Viral video of Pakistani woman refusing polio drops for children is actually a movie scene

Misinformation about the polio vaccine has circulated for years in Pakistan.

(AFP) - A video has been viewed hundreds of thousands of times in multiple posts on Twitter and Facebook that claim it shows a Pakistani mother refusing to allow a polio vaccinator to vaccinate her child. The claim is false; the video shows a scene from a Pakistani romantic comedy film released in 2018.

The video was published on Twitter here on January 14, 2020 by Tarek Fatah, a prominent Canadian author. The tweet, which has since been deleted, was liked more than 6,300 times and retweeted more than 2,600 times.

The post’s caption reads: “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.""

Below is a screenshot of the misleading tweet:

The video was viewed more than 200,000 times after it was shared on Facebook; and on YouTube with a similar claim.

The claim is false; the video does not show a real-life incident. It shows a scene from 2018 Pakistani film Load Wedding. The full film was published on YouTube on February 27, 2019.

The video in the misleading posts shows a scene that corresponds with the full film from the 34-minute 26-second mark to the 35-minute 18-second mark.

Below are screenshots comparing keyframes from the movie (L) and the misleading footage, which was filmed from a slightly different angle (R):

The actress who played the vaccinator, Mehwish Hayat, also said the footage in the misleading posts shows a scene from her film.

Thank u for giving ur 2 cents on this but pls first verify the source b4 posting next time. It’s a scene frm my movie”loadwedding”,the polio worker is me & that woman an actress.Through the film we were raising awareness of the issue.Glad 2 see our performances were so convincing https://t.co/ididoJJcxL

— Mehwish Hayat TI (@MehwishHayat) January 15, 2020

In a tweet replying to Fatah’s misleading Twitter post, Hayat stated: “Thank u for giving ur 2 cents on this but pls first verify the source b4 posting next time. It’s a scene frm my movie”loadwedding”,the polio worker is me & that woman an actress.Through the film we were raising awareness of the issue.Glad 2 see our performances were so convincing.”

Misinformation about the polio vaccine has circulated for years in Pakistan.

Pakistan remains one of just three countries to have not totally eradicated the disease. The country recorded 136 cases of polio last year, a sharp increase from the 12 cases in 2018, according to Pakistani authorities and the World Health Organization, AFP reported.