There is no evidence that COVID-19 vaccines contain graphene or parasites

Key takeaway

There isn’t evidence showing that COVID-19 vaccines contain graphene, aluminum, boron, or living organisms of any kind. There are also no known living organisms made of aluminum.

Reviewed content

Verdict:

Unsupported

Claim:

COVID-19 vaccines contain graphene and living organisms made of aluminum

Verdict detail

Inadequate support: There is no evidence that COVID-19 vaccines contain graphene, aluminum, boron, or living organisms of any kind. To date, scientists haven’t found aluminum to play any role in biological function and there are no known living organisms made of aluminum.

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Full Claim

The Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine contains graphene and eggs of some parasite made of aluminum, carbon, and bromine. The parasite starts to grow and multiply in presence of graphene and heat. Similar organisms were found in the Moderna and Janssen COVID-19 vaccines, made of some superconducting material. These organisms start self-assembly in the presence of light, and are part of some operating system.

Several videos have gone viral claiming that COVID-19 vaccines contain certain kinds of synthetic organisms. On 1 October 2021, a video was published by The Stew Peters Show, in which osteopath Carrie Madej claimed to have discovered “self-assembling” organisms in the Moderna and Janssen COVID-19 vaccines. She also alleged that the organisms were made of some “superconducting material”, reacted to light, and were part of some “operating system”.

Another video, also published by The Stew Peters Show later on 15 October 2021, claimed that the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine contains graphene, as well as metallic parasites that in the presence of graphene and heat began to grow and multiply. These claims were based on a previous video by geologist Franc Zalewski, published on 11 October 2021. Zalewski described these organisms as having a small head and three tentacles, about 0.01 mm wide and 2.5 mm long. Altogether these videos received more than 6,000 interactions on Facebook, including over 3,000 shares, according to the social media analytics tool CrowdTangle.

None of these claims are supported by actual evidence and there is no indication of the presence of any organisms in the COVID-19 vaccines, as we will explain below.

There is no evidence of life forms in the COVID-19 vaccines

Multiple posts on social media platforms claimed that organisms are present in the COVID-19 vaccines, such as parasites belonging to the genus Polypodium^[1] (example) or freshwater hydras (example). In the Stew Peter Show videos specifically, Madej and Zalewski claimed that life forms are present in COVID-19 vaccines, with the ability to grow and replicate. Zalewski alleged that these organisms are composed of carbon, aluminum and boron.

Health Feedback reached out to Madej and Zalewski requesting evidence for their findings. We didn’t hear back from Madej. Zalewski responded by stating that he needed access to a laboratory and that he thought this might be an alien life form, although he provided no evidence for his claim.

There is no evidence that living organisms are present in the COVID-19 vaccines and this claim was already disproved in this fact-check by PolitiFact. Furthermore, no living being with the characteristics that Madej and Zalewski claimed to have seen has been described by scientists to date. While aluminum is known to bioaccumulate in some living organisms, and a marine crustacean was recently discovered to accumulate aluminum in its shell^[2], the claim that there is an organism fully composed of aluminum contradicts the current scientific evidence.

The COVID-19 vaccines don’t contain graphene or aluminum

Claims that metals are present in the COVID-19 vaccines went viral in May 2021, following the appearance of numerous videos on social media platforms in which people who claimed to have been vaccinated stuck a magnet to the injection site, which was known as the “magnet challenge“. Such claims may also have gained ground after three batches of the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine were recalled in Japan in September 2021, after stainless steel particles were detected in some vials, as reported by Reuters.

The claim that graphene or graphene oxide is present in COVID-19 vaccines went viral in July 2021, after Spanish researchers allegedly discovered graphene in Pfizer’s vaccine. The University of Almeria, where the analysis was performed, denied any involvement with these alleged researchers, as explained here by the Spanish fact-checking organization Maldita. Health Feedback translated the Maldita fact-check to English, which can be read here. The claim was also debunked in this fact check by Reuters.

The main ingredients in the COVID-19 vaccines are lipids and salts. The Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna vaccines also contain mRNA, while the Janssen vaccine contains an adenovirus expressing the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein. Both lipids and mRNA are composed of carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen. Viruses are composed of all three, as well as nitrogen, since they are made up of lipids, nucleic acids like RNA, and proteins. Contrary to Zalewski’s claim that aluminum and boron are present in the vaccines, the full ingredient list for the COVID-19 vaccines show neither aluminum nor boron.

Some vaccines contain aluminum as an adjuvant. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) explains that an adjuvant “helps create a stronger immune response in people receiving the vaccine”. A list of vaccines containing aluminum adjuvants can be found on the CDC website. None of the COVID-19 vaccines currently used in the U.S. appear in that list.

As for Madej’s claim that the alleged self-assembling particles are some kind of superconducting material, no material with superconducting properties at standard ambient temperature and pressure has been discovered to date. Superconductors are materials that can transmit electricity without resistance, and so far this quality has only been observed in materials kept at extremely low temperatures or under high pressure, as explained in this article by CERN.

Conclusion

In summary, there isn’t evidence that COVID-19 vaccines contain graphene, aluminum, boron, or living organisms of any kind. Furthermore, there are no known living organisms that match Madej and Zalewski’s description.

REFERENCES

• 1 – Evans et al. (2008) Phylogenetic placement of the enigmatic parasite, Polypodium hydriforme, within the Phylum Cnidaria. BMC Evolutionary Biology.
• 2 – Kobayashi et al. (2019) An aluminum shield enables the amphipod Hirondellea gigas to inhabit deep-sea environments. PLOS ONE.