to spend on discretionary.”

The current economic situation has drawn in not just the average Canadian looking to save a buck or two, but also wealthier consumers.

“When the entire economy is feeling slightly squeezed, we get more consumers who might not have to or want to shop at a Dollarama generally or who enjoy shopping at a Dollarama but have the luxury of not having to worry about the price in some other store that they happen to be standing in that has those goods,” Rossy said.

“Well, when times are tougher, they’ll consider the extra five minutes to go to the store next door.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 11, 2024.

Companies in this story: (TSX:DOL)

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U.S. regulator fines TD Bank US$28M for faulty consumer reports

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TORONTO – The U.S. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has ordered TD Bank Group to pay US$28 million for repeatedly sharing inaccurate, negative information about its customers to consumer reporting companies.

The agency says TD has to pay US$7.76 million in total to tens of thousands of victims of its illegal actions, along with a US$20 million civil penalty.

It says TD shared information that contained systemic errors about credit card and bank deposit accounts to consumer reporting companies, which can include credit reports as well as screening reports for tenants and employees and other background checks.

CFPB director Rohit Chopra says in a statement that TD threatened the consumer reports of customers with fraudulent information then “barely lifted a finger to fix it,” and that regulators will need to “focus major attention” on TD Bank to change its course.

TD says in a statement it self-identified these issues and proactively worked to improve its practices, and that it is committed to delivering on its responsibilities to its customers.

The bank also faces scrutiny in the U.S. over its anti-money laundering program where it expects to pay more than US$3 billion in monetary penalties to resolve.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 11, 2024.

Companies in this story: (TSX:TD)

The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.

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