Former New Zealand prime minister is vaccinated and boosted against COVID-19 | Fact check

Hannah Hudnall, USA TODAY
·3 min read
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The claim: Jacinda Ardern didn't receive the COVID-19 vaccine

A Dec. 5 Instagram post (direct link, archive link) shows a picture of former New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern.

"WEF Dictator Jacinda Ardern did not take the ‘vaccine’ that killed her own Citizens," reads a screenshot of a post on X, formerly Twitter, within the Instagram post. "Instead, she fled the Country … and sits on the Board of the Death Star … Blackrock … the Financial Arm of the World Economic Forum."

At the bottom of the X post, a screenshot of an article headline says, "11,000 politicians and elites received an exemption for the Covid vaccination: 'This is shocking.'"

The Instagram post garnered over 400 likes in one day, while the original X post received more than 40,000 likes in four days. Similar versions of the claim were shared on Instagram and Facebook.

More from the USA TODAY Fact-Check Team:

Our rating: False

Ardern has been photographed and filmed receiving both COVID-19 shots and the booster.

Post includes plethora of misinformation about Ardern, BlackRock and WEF

Contrary to the post's claim, the former New Zealand prime minister is vaccinated against COVID-19.

Ardern was filmed by the New Zealand Herald and photographed by Getty Images receiving her first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine on June 17, 2021. She was then photographed receiving her second dose of the vaccine on July 27, 2021, and filmed getting her first booster on Jan. 16, 2022.

Fact check: False claim 20% of New Zealanders who received COVID-19 mRNA vaccines died

After resigning in January, Ardern traveled overseas to complete a dual fellowship at Harvard University, according to CNN. She didn't flee the country, as the post claims.

The post's claim about Ardern serving on BlackRock's board of directors is also false. A BlackRock spokesperson told USA TODAY via email the former prime minister has never sat on the board. This is further proved by the company's governance page, which doesn't mention her.

She did host a meeting with the American Chamber of Commerce in one of the BlackRock offices in May 2022, as seen on her Instagram page.

The post also falsely describes BlackRock's relationship with the World Economic Forum, calling the investment company the WEF's "financial arm."

The WEF lists the company on its website as one of hundreds of "partners," described as "leading global companies developing solutions to the world’s greatest challenges."

BlackRock CEO Laurence Fink sits on the WEF board of trustees, but there aren't any credible reports of further ties between the two organizations.

The BlackRock spokesperson told USA TODAY that though the company engages with both government officials and non-governmental organizations to stay informed on global issues, it acts independently.

USA TODAY reached out to the WEF and the users who shared the post for comment but did not immediately receive a response.

Reuters previously debunked a similar claim.

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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Former New Zealand PM Ardern did receive COVID-19 vaccine | Fact check