This video of a volunteer administering an empty vaccine syringe is from Mexico, not India - FACTLY
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
April 29, 2021
In the wake of the COVID-19 vaccination, a post accompanying the video of a health care worker administering an empty syringe to a man is being shared on social media platforms with a claim attributing the incident to India. Through this article, let’s fact-check the claim made in the post.
Claim: Video of a health care worker administering an empty syringe to a man in India.
Fact: The incident of a health care volunteer administering an empty syringe actually took place in Mexico. Multiple news agencies reported this incident. Also, the concerned authorities issued a press statement acknowledging the mistake and apologising for the same. The video has nothing to do with India. Hence the claim made in the post is FALSE.
Reverse image search of the screenshots of the video led us to a Spanish news article which reported the same video. According to this article, the incident took place at National Polytechnic Institute in Zacatenco, Mexico City.
As per the article, when the video went viral, the Mexican Institute of Social Security (IMSS) issued a statement apologising for the mistake and also directed the removal of the nurse from the vaccination cell. Further search with relevant keywords led us to the tweet by IMSS which shared the press statement.
▪️TARJETA INFORMATIVA▪️
Con relación a los hechos ocurridos en la jornada de vacunación de ayer en la Escuela Nacional de Ciencias Biológicas del Instituto Politécnico Nacional, la #SEDESA y @Tu_IMSS lamentan lo ocurrido e informan lo siguiente: pic.twitter.com/DJgxptB57e
Further, the Secretariat of Health of Mexico also shared the same press statement regarding the incident through Twitter. With all these, we can confirm that the video of a volunteer administering an empty vaccine syringe is from Mexico and not India.
⚠️ TARJETA INFORMATIVA⚠️
Con relación a los hechos ocurridos en la jornada de vacunación de ayer en la Escuela Nacional de Ciencias Biológicas del Instituto Politécnico Nacional, la #Sedesa y @Tu_IMSS lamentan lo ocurrido e informan lo siguiente: pic.twitter.com/PYnWtea2rL
Further, PIB through a tweet also stated that the video of a volunteer vaccinating with an empty syringe is not from India.
एक वीडियो के साथ शेयर किए जा रहे मैसेज में भारत के एक व्यक्ति को वैक्सीन लगाने की जगह खाली सिरिंज का उपयोग कर टीका लगाए जाने का दावा किया जा रहा है।#PIBFactCheck: यह दावा #फ़र्ज़ी है। यह वीडियो भारत की नहीं है और इसे गलत संदर्भ में साझा किया जा रहा है। pic.twitter.com/EmYi18HaLy
To sum it up, video of a volunteer administering an empty vaccine syringe in Mexico is being shared as that from India.