Vaccines Do Not Contain Magnets

Misbar’s investigation showed that lack of understanding and confirmation bias are the cause of this false claim. Firstly, the COVID-19 vaccine is given with a 22-25 gauge needle, as it is an intramuscular injection. The Moderna vaccine is 0.5 mL in volume(mL=milliliters, and 0.5 mL is considered to be 10 drops of fluid), the Johnson and Johnson single dose vaccine is also 0.5 mL, and finally the Pfizer vaccine is the smallest at only 0.3 mL. So the Moderna and J&J vaccines are equivalent to 10 drops of water and the Pfizer is only 6. You can verify this amount when receiving the vaccine. 

This fluid is injected into the muscle under the three layers of the skin, so it is not close to the outside of the body. People are claiming that fridge magnets and other various household magnets are attracted to something that was injected into the skin. So, if the entire injection of 10 drops is magnetized it must be a magnetic fluid, or ferrofluid, or some other liquid metal (otherwise it would not be magnetic). Ferrofluids and liquid metals are not clear like the vaccine fluids and are far thicker than the vaccine fluid, so they would require a much larger gauge needle. As this is not the case, the magnetic component of the vaccine must be something smaller than 10 drops of water, and smaller than the diameter of a 22-25 gauge needle, which is 0.7-0.5 mm in diameter. Tape a piece of magnetic material that size to your arm and take a common household magnet. Now see if that piece of material will cause the magnet to stick to your arm. It will not, and especially would not under the three layers of skin and fat.

With the science aside we can turn to the psychological reasons people may fall for this ruse. The videos show people sliding what they claim to be magnets down their arm several times until they stop at some point. One video being passed around shows a woman passing the “magnet” over her arm several times before it stays in place.

In a true example of a confirmation bias she counts the one instance as a success, ignoring the higher chance of failure. A confirmation bias occurs when only information that supports a belief is accepted. The videos all contain the person sliding the magnet around before actually finding any purchase on the arm and when they go to “prove” it doesn’t work on the other arm they place it there once and give up. Just like a charlatan or magician, the evidence is presented in a compelling manner for those that want to believe it or are not fully paying attention.

Try your own experiment like one Instagram user did. But try an experiment that allows for other answers and tests other hypotheses.