FACT CHECK: Tweet Claims To Show Video Of Indian Soldiers Collapsing After Being Vaccinated

A video shared on Twitter purportedly shows soldiers collapsing after the Indian military “force vaccinated its troops.”

Indian military force vaccinated its troops any many of them dropped dead… pic.twitter.com/cdMp5y4WtK

— STRANGER THAN FICTION NEWS (@jonrohnson) August 26, 2021

Verdict: False

The video shows Indian soldiers collapsing during training due to heat and exhaustion, not vaccinations.

Fact Check:

In the video, men wearing military uniforms can be seen administering aid and carrying other service members who appear to have collapsed. One Twitter account that posted the footage alleged it showed Indian soldiers who “dropped dead” after the country’s military had “force vaccinated” them, with some Twitter users linking it specifically to COVID-19 vaccines in the replies.

The video, however, does not show soldiers collapsing in connection to receiving COVID-19 vaccines. Using a reverse image search of key frames, Check Your Fact found the same footage posted Aug. 21 on YouTube, where the caption stated, “Army jawan dead, several in hospital after suffering heat stroke while training near #Pathankot.” Pathankot is a city in northern India. (RELATED: Did The Military Times Publish This Headline About COVID-19 Vaccines?)

A keyword search based on that information led to Aug. 21 reports by Logical Indian and Editorji, both of which linked the footage to an incident in which Indian soldiers collapsed during endurance training due to heat and exhaustion. The Indian Express and The Tribune also reported on the incident, which resulted in one soldier dying and four others being hospitalized.

PIB Fact Check, a verified Twitter account operated by the Indian government’s Press Information Bureau, also refuted the claim that the video shows soldiers fainting after receiving COVID-19 vaccines.

यह वीडियो एक #फ़र्ज़ी दावे के साथ शेयर किया जा रहा है कि वैक्सीन लगवाने के बाद सेना के कई जवान बेहोश हो गए।#PIBFactCheck

▶️इस वीडियो का #COVID19Vaccination से कोई सम्बन्ध नहीं है।

▶️ट्रेनिंग के दौरान भीषण गर्मी और उमस के कारण जवान बेहोश हो गए थे। pic.twitter.com/7Vg5E4kUkV

— PIB Fact Check (@PIBFactCheck) August 30, 2021

“This video has nothing to do with #COVID19Vaccination,” PIB Fact Check tweeted in part, according to a translation. “During the training, the jawans had fainted due to the scorching heat and humidity.”

India has administered over 633 million COVID-19 vaccine doses so far, Reuters reported. As of Aug. 31, about 36 percent of India’s population have received one dose, while roughly 11 percent are fully vaccinated, according to data published by The New York Times.