New Delhi, January 18: A viral message is doing rounds on social media platforms claiming that as many as 40 students have been hospitalised after being administered the COVID-19 vaccine. The fake news has been shared by a Twitter user just a day after India began the world's largest COVID-19 vaccination programme on Saturday. The misleading information triggered panic and confusion among people. The claim states: '40 students hospitalised after vaccination in Knp (Kanpur)". COVID-19 Vaccine Turning Patients into Zombies? Fact-Check Proves Viral Image is Morphed.

Dismissing the fake claim, a fact check by the Press Information Bureau (PIB) informed that this claim is fake and baseless and the news article that has been shared is an old one. "The news article exhibited is old and has no correlation with the ongoing COVID-19 vaccination drive in India", the fact-check said. It has been found that the article that has been shared by the Twitter user dates back to November 2018 when kids had developed rashes and headache after being administered measles and rubella vaccine in Uttar Pradesh's Kanpur.

Here's the tweet:

The fake news has nothing to do with the COVID-19 vaccine rollout in the country. Moreover, the COVID-19 vaccine will not be administered to kids in the first phase as it will be first offered to one crore healthcare workers, along with two crore frontline and essential workers and 27 crore elderly, mostly above the age of 50 years with co-morbidities.

On January 16, PM Modi launched the world's largest vaccination drive in India and said that India managed to make two 'Made-in-India' vaccines in a very short period which usually takes years. Lauding the efforts of scientists who are involved in vaccine research, Modi said they deserve special praise for making these vaccines and that "the vaccines will provide us a decisive victory against the deadly pandemic".

Fact check

40 Students in India Hospitalised After Being Administered COVID-19 Vaccine? PIB Fact Check Reveals Truth Behind Fake News Report
Claim :

A tweet referring to a news article is claiming that 40 students have been hospitalised after being administered with COVID-19 vaccine.

Conclusion :

A fact-check by PIB stated that the news article exhibited is old and has no correlation with the ongoing COVID-19 vaccination drive in India.

Full of Trash
Clean

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jan 18, 2021 08:35 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).