A viral message along with two videos claiming to be that of Tumakuru health officials “pretending” to take doses of the vaccine went viral on Thursday. This message, however, has been ascertained as fake and misleading, Tumakuru Deputy Commissioner Dr Rakesh Kumar said. The videos he is referring to are of Dr Rajani and Dr Nagendrappa posing for photos as though they are being administered a dose of vaccine. The two officials were posing for photographs after requests made by the local media. They had already taken the vaccine before the photo op.
The video went viral on WhatsApp, Twitter and Facebook, along with a message that read, “Tumakuru Government Medical College Principal and admin acted as though she got the vaccine.” Tumakuru does not have a medical college. In the first video, the Principal of the Government Nursing College in Karnataka’s Tumakuru, Dr Rajani, can be seen sitting on a chair, while a nurse with a shot of the vaccine is about to give her the shot. However, after a few seconds, Dr Rajani is seen, pushing the nurse’s hand away and is not administered the dose.
Watch: Video of Tumakuru government medical college Principal posing for photo op
In the second video, Tumakuru District Health Officer Dr Nagendrappa too can be seen posing for pictures of him taking the vaccine. The nurse, who holds the syringe near his bicep, withdraws it immediately after the photos are taken. This video too was circulated with the message that the DHO had pretended to take the vaccine. Dr Nagendrappa told TNM that the video was taken for the benefit of the press as visuals of the district officials being vaccinated were not shot earlier. “This is not true at all. I found out about this when people began demanding our resignation. We did not do anything wrong,” he said.
Watch: Video of Tumakuru DHO posing for photo op of vaccine being administered
Dr Rajani and Dr Nagendrappa were among the first few frontline workers in Tumakuru to be administered the first dose of Bharat Biotech’s Covaxin on January 16.
Speaking to TNM, Tumakuru Deputy Commissioner Dr Rakesh Kumar said that the message that Dr Rajani was “pretending” to take the vaccine is blatantly false.
“This is clearly a misunderstanding. Dr Rajani had been given the first dose of the vaccine on January 16. The press reporters had not got visuals of the vaccine being injected and asked her to pose for the pictures, which is what she did. She was not pretending to take the vaccine,” Tumakuru DC, Dr Rakesh Kumar said.
Local television channel reporters too confirmed to TNM that Dr Rajani had posed for the pictures and the video upon their request.