By Fact Check By Iverify

Copyright dawn

Multiple users on X on Tuesday shared a video, claiming that it showed schoolgirls falling sick after being vaccinated. However, the clip is of teargas shelling in Azad Jammu and Kashmir and not linked to the current Human Papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination campaign against cervical cancer.

A day ago, Abdullah Gul, son of former intelligence chief Hamid Gul, shared a video on X showing girls in school uniforms in a hospital ward appearing sick with the following caption:

“After forced vaccination in schools, several girls fell ill and had to be transferred to the hospital. For God’s sake! Take a clear and firm stance in the matter of your children. All the world’s experiments are always conducted on us poor people. No help for flood victims, but the West is giving free vaccines.”

The post gained over 290,000 views, 2,700 reactions and 1,800 shares.

The post did not provide other crucial information, such as the location and date of the video or specify what vaccine was administered.

The same video was shared with a similar claim by a user on X, who appears to be a PTI supporter based on their past posts and profile picture.

The user referred to a HPV vaccination campaign in the caption:

“Big revelation. In Pakistan, the HPV vaccine is being administered to children. Protect your children from this vaccine. Look at the condition of the girls. Share this video with every household.”

The post gained over 30,000 views

The same video with similar claims was shared by multiple users on X as can be seen here and here and on Instagram as well.

A fact-check was initiated to verify the claim due to its virality, keen public interest in vaccine-related matters and to address the harm of such content.

A reverse image search yielded a YouTube video dated May 9, 2024, with the following title: “Police fired tear gas at girls’ schools in Dadyal”.

Dadyal is a tehsil in Mirpur district of AJK.

A keyword search for “tear gas”, “Dadyal” and “school girls” yielded a May 9, 2024, X post by journalist Basharat Raja, who had shared the same video with the following caption:

“This is also a clip from Dadyal where tear gas was excessively used by police and unidentified individuals dressed in civilian clothes on schools, causing female students engaged in annual examinations to faint.”

A keyword search to corroborate the incident through credible media outlets yielded a May 10, 2024, news report from leading English publication Dawn titled “Police crackdown in AJK prompts ‘shutter-down strike’ call”.

The report stated that police fired tear gas shells during clashes, and some landed in a school, affecting several girls. The demonstrations were part of a wider movement against high electricity bills and taxes in AJK.

A keyword search to determine whether any vaccination campaigns were underway in Pakistan yielded a World Health Organisation (WHO) article dated Sept 16, 2025, titled: “Pakistan joins 150 countries to protect 13 million girls from cervical cancer with WHO-prequalified vaccine”.

The report stated that the WHO, in collaboration with the Federal Directorate of Immunisation (FDI), launched the country’s first-ever HPV vaccination campaign to protect 13 million adolescent girls from cervical cancer, in partnership with vaccine alliance Gavi and Unicef. It added that Pakistan now joined more than 150 countries that include the WHO-prequalified vaccine in their immunisation schedules.

According to the landing page for the campaign on FDI’s website: “The HPV vaccine is safe, free and effective and girls aged 9–14 years will be vaccinated from September 15-27, 2025, in schools, madrassas and health facilities across Punjab, Sindh, AJK and Islamabad.”

In its announcement of the campaign, Gavi noted that the vaccine has “mild side-effects”, such as pain in the injected part of the body or a low fever that might occur, adding, however, that this was “similar to other vaccines”.

Therefore, the fact-check determined that the claim that a viral video shows schoolgirls in pain after being inoculated amid the current HPV vaccination campaign is false. The video shows schoolgirls affected by tear gas shelling in AJK in May 2024, not the HPV vaccine — which is safe and only has mild side effects.

This fact check was originally published by iVerify Pakistan — a project of CEJ-IBA and UNDP.