Fake COVID-19 Vaccination: Health Worker Injects Needle But Doesn’t Push Vaccine Out [Watch]

The Philippines' Department of Health is investigating what has been considered a "clear breach" in vaccine protocol after a recipient complained that a health worker failed to push the contents of the syringe upon administering the COVID-19 vaccine.

A video of the incident, which happened at a vaccination site in Makati, Philippines, quickly spread through social media over the weekend and sparked outrage online, local outlet ABS-CBN News reported.

The clip showed the volunteer nurse injecting the needle into the vaccine recipient's arm but not pushing the contents out. Both were not named in the report.

"We assure the public that we are investigating this incident to improve our national vaccination program," Health Secretary Francisco Duque III said in a statement.

"This is a clear breach of vaccination protocol," the DOH said.

According to the government agency, the complainant was given a COVID-19 vaccine dose as soon as she showed the video to authorities.

"The Department (of Health) is investigating this breach in the vaccination protocol in coordination with the (local government unit) concerned, and reminds all vaccinators to take extra care and attention during inoculation," the agency said.

Duque added that the "incident is being taken seriously and immediate improvements in the protocol shall be made to ensure we limit the chances of this from happening again."

The health secretary also assured the public that the vaccination program is bound to improve soon as more vaccines arrive in the country.

Makati Mayor Abigail Binay said that the "human error" on the part of the health worker in the viral video has since been "corrected."

"The person on the video has been vaccinated. She also understood what happened, and was the one who asked us not to fire the nurse," Binay said.

The mayor then continued to appeal for understanding toward the volunteer nurse as well as other medical frontliners in general, noting that they have been working hard in fighting the pandemic for over a year.

"Have pity on the nurse who volunteered and gave her time to ensure that we can vaccinate more residents as fast as possible," she said. "Frontliners are also humans. They get tired. They make mistakes. But what is important is the shortcomings are quickly addressed. She asked for forgiveness and she was forgiven."

As of Sunday, the country has administered over 10 million doses. According to local outlet GMA News, the government aims to inoculate about 50-70 million people by the end of the year.