Claim: COVID-19 vaccines can cause phones or magnets to stick to your skin
Source: Viral videos
Verdict: False
Researched by Gifty Tracy Aminu
A video showing a man in a Ghana Police Service uniform claiming that the spot of his COVID-19 jab reacts positively to magnets while demonstrating how his phone sticks to his skin at the place he received his COVID-19 vaccine is being widely circulated on social media.
Speaking in an indigenous Ghanaian Language-Twi, the police officer repeats the demonstration on his other arm supposedly to prove that it is not reactive to magnets or the phone because it is not where he received the jab.
In the same video is the voice of another man, who is heard interacting with the policeman and saying, “this could be true, this is serious.”
The conservation (claim)
Policeman: “Fellow Ghanaians it is indeed true. I took the coronavirus jab and this is my phone… I will attach it to the spot… It is true… that is my left arm and it’s stuck.”
Unknown man: “This could be true. Move your body a little… then it is serious.”
Policeman: “I am a Ghana policeman, you can take a look at the crest and this is my right arm…I will wipe there and stick the phone to it and that is the phone on the floor…Lord I am finished,” he exclaimed.
Unknown man: “You are now a robot.”
Claim 2
In another viral video showing an elderly woman speaking in an indigenous Ghanaian language-Twi, she makes a similar claim by demonstrating how a phone sticks to her skin at the place she received the COVID-19 vaccine.
“Fellow Ghanaians, let’s be cautious. It is indeed true. This is where I took my vaccine and the phone is hanging there. What have they injected into our bodies? Let’s ask questions about what they have injected into our bodies…” she partly said in the 26 seconds video.
Fact-check
GhanaFact has DEBUNKED a similar claim in the past.
According to experts at Meedan’s Health Desk, a group of public health scientists working to tackle medical misinformation online, the COVID-19 vaccines are not known to contain any metals.
“The vaccine is not known to contain any metals or cause any response to magnetic fields. Only certain metals can trigger magnetic reactions, and the vaccine does not contain any metals at all. That means it can’t cause a magnetic response when it’s injected.”
“The amount of metal that would need to be in a vaccine for it to attract a magnet is much more substantial than the amounts that could be present in a vaccine’s small dose.” Experts at Meedan’s Health Desk emphasized.
The Department of health-Australia has said: “none of the COVID-19 vaccines contain software or microchips. They cannot track people,” in response to a similar claim.
Also, the State of Indiana, USA has emphasized that “the vaccines do not contain microchips or any other sort of device. It is impossible for a microchip to be placed in a vaccine.”
Other credible fact-checkers including the Reuters Fact Check, US TODAY Fact Check and Australia Associated Press FactCheck have flagged similar claims as FALSE.
Meanwhile, the police officer in the first viral video has been seen in another video renouncing his earlier comments and apologizing for misinforming the public.
Verdict
The claim is FALSE.
