Claim: Twitter user Tarek Fatah tweeted a video and claimed it depicted a woman yelling at a polio worker and refusing to give her children polio drops.
Fact: The video is actually a clip from the movie Load Wedding.
On 15 January 2020, Canadian Pakistani journalist Tarek Fatah, shared a video showing a woman standing at the door of a house, yelling at a polio worker and refusing to vaccinate her children. His caption claims, “Pakistani mother slams the door shut in the face of Polio workers. Screams at the two female volunteers: ‘I will never ever allow my children to take these drops. Never never will my kids drink these drops. Never.’”
Tarek Fatah’s account is verified and he has 609.9k followers. The video with the false caption was retweeted by 2.7k accounts and liked by 6.4k Twitter users in the first seven hours alone.
Actress Mehwish Hayat quote tweeted the video almost two hours later clarifying that the clip is actually a scene from Load Wedding, a Pakistani movie released in 2018 starring Mehwish Hayat and Fahad Mustafa. Hayat goes on to state that she is the polio worker depicted in the clip and the woman yelling at her is an actress.
Pakistan is one of three countries in the world where polio is still endemic. Some citizens are suspicious of the anti-polio drives, and refuse to have their children vaccinated. Moreover, there have been numerous reports of polio workers having been abducted and killed for participating in vaccination drives. While polio workers in Pakistan are often at risk, this particular clip is not one of those instances. Visit endpolio.com.pk for more information about Pakistan’s fight against polio.
Summary: The video clip, allegedly of a woman yelling at a polio worker and refusing to vaccinate her children against the disease, is actually a scene from the 2018 movie Load Wedding.