Do COVID-19 Vaccines Come With A Tracking Device? Doctor Laughs At GOP Official's Question

Do COVID-19 vaccines really have trackers in them? A Republican lawmaker in California raised the doubt at a recent meeting and a doctor set the record straight.

(Scroll below for some vaccine myths busted)

At a meeting of the Orange County Board of Supervisors to discuss "vaccine passports" earlier this week, Supervisor Don Wagner asked whether there is "any intention of tracking people." The county health care agency director, Clayton Chau, replied to him with a simple "no."

"We heard about an injection of a tracking device. Is that being done anywhere in Orange County?" Wagner, who earlier served as a member of the California State Legislature, asked again.

This time, Chau had a bit of a laugh before answering the question.

"I'm sorry. I just have to compose myself," Chau said. "There is not a vaccine with a tracking device embedded in it that I know of that exists in the world. Period." A video of the discussion was shared Tuesday on Twitter.

Wagner got the Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine earlier in April, The Hill reported. It was not clear why he was asking about it weeks after receiving the shot.

"Thank you Dr. Chau for administering my shot - quick and painless," he even said in a tweet at the time.

COVID-19 vaccine myths

The lawmaker was probably referring to a conspiracy theory about the vaccine that a tracking microchip will be inserted into the people who receive the shots. Such conspiracies have been pervasive since the pandemic's onset.

In December, for instance, a video surfaced online that suggested that the COVID-19 vaccine will have a tracking microchip. The clip, which was shared thousands of times on social media, reportedly contained quotes from Jack Ma and Bill and Melinda Gates, Reuters reported at the time, clarifying that the video was manipulated and the comments were taken out of context.

"This is false," the outlet said, sharing the full version of the interviews used to create the video.

Another theory blamed the 5G technology for the pandemic and claimed that the vaccines will contain 5G chips so the government can track their movements. Diagrams of a supposed 5G chip even circulated on social media, but it turned out to be an illustration of a guitar pedal.

More recently, amid the massive vaccine roll-out, a pharmacist in Wisconsin was arrested for tampering with vaccine supplies as he believed it would mutate human DNA.

According to Healthline, such conspiracies and other forms of misinformation "undermine" people's belief in the COVID-19 vaccine.

"Vaccine misinformation is not going away anytime soon. Expect this to go on for many months going forward," said Kolina Koltai, from the Center for an Informed Public at the University of Washington. "Trusting your healthcare provider and experts in the field is incredibly critical right now, even more so than ever."