A Texas hospital is under fire after eagle-eyed viewers claimed the COVID vaccine healthcare workers received on TV appeared to be fake.
Camera crews were invited to the University Medical Center of El Paso to capture five of its front-line workers get the coveted coronavirus vaccine on Tuesday.
Videos on social media showing paramedic Ricardo Martinez getting the supposed shot raised concerns among skeptical viewers who noticed that the syringe was already pushed down.
“Clearly that syringe was EMPTY and the plunger was already down. Where’s the bandaid? Yeah, nice try! We are not fooled!” Facebook user Barbara Siira wrote.
“Syringe is empty, the guy didn’t push the syringe at all, bad acting,” viewer Aaron Isaac Hernandez wrote.
“Just for show. I’m definitely not taking this now,” wrote another Facebook user.
After the press conference, Martinez said he was proud he got vaccinated.
“At least I feel like I could do my job with ease,” he said, according to FOX14.
UMC admitted one of its workers didn’t receive the entire vaccine and that a second shot was administered to erase any doubt.
“After numerous reports emerged on social media claiming one of the five nurses receiving a vaccination on Tuesday did not receive a full dose of vaccine, we want to remove any doubt raised that he was not fully vaccinated and further strengthen confidence in the vaccination process,” the hospital said in a statement to KTSM.