Since the COVID vaccine came into existence unusual rumours and myths relating to vaccines like it will make you infertile, or people might die after taking the jab have been floating on social media. There have been strange claims made by people that the Covid-19 vaccine will make a magnet stick to your arm. Several videos and posts have been circulating on social media platforms where people can have coins and steel items stuck on their body.
So, are all these claims any truth. Doctors vehemently oppose the fact and the Government of India issued a clarification to clear the doubts and debunk the claim.
What did the Government say?
PIB Fact Check tweeted, “Several posts/videos claiming that #COVID19 #vaccines can make people magnetic are doing the rounds on social media. #PIBFactCheck: COVID-19 vaccines do NOT make people magnetic and are completely SAFE. Register for #LargestVaccineDrive now and GET VACCINATED.”
The PBI has shared a short video clip to clear the myths and called those claims on the vaccine “baseless”.
Answering if the Covid vaccine can give the body magnetic power, the PIB post said: “Vaccines cannot cause a magnetic reaction in the body. Covid-19 vaccines are completely safe and don’t contain any metal-based ingredients.”
Videos from all across the world making claims of magnets sticking to the arms of the Covid vaccinated people are being shared on the internet, raising doubts amongst people about vaccine safety.
In a viral video, a man named Arvind SonarNashik, Maharashtra doing rounds on the internet can be seen putting spoons and coins on Sonar’s arms, which are getting stuck to his arm.
Assuring that the vaccine shots are completely safe and protective, PIB said, “Do not fall prey to misinformation about Covid-19 vaccines and get vaccinated.”
However, it is common for people to experience reactions after taking vaccines like headache, fever, swelling around the injection area, and others depending on which Covid-19 vaccine one takes.
Claims also cite that the COVID-19 vaccine somehow functioned as a way to microchip recipients. This claim has also been termed false. The New York Times stated that the ingredients in Pfizer's vaccine, Moderna, Johnson & Johnson or any other vaccine used in any other country does not contain any ingredients that even remotely suggested the presence of a microchip.
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What do doctors have to say about these claims?
Doctors have refuted these claims and called it stupid.
"There is no new magnetic capacity conferred by being vaccinated,” said infectious disease expert Amesh A. Adalja, MD, senior scholar at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) addressing the magnet claim particularly has on its website said: "Myths and Facts about COVID-19 Vaccines," writing, "receiving a COVID-19 vaccine will not make you magnetic, including at the site of vaccination, which is usually your arm."
Vaccines for Coronavirus does not have components that can produce an electromagnetic field at the site of your injection, the CDC explains, making it clear that all Covid vaccines are free from metals like iron, nickel, cobalt, lithium, and rare earth alloys, as well as any manufactured products such as microelectronics, electrodes, carbon nanotubes, and nanowire semiconductors.
"In addition, the typical dose for a COVID-19 vaccine is less than a millilitre, which is not enough to allow magnets to be attracted to your vaccination site even if the vaccine was filled with a magnetic metal,” the CDC writes.
Then why is magnet sticking to some people?
There is a possibility that a magnet could stick to people due to the oils present in the skin or even sweat, says Jamie Alan, PhD, an associate professor of pharmacology and toxicology at Michigan State University.
"People can balance spoons on their nose, so it's not surprising people can balance magnets on their arms," she added.
There is likely a little chance of tricks going on on TikTok and the internet to gain attention or popularity
"I guess if you dipped a magnet in honey or slime and then stuck it to your arm, it would probably stick," said Dr Adalja.
Things that have to be kept in mind that wearing metal stuff regularly does not turn your body into a magnet. Multivitamins are a source of iron. "The vitamins are so diluted and spread out through your body that they don't cause a magnetic effect," Alan says.
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Likewise, by wearing metal earrings you put metal into your body and it doesn’t convert you magnetic, she points out.
So, this is fake news and a myth.