ISLAMABAD – A disturbing video of schoolgirls collapsing and being rushed to hospital beds has set Pakistani social media ablaze with social media posts claiming that the new HPV vaccination campaign is making children sick.
As the clip sparked frenzy online, Daily Pakistan did a background check, and it turned out that footage was not about vaccines at all. It’s from a tear gas attack in Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) last year.
The clip shared by Abdullah Gul went viral overnight, racking up nearly tens of thousands of views. His fiery caption accused authorities of “forced vaccination” and warned parents to protect their children from Western-backed experiments. Other accounts, including those linked to PTI supporters, fanned the flames, insisting the footage exposed the dangers of the HPV vaccine.
But fact-checkers uncovered the real story. The same video appeared online in May 2024, when police cracked down on protests in Dadyal, Mirpur. Tear gas shells fired near schools left students fainting in examination halls. The chaos had nothing to do with vaccines; it was part of a wider movement against crushing electricity bills and taxes in Kashmir.
Pakistan’s historic HPV vaccination drive was launched this month in partnership with WHO, Gavi, and UNICEF, is targeting 13 million girls aged 9–14 to protect them from cervical cancer. Experts stress the vaccine is safe, effective, and globally approved, with only minor side effects like soreness or mild fever.
Amid the nationwide vaccine campaign, the viral video is fueling panic about “deadly vaccines” is built on falsehoods. What Pakistanis are really seeing is not a vaccination disaster — but the fallout of tear gas on schoolchildren during last year’s unrest in Kashmir.
