Fact Check: Did India Ban the Pfizer COVID-19 Vaccine?
On 2/18/21 at 10:48 AM EST
Governments around the world have launched mass vaccination campaigns in recent months to protect their citizens from COVID-19.
Multiple pharmaceutical companies have spearheaded vaccine development, including Pfizer-BioNTech, Moderna and Oxford/AstraZeneca, with each claiming strong efficacy following clinical trials.
Some countries have granted their chosen vaccines emergency use authorizations (EUA), giving the green light for distribution to start for those most at risk of the disease and frontline workers. For now, vaccine demand continues to exceed supply.
The Claim
Conspiracy theory website Infowars claimed on February 14, 2021, that India had banned the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine due to safety concerns. On Thursday morning, there was a rise in Google web searches around the claim, such as India banned Pfizer vaccine and Pfizer vaccine banned in India. Twitter users also repeated the claim