No! Spallanzani Didn't Say Piero Angela Died As A Result Of The Covid 19 Vaccine

The recent death of Piero Angela, journalist and science popularist, has not gone unnoticed in the world of conspiracies and false news based on pseudoscience, provoking various defamatory reactions. On August 15, 2022, a Facebook account published a post stating that an area code from Rome’s Spallanzani would have confirmed that “Piero Angela died from fourth dose side effects.” This is completely fake news being created and propagated in No-Vax circles with the aim of making it viral.

Contents

For those in a hurry

There is no primary “Elvio Giagrinte” by Spallanzani from Rome.
The photo attached to the post was created by software.
The account that created and spread the scam is a fake specifically created to spread fake news about Covid-19 and vaccines.

analyses

Here is user “Mene Folpetond”‘s post of August 15, 2022:

—– PRIMARY BY SPALLANZANI CONFIRMED: “PIERO ANGELA DIED FROM SIDE EFFECTS FROM FOURTH CAN” —–
Elvio Giagrinte, head of the Rome hospital where Piero Angela died, would have confirmed the popular conductor’s death after heart complications from taking the fourth dose of the vaccine given just 12 hours earlier.
Mene Folpetond

Elvio Giagrinte does not exist

The post states that a head of the Roman hospital named Elvio Giagrinte confirmed the elusive cause of death. There is no area code for Spallanzani by that name, nor does it appear in the Physicians’ database. When searching online, the only results are those of Facebook shares in specific groups like the one titled “Sinistre No Green Pass – No Born” and “We don’t ask for the Green Pass”:

The publication is accompanied by a photo that is actually fake: it is a fake identity generated by a software that we explained in a previous article. As a first clue, just look at the position of the eyes to spot these types of fakes:

May 14, 2022

The fake account Mene Folpetond

The account that spread the No Vax hoax exploiting Piero Angela’s death was published by a well-known user on Open Fact-checking. Before she was called “Mene Folpetond”, she called herself “Stefania Piccimni” and before that “Beatrice Juvenal”. The account URL shows the same ID:

https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100079461065219

Among the profile photos we find the one previously used when the wrong name “Stefania Piccimni” was used.

Targeted dissemination

The manager of the fake account has circulated his hoax on the No Vax, Conspiracy Theorists and Pro-Russian Facebook groups. Here the sharing in the group “Covid19 vaccination side effects”:

Here is the sharing in the “Health Dictatorship” group:

Here is the exchange in the group “We true Italian patriots with Russia, Putin at heart”:

Here is one of the spontaneous parts of the post where the user comments: “YET ANOTHER RELATIVE!!!”.

Conclusions

No doctor or leader of the Spallanzani of Rome has released a statement on the death of Piero Angela, linking it to the Covid-19 vaccine. This is a fake message created by a No Vax account and is being circulated in the channels where anti-Covid-19 vaccine disinformation is circulating.

This article contributes to a Facebook project to fight fake news and disinformation on its social platforms. Read more about our partnership with Facebook here.

No! Spallanzani didn’t say Piero Angela died as a result of the Covid 19 vaccine