The National Task Force (NTF) Against COVID-19 will initiate an investigation to confirm the authenticity of a viral video showing a healthcare worker who failed to push the contents of the syringe during a vaccination event in Makati City.

NTF chief implementer Carlito Galvez Jr. said Monday, June 28, that he already saw the viral video and his initial reaction was that somebody wanted to cause a controversy in the on-going immunization drive of the government.

"Sa ngayon, ang tagal na natin nagva-vaccinate wala tayong instances na ganyan. Nakita natin ang mga nagva-viral na iyan noon pa eh (Right now, we have yet to see instances like that even if we have been conducting vaccination for a long time now. We have seen the likes of that viral video even before). I think somebody wants to stir up a controversy against the on-going national vaccination program," the vaccine czar said.

"Tignan natin, imbestigahan natin kung authentic 'yung video kasi lumalabas na ang video galing sa Indonesia at ibang area (We will look into it, we will investigate if it si authentic because it appears that the video was from Indonesia and other areas)," he added.

This video is allegedly from #Makati. This is very alarming. Imagine the paranoia this can cause, plus the already existing vaccine hesitancy among our people. We hope the LGU can provide some clairification SOON. ctto pic.twitter.com/8BLKe7fWv5

— Kristin Dera (@kristin_dera) June 28, 2021

In the 28-second long video, a female vaccine recipient was seen documenting the whole vaccination process. A healthcare worker attending to the recipient was heard saying in Filipino: "Kayang kaya mo 'to, mam. (You can do it, mam)."

Another voice was heard in the background asking why the vaccination was taking too long, to which the healthcare worker replied: "Saglit lang daw po (She needed more time)."

The unidentified recipient, who appeared to be anxious, eventually agreed to proceed with the vaccination: "Sige lang (Let's do it)."

The healthcare worker, in full PPE uniform, injected the syringe into the left arm of the recipient and pulled it out shortly without pushing the contents of the syringe into her arm. The healthcare worker then sanitized the recipient's arm, signaling the end of the vaccination process.

It was not clear when the video was taken but it was uploaded on Twitter on Monday.

Galvez implied that the conversation between the recipient and the healthcare worker could have been "manipulated," noting that it is possible because of the advent of technology.

"Tignan natin kasi kung 'yung ano authentic kasi minsan pwede i-override ang conversation (Let us look if it is authentic because sometimes, you can override the conversation)," he said.

However, Makati Mayor Abigail Binay confirmed the authenticity of the video in a "Laging Handa" press briefing on Monday.

The Department of Health also made a separate confirmation of the incident where the vaccinee failed to get a proper dose of the COVID-19 vaccine.

"We will investigate that, it is very bad. We cannot tolerate such actions. We will not count that out, we will investigate and we will impose the necessary penalty right away," Duque said.