No evidence Omicron variant book existed before December 2021
No evidence Omicron variant book existed before December 2021
(Reuters) - A self-published book about the Omicron variant of COVID-19 – said to be copyrighted in 2020, before the variant’s discovery – has been used by commentators online as alleged evidence of a conspiracy.
The 106-page book, titled ‘Understanding Omicron Variant’, first appeared for purchase on Amazon on Dec. 5 (amzn.to/3poirkO).
Written by a Dr Theresa Bishop, the front cover claims the book will tell readers “all you need to know about Omicron variant, where it comes from, answers to questions you have, and lots more update to keep you well informed.”
Social media users have since highlighted that the book claims to have copyright protection, obtained in 2020. One video clip viewed 6,000 times on Facebook shows a person using Amazon’s “look inside” feature to see the claim in the first few pages of the book.
The page reads: “Copyrights [sic] © 2020 Dr. Theresa Bishop… All rights Reserved” (here, here, here and here).
As a result, questions have surfaced about the discovery of Omicron (here), which was first detected on Nov. 9 and designated a ‘variant of concern’ by the World Health Organization on Nov. 26 (here). It has also led to suggestions that the copyright page proves the pandemic is either planned or a hoax.
“I love how they show things in plane site [sic],” wrote one Facebook user (here).
Another wrote sarcastically: “It’s all good. Not planned at all keep scrolling there’s nothing to see here” (here).
Reuters was unable to find any evidence that the book existed prior to December 2021.
The book appeared exclusively on Amazon on Dec. 5. A search for its International Standard Book Number (ISBN), a 13-digit unique code used to identify books, reveals it is connected to an address in South Carolina, which is also an Amazon office building (bit.ly/3sBTF2H). This was found by searching the number on Bowker, the official ISBN agency in the United States and Australia (here).
According to the Amazon website, the company offers free ISBNs for self-publishers (here).
Secondly, Reuters was unable to find any record of U.S. copyright in 2020 for the book (cocatalog.loc.gov/) – nor are there any verifiable details about the author.
Finally, the front cover and blurb are littered with spelling and grammatical errors. The title itself, “Understanding Omicron Variant”, appears to be missing a word.
Readers who purchased a copy also complained in reviews that the typos continued throughout.
While this version of the book is no longer available on Amazon, another with the same title and author appeared on the website on Dec. 16 (amzn.to/3mvBhF1). Again, it is self-published, and its ISBN is linked to the same Amazon building in South Carolina.
The title and preview pages still contain grammatical errors; however, the copyright page now says 2021.
VERDICT
Missing context. There is no evidence the book existed prior to December 2021. Both versions are littered with typos and grammatical errors – but the second edition has updated the listed year on its copyright page.
