More than 60% of adults have now\u00a0received at least one dose of a coronavirus vaccine, and as the CDC has issued new guidance on mask wearing for vaccinated people, much of the country is beginning to return to a sense of normalcy.\u00a0<\/p>\n
However, hesitancy surrounding COVID-19\u00a0vaccines is still prominent, and political affiliation is playing a role in people’s willingness to get vaccinated.<\/p>\n
A May 17 article by far-right commentator Hal Turner\u00a0is contributing to vaccine misinformation.<\/p>\n
The article claims the Moderna vaccine includes a “deadly poison\u00a0SM-102, not for human or veterinary use,” and that recipients of the vaccine\u00a0are “apparently being poisoned!”<\/p>\n
Variations of the claim are\u00a0also spreading on Facebook and Instagram.\u00a0USA TODAY has reached out to the posters for comment.<\/p>\n
Fact check: <\/strong>COVID-19 vaccine recipients can donate plasma with the American Red Cross<\/span><\/p>\n A substance called SM-102 is part of the Moderna vaccine, but it’s not remotely what these posts claim it is.\u00a0<\/p>\n The article says the Connecticut Department of Public Health published a list of the Moderna vaccine’s ingredients, confirming that it contains a lipid, or fat, known as SM-102.<\/p>\n A list of the ingredients in the\u00a0Moderna vaccine had already been published by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration\u00a0following the department’s emergency use authorization of the vaccine in December.<\/p>\n The list confirms SM-102 is an ingredient in the Moderna vaccine. But the viral social media posts are\u00a0misrepresenting the product and its effect on vaccine recipients.<\/p>\n Fact check: <\/strong>Federal law does not prevent states, businesses, employers from requiring COVID-19 vaccines<\/span><\/p>\n Derek Lowe, a longtime drug discovery researcher and author, said SM-102 is a “crucial” ingredient in the Moderna vaccine.<\/p>\n According to Lowe, the lipid\u00a0“encases the mRNA as it’s injected to keep it protected from a bunch of enzymes and stuff in the body that would tear it apart … it also seems to be a big part in getting it through the cell membrane.”<\/p>\n Many of the posts condemning SM-102 are highlighting Cayman Chemical,\u00a0an American biotechnology company\u00a0that\u00a0makes SM-102.<\/p>\n The company’s\u00a0SM-102 safety sheet\u00a0says the chemical is\u00a0“fatal in contact with skin” and\u00a0“causes damage to the central nervous system, the kidneys, the liver and the respiratory system through prolonged or repeated exposure.”<\/p>\n But the product referenced there isn’t raw SM-102. It’s SM-102 mixed with chloroform, a colorless toxic liquid that the safety sheet indicates is the dangerous ingredient, not the SM-102.<\/p>\n It is\u00a0common for substances \u2014 like chloroform \u2014 to be mixed with other chemicals to help them properly dissolve, which is the purpose it serves in this case as well, Lowe said.\u00a0<\/p>\n Chloroform is not an ingredient in the Moderna vaccine.<\/p>\n In a May 19 statement, Cayman Chemicals\u00a0addressed misinformation surrounding its SM-102 product.<\/p>\n “Neither the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), Registry of Toxic Effects of Chemical Substances (RTECS), or the European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) Classification and Labelling Inventory list any hazards associated with SM-102,” the statement reads.<\/p>\n The statement also noted\u00a0active pharmaceutical ingredients used for commercial manufacturing, like SM-102, “adhere to strict guidelines under FDA-regulated Good Manufacture Practice protocols to ensure their safety for human and veterinary use.”<\/p>\n The social media posts also pointed out that Cayman Chemical’s Safety Data Sheet for SM-102 says it is “not for human or veterinary use.”<\/p>\n Lowe said this disclaimer is “boiler plate,” or standard practice, for all research chemical sites because of regulations, including for products that are “utterly non-toxic.”<\/p>\n “If you look up [Cayman Chemical’s]\u00a0solution of sodium chloride and water, AKA table salt and tap water, it says not for human or veterinary use,” Lowe said. “If you look up their glucose or sugar, it says not for human or veterinary use.”<\/p>\n Fact check: <\/strong>COVID-19 pandemic spurred record-low flu activity this season<\/span><\/p>\n USA TODAY has reached out to Moderna for comment.<\/p>\n The claim that Moderna’s\u00a0coronavirus vaccine includes a dangerous\u00a0chemical,\u00a0SM-102, is FALSE, based on our research. While it is correct that the Moderna vaccine includes SM-102, the primary claim that the chemical is poisoning or harming Moderna vaccine recipients is inaccurate and false.\u00a0According to an expert,\u00a0SM-102’s purpose in the vaccine is to encase and protect the mRNA while\u00a0also helping it to get through cell membranes. The version of SM-102 referenced by \u00a0the manufacturer’s safety sheet as being dangerous is a combination of SM-102 and chloroform.<\/p>\nModerna vaccine ingredient is not poisonous<\/h2>\n
SM-102 product referenced as proof is different<\/h2>\n
Our rating: False<\/h2>\n
Our fact-check sources:<\/h2>\n
\n
\n\tTHE MODERNA COVID-19 VACCINE TO PREVENT CORONAVIRUS DISEASE 2019 (COVID-19) IN INDIVIDUALS 18 YEARS OF AGE AND OLDER<\/li>\n