Which ingredients have been falsely claimed to be in COVID-19 vaccines, and what do fact‑checks say about those claims?
Executive summary
A steady stream of false claims has circulated about what COVID‑19 vaccines "contain" — from graphene oxide and microchips to living organisms, hydrogels, fertility‑altering hormones and undisclosed viral DNA sequences — and multiple independent fact‑checks and experts have rejected those assertions after reviewing documents, ingredient lists and laboratory methods [1] [2] [3] [4]. Reporting shows many allegations rest on misread laboratory procedures, flawed amateur tests, or deliberate misinterpretation of regulatory filings rather than on evidence that those substances are ingredients in marketed vaccines [1] [5] [2].
1. Graphene and graphene oxide: a laboratory reagent misread as an ingredient
Several high‑profile claims asserted that Pfizer, Moderna or other COVID‑19 vaccines include graphene oxide; the allegation often rested on a technical sentence in an internal or research document or on microscopy images that used graphene in a test, not in production; regulators and fact‑checkers say the vaccines’ published ingredient lists do not include graphene and the references in documents describe lab procedures or validation tests, not vaccine formulation [1] [2] [6].
2. Microchips, magnets and metals: debunked urban legends with viral video fuel
Videos showing magnets sticking to arms or toy “pet microchip” readers allegedly detecting chips in vaccinated people have been repeatedly debunked; fact‑checks note the full ingredient lists published by manufacturers and regulators contain no metal devices or microelectronics, and many of the viral clips were hoaxes, jokes or demonstrations misrepresented as evidence [3] [7] [8].
3. Living organisms, parasites and “immortal” hydra: impossible and unsupported
Claims that vaccines contain live organisms such as Hydra vulgaris or other germinable parasites have been rejected by experts and manufacturers: vaccine formulations are chemical and mRNA or non‑replicating viral vectors, not living creatures, and manufacturers and regulators state that authorized shots contain no living organisms that could survive or reproduce in recipients [9] [10] [11].
4. Hydrogels and “barcode for life” narratives: conflation, not chemistry
Conspiracy videos invoking hydrogels, invisible barcodes or materials that will “mark” or biologically alter people rely on hypothetical technologies and misattributed research; fact‑checkers emphasize there is no evidence hydrogels are ingredients in COVID‑19 vaccines, and that claims linking vaccination to permanent biological tagging are unsupported [12] [4].
5. Fertility hormones (hCG, GnRH) and sterilization claims: fact‑checks find no basis
Persistent rumors that vaccines include human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG) or gonadotropin‑releasing hormone (GnRH) to cause infertility have been fact‑checked and dismissed: companies and vaccine documentation do not list such hormones as ingredients, and experts say the biological mechanisms alleged in viral posts are implausible and unsupported by the scientific record [13].
6. Residual manufacturing DNA and the SV40 promoter: nuance seized by skeptics
Fact‑checking has identified a more nuanced reality: mRNA vaccines undergo manufacturing steps that can leave trace amounts of DNA from plasmids or processes, and such residual DNA is handled within regulatory limits; claims that an SV40 promoter sequence is an undisclosed contaminant have been rebutted by experts who say references often relate to manufacturing controls or nonfunctional fragments and do not mean the vaccine contains active, harmful viral elements — PolitiFact found no evidence of adulteration as alleged [14] [15].
7. Why these myths spread and how fact‑checks reach different conclusions
The misinformation ecosystem blends taken‑out‑of‑context scientific language, emotionally charged narratives (tracking, sterilization, "not human" rhetoric), and flawed home‑lab tests; outlets from AFP, Reuters, USA TODAY, Logically and PolitiFact trace many claims to misread documents, non‑manufacturing uses of materials, or demonstrable hoaxes, and converge on the conclusion that the documented, authorized vaccine ingredient lists do not include the purported exotic substances [5] [2] [1] [8].
8. Limits of the record and prudent caveats
Reporting and fact‑checks reviewed public ingredient lists, company statements and regulatory documents and note that while trace manufacturing residues can exist within regulated limits, there is no verified evidence that vaccines on the market contain graphene, microchips, living organisms, hydrogels as described in conspiracies, fertility hormones intended to sterilize people, or undisclosed active viral promoters — beyond that, assessments are limited to the documents and expert interviews cited in these checks and do not claim exhaustive analysis of every laboratory file ever produced [15] [14] [6].