The COVID-19 vaccine has become a common topic just about everywhere, including on the internet. With that rapid spread of information, rumors and speculation can sometimes seep through the cracks.
Dr. George Trimble with Van Wert Health says that he's heard quite a few misconceptions about the COVID-19 vaccine, and wanted to clear up some of the things that he's heard.
He says the vaccine does not include the virus itself, but instead a man-made piece of a protein designed to help your body recognize the real thing and allow you to fight off the virus more effectively.
A big concern is that the vaccine was developed too quickly, but Dr. Trimble says that the science behind the vaccine has been in the works for a while.
"They’ve been working on this theoretically for years and years, and a ton of science has gone into this so that once the funding and the motivation became available, it was very rapid to put it all together and come up with a little snippet of messenger RNA that is the basis for this vaccine," said Dr. Trimble, who is chief of medicine at Van Wert Health.
Another claim going around is that the government plans to track people through the vaccine by putting a microchip inside - Dr. Trimble says not so much.
"It would just be the most uneconomical way to track you that they could possibly come up with - we have cell phones that are already capable of doing the same," said Dr. Trimble. "This is nonsense, put it aside, it’s not what’s going on. I’m going to take it myself and I don’t want a microchip in me. That’s just a bunch of clickbait on the internet looking to get your clicks to make a profit."
And if you're surfing the web and come across something that may seem a little off, the doctor recommends that you look at that claim a little closer.
"Don’t look to Facebook and YouTube for information like that," said Dr. Trimble. "If you think there might be something to it, be intellectually curious, go look for the resources and the actual scientific data."
