Forty students from Kanpur required hospitalization after receiving the COVID-19 vaccine.

An old incident of children getting admitted to the hospital is falsely linked to the current vaccination drive.

An old incident of children getting admitted to the hospital is falsely linked to the current vaccination drive.Since the start of the COVID-19 vaccination drive in India, several anti-vaxxers are spreading misinformation, trying to discredit the vaccines.

A newspaper clipping that reported 40 students hospitalized after vaccination in Kanpur, India, has been circulating on social media. However, the newspaper clipping is old and not related to the current COVID-19 vaccination drive.

Using relevant keyword search, we found an article by Hindustan Times published on November 30, 2018, with the same headline as that of the viral newspaper clipping. The article read that more than 40 school children in Kanpur developed rashes, fever, headache, and abdominal pain after administering the Measles-Rubella vaccine. 20 students were discharged within two hours of admission. Times of India had also reported the same incident on November 30, 2018.

Moreover, clinical trials to check the efficacy of COVID-19 vaccines in children below 18 years are yet to be completed. The vaccine rollout for children is likely to begin in September 2021. Hence we mark the claim as false.