In the backdrop of the Covid-19 vaccination drive that was virtually launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on January 16, a video has surfaced on social media showing a man and a woman posing for vaccination pictures with the claim that officials in Karnataka’s Tumkur are faking it for the cameras while pretending to take Covid-19 vaccines.

A Facebook user shared the video with the caption saying, "Fakecination" going on (for senior govt officials) in Tumkur district of Karnataka....!!"

A Twitter user shared the video with the caption, "In Tumkur District officials fake it before camera, pretending to take Covid Vaccine, why this fake promotion ????? Where there is BJP there is Fraud @jyothiganesh."

Former Indian cricketer Harbhajan Singh also shared the video with the caption saying, "In reality, this is how some of our leaders are taking the vaccine."

The truth behind the claim 

In our investigation, we found this claim to be misleading. The officials in the video are Tumakuru district health officer (DHO) Nagendrappa and principal of district health coaching center Dr. Rajani M. The officials posed on request from the media. 

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. 

In a report published by The News Minute, Tumakuru Deputy Commissioner Dr. Rakesh Kumar dismissed the viral claim. He said, "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." 

In an India Today report, DHO Nagendrappa also dismissed the viral claim saying, “According to the Co-Win application, our date of taking the first shot was not January 16. However, we were later informed to pre-pone the date to January 16, the first day of the vaccination drive. So, we had to re-register and the process got delayed. However, the media was in a hurry to leave after covering our vaccination. So, we finally decided to pose for some pictures.”

In conclusion, a video showing Karnataka government officials posing for vaccination on request from the media is being shared with a misleading claim that they were faking the vaccination. They were later vaccinated on the same day.