DURBAN - THE KWAZULU-NATAL department of health has rubbished the videos circulating on social media claiming to show that vaccines have magnetic properties.
Videos have surfaced on social media showing people placing coins on the arms of individuals who have been vaccinated against Covid-19, in an attempt to prove that the vaccine is magnetic.
The videos have been dismissed as part of conspiracy theories and disinformation campaigns.
In a statement, Health MEC Nomagugu Simelane urged South Africans to check the credibility of the source of the news they consume.
“It is very unfortunate that at a time when we are in a war against this deadly Covid-19 epidemic, there are people out there who invest so much time and effort in a misinformation campaign, which results in vaccine hesitancy,” she said.
Simelane said the department welcomed input from top global health experts who have dismissed claimed links between the Covid-19 vaccine and magnetic fields.
She said according to a report shared by a World Health Organization-affiliated group Africa Infodemic Response Alliance, Covid-19 vaccines did not contain magnetic microchips.
In the same statement, medical experts weighed in, saying these videos were nothing more than a conspiracy theory typical of disinformation about the novel coronavirus.
Dr Stephen Schrantz, an infectious diseases specialist at the University of Chicago Medicine said the claims were impossible.
“There is absolutely no way that a vaccine can lead to the reaction shown in these videos posted to Instagram and/or YouTube. It is better explained by two-sided tape on the metal disk being applied to the skin rather than a magnetic reaction,” he said.