Fact Check: Video of Indian soldiers dying, fainting after vaccination is false
A video of several Indian Army soldiers lying on the ground is viral on social media with the claim that they dropped dead after receiving the vaccination.
By Newsmeter Network Published on 29 Aug 2021 7:03 AM GMT
Hyderabad: A video of several Indian Army soldiers lying on the ground is viral on social media with the claim that they dropped dead after receiving the vaccination.
The video is being shared with the caption, "Indian military force vaccinated its troops, many of them dropped dead..."
The same video is also being shared with a Hindi caption on Facebook which when translated reads, "The soldiers of the country got the vaccine. When they were running, many fainted and many had a terrible heart attack. Now tell me, is the vaccine right?"
Archived link: https://archive.is/hWi0S
Fact Check:
The claim is false.
NewsMeter extracted keyframes of the video using InVid and ran them through a reverse image search. The results showed posts that said a soldier had died and many others were hospitalized due to heatstroke during a training exercise in Pathankot.
Taking a cue from that, we ran a keyword search and found news reports about the incident. We can see the same visuals in the video below as in the viral video.
The incident happened during a 10-km endurance run while carrying weapons and battle load as part of a recce troop competition being organised by 9 Corps in the morning when the weather was hot and humid, as per the reports of The Tribune from 21 August 2021.
According to The Indian Express, the endurance competition had already been going on for 72 hours when "a 10-km leg with full load and weapon was undertaken at a relatively late hour — around 9 am — when the weather was not conducive".
Hence, it is that the video shows Indian soldiers dying and fainting after receiving the vaccine is false.
