Ofcom has issued guidance to ITV over a false claim made by a doctor about Covid-19 vaccination hospitalisations on daytime programme Lorraine.
The decision related to comments made by Dr Hillary Jones on the show on 6 December.
The broadcast regulator agreed with 3,833 complainants that Dr Jones was incorrect when he said that “90% of people in hospital are unvaccinated right now with Covid”.
As Full Fact wrote two days after the broadcast: “The true figure is more like 36% [at time of writing]. However there are signs that unvaccinated people are the majority in intensive care.”
The error was repeated by Kelly herself during the original broadcast and again by actor Martin Kemp on Lorraine the next day.
However, despite the error, Ofcom decided against a formal investigation, instead issuing “guidance to ITV” that “greater care should be taken by trusted medical experts when presenting facts and figures on public health issues”.
Ofcom said it took into account that a clarification was broadcast two days after the mistake, and that the mistake took place during live programming.
A spokesperson for the regulator said: “This programme incorrectly referenced the proportion of unvaccinated Covid-19 patients in hospital… However, given official statistics and research have consistently shown that vaccination against Covid-19 offers greater protection against serious health consequences, we do not consider that the error was sufficient to materially mislead viewers on this...
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