Fact check: These officials posing as Covid-19 vaccine do not look like this

A video showing a man and a woman vaccinating themselves for photos of vaccinations, circulating on social media alleging that officials in Karnataka’s Tumkur forged it for the cameras while pretending to be taking Covid-19 vaccines . The 43-second video also shows a nurse posing as if she were injecting the duo.

The nationwide vaccination against priority groups against Covid-19 began on January 16 in India. According to the Union Ministry of Health, almost one million health workers have already been shot.

‘In the district of Tumkur district fake it in front of the camera and pretend they are taking Covid vaccine, why this fake promotion? Where there is BJP, there is fraud, ”reads one such caption with the video.

India Today Anti Fake News War Room (AFWA) found the allegation misleading. The officials in the video are Nagendrappa, Tumakuru District Health Officer (DHO), and head of the health coaching district center, Dr. Rajani M. The officials acted at the request of the media. The magistrate in Tumakaru confirmed that they were vaccinated later that day.

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AFWA investigation

Using keyword searches, we found a news release published on January 16 on the website of Deccan Herald’s Kannada daily “Prajavani”. The report contains a photo of the same man seen in the video while having a jab.

The caption in Kannada translates into: “DHO Nagendrappa is vaccinated at Tumkur District Hospital”.

After that we reach out to Rakesh Kumar, the district magistrate of Tumakuru district.

Kumar said that the officials you see in the video did take the vaccine. The vaccination process that day was delayed due to technical reasons. For example, the Co-Win application did not automatically assign the sessions to registered candidates and officials had to do so manually. But the media could not wait until the official vaccination process began. That is why the officials pretended to be so. Later, everyone was vaccinated. We also submitted a report on the matter to the relevant authorities.

Channabasappa K, the additional deputy commissioner as well as additional district magistrate of Tumakuru, also confirmed that the viral claim is misleading.

‘The allegation that the district health officials expired the vaccination is not true. When I did an investigation, it appears that the vaccination process was delayed due to technical issues with the Co-Win application. However, as the media was in a hurry to leave, the officials posed for a few clicks. They were vaccinated later that day, “Channabasappa confirmed.

We also chatted with Tumakuru DHO Nagendrappa, the man seen in the viral video.

According to AFWA, Nagendrappa said: “According to the Co-Win application, our date to take the first survey was not on January 16. However, we were later informed to advance the date to January 16, the first day of the vaccination. “So we had to re-register and the process slowed down. However, the media left in a hurry after discussing our vaccination, so we finally decided to pose for some photos.”

AFWA also received an explanation from Dr Rajani M, principal of the district health coaching center and the woman seen in the viral video. The letter with her letterhead was written to the district intelligence officer to confirm that she had taken the Covishield shot on 16 January.

Dr Rajani also submitted a copy of her jab certificate. In this it can be seen that she took the Covishield vaccine on 16 January 2020 from Tumakuru District Hospital.

AFWA then spoke to Rangaraju, reporter of the Kannada daily “Vartha Bharati”, who was in Tumakuru District Hospital on January 16.

“I was among the media staff in the same room in the Tumakuru District Hospital where the video in question was recorded. The media did not have time to wait until the official process began. We asked the officials to pose for us so that we could leave early. “Unfortunately, someone shot the video and it came with misleading allegations,” Rangaraju said.

India Today player in Tumakuru, Devaprakash, was also in hospital at the time. He also confirmed that the officials posed at the request of the media and that they were later vaccinated.

It is therefore clear that the viral video only shows the district officials posing for the media before the official vaccination.

(With input from Nagarjun Dwarakanath in Bengaluru)

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