A PERSISTENT FALSE claim that London police opened a criminal investigation into Covid-19 vaccines, as they suspected they were responsible for large numbers of deaths, continues to spread on social media, despite being long-debunked.

A video that contains the claim was spread by Irish social media accounts, including a year-old Facebook video that has recently begun spread online again, garnering thousands of views per day.

The video appears to show a woman telling an officer at a British police station that there is an ongoing investigation into Covid-19 vaccines and demanding that all vaccine centers in the jurisdiction be forcibly shut down.

She also alleges that senior members of the government, civil servants, and the media are implicated in a long list of crimes, such as “conspiracy to commit grievous bodily harm; conspiracy to administer a poisonous and noxious substance to cause serious harm or death”, as well as, murder; “terrorism; genocide; torture; crimes against humanity;” war crimes; and breaking the Nuremberg Code.

She gives an alleged crime reference number, which she says was issued by London’s Metropolitan Police, who are responsible for law enforcement in the Greater London area.

“The Covid-19 vaccinations are now under criminal investigation with CID police station in Hammersmith in London, so, you know, Met police investigation,“ the woman says in the video, referring to the Criminal Investigation Division (CID).

“This has come about as a result of the catastrophic death and injury figures, to both adults and children across the UK. We have a Metropolitan Police case number.”

However, this claim is long-debunked, and the Metropolitan Police confirmed to The Journal their position has not changed: allegations made to them about vaccines were not worth investigating.

“An assessment of allegations about the Covid-19 vaccine programme found no evidence to support any claims that information about adverse health implications is being suppressed or withheld from the public. No further action will be taken,” an email from the Met press office read.

“The existence of a crime reference number in relation to these allegations has been widely misrepresented as evidence of a criminal investigation or findings of wrongdoing. That is not the case.”

A guide on reporting crimes on the Met website shows that a crime reference number is issued to complainants once it is established that they are in the correct police force, and before an ‘investigative assessment’ — where a decision is made whether to investigate the report — is carried out.

Verdict

False.

The London Metropolitan Police did not open a criminal investigation into Covid-19 vaccines. Although they issued a crime reference number on the issue, as they do for all complaints, they found that there was no evidence to support the claims.

The Journal’s FactCheck is a signatory to the International Fact-Checking Network’s Code of Principles. You can read it here. For information on how FactCheck works, what the verdicts mean, and how you can take part, check out our Reader’s Guide here. You can read about the team of editors and reporters who work on the factchecks here.