Editor’s note: This is a roundup of some of the most popular but completely untrue stories and visuals of the week. None of these are legit, even though they were shared widely on social media. The Associated Press checked them out. Here are the facts.
CLAIM: The Pfizer coronavirus vaccine is made up of 99.9% graphene oxide, a toxic compound.
THE FACTS: Graphene oxide is not among the ingredients found in Pfizer’s covid-19 vaccine, despite alarmist claims to the contrary on social media. Videos spreading widely on Instagram and Twitter on Thursday touted a report from Spain that allegedly claimed to find graphene oxide — a material made by oxidizing graphite — in a vial of the Pfizer shot. “There’s no other reason for this to be in here except to murder people,” said a woman in one of the videos. The woman also baselessly claimed the compound would cause an inflammatory immune reaction called a cytokine storm in people who got the vaccine. In reality, there’s no graphene oxide in the Pfizer vaccine, according to the ingredient list and Kit Longley, senior manager of science media relations at Pfizer. There’s also no evidence to suggest the Pfizer vaccine would cause a cytokine storm, Longley said. The coronavirus itself, however, has caused this type of immune response in some patients. Chemical and medical experts who are not associated with Pfizer confirmed to The Associated Press that there is no way graphene oxide would be found in the vaccine. “It is not in the…
