Fact Check-‘Magnet test’ does not prove COVID-19 jabs contain metal or a microchip

Vaccines for COVID-19 do not contain metals or microchips that make recipients magnetic at the site of injection, physics and medical experts have told Reuters.

The flawed claim was made in a series of viral videos claiming to show magnets attracted to the arms of alleged jab recipients. Several clips said the supposed phenomenon was proof that people were microchipped (here , here and here), while others provided no explanation for the “magnet challenge” (here and here). Only one video named a specific vaccine, claiming the individual on camera had received the Pfizer/BioNTech shot (here).

However, these posts are not evidence of a magnetic reaction nor that COVID-19 jabs contain a microchip.

Firstly, Reuters has debunked baseless conspiracies about microchips in coronavirus vaccines throughout the pandemic, which often targeted the Microsoft co-founder and philanthropist Bill Gates (here , here , here , here and here).

Secondly, none of the COVID-19 jabs approved in the United Kingdom or the United States contain metallic ingredients (here , here , here and here). Many other shots do have small amounts of aluminium (here), but Oxford University researchers say this is no more harmful than the minimal quantities found naturally in almost all foods and drinking water (here).

Thirdly, even if COVID-19 vaccines did contain metals, they would not cause a magnetic reaction. Medical professionals at the Meedan Health Desk said: “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” (here).

They added that humans are all naturally “a little bit magnetic”, because we contain tiny quantities of iron. However, the combination of iron and water in the body repels magnets very slightly, and this function is the basis of Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) scans that allow doctors to assess your organs in hospitals (here).

Professor Michael Coey from the School of Physics at Trinity College Dublin (here) also described the claims as “complete nonsense”, telling Reuters via email that you would need about one gram of iron metal to attract and support a permanent magnet at the injection side, something you would “easily feel” if it was there.

“By the way, my wife was injected with her second dose of the Pfizer vaccine today, and I had mine over two weeks ago. I have checked that magnets are not attracted to our arms!”, he wrote.

Responding to a “magnet challenge” video specifically claiming to feature a Pfizer jab recipient, a spokeswoman for the company confirmed in an email to Reuters that their vaccine does not contain any metals and cannot cause a magnetic response when it is injected.

VERDICT

False. Experts say vaccinated individuals cannot not experience magnetism at the injection site.

This article was produced by the Reuters Fact Check team. Read more about our fact-checking work  here .

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