Didn't check facts: Harbhajan Singh apologises after sharing misleading video of officials getting fake vaccine jabs

With so much of information floating around on social media, it sometimes gets difficult to distinguish truth from lies. However, when the matter is as sensitive as this, a little research before sharing doesn't do any harm.

Harbhajan Singh recently landed in a soup after he shared an image of two health officials getting fake vaccine jabs. Sharing the picture, Bhajji called it the reality of how leaders are taking vaccine. The only problem was, he did it without verifying the background story behind it.

Two videos of the two officials from Tumakuru posing for a fake vaccine jab had gone viral. One video was that of Dr Rajani, the Principal of the Government Medical College in Tumakuru. And the other one was that of Tumakuru District Health Officer Dr Nagendrappa. The video which went viral claimed that the two had pretended to get the vaccine without actually taking it.

Later, Tumakuru Deputy Commissioner Dr Rakesh Kumar told The Newsminute that the videos and pictures were misleading. He revealed, "This is clearly a misunderstanding. Dr Rajani had been given the first dose of the vaccine on January 16. The press reporters had not got visuals of the vaccine being injected and asked her to pose for the pictures, which is what she did. She was not pretending to take the vaccine." The local channels also confirmed that the two had posed upon their request for a photo-op.

Harbhajan's tweet

Later, sharing the fake news, Harbhajan Singh had tweeted, "In reality this is how some of our leaders are taking the vaccine. Picture khich gayi ok good." Bhajji's tweet soon went viral and netizens were seen debating the pros and cons of the vaccine. However, when one of them shared the newsminute report with the player, he decided to apologise. The Turbanator then tweeted, "My Apologies guys didn't check the facts."

Coming to work front, Harbhajan Singh announced the end of his contract with Chennai Super Kings, ahead of the official team announcement. Congratulating the team he said that he had had a good two years with them and made fond memories. CSK would be led by MS Dhoni in IPL 2021 too and contrary to the rumours Suresh Raina has been retained. However, Kedar Jadhav and Murli Vijay were let go.