Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin speaks during a briefing at the Pentagon in Washington, May 6, 2021. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)
Are vaccines a plot by the U.S. government to place microchips in Americans? While this idea — crazy as it sounds — was promoted and disproved in April, some people are still talking about it and some anti-vax conspiracy theorists seem to want to keep it alive.
Some conspiracy theorists claim that the Pentagon, various governments and people — maybe Bill Gates — are using vaccines as a way to inject us with microchips, Newsweek reported in April. The conspiracy theory continues to make the rounds.
Many of the conspiracy theorists’ claims are based on a CBS 60 Minutes interview with Dr. Matt Hepburn, a military doctor who formerly worked for DARPA, the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, Newsweek reported.
While the U.S. government is working on sensor technology that does go under the skin, it is neither a microchip nor does it detect covid, Hepburn said. It’s a hydrogel.
It would be mechanically impossible for a microchip to be injected while the vaccine was being administered, according to James Heathers, the chief scientific officer at Cipher Skin, a startup that is developing a mesh sensor technology. For one thing, the needle used for covid-19 vaccines are too thin and too short, according to an unscientific investigation by The Atlantic.
“The needle was likely 1.5 inches long. On bigger shoulders, a one-inch needle would be too short for intramuscular injections,” Heathers wrote. A microchip with 5G functionality is “about the size of a penny, and would never fit inside those needles,” according to Heathers.
In April, a Facebook post with nearly 4,000 shares claimed that the Pentagon had developed a microchip implant, equipped with an antenna, capable of detecting a covid-19 infection, USA Today reported.
“What started off as a conspiracy theory has turned out to be surprisingly real,” reads the April 12 post from Russia Today, a page Facebook flagged as state-controlled media. “Pentagon scientists have unveiled a microchip implant which can detect a covid-19 infection. The chip, which is equipped with a small antenna, is meant to act like a ‘check engine’ light, catching asymptomatic cases of the disease.”
In fact, a private company did create a sensor — not a microchip– that can relay information about changes in molecules that could indicate the presence of covid-19 or other diseases, USA Today reported.
The company did receive federal funding.
Although the Facebook claim was disproved in April, a Twitter user recycled it this week in August.
“Pentagon developing micro-chip that can detect COVID-19 and other viruses — Would you get it?” Getting the concept twisted @44vibeTV tweeted.
Vrijheid Blijheid @InwonerL replied, “Hell no! No jab and certainly no micro chip!”
Don Driscoll, 38, who is from Pittsburgh and identifies as a socially liberal Republican, told The New York Times he had opted against getting the covid vaccination because of safety concerns.
“I don’t think there’s a conspiracy, I don’t think Bill Gates is shooting microchips into my veins,” he said. “I don’t think the Democrats want to kill half the population. I am just not an early adopter of anything, really.”
Justin @jbartonin69174114 tweeted, “Conspiracy theorists proven right again”
Listen to GHOGH with Jamarlin Martin | Episode 74: Jamarlin Martin Jamarlin returns for a new season of the GHOGH podcast to discuss Bitcoin, bubbles, and Biden. He talks about the risk factors for Bitcoin as an investment asset including origin risk, speculative market structure, regulatory, and environment. Are broader financial markets in a massive speculative bubble?
