A video shared on Facebook claims to show an Australian doctor having a stroke during surgery after receiving three COVID-19 vaccine shots.

Verdict: False

The video takes place in China, not Australia. It was taken in January 2020, before any COVID-19 vaccine was available or the virus was declared a pandemic.

Fact Check:

Moderna CEO Stephane Bancel defended the company’s five-fold price hike of its COVID-19 vaccine in front of a Senate panel, according to CNBC. A Democrat blocked a GOP-led bill that would end Biden’s vaccine requirement for non-US travelers, Fox News reported.

The Facebook video claims to show an Australian doctor collapsing after having a stroke during surgery. The video also claims the surgeon had received three COVID-19 vaccine shots. The video was also shared on Twitter, where one iteration received 900,000 views.

This claim, however, is false. Through a reverse image search and an internet search, Check Your Fact found that the video is from January 2020. A screenshot of the video was shared on a Chinese news website, where it reported that the doctor collapsed due to exhaustion and hypoglycemia.

There is no mention of COVID-19 vaccines or COVID-19 in the story. Check Your Fact also reviewed stories published by one other Chinese news website and a post on the social media platform Weibo. None of them mention COVID-19 or COVID-19 vaccines. (RELATED: Did Moderna’s CEO State The Company Manufactured 100,000 COVID-19 Vaccine Doses In 2019?)

The first cases were reported in December 2019 and came to the attention of the World Health Organization on Dec. 31. The first confirmed case of COVID-19 can be traced back to November 2019, according to The South China Morning Post. COVID-19 vaccines did not begin clinical trials in China until March 2020, according to The New York Times. The first Chinese COVID-19 vaccine to receive emergency authorization use was in June 2020, CNN reported.

The video’s claim first circulated in March 2022, when it was debunked by AFP Fact Check. Check Your Fact has debunked false claims about COVID-19 vaccines, including a claim that Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered the destruction of all COVID-19 vaccines in Russia.

This is not the first time misinformation surrounding the COVID-19 vaccines have circulated online. Check Your Fact recently debunked a claim alleging Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered the destruction of all COVID-19 vaccines in the country.