JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — In order to reach herd immunity, 70% of the nation needs to receive the COVID-19 vaccine. At this point, many who haven’t received the vaccine either know they don’t want one or are hesitant to receive one. We’re here to verify common rumors about the vaccine to allow you to make a more informed decision.
Sources:
- Johns Hopkins
- UF Health
- The Centers For Disease Control And Prevention
The claim: The vaccine can cause infertility in women
Experts at Johns Hopkins said the confusion arose when a rumor circulated claiming the vaccine would cause a woman’s body to fight against a protein that affects her fertility.
“A false report surfaced on social media, saying that the spike protein on this coronavirus was the same as another spike protein called syncytin-1 that is involved in the growth and attachment of the placenta during pregnancy,” Johns Hopkins stated on its website. “The false report said that getting the COVID-19 vaccine would cause a woman’s body to fight this different spike protein and affect her fertility. The two spike proteins are completely different and distinct, and getting the COVID-19 vaccine will not affect the fertility of women who are seeking to become pregnant, including through in vitro fertilization methods.”
Instead, experts said contracting COVID-19 can have a serious impact on pregnancy and a mother’s health.
The claim: The vaccine was developed too quickly for us to actually know it is safe.
Chad Neilsen, UF Health’s director of infection prevention said the methods Pfizer and Moderna used have been tested for years.
“Vaccines and usage of mRNA technology in vaccines have been around for 10 years,” Neilsen said. “This is just the first large-scale use we’ve seen in it.”
Neilsen adds the same mRNA technology has been used in Ebola and dengue fever vaccines.
“The COVID-19 vaccines from Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna were created with a method that has been in development for years, so the companies could start the vaccine development process early in the pandemic,” Johns Hopkins wrote on its website.
The claim: The vaccine can make you magnetic
It’s a claim that is all over social media. Many posts on the subject are satirical, but others are serious.
This claim got the most attention when a woman tried to demonstrate a key sticking to her in front of Ohio lawmakers.
“Can someone explain this to me?” the woman said while trying to have a bobby pin stick to her neck.
The CDC said COVID-19 vaccines are free of metals.
“All COVID-19 vaccines are free from metals such as iron, nickel, cobalt, lithium, and rare earth alloys, as well as any manufactured products such as microelectronics, electrodes, carbon nanotubes, and nanowire semiconductors,” The CDC said on its website.
It also said a dose is less than a milliliter, which is not enough for magnets to be attracted to your vaccine, even if it did contain magnetic metal.