On Thursday, Congress MP Manickam Tagore had decided to peddle fake news to defame the BJP and the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) at the expense of Coronavirus frontline workers. He had retweeted a video of two medical officers being vaccinated in Tumakuru in Karnataka and insinuated that they were doing a photo op for the camera.
In the viral video, two medical officers, namely Dr Rajani and Dr Nagendrappa were seen posing for the pictures during the vaccination drive. In the first part of the video, Dr Rajani was seen sitting on a chair who then stood up as the nurse was about to administer the vaccine. Similarly, in the second part of the video, the nurse who administered the vaccine to Dr Nagendrappa was seen withdrawing immediately after the photo was taken.
“RSS & BJP ruled Karnataka… Kar Natak RSSwale”, the Congress leader further alleged that it was being done on the behest of the BJP and the RSS. The video was originally shared by an ‘independent’ journalist named Sonia Arunkumar. Several other users on social media also claimed that the two medical officers seen in the video were ‘faking’ vaccination for the camera.
Other Congress leaders, who are famed to be low IQ also jumped on to the bandwagon and started questioning if the Modi government was holding fake immunisation drive.
Karnataka Health Department debunks claims of ‘fake vaccination’ drive
While speaking about the incident, Dr Nagendrappa said, “This is not true at all. I found out about this when people began demanding our resignation. We did not do anything wrong.” After the false claims went viral on social media, the Karnataka Health Department took to Twitter to issue a clarification.
Dr Rajani, the woman seen in the video, is the Principal of the Government Medical College in Tumakuru in Karnataka. She was one of the first frontline workers to have been vaccinated with Bharat Biotech’s Covaxin on January 16. “I have seen videos trolling my vaccination. I want to clarify that I have taken the vaccine on 16th itself. My name was registered on the portal. In fact, my office was a vaccination centre”
Clarification given by Dr.Rajani Principal of Nursing College, Tumkur@PMOIndia @narendramodi @CMofKarnataka @MoHFW_INDIA @drharshvardhan @BSYBJP @BSbommai @nimmasuresh @GovindKarjol @drashwathcn @mla_sudhakar @siddaramaiah @hd_kumaraswamy @DKShivakumar pic.twitter.com/t8mCZb9IFR
— K’taka Health Dept (@DHFWKA) January 21, 2021
“….Afterwards, when I was taking the vaccine and was about to get up, several media persons and individuals with mobile cameras requested for visuals,” Dr Rajani informed. She said that she, therefore, sat again on her chair and stood up only when she felt that the pictures have been taken. Dr Rajani further urged people to not resort to rumour-mongering, in these challenging times. She emphasised that the Coronavirus vaccine is safe and asked social media users to put out a good message to the society.
She was not pretending to take the vaccine, say cops
The misleading claims made on social media was also debunked by the Deputy Commissioner (Tumakuru) Dr Rakesh Kumar. He reiterated, “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.”
After the Modi government announced a nationwide vaccination drive, starting with healthcare workers, miscreants on social media have been peddling fake news to discredit the government and undermine the fight against Coronavirus.
