London: RUSSIA’S fake news factories are churning out bananas claims that the Oxford University Covid 'AstraZeneca' vaccine turns people into monkeys.

Memes, posters and videos depicting the British-made vaccine­ as dangerous have been found flooding the internet.

A meme of Boris Johnson as 'bigfoot' holding a folder headed 'AstraZeneca'

It’s thought to be a ploy targeting countries such as Brazil and India, where Russia wants to sell its own Putin-backed "Sputnik V "vaccine.

One poster featuring an image of King Kong wielding a syringe says: “Don’t worry, monkey vaccine is fine.”

Another shows Boris Johnson walking into Downing Street - but it has been edit to make him looklike a yeti, with the caption: "I like my bigfoot vaccine."

A third meme shows a chimpanzee in a lab coat from pharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca - who ismanufacturing the Oxford vaccine.

The disinformation campaign claims that the vaccine could turn people into monkeys - which manyfear will encourage conspiracy theorists and the anti-vaccination movement.