Fact-checking of El Nuevo Día: it is false that people vaccinated against COVID-19 have their bodies magnetized

If you’ve been on social media in the past 24 hours, you’ve probably seen a lot of photos and videos of people with forks and spoons attached to their bodies. The foregoing was a response to a video published on Tuesday on her social networks by the congressional delegate for the statehood of the current government administration, Elizabeth Torresin which he alleges that due to the vaccine against COVID-19metal utensils like forks stick to your body.

Almost immediately after Torres’ publication, social networks were filled with photos, memes, videos and jokes of people sporting multiple utensils attached to their bodies. A popular fast food chain specializing in fried chicken even ran an ad around the theme inviting people to better stick their fork in their bucket of fried chicken.

Before this panorama, The new day consulted several experts in medicine and science to deny the unscientific information that people like Torres spread that the COVID-19 vaccine magnetizes the human body.

WHAT STATEHOOD LOBBYIST ELIZABETH TORRES SAID: “I feel like this is magnetized to my body”, in reference to the forks and the supposed effect that the COVID-19 vaccine has on his body. “Magnetism is normal because we are energy, but this is not normal,” Torres says in his post, in which she appears hitting two forks near her collarbone and then one on her back.

THIS IS FALSE: According to the pediatric pulmonologist, Mariola Rivera-Reyes the vaccine does not magnetize people’s bodies. The professional said that it is impossible for a segment of the vaccine to Pfizer and Modernwhich is messenger RNA (mRNA) that is covered in lipids, causes magnetism.

Also, the president of the Puerto Rican Society of Pediatrics, Carmen Suarez Martinezexplained that, in addition to mRNA and lipids, the vaccine has salts and sugars to make it easier for it to enter the cell and take effect, and it also has preservatives such as polyethylene glycol.

“On top of that, it has no heavy metals, no chips, and no other components that can interact outside the human body like forks or spoons.”pointed out Dr. Suárez Martínez.

The specialist added that this type of minerals such as salt and sugar are products that we consume every day, as well as the potassium that is in fruits such as Chinese and bananas.

A LIE THAT EMERGES EVERY TIME

Dr. Rivera Reyes mentioned that this issue is not recent, but has arisen since vaccination began.

“It is curious that anti-vaccine groups have moved away from this magnetization discourse. This is a topic that came up about nine months ago. It started when the vaccination started and then it got a little stronger. There are many scientific articles reporting that it is not true”indicated the pediatric pulmonologist.

Abraham Ruiz, a physics professor at the University of Puerto Rico at Humacao, also offered his explanation as to why this completely unscientific information is false. Ruiz stressed that a spoon or fork can stick to the body because of fat or moisture, not because of an effect of the vaccine.

“Any greasy or wet surface that you come in close contact with, it’s going to stick, but if you rub a little talc on it, the spoon won’t stick. This is not a magnetization problem because if you take a magnet and put talc on it, it will stick to the spoon anyway. However, if you put talc on the body, the spoon is not going to get stuck”, emphasized the professor when explaining in a simple way why this is nothing more than a hoax.

Another argument that demonstrates the falsity of this information is that vaccinated people do not stick to each otherRivera Reyes pointed out.

“If we go to the scientific basis of what a magnet is, we have to ask ourselves why all of us who are vaccinated are not hitting each other. We know that two magnets if they are opposite poles are going to stick together. The reality is that this trick of placing a spoon in your nose or forehead and not falling out is something that has been done since before there were vaccines, “added the doctor.