Reports have emerged from different places in India claiming that people have turned 'magnetic' after taking the COVID-19 vaccine. In separate instances, men from Hazaribagh in Jharkhand, Nashik in Maharashtra, Martam in Sikkim, Udupi in Karnataka and a woman from Bengaluru have now made the same claim that their bodies have become ‘magnetic’ after taking the vaccine.
Visuals of the men and women with metallic items like spoons and coins sticking to their bodies have been shared widely on social media with internet users giving them names like the 'Udupi Magneto' and 'Nashik Magneto'. But experts are skeptical of the claims.
The Press Information Bureau quickly issued a statement saying that the COVID-19 vaccines are safe and do not make people magnetic."Several posts/videos claiming that #COVID19 #vaccines can make people magnetic are doing the rounds on social media. COVID-19 vaccines do NOT make people magnetic and are completely SAFE," read a tweet by PIB.
Several posts/videos claiming that #COVID19 #vaccines can make people magnetic are doing the rounds on social media. #PIBFactCheck:
— PIB Fact Check (@PIBFactCheck) June 10, 2021
COVID-19 vaccines do NOT make people magnetic and are completely SAFE
Register for #LargestVaccineDrive now and GET VACCINATED ‼️ pic.twitter.com/pqIFaq9Dyt
In Udupi, Ramdas Shet, a 50-year-old goldsmith who made the claim that he was magnetic, is undergoing further tests to study what caused the objects to stick to his body. "He had seen a video of objects sticking to a man and decided to test out the same and found that objects like spoons and coins were sticking to him. We are conducting some tests to determine the reason for this," a doctor handling the case in Udupi told TNM.
Mangaluru based rationalist Narendra Nayak meanwhile issued a statement saying that the magnetism is not induced by vaccines and explained that the objects in the videos are sticking to the human body due to surface tension.
“It has come to our attention that a lot of attempts are being made to bring in vaccine hesitancy among people and the latest one is that COVID-19 vaccines induce magnetism into the body. Videos of people sticking metallic objects to their bodies have been doing their rounds on social media. There is no way by which magnetism can be induced into the human body by a vaccine or by any other means. What is happening is that the moisture on the skin is causing objects to stick by surface tension and this is being claimed as ‘magnetism’," Narendra Nayak said.
He also suggested a simple test to counter the claims of magnetism. "Now sanitisers are available everywhere very easily. So, any alcohol based sanitiser should be applied to any part of the body of the one who claims to have such power and dried with a napkin. Then the one who claims such powers should be asked to stick the object with which they have been showing off this so-called 'magnetic power' at the same place. The object will not stick because of the surface tension lowering property of the sanitiser," he said. "The same could be also done with soap solution if sanitiser liquid is not available. But, it is very necessary to dry the area thoroughly and test for ‘magnetic power’ immediately," he added.