Rupali Singh
New Delhi-A picture has gone viral on social media which says Dr. VK Srinivas, Vice President of Bharat Biotech, taking first dose coronavirus vaccine “covaxin” developed by his team, as part of human trial. This image got importance on the backdrop of the announcement by Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) to launch vaccine for Corona jointly with Bharat Biotech by August 15.
Though already questions were being raised about claims of ICMR, the “viral” image too created storm on social media. Many questions were asked about authenticity of this photo. Indjournals did a fact checking of this photo.
Several Twitter and Facebook users have posted the image with the caption, “Dr V. K.Srinivas,Vice President, Bharat biotech, taking Corona vaccine… Clinical trial immediately after taking the first dose he said that he is the first person in India to take vaccine developed by him and his team in Bharat Biotech Look at the confidence that they have in their product.”
Bharat Biotech has denied that the image is of clinical trials of its Covid-19 vaccine. The viral picture is of “routine procedural blood draw for testing all production staff”, it said.
Soon after the image went viral, Bharat Biotech tweeted, refuting the claim. Part of its rebuttal says, “Certain images and messages being circulated on WhatsApp and other social media platforms have NOT been disseminated by Bharat Biotech. The image being circulated is a routine procedural blood draw for testing all production staff.”
Conclusion
A photograph of a routine procedural blood draw was shared with the false claim that it represents the first dose of Covaxin being administered to Bharat Biotech’s Dr V K Srinivas. Moreover, the route of administration of BBV152, as per the vaccine’s registration document, is intramuscular while the image shows blood drawn intravenously.