Old video of Nigerian children used to make false vaccine claims

A video that has been widely shared on social media falsely claims to show schoolchildren in Nigeria fleeing mandatory coronavirus vaccination.

In fact, the video was shot at least seven months before the first case of coronavirus was reported in China and before any vaccine had been developed against the virus.

The footage shows chaotic scenes of both male and female students jumping off balconies on the first floor of a two-storey school building while others run away carrying their bags.

One Facebook user said the children were “running away from being vaccinated with the coronavirus vaccine”.

But the same video was used by Nigeria’s Daily Trust TV on 26 May, 2019, which reported that the mayhem was caused by a “teargas blast” at Community Secondary School in Port Harcourt, southern Nigeria.

The Abuja-based TV station quoted police reports saying a 17-year-old boy had carried a teargas canister to school and detonated it while he was showing it off to his schoolmates.

BBC News Pidgin also reported on the story, along with other local media.

Nigeria has not started its Covid vaccination campaign yet.