After a video of health officials in the Tumakuru district of Karnataka went viral on social media with claims that they had only “pretended” to take the COVID-19 vaccine, Dr Nagendrappa, the District Health Officer and Dr Rajani, the Principal of the Nursing College, denied these rumours.
Both the officials stated that they had in fact taken the jab on Saturday, 16 January and later posed for a photo op at the request of the reporters present there. Local reporters present at the site corroborated their statements.
VIDEO MASSIVELY SHARED ON SOCIAL MEDIA
The video of their photo op went viral on 21 January, with social media users claiming that the officials were ‘faking the vaccination.’
One user shared the video with the caption, “This is how politicians are getting vaccinated in this country,” in Hindi, garnering over 56,900 views at the time of writing this article.
Congress leader Salman Nizami also asked the government to ‘clarify’ if it was a “fake immunisation or photo op.”
The video was also shared widely on Facebook, with a page ‘LNS News’ garnering over 7,800 views at the time of writing this article.
‘I TOOK THE VACCINE’: DR RAJANI
Dr Rajani, the Principal of Nursing College, who is also a paediatrician and looks after the District Health Training Centre, which was the vaccination site, denied the allegations.
“I took the vaccine and later while I was in the observation room, the media people asked me to pose for a photo,” she stated.
She also shared a copy of her provisional certificate of vaccination as well as a message from the COWIN app confirming her vaccination, with The Quint.
The COWIN app also shows her status as “Partially Vaccinated,” indicating that she has received the first dose of the Covishield vaccine.
She also added that vaccination is a private matter, and they had only agreed to have their photo taken, “to motivate people, as leaders of the district.”
Tumakuru’s District Health Officer Dr Nagendrappa, the man in the viral video, also refuted the rumours, alleging that “someone with bad intentions” had made the video viral.
Stating that “there was no reason to run from vaccination,” he ascertained that he was inoculated on 16 January.
“After Modiji’s address, as frontline workers, I, Dr Rajani and Dr Veerabhadraiah, the District Surgeon, took the vaccine. Then the media-persons came and insisted upon taking a photograph and we complied. That’s all.”Dr Nagendrappa, DHO, Tumakuru
We also contacted local reporters, Ranga Raju and Mahantesh from Tumakuru district who were present at the vaccination site at the time. They corroborated that the media had asked Dr Nagendrappa and Dr Rajani, the two health officials in the viral video, for a photo op and they had gotten vaccinated separately.
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