A nurse didn’t pretend to vaccinate Anthony Hopkins. Video shows excess liquid after dose was given

As states expand coronavirus vaccine eligibility, misinformation about the shots continues to spread online.

One such Instagram post, shared on March 9, claims that a video shows a nurse pretending to vaccinate "Silence of the Lambs" actor Anthony Hopkins before squirting the fluid from the syringe on the floor. 

"Here is @anthonyhopkins ‘receiving’ his shot," the caption says. "Notice she squirts the solution onto the ground at the end of the video. Propaganda to get you to take an experimental drug, when they don’t take it themselves. Please research and use discernment before taking it."

The video, however, shows a real vaccination. The fluid being disposed of represents excess liquid that is standard for injectable pharmaceuticals after the medicine has been administered.

The post was flagged as part of Facebook’s efforts to combat false news and misinformation on its News Feed. (Read more about our partnership with Facebook.)

Hopkins originally shared the clip on his Instagram account on Jan. 28, thanking CHA Hollywood Presbyterian Medical Center in California, where he received the shot.

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The medical center told PolitiFact that the post misrepresents what’s happening in the video and that Hopkins did receive the vaccine.

"Every syringe is carefully prepared to ensure it contains the correct quantity of vaccine, and Mr. Hopkins received a full dose vaccination," the hospital said in an emailed statement. 

"The excess liquid pictured in the video is a result of residual volume that occupies the ‘dead space’ in the needle system ... AFTER the full dose drawn into the syringe has been administered," the statement said. "This is expected, and ‘dead space’ is present in every medication administered by injection."

In January, the U.S. government sought to squeeze an extra dose out of the Pfizer vials by providing special syringes with low dead space to reduce the amount of vaccine left over, but the effort was hampered by a syringe shortage.

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