People with the COVID-19 vaccine are being “tracked in real time via 5G cellular, and all that data can be hacked into to track you.”

A video shared by a radio host resurfaces a previously debunked claim that vaccines contain a microchip allowing a person to be tracked through the 5G cellular network.

Hal Turner posted a four-minute Russian-language video with English subtitles to his website on May 20 allegedly showing a programmer hacking into a leaked database for Russia’s Sputnik V vaccine.

“Claim: Vaccinated People Are Being TRACKED in Real Time via 5G Cellular, and all that data can be hacked-into to track YOU,” the post’s headline reads.

The post was flagged as part of Facebook’s efforts to combat false news and misinformation on its News Feed. (Read more about our partnership with Facebook.)

In the video, the programmer claims he’s able to use the database to access information that’s been transmitted over the 5G cellular network from a microchip that was injected into a vaccinated person. The information allegedly showed the person’s real-time location, that he was currently asleep at the time and the microchip’s current firmware.

“We know that our government is doing stuff like mass jabs and not everything is as they tell us,” the man says.

Turner said he doesn’t know what to make of the video and that he has no knowledge of the claim’s “possibility or its impossibility.” Despite his reservations, Turner said the video was compelling enough for him to share it on his site.

Versions of this claim have repeatedly been checked by PolitiFact and other media organizations.

There have been no reports of a database leak or hack related to the Sputnik V vaccine, and there is no evidence that any of the COVID-19 vaccines contain microchips. 

In fact, microchips are too big for the syringes used in administering the vaccine and other immunizations.

The world’s smallest microchip is 1 mm x 1 mm large, whereas the inner diameter of the needle typically used in vaccinations is about .41 mm, according to Nebraska Medicine, a nonprofit hospital affiliated with the University of Nebraska.

Additionally, none of the ingredients listed for the Moderna, Pfizer, Johnson & Johnson, AstraZeneca and Sputnik V suggests they have technology that can connect to a cellular network.

Conspiracies about the vaccines containing microchips and being related to the 5G network have been persistent; it prompted the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to include an entry in its COVID-19 vaccine FAQ that says they don’t contain microchips. 

“There may be trackers on the vaccine shipment boxes to protect them from theft, but there are no trackers in the vaccines themselves,” the agency says.

Our ruling

Turner posted a video on his website that claims to show a Russian hacker accessing information from a microchip that was injected into someone when they received a COVID-19 vaccination. That information can be used to track someone’s movements. 

There is no evidence that any of the COVID-19 vaccines currently in use contain microchips or any ingredients with networking capabilities that allow people to be tracked. Similar claims about the vaccines have been debunked in the past.

We rate this claim Pants on Fire!