A COVID-19 clinic in Toronto, Canada, lured kids with ice creams to vaccinate them.

The vaccine pop-up clinic at Toronto City Hall provided free ice cream to people standing in line to make the vaccination experience more appealing.

The vaccine pop-up clinic at Toronto City Hall provided free ice cream to people standing in line to make the vaccination experience more appealing.A video with the caption that a COVID-19 clinic in Toronto lured children to get vaccinated without parental consent by offering ice cream has been circulating on social media. The post also says that the police ensured that the parents were stopped from entering the building. However, we found the post to be misleading.

Canada is the first country to approve the Pfizer vaccine for children above 12 years. It allows the child to get the vaccine without the consent of the parents or guardian. However, the rules vary in some regions of the country.

The University Health Network and the city of Toronto held a pop-up vaccination event on May 23, 2021, at City Hall, where 2,500 doses were administered. The health department and Toronto Mayor John Tory noted that free ice cream and live DJ were arranged in the city hall to provide a better experience where everyone could come together to participate in the vaccination program.

Moreover, the people seen in the viral video have not claimed that they were parents of the children. The video shows protesters outside the pop-up center and not parents being kept from children. A couple of them were arrested by the police for creating nuisance outside.

We mark the claim as misleading as the video is used to make distorted claims about children getting vaccinated without the consent of their parents.