Posts sharing a video of a man allegedly showing Bluetooth capabilities after receiving the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine are false. The vaccine does not contain a Bluetooth chip.
Examples can be seen here.
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The video shows an unidentified man talking to the person recording the video. The man speaks about his experience of receiving the vaccine and says: “The only problem is that everywhere I go, everything is trying to connect to me man, like Bluetooth connect to me.”
“I get in the car, my car is trying to connect to me. I go home, my computer tries to connect. Like, my phone is trying to connect.”
The man then shows a notification on his phone which shows a Bluetooth pairing request with a device called “AstraZeneca_ChAdOx1-S”. In a second clip added to the video, it shows a television showing the same request as the man walks towards it.
There is no evidence to show that the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine contains a Bluetooth chip or allows the receiver to gain Bluetooth capabilities.
Most devices with Bluetooth capabilities have a name that can be edited into any word. For example, any mobile phone’s name could be edited to show “AstraZeneca_ChAdOx1-S” and request to pair with another device, prompting the notification seen in the video on the mobile phone and television.
Reuters reached out to the user @al_janabi on TikTok, who appears to be the source of the clip, who did not immediately respond to a message seeking comment.
A number of countries have authorized the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine for use, as explained here .
A full list of ingredients for the vaccine can be seen here , which includes the recombinant, L-histidine, L-histidine hydrochloride monohydrate, magnesium chloride hexahydrate, polysorbate 80, ethanol, sucrose, sodium chloride, disodium edetate dihydrate, water for injections. There is no Bluetooth chip in the vaccine.
Bluetooth is a wireless technology that uses short-range radio waves to share data across devices in a small area, as explained here by Business Insider and Samsung here . An antenna-quipped chip with Bluetooth abilities (here) is unlikely to slip through AstraZeneca’s ingredient list unnoticed.
AstraZeneca did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.
VERDICT
False. The COVID-19 vaccine produced by AstraZeneca does not contain a Bluetooth chip.
