Bizarre pictures and memes shown on Russian TV claiming the British coronavirus vaccine developed by AstraZeneca will turn people into apes, with one poster depicting Boris Johnson as ‘bigfoot’, have been condemned

Britain has slammed a smear campaign in Russia that claims a Coronavirus vaccine developed by Oxford University scientists will turn people into ‘monkeys’.

The bizarre pictures suggesting any vaccine created in the UK would be dangerous and claiming the virus uses a chimpanzee virus as a vector have been condemned.

Some shown on Russian TV programme Vesti Newsa included a picture of Boris Johnson portrayed as ‘bigfoot’ holding a a folder headed ‘AstraZeneca’, the company that is manufacturing the vaccine.

Other images show America’s famous Uncle Sam poster with the caption ‘I want you to take the monkey vaccine.’

Another poster featured an image of King Kong wielding a vaccine, along with the caption ‘Don’t worry! Monkey vaccine is fine!’