A video shared more than 27,100 times on Facebook implies that the COVID-19 vaccine will contain a detection microchip that is injected into the individuals who receive the COVID-19 vaccine once it is ready. This is false.
The 3:49 minute video visible here (archive version archive.vn/CNhct) is a compilation of out-of-context or manipulated footage, featuring news reports and commentaries by Bill and Melinda Gates and Jack Ma that are selectively combined.
Some comments on the video include: “Say no to being detected with a chip”, “I will cut off my arm before having my or my kids do microchips” and “Scary! I do not want anyone’s microchip in my body do not let implants !! ”
APIJECT
Around time stamp 00:24, the video contains excerpts from a CBN interview here with Jay Walker, executive chairman of pre-filled syringe manufacturer Apiject, which obtained a US $ 590 million loan to produce injectors for the ultimate COVID-19 vaccine on 19 November. (here).
In this interview from May 2020 (youtu.be/WllUZVwQBZ8?t=209), Walker is asked about how the “optional RFID chip” would work, referring to the radio frequency identification chip that may be part of the syringe label. the injectable agent itself (as explained in detail here on page 13).
In his full answer, Walker compares the technology to a ‘barcode’ and assures it that it does not contain any personal information. He also explains that the microchip is “purely optional, and that the US government has not even decided whether to use it.”
Steve Hofman, a spokesman for Apiject, confirmed by telephone to Reuters that this ‘optional’ microchip would not be injected into the person receiving the vaccine.
Hofman assures that this technology is optional and that it has not been requested so far. He also added that the microchip “could not collect any personal information”.
The microchip, he explained, was designed for two purposes: “to allow the healthcare provider to confirm that the actual injection and the vaccine in it have not expired and that it has not been counterfeited.” It will also confirm that ‘that particular injection has been used’. The health care provider, Hofman added, will use a mobile app to capture and review this information.
Around the time stamp 2:10, the video in this claim itself contains footage from a fact check by Verify here in which they denounce this false claim.
BILL GATES
The video begins with a comment from Bill Gates that was edited to misleadingly combine two parts of his speech during a 2013 financial inclusion forum. The video on social media makes it look like Gates said, “innovations like vaccines, we need a measurement system that tracks the vaccine.” This has been clearly amended.
The original segments are visible youtu.be/6xkwAL3jwJs and youtu.be/6xkwAL3jwJs?t=173.
The full footage shows that Gates referred to vaccines as an example of breakthrough innovations that ‘changed the future for billions of people’ (he also mentions ‘loving crops’ as another example of this). Gates later refers to a ‘measurement system’, but he talks about the need for a system to track the progress of financial inclusion, not vaccines.
Reuters has the allegation that Bill Gates planned to launch microchip implants to fight the coronavirus (here) and that a microchip implant along with COVID-19 vaccines (here) was killed. Other factual checks on false claims regarding Gates and COVID-19 are visible here and here.
MELINDA GATES AND JACK MA
Around time stamp 1:32, the video contains footage of the launch of a United Nations (UN) report on digital cooperation youtu.be/UcB_aIq1OwA in 2019, developed by a panel chaired by Melinda Gates and Jack Ma, executive chairman of Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba.
The video contains authentic comments from Melinda Gates and Jack Ma, executive chair of Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba, who co-chaired the panel that developed the report here. However, if put together in microchip news reports, these comments may seem misleading.
The video shows, for example, that Melinda Gates says that technology offers incredible opportunities to ‘create the world we want’. Some users commenting on the video seem to misrepresent it as a reference to an interviewed world. A comment in the video reads: ‘The world’ they want ‘is not the one we want as free burghers living in a democracy! Are they going to implant themselves ????? ”
The full footage of her response visibly youtu.be/UcB_aIq1OwA?t=205 shows that Gates referred to a ‘fairer and more humane world’ with ‘the world we want’.
Jack Ma’s comments (youtu.be/UcB_aIq1OwA?t=250) on the “digital age” also do not seem to refer to vaccines, but rather to how technological advances will shape the future. Later, Mom says, “No one is the expert of the future that we need to learn, we need to embrace it and we need to change our mentality, you know, to accept this revolution.”
OTHER FOOD
The video also contains misleading other clips from old news reports about the microchip technology in humans, unrelated to the COVID-19 vaccine.
Around the 3:00 time stamp, it contains footage from an authentic PBS NewsHour, but the comments of anchor Judy Woodruff have been edited and the context is missing.
In the edited Facebook video, Woodruff’s words were selectively cut to make it look like she said that people who support the microchip implantation are doing it to ‘take back control’. The original footage here shows that Woodruff actually referred to “taking control of their personal data.”
Another segment around PBS NewsHour timestamp 3:13 is visible youtu.be/hLc_7CnWkxw?t=543
The video also contains images from this report from 2007, around time stamps 1:06 and 2:31. The report looked at the possibility of implanting children with microchips for safety purposes, and addressed the concerns of parents about the use of this technology. However, the audio associated with these images at about 1:06 a.m. appears to come from another video. Reuters could not identify the source of this audio.
The footage that appears around 3:20 is visible here. This piece from 2017 also reported on the debate over how microchips can bring benefits to daily tasks, and it weighs in on the privacy considerations surrounding this issue. The specific segment included in the video, youtu.be/0Ixr4SzoVJA?t=97, mentions Seattle-based company Dangerous Things (dangerousthings.com/) which sells a variety of disc implants.
VERDICT
Alter. COVID-19 vaccine syringes may contain RFID microchips on labels, but are not ‘injected’ into the person receiving the vaccine. A video containing this claim contains modified material and out of context.
This article was produced by the Reuters Fact Check team. Read more about our fact-checking work here.