AN EMERGENCY doctor has spoken out against conspiracy theories surrounding the new Covid-19 vaccine after getting it himself.

Dr Rob Galloway got the jab yesterday - the first day of one of the biggest vaccination programmes in British history.

He told his Twitter followers the vaccine had not given him a second head or "tracking molecules", nor would he develop autism.

Dr Galloway spoke out in favour of the vaccine - hailed by many as the beginning of the end coronavirus pandemic in the UK - amid conspiracy theories circulating on social media.

READ MORE >> Historic Covid-19 vaccine rolled out across Sussex

The A&E consultant at the Royal Sussex County Hospital said: "Things that have happened today 1) got Covid vaccine.

"Things that haven’t and won’t happen 1) grown a second head 2) developed autism 3) been injected with 'tracking molecules'.

"It’s safe, painless, protects you and your loved ones."

The Argus: Vaccinations against Covid-19 begun at the Royal Sussex County Hospital yesterdayVaccinations against Covid-19 begun at the Royal Sussex County Hospital yesterday

More than 50 hubs set up across the country at NHS Trusts, are set to distribute the vaccine.

Brighton and Sussex’s hospitals are among the hubs first to receive the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine that was approved last week.

The Brighton Centre will be used as “one of the larger” vaccination centres, with up to 3,000 people a day, seven days a week, expected to be treated.

Social media giant Facebook said it will be removing false claims about Covid-19 vaccines to prevent "imminent physical harm".

A spokesman said it would remove statements "that have already been debunked by public health experts".

He added: "This could include false claims about the safety, efficacy, ingredients or side effects of the vaccines [and] false claims that Covid-19 vaccines contain microchips, or anything else that isn't on the official vaccine ingredient list.

"We will also remove conspiracy theories about Covid-19 vaccines that we know today are false."

Fact checker BBC Reality Check said it has debunked prominent theories surrounding the vaccine.

A video by osteopath Carrie Madej falsely suggested that the vaccines are designed to change people’s DNA “to make us into genetically modified organisms”.

The Argus:

BBC Reality Check said: "Of the vaccine trials currently underway involving humans, none are designed to alter human DNA, nor do they contain the technology to effectively plug us all into The Matrix."

Another widespread claim is that Covid-19 vaccine will implant microchips into people. Many of these conspiracy theories are linked to Microsoft founder and Gates Foundation leader, Bill Gates.

BBC Reality Check said: "The microchip conspiracy theory keeps coming up and the Gates Foundation has called it ‘false’.

"It is funding research into technology that could store information about whether someone has had a particular vaccine or not.

"But this would not involve implanting microchips or tracking people, according to scientists involved in the study."