PropertyValue
?:author
?:datePublished
  • 2021-11-02 (xsd:date)
?:headline
  • 'Luciferase' Is Not an Ingredient in COVID-19 Vaccines (en)
?:inLanguage
?:itemReviewed
?:mentions
?:reviewBody
  • In November 2021, Emerald Robinson, the White House correspondent for Newsmax, a conservative news network that has spread a number of conspiracy theories, posted a message on Twitter falsely claiming to her 400,000+ followers that one of the COVID-19 vaccines contains luciferase. This is false. The Moderna COVID-19 vaccine does not contain luciferase. This is not the first time that luciferase has been used to create fear over the COVID-19 vaccines. Back in April 2021, rumors circulated that the vaccines were called Luciferase, that they had been filed under an 060606 patent, and that this was evidence that the vaccines were connected in some form or other to Satan (or Lucifer). This is all false. Luciferase is a genuine scientific term that refers to an enzyme capable of emitting light. If you've ever seen a firefly light up, you've witnessed luciferase in action. These enzymes are often used in research studies because they can help researchers monitor biological processes. It's not exactly clear what Robinson meant when she tweeted that Luciferase was being used so you can be tracked. She seems to be implying that this bioluminescent marker will make vaccinated people glow, making them easier to track, but that's clearly not the case. Close to 200 million people in the United States have been fully vaccinated and as far as we can tell nobody is glowing. Robinson's tweet (which has since been removed) linked to a video that supposedly showed evidence that the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine contains luciferase. In reality, this video highlighted one of the problems with the argument that people should do their own research. The video starts with a Google search for does Moderna vaccine contain Luciferase? The top result for this search was an article published by Reuters in May 2021 entitled: Fact Check-Moderna’s COVID-19 vaccine does not contain luciferin or luciferase. Reuters wrote: The novel coronavirus vaccine manufactured by Moderna does not contain luciferin, an organic compound involved in bioluminescence, or the enzyme luciferase, contrary to claims on social media. While luciferase was involved in some COVID-19 research in the summer of 2020, none of the available vaccines contain either ingredient. The video then shows this person doing their own research as they go to Moderna's website, click through a few pages, and open a PDF related to the company's vaccine patents. The researcher then performs a search for the word luciferase and finds a match. While this person presents this discovery as if it's evidence that luciferase is in the vaccine, this video shows no such thing. What this person found was that Moderna referenced a study about Luciferase while filing their patent, not that they included Luciferase in the vaccine. The study this person highlighted was published in 2012. As noted earlier, luciferase was used during the development of the vaccine but it is not one of the ingredients in the vaccine. Here's a list of ingredients in Moderna's COVID-19 vaccine: (en)
?:reviewRating
rdf:type
?:url