Fact check: RFID microchips will not be injected with the COVID-19 vaccine, altered video features Bill and Melinda Gates and Jack Ma – Reuters

A video shared over 27,100 times on Facebook implies that the COVID-19 vaccine will contain a tracking microchip that will be injected in the individuals that receive the COVID-19 vaccine once it is ready. This is false.

Reuters Fact Check. REUTERS

The3:49-minutevideovisible here (archived version archive.vn/CNhct ) is a compilation of out of context or manipulatedfootage,that includesnews reports andcommentary from Bill and Melinda Gates and Jack Mathat havebeen selectively combined.

Some comments on the video include Say no to being tracked with a chip, I will cut off my arm before I let them microchip me or my kids and Scary! I dont want anyones microchip implanted in my body!!

Around timestamp 00:24, the videoincludesfragments ofa CBN interview here withJay Walker,executive chairman ofpre-filled syringe makerApiject,which got a $590 million U.S. loan to produce injectors for the eventual COVID-19 vaccineon Nov. 19( here ).

Inthisinterviewfrom May2020 ( youtu.be/WllUZVwQBZ8?t=209 )Walker is asked abouthow theoptional RFID chip would work, in referencetotheRadio Frequency Identification chip that could be part of the syringes label, not the injectable substanceitself(as explained in detail here on page 13).

In his full response, Walker compares the technology to a bar code and assures that it doesnt carry any personal information. He also explains that the microchip is purely optional, however, and the U.S. government hasnt even decided if theyre going to use it.

Steve Hofman, a spokesman of Apiject confirmed to Reuters via phone that this optional microchip will not be injected into the individual who receives the vaccine.

Hofman reassured that this technology is optional and that so far it hasnt been requested. He also added that the microchip cannot gather any personal information.

The microchip, he explained, is designed for two purposes: to allow the healthcare provider to confirm that the actual injectable and the vaccine in it has not expired and that it is not counterfeit. It would also confirm that that particular injection has been used. The health provider, Hofman added, would use a cellphone app to capture and revise this information.

Aroundthe timestamp2:10, the video in this claim itself includes footagefroma fact-check by Verify here in which theydebunkthis false allegation.

The video starts withacommentary from Bill Gatesthat has beenedited tomisleadinglycombine twopartsofhisspeech during a 2013 financial inclusion forum here . Thevideo on social mediamakes itlooklike Gates said that innovations like vaccines, we need a measuring system that tracks the vaccine.This has been clearly edited.

The original segments are visible youtu.be/6xkwAL3jwJs and youtu.be/6xkwAL3jwJs?t=173 .

The full footage shows that Gates referred to vaccines as an example of breakthrough innovations that have changed the future for billions of people (he also lists holding crops as another example for this). Later, Gates refers to a measurement system, but he is talking about the need for a system to track the progress of financial inclusion, not vaccines.

Reuters previously debunked the claim that Bill Gates planned to launch microchip skin implants to fight the coronavirus ( here ) and that a microchip implant would come with COVID-19 vaccines ( here ). Other fact checks on false claims regarding Gates and COVID-19 are visible here and here .

Around timestamp 1:32, the video includes footage from the launch ofa United Nations (UN)reporton digital cooperation youtu.be/UcB_aIq1OwA in 2019, which was developed by a panel co-chaired byMelinda Gates and Jack Ma, executive chairman of Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba.

The video includesauthenticcommentary ofMelindaGates andJackMa, executive chairman of Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba, who co-chaired the panel that developed the report in question here . However,when paired up within news reports of microchips,these commentsmay look misleading.

For example, the video shows that Melinda Gates says that technology gives incredible opportunities to create the world that we want. Some users commenting on the video appear to have misrepresented this as a reference to a surveilled world. A comment in the video reads: The world they want not the one we want as free citizens living in a democracy! Are they going to implant themselves?????

The full footage of her response visible youtu.be/UcB_aIq1OwA?t=205 shows that by the world we want,Gateswas referring to a more just and humane world.

Jack Mas commentary ( youtu.be/UcB_aIq1OwA?t=250 ) on the digital era also does not appear to be in reference to vaccines, but rather about how technological advances will shape the future. Ma later says: Nobody is the expert of future we should learn, we should embrace it and we should change our mentality, you know, to embrace this revolution.

The video also misleadingly includes other clips from old news reports about the microchip technology in humans, that are unrelated to the COVID-19 vaccine.

Around timestamp 3:00 it includes footage from an authentic PBS NewsHour, the comment by anchor Judy Woodruff however has been edited and is therefore missing context.

In theedited Facebookvideo, Woodruffswords have beenselectively cropped to make it look like shesaidthat people who support the implantation of microchipsdoittotake back control. The original footage here shows that Woodruffwasactually referring to take back control of their personal data.

Another segmentfeaturedaroundtimestamp 3:13from the PBS NewsHour is visible youtu.be/hLc_7CnWkxw?t=543

The video alsofeatures imagesfromthis report here from 2007,around timestamp 1:06 and2:31. The reportweighed into the possibilityof implanting children with microchipsfor security purposesand addressed the concernsfrom parents about using this technology.The audio paired up with theseimagesaround 1:06,however, appearsto be from a different video. Reuters was unable to identifythe sourceof thisaudio.

Thefootagefeaturedaround3:20is visible here .This piece from 2017 also reported on the debate around how microchips might bring benefits on daily tasks and weighs into the privacy concerns around this issue. The particular segment that is included in the video youtu.be/0Ixr4SzoVJA?t=97 , mentions the Seattle-based company Dangerous Things ( dangerousthings.com/ ) which sells a variety of chip implants.

Altered. COVID-19 vaccine syringes could contain RFID microchips on labels, but they wouldnt be injected into the individual that receives the vaccine. A video containing this claim features altered and out of context footage.

This article was produced by the Reuters Fact Check team. Read more about our fact-checking work here .

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Fact check: RFID microchips will not be injected with the COVID-19 vaccine, altered video features Bill and Melinda Gates and Jack Ma - Reuters