As the world struggled to end the coronavirus pandemic through vaccination, we have had to deal with obvious disinformation and misinformation about the virus and its vaccines.
On this episode, our anchor, Zainab Sanni looked at at the viral claim that “coronavirus vaccines causes magnetism.” Sometime in May, videos of people sticking spoons and coins to their arms whilst claiming the objects stuck to their bodies after they took the Covid-19 vaccine started circulating online. These claims then went viral in June after Dr Sherri Tenpenny, a prominent American anti-vaxxer and author of the book, “Saying No to Vaccines”, told Ohio lawmakers the coronavirus vaccine causes an increase in protein that makes “a metal attached to it.”
To debunk this claim, we interviewed Dr. B A. Iwalokun, of the Molecular Biology and Biotechnology Department in the Nigeria Institute of Medical Research (NIMR), who clarified how vaccines work in a human body. Also, the American Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) says there is absolutely no truth to the claim.
The interview with Dr. Iwalokun and publicly available evidence from a verified public health organisation brings us to our verdict this week, press play to know our VERDICT on the viral claim.
The Production Team for this week’s episode are:
Olakunle Mohammed – Project Manager
Nicholas Ibekwe – Researcher and Assistant Producer
Oluwatosin Ologun – Producer
Zainab Sanni – Presenter
