No, Covid-19 vaccines don’t contain Satan’s microchips

If you want an idea of the conspiracy theories that hang over Covid-19 vaccines, there’s no better summation than a

40-second TikTok video posted by a performer named Taylor Rousseau.

As a melodramatic song plays, Rousseau, young, blonde and elaborately mascaraed, silently portrays a woman beaten to death for refusing to take a vaccine that contains a microchip carrying the mark of the beast. At the end, she enters a heavenly skyscape emblazoned with the words: ‘‘Well done, good and faithful servant.’’

The video has been seen more than 680,000 times, garnered 47,000 likes and, despite thousands of mocking comments, earned plenty of positive reviews.

Therein lies a challenge for public health officials trying to convince a wary portion of the public that the

Covid-19 vaccines are safe and effective. Phony assertions have circulated for months on social media, joining a current of anti-vaccine sentiment that has grown stronger over the last 20 years.

A poll released last week showed that only 47 per cent of Americans plan to get the vaccine. Those who did not want it mostly said they were concerned about side-effects and the development and approval process.

Zizi Papacharissi, a communication and political science professor at the University of Illinois Chicago, says social media has made it easy to amplify vaccine fabrications. Though the likes of Facebook and YouTube have pledged to suppress such misinformation, that happens only after it has already spread.

‘‘Any action they take is retroactive . . . Putting something over it that says, ‘This is possibly misinformation’, or taking the post down, it’s not really going to help.’’

As the rollout begins, here are common myths about the vaccine, and what experts say about them:

Myth 1: The vaccine contains a microchip

The fear of being tracked via secretly implanted microchips has existed for years, but some researchers say it became linked to Covid-19 vaccines during episodes of InfoWars, an online conspiracy theory show.

The idea is that the chips will allow the government and corporations to surveil people who get the vaccine.

Thomas Hope, biology professor at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, says such technology does not exist. And even if it did, the microchips would have to find their way into multiple vaccines created by different companies.

‘‘If someone [advancing this theory] has a phone in their hand, I would say you’re being tracked right now,’’ he says. ‘‘Why would someone else have to do it?’’

Myth 2: The vaccine will alter your DNA

A video that misrepresents remarks by Microsoft founder Bill Gates about Covid-19 vaccines has convinced some they can change DNA.

The video appears to confuse DNA with messenger RNA, which is used by the new vaccines to direct cells to create components of Covid-19, though not the entire thing. Immune cells detect those components and create antibodies that ward off the actual virus if a person is exposed.

Hope says DNA and messenger RNA are entirely different molecules. ‘‘There’s no DNA with [the] vaccines, so there’s no possibility it could alter your DNA.’’ Myth 3: The vaccine will give you Covid-19

This belief appears to stem from the fact that some vaccines, such as those for measles, use live but weakened viruses to stimulate an immune response. Flu shots do the same thing with dead viruses.

The messenger RNA vaccines do not use the coronavirus, live or dead, and thus cannot infect someone with Covid-19, says University of Chicago Medicine infectious diseases expert Emily Landon.

‘‘These don’t have anything to do with the virus.There’s no virus involved in the process . . . which is why it can be made so much faster [than traditional vaccines].’’

Some who received the Pfizer vaccine have reported fleeting sideeffects including fever, chills and fatigue. But Robert Cintronberg, executive medical director of infectious disease and prevention for Advocate Aurora Health, says they are just a sign that the immune system is kicking into gear.

Myth 4: Our immune systems are better than vaccines

A popular social media claim, circulated by Republican Senator Ron Paul and others, says the vaccines are inferior to people’s immune systems in protecting against Covid-19.

This belief conflates two numbers: the survival rate of those who contract the virus, which is about 99 per cent, and the roughly 95 per cent efficacy rate of the vaccines being introduced in the US.

‘‘Those comments are from people who are not really good at math or biostatistics,’’ Cintronberg says.

The survival rate still means hundreds of thousands will die from the disease. The vaccines’ high efficacy rate – much higher than for flu shots – could swiftly bring about herd immunity that would prevent people from encountering the virus at all.

And even though Covid-19 spares the vast majority of people it infects, tens of thousands will suffer aftereffects for a long time. ‘‘Even if you don’t die from it, you may have to live with it, which can be disabling. I think people don’t understand that, either,’’ Cintronberg says.

Despite this sort of pushback against vaccine myths, Papacharissi says it might not be enough to counteract the conspiracy theories. Subscribing to falsehoods has become a form of identity, she says, reflecting the mistrust some people feel towards the government and media.

‘‘Until we repair that relationship of trust, we’re going to have problems sharing the truth.’’ —