Will “people who get Covid vaccine die after some time”, as claimed by veteran Nepali actor Bishwa Basnet?
As his Facebook posts show, Basnet has remained a die-hard Covid skeptic and a critic of Covid vaccines. In an interview with Nepal’s News 24 television, Bishwa Basnet, actor of Nepali movies like Sindoor and Anyaya, has claimed that he has chosen to not get vaccinated against the coronavirus because ‘vaccines could cause people’s death’.
The actor, producer and director of Nepali movies, spoke to the News 24 a few weeks ago.
In the News 24 interview, Basnet claimed that ‘his own research showed that Covid vaccine could prove fatal’ and he refrained from taking the jab. Nepal’s senior citizens were eligible to take Covid vaccine February onwards soon after frontline health workers, security personnel and journalists got the jab after it was first rolled out in January 2021.
The actor-cum-director further elaborated in the interview with News 24 that he has done “detailed research” into the matter and has concluded that “… Covid vaccine could lead to death of people five or ten years after taking it. It will kill many people … 50 million people in (the United States of) America alone …”
As soon as it was posted on News 24 Nepal’s YouTube channel on June 15, Actor Basnet’s claims went viral on social media platforms like Facebook and TikTok.
Soon, News 24 removed the video and posted a new one, with the controversial part removed.
After it noticed the actor’s cliam going viral, TikTok, too, removed videos related to it.
Fact Check / Verification:
We found out that Bishwa Basnet has remained a Covid-skeptic and anti-vaccine activist on social media who often urged people to boycott Covid vaccine. His Facebook wall is full of anti-Covid vaccine posts.
The World Health Organization (WHO) and other trusted health entities and governments around the world have been promoting Covid vaccine – such as AstraZeneca, Sinopharm, Vero-Cell, Johnson & Johnson, Moderna etc – as the only best available antidote to arrest further spread of Covid pandemic. Following which, vaccination drives are continuing around the world.
Minus some minor side-effects, Covid vaccines are safe, according to scientists with WHO and other leading academic institutions, including Oxford and Johns Hopkins universities, to name a few. Nepal still needs to give Covid jabs to 22 million people. As of June-end, 2021, it has already given Vaccine to nearly 2 million people.
Nepal’s Ministry of Health has maintained that since no serious side effects of Covid vaccine – including AstraZeneca, Covishield and Sinopharm – have been recorded, the vaccine remains safe for the population and people of all ages.
Our investigations show that actor Biswa Basnet’s claims hold no scientific basis and appear part of the global Covid conspiracy or vaccine hesitancy observed in many countries around the world.
Conclusion: Actor Basnet’s claim saying that “Covid vaccine will eventually lead to the death of people who take the jab” is not based on any scientific evidence and, hence, it is false.
Result: False
Our Sources:
https://www.unicef.org/nepal/covid-19-vaccine-and-covax
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