A conspiracy theory suggesting that the COVID-19 vaccines would create an electromagnetic field on the injection site has gone viral on social media. The claim gained momentum after video of an Electromagnetic Field (EMF) Reader going off when placed close to the vaccinated spot on the arm.
The conspiracy theory claimed that it was due to the ingredients present in the COVID-19 vaccines that exposes the vaccinated people to high amounts of electromagnetic radiation. However, the theory is found to be baseless.
Reading Shows Harmful Level Being Emitted from Injection Site
The claim was generated after a Facebook user Kay Jay posted a video captioned "EMF READER ON A V SITE". The video was also shared by other users who wrote, "This is why people are getting radiation poisoning symptoms like bloody noses from being around the V'ed. They're emitting/transmitting."
The 45-second video starts with a woman pointing a hand-held device labeled "electromagnetic radiation tester" at her own arm. "This is my arm," she is heard saying as the camera focuses on the device's reading which which shows "E-field: 0 V/m."
Then she moves the tester near a Bluetooth speaker and the device beeps, a red-light blinks and the screen shows an "E-field" between 53 and 58. The screen also switches to "harmful," instead of safe. Later, the woman moves the devices to a charging port which also shows the reading above 200.
The woman than nears the device to another person's arm and says, "They gave you the shot where," to which the person replies, "Right here." After placing the device at the alleged vaccinated spot, it starts beeping and flashing red light. The screen shows an "E-field:" between 116 and 134, classified as "harmful" by the device.
In the comments section the woman wrote that she has not been vaccinated and when she placed the device on her arm, "nothing happened."
Vaccine Incapable of Producing Radiation - Experts
Debunking the claim being made by the user in the video, Reuters claimed that the COVID-19 vaccine doesn't contain ingredients that could produce an electromagnetic field at the site of injection.
In a communique to the outlet, Dr. Matthew Laurens, Associate Professor and Vaccine Researcher at the University of Maryland School of Medicine, said that people are exposed to small electric and magnetic fields every day and "no evidence exists that this low-level exposure adversely affects an individual's health."
The spokespersons for Oxford-AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine team and Pfizer also claimed that there is nothing in the COVID-19 vaccine that would emit or cause harmful electromagnetic fields or radiation poisoning.
Speaking to PolitiFact, Dr. Stuart Ray, a professor in the Division of Infectious Diseases within the Johns Hopkins University Department of Medicine, said that the COVID-19 vaccines would not impact the amount of someone's radiation.
"There's nothing that sets them apart in this way because the (COVID-19) vaccines use the person's own biological machinery to generate an immune response, and that same machinery is running all the time," Ray said. "The process that is triggered is a usual process that is triggered for the immune system and involves no particular radiation," he added.
