A White House correspondent for Newsmax tweeted a baseless conspiratorial claim that COVID-19 vaccines contain a “bioluminescent marker” to track people. But that’s not true. Let’s take a look at the facts.
![A Nov. 1 tweet from Emerald Robinson, a White House correspondent for Newsmax, that says, “Dear Christians: the vaccines contain a bioluminescent marker called LUCIFERASE so that you can be tracked. Read the last book of the New Testament to see how this ends.” This message appears as a quote retweet of a tweet that says, “The Moderna vaccine DOES contain Luciferase.” The News Literacy Project has added a label that says FALSE.](https://rumors.newslit.org/content/images/2021/11/Emerald-Robinson-FALSE-claim-LARGE.png)
NewsLit takeaway
False claims about the COVID-19 vaccines containing tracking devices are among the most common and longstanding viral falsehoods about the shots, and are often baselessly connected to references in the Book of Revelation in the New Testament. Robinson has a historyof promoting vaccine misinformation on Twitter, where she has more than 430,000 followers. The Nov. 1 tweet (above) was removed by Twitter, and Robinson was temporarily suspended from the platform. Newsmax disavowed Robinson’s statement and later said Robinson would not appear on the air while it reviews her posts.
Related:
- “The covid conspiracy theorist inside the White House (press corps)” (Philip Bump, The Washington Post).
- “Fact Check: Pfizer DID Include Tromethamine, A Buffer, To Its COVID-19 Vaccine For Children -- But It Is NOT Harmful” (Christiana Dillard, Lead Stories).
- “‘Luciferase’ Is Not an Ingredient in COVID-19 Vaccines” (Dan Evon, Snopes).
- “Newsmax Star Claims Vaccines Contain ‘Bioluminescent’ Tracker Linked to Devil” (Justin Baragona, Daily Beast).
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