Multiple Facebook and Twitter posts in Indonesia claim that Sinovac Covid-19 vaccines distributed in the country's inoculation drive are unsafe as they are marked "for clinical trial" only. The claim is false; the posts show a photo of the Sinovac vaccine packaging from August 2020, when the vaccine was not yet available to the public.
"HAVE YOU BEEN VACCINATED?" reads this Indonesian-language Facebook post from July 4, 2021.
"Take a look at the packaging of the Sinovac Covid-19 vaccine that is being injected into citizens. It clearly says: "Only for clinical trial" (Only for clinical trial, in other words, only for guinea pigs)."
It shows a package of Sinovac's COVID-19 vaccine with the words "Only for Clinical Trial" visible on the packet.
Indonesia's COVID-19 vaccination drive kicked off on January 13, 2021, using the CoronaVac vaccine, produced by Chinese biopharmaceutical firm Sinovac Biotech, after it was approved for emergency use.
The image was shared with a similar claim on Facebook here, here and here, and on Twitter here and here.
However, the claim is false.
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A reverse image search on Google, followed by keyword searches, found the photo was taken by the Associated Press (AP) news agency in Brazil on August 5, 2020.
The photo's caption reads: "Dr. Gustavo Romero, of University Hospital of Brasilia's Nucleus of Tropical Medicine, presents to the press China's Sinovac Biotech...
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