SALT LAKE CITY — Health agencies across the country have said time and time again that Pfizer, Moderna, and Johnson & Johnson's COVID-19 vaccines are safe and effective, yet the idea that they contain microchips is holding some people back from getting them.
A survey done by The Economist and YouGov of 1,500 Americans found that 20% of them think the U.S. government is using the COVID-19 vaccine to microchip the population.
So health departments across the country are fighting back against the idea, saying it's simply not true.
"It is a myth that has been spread online, unfortunately, but there are no microchips, no magnets, no Bluetooth technology, anything like that in the vaccines," said Jenny Johnson, The Public Information Officer for the Utah Department of Health.
Not only is it not true, but it's also scientifically impossible to make a microchip small enough to fit through a hypodermic needle and be capable of tracking someone's location.
Masood Tabib-Azar, A professor of electrical engineering at the University of Utah said, "Devices and chips that are in that size range are not going to be very sophisticated."
He also said that while it is possible to make a microchip small enough to fit through a hypodermic needle, it wouldn't be able to track someone's GPS location.
Tabib-Azar said making that a reality would require a microchip that's at least 1mm cubed, which is far too big to fit through the needle that's used to administer a COVID-19 vaccine, and even then the microchip still couldn't be read remotely.
"In order to be able to read it, you have to be very close to it. You can not do it with a satellite from miles away," said Tabib-Azar.
A microchip capable of tracking someone's location would also need to have its own antenna and power source, making it even larger.
COVID-19 vaccines are also clear, so if they did have microchips in them, you'd be able to see them.
Tabib-Azar said, "All vaccines look like water so they don’t have any dust particles or anything floating in them."
The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) has all of the ingredients for each of the COVID-19 vaccines that have emergency use authorization posted on their website.
