The UK government announced yesterday that the final stage of England easing lockdown restrictions would be pushed back a month, from June 21 until July 19, because of rising Covid-19 cases and concerns about the Delta variant. The news is prompting false claims about vaccines and conspiracy theories about government plans for indefinite lockdowns. 

In a post with at least 731 retweets, former London Assembly member and lockdown critic David Kurten suggested measures will be “extended again … until the people resist and withdraw their consent from the current psychologically abusive government.” Kurten also shared a flyer promoting a June 26 “freedom rally” in London organized by a coalition of anti-lockdown groups, using the hashtag “#FightBack.” Others shared the flyer. Anti-lockdown group Save Our Rights also promoted the rally, writing in a Facebook post with at least 1,200 shares: “It’s never enough and these won’t be the last four weeks.” A graphic included in the post misleadingly casts doubt on the effectiveness of Covid-19 vaccines: “If lockdowns work… why the vaccines? If the vaccines work… why the lockdown extension?”

Scores of other users jumped on the lockdown extension to spread vaccine misinformation. A Twitter account with more than 10,000 followers, named after lockdown skeptic Michael Yeadon, an ex-Pfizer scientist who frequently shares Covid-19 misinformation, falsely claimed in a post with at least 208 retweets that the vaccines were still in the trial phase, adding: “There’s a reason we’re still in lock down, and it’s not for the good of our health.”

Nearly 80 per cent of UK adults have received at least one dose of a Covid-19 vaccine, and around 57 per cent are fully vaccinated. A Public Health England study found that a single dose is 33 per cent effective in preventing symptomatic illness against the Delta variant, meaning that two-thirds of England are still “unprotected,” according to a Guardian analysis. — Lydia Morrish