A Twitter user posted a newspaper clipping and claimed that 40 students were hospitalized soon after their inoculation of the COVID-19 vaccine in India. Let’s fact-check the claim made in the post.
Claim: Newspaper clipping with a report of 40 students getting hospitalized after the COVID-19 vaccination in India.
Fact: It is an old article reported in 2018 with respect to the Measles-Rubella vaccine. The incident has no connection with the recent COVID-19 vaccination in the country. Hence the claim made in the post is FALSE.
On doing Google Reverse Image Search, the same newspaper clipping photo was found to be on the internet at least since December 2018. When we searched on the internet with the title of the article, the same article was found to be published by the ‘Hindustan Times’ in November 2018. The article can be read on the ‘PressReader’ website. In the article, it can be also read that the children were administered the Measles-Rubella vaccine. So, it can be concluded that the incident has no connection with the recent COVID-19 vaccination in the country.
In the initial phases, the COVID-19 vaccine will be given to healthcare workers in public and private sectors, front-line workers, prioritized age groups (consisting of those aged above 50 years and the people aged less than 50 years having comorbidities); not school children. On 17 January 2021, the ‘Press Information Bureau (PIB)’ reported – ‘Total of 447 AEFIs (Adverse Event Following Immunization) have been reported on 16th Jan & 17th Jan’21. Out of these, three required hospitalization. Of these, one has been discharged from Northern Railway Hospital Delhi within 24 hours; one has been discharged from AIIMS Delhi; and one is under observation in AIIMS Rishikesh and is being monitored.”
Also, the Press Information Bureau (PIB) tweeted clarifying that the posted newspaper clipping is old and not related to the ongoing COVID-19 vaccination drive in India.
To sum it up, the incident of 40 students getting hospitalized after vaccination is old and not related to COVID-19.
