A viral clip from Mexico showing an old man being administered a vaccine using an empty syringe has been shared on social media with false claims.
The video is viral amid the spike in COVID-19 cases in the deadly second wave of the pandemic. According to Ministry of Health's data, India has vaccinated total 14,09,16,417 people. In April, India approved Russia's Sputnik V COVID-19 vaccine, the country is so far administering two vaccines, one developed by Astra Zeneca and Oxford University and the other by Hyderabad based firm by Bharat Biotech.
The 30 second viral clip shows a closer look of the health worker administering the vaccine with an empty syringe to an elderly man.
The post is archived here.
BOOM received the video via its tipline for verification.
See the video below.
Fact Check
BOOM ran a reverse image search on few of the keyframes and found an article published in Spanish on Columbia based news outlet El Tiempo on April 4, 2021.
A translation of the report reads, "The Mexican newspaper El Universal explained that the incident occurred at the National School of Biological Sciences Zacatenco Unit of the National Polytechnic Institute (IPN), and that the Institute Mexicano del Seguro Social (IMSS) acknowledged the error and apologised for the facts"
El Universal's YouTube channel uploaded a report on it on April 4, 2022
Zoé Robledo Aburto, general director of the Mexican Institute of Social Security (or Instituto Mexicano del Seguro in Spanish) (IMSS), considered that it could be "a human error " that an older adult was vaccinated against COVID-19 with an empty syringe in the Zacatenco Unit of the National Polytechnic Institute ( IPN) for which, he indicated, an investigation of the case has already been initiated, reported El Universal on April 5, 2021.
Mexican Institute of Social Security (IMSS) released a statement on Twitter about the error.
Argentinian Fact Checking site Chequeado on April 16, 2021 fact checked the same.
Also Read: No, Empty Nebuliser Machines Are Not A Substitute For Oxygen Cylinder